David Seigler's Ground Zero Comics in Tyler, Texas had a very successful Free Comic Book Day due to the level of promotion and public relations it did:

 

Free Comic Book Day this year was a resounding success.  We followed much the same promotional strategy for Free Comic Book Day as we did last year, only increasing our range in the number of outlets we contacted to help cross promote the event with us.

We printed several thousand coupons.  These served as advertisements for the event, which we gave to various schools and the local library.  We contacted the local movie theater, which was invaluable last year in helping us promote Free Comic Book Day.  We agreed to co-sponsor a 'Create Your Own Superhero' art contest, promoting it through our store and website and donating several gift certificates.  In turn, the theater agreed to display our Free Comic Book Day posters and give out our coupons with each ticket purchased for the preview and opening day showings of X2.  The art contest only added to the build up of anticipation for both the X2 movie and the Free Comic Book Day event.
 

Despite the fact that last year the media largely ignored our press releases, we still flooded the TV stations and local newspaper with releases about the upcoming event.  This time the work paid off as the newspaper ran a story on FCBD and our store (which was coincidentally celebrating its 10th anniversary) and one of the TV stations came out to the store to film the event.

While the line for free comics was never quite as long as it was last year, it was more consistent throughout the day.  The Hulk HeroClix figures disappeared the fastest, although other free items were hungrily grabbed up.  To be added to our drawings for various prizes, each person filled out a coupon with their name and address, which can contribute to our mailing list, as well as track the number of comics that we gave out.

We spent several weeks vigorously promoting Free Comic Book Day and all the work paid off.  Despite the line that existed throughout the day there was not a single disgruntled customer.  It was a festive atmosphere, made all the more so by the silliness of the so called 'Ground Zero Security' who worked the crowd with toy walkie talkies.  The most encouraging thing was both the number of younger readers that were seen in the store, as well as the number of women and girls.  Many of these were not girls in with a boyfriend, but rather in by themselves to pick up a book.  This bodes well for the future of the industry and made for a happy crew at Ground Zero.