SALES TO ASTONISH #42 - FEBRUARY 2026

Brie Larson’s Failed Auditions

I was listening to a podcast called The Hidden Brain which I dip into every now and again and they were discussing the topic of perseverance. One of the examples of perseverance (and delayed gratification) was given in the context of Captain Marvel Brie Larson who in an interview a couple of years ago cited the fact that she had failed in something like 97 or 98% of her auditions. Now I don’t know the whole of the interview and whether that statistic was up until the point that she landed probably what was her career changing role in Room, but I’ve no doubt that despite her acting career now taking on a very different complexion since that role and things like Captain Marvel she still fails in some auditions that she goes for.

The reason why this rang a particular note with me is that she wasn’t deterred by failure. Now clearly there are a litany of stories of people plying their trade and trying to get that break which propels them into the stratospheric height of the profession they want to work in such as acting, sports entertainment even re-inventing the vacuum cleaner. You can find lots of videos on YouTube of celebrities telling stories like that and it’s also interesting to think that whilst they were dealing with failure and knock-backs, they kept at it. Yes they had to do things that paid the bills and kept a roof over their head up and to the point their opportunity arose. An example closer to home was a friend of mine worked nights in a dog biscuit factory whilst spending his days managing a band and trying to land them a record deal. 

These stories had resonated so well during February because the month seemed to be a throwback to some of the earlier times of The Unreality Store. It’s hard to believe than in May it will be the 7th birthday of the store and that time has gone by so quickly. The first two to three years saw limited monthly sales not particularly high website traffic and lower order values all of which were prevalent during February. It honestly came as a complete shock to find out that February 2026 had been the worst month in terms of revenue for over 3 1/2 years. I didn’t seem to gain any traction at all during the month. I did sell a Secret Wars #8 for £100 but that was the largest sale of the month by far!

Now it would be easy to lament just how bad things were (and by mid-month I was starting to actually doubt whether I had a viable business such was the drop off in all metrics) but whilst I was trying to figure out why sales had dipped so dramatically and what I could possibly do about it, a close friend very quickly and unexpectedly passed away. It was devastating news and I can’t imagine how his family are coping as I’m certainly struggling to come to terms with it. As all the struggles I was having with the business, they paled into insignificance when I thought about a future that didn’t have my friend in it (and oddly the fact I wouldn’t hear his voice anymore) 

So whilst the story of Brie Larson’s failed auditions will keep me going in the pursuit of The Unreality Store being the best place to buy back issues and classic RPGs in the UK, it’s the passing of my friend that has made me realise that there are more important things in life that just slavishly trying to make ends meet and complaining when things don’t go your way.  

And I’ll leave it there for now.

See you next month. 😎