Raymond G. Iniquez Jr., 'The Governor of the
I had a blast on Free Comic Book Day IV, but had quite a journey in preparing. I started sending out press releases from March of 2005. I sent them out to numerous TV stations, newspapers, radio stations etc. The releases that paid off were Pioneer Press Elm Leaves, which printed the press release in full, CBS2 Chicago WBBM's Website's community calendar (a news crew was going to put it in the planning rotation but some breaking news drew them away). The Mont Clare Elmwood Park Chamber of Commerce moving sign on The Circle showed my contact info for FCBD IV for a month, day and night, 24 hours a day.
And other then word of mouth and signage in my windows the main promotion I used was my kevhead connection. Through my friend Kevin Matthews' Website, www.kevhead.com, I placed the press release at the student union discussion board 'Video Rays Entertainment Cove,' my discussion board on Kev's Website, and the word spread faster than 'Freebird' and I had several big Kevheads show up on FCBD.
Finally after lots of stress and worrying with help from my parents, Ray Sr. and RoseMarie, we opened up for business on
Throughout the day over 100 people stopped in to browse Ray's Mini Video And Comics. One of our new customers won our FCBD IV Raffle of a one sheet Star Wars Episode 3 Revenge Of The Sith promo poster!
No one came in a rush; everyone was able to leisurely browse and receive their free comics. I gave out several hundred of the free comics and Batman HeroClix to plenty of grateful customers. This was a recharge of not only myself and my parents but our store Rays Mini Video and Comics. FCBD IV was a tremendous success. With several upcoming promotions we will be giving away FCBD books for a while.
I will start preparing now and will participate in FCBD V, with my parents' help and God willing. With Batman Begins, Fantastic Four, Sin City, Superman, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man and more coming to the shows and
