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Monthly Sales Figures
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Started by ygogolak,

665 posts in this topic

SquareChaos

SquareChaos

Posted
Posted
I know Enormous #1 has been mentioned in it's own thread but seeing the number under 5,000 in print is crazy. It is a quality book that I would think would have been 20-25,000 copies if it were under the Image banner. I wish I'd bought more.

 

I imagine I'm not alone in thinking - repeatedly since reading this book - that the choice of publisher is probably not going to help them. Does anyone know the story here? Did Image pass on it?

 

I don't see why they would, it is a quality book and they published the oversize treasury edition which, arguably, one would have to think would be a harder pitch.

 

If this was an Image title the hype would be otherworldly, as is, the hype is pretty impressive considering we're only two issues in. Sort of.

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azcards4ever

azcards4ever

Posted
Posted (edited)
I know Enormous #1 has been mentioned in it's own thread but seeing the number under 5,000 in print is crazy. It is a quality book that I would think would have been 20-25,000 copies if it were under the Image banner. I wish I'd bought more.

 

I imagine I'm not alone in thinking - repeatedly since reading this book - that the choice of publisher is probably not going to help them. Does anyone know the story here? Did Image pass on it?

 

I don't see why they would, it is a quality book and they published the oversize treasury edition which, arguably, one would have to think would be a harder pitch.

 

If this was an Image title the hype would be otherworldly, as is, the hype is pretty impressive considering we're only two issues in. Sort of.

 

Yup, the Treasury had a larger print run than the regular series #1; how often has that happened? Hopefully the book overcomes the smaller publisher challenges.

Edited by azcards4ever
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fastballspecial

fastballspecial

Posted
Posted
It will be interesting to see how big the drop off is with Outcast #2......

 

Isn't it more #3? If owners sold out of #1 they are going to order heavy on 2. Then if 2 sits on their shelf they will order lighter on 3.

 

3 is the real indicator. Those numbers aren't actual units sold but units sold to stores. Heck they could say that they sold 100,000 copies of a book and 75,000 are still sitting on shelves.

 

#3 will be the real indicator for Outcast. I'd even say the second issue after the first arc ends will be the moment of truth.

 

 

I think it settles in the 45,000 to 50,000 range. It's going to be a popular book imo. When I was at the LCS the other day, 4 of the 5 people that I spoke with liked it better than TWD though I personally like TWD better. I would expect this to be Image's 2nd or 3rd highest selling monthly. 2c

 

Yeah most customers I talked with really like the book and look forward to the show. Its a different customer base I think. Kirkman Zombies.

 

 

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the authority

the authority

Posted
Posted
Southern Bastards drops 17%. (shrug)

 

I thought the numbers on this would stay higher. This story is great imo.

 

That's just speculator drop off.

 

 

I think you're right. I believe the first 2 books were returnable if they met certain stipulations. (shrug)

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ranx

ranx

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Posted

Southern Bastards drops 17%. (shrug)

 

I thought the numbers on this would stay higher. This story is great imo.

 

That's just speculator drop off.

 

 

I think you're right. I believe the first 2 books were returnable if they met certain stipulations. (shrug)

 

 

Okay but comic shops have to order 3 months ahead of time to guarantee they will get the issues....generally they order big on #1 and drop heavily off on 2 and 3...that means a lot less of 2 and 3 get printed and available for last minute re-orders too...print runs can't really respond to popularity until issues 4 and above...

 

I do believe that people are going to someday look at the low print run number of issues 2 and 3 and re-evaluate their relative values.

 

Look at batman new 52....the smallest print run was #2, and just about the only issue in the first 6 issues that DID NOT have 2nd print...even is the first Talon....buttttt it's not worth as much as #3..... but someday....

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Hekla

Hekla

Posted
Posted

I went to Comic Chronicles to check some print runs and read the Homepage (which was probably the 1st time I've ever read it) and found the article on 'comic sales records broken' interesting.

 

Granted, most of the 'records beaten' were monetary; that's not a shock as prices per issue are approaching movie ticket prices, but it struck me that the TOTAL numbers are quite a bit higher and number of titles avalible are numerous with 530 individual books per month (floppies) and 891 combined GN, floppies, etc. This confirms what many here suspected; comics are maturing in the same way TV is - very few big blockbusters, but a big diversity of smaller niche titles.

 

Thoughts?

 

Selected quotes. Source is at the bottom

 

July 2014 Multiple Diamond Records Beaten

 

A much larger number of new comic book and graphic novel releases for the month helped July's sales to set a number of records for the Diamond Exclusive Era, which began in April 1997:

 

Highest dollar value for all comics, trade paperbacks, and magazines: $53.63 million. This clobbered the previous record, set in October 2013, by more than $3 million.

 

Highest sales for the 300th-place comic book in a five-week month: 6,620 copies. This also beat the record set in October 2013.

 

 

And we don't keep detailed records on this, but it really is remarkable how many new comic releases are coming from the middle-tier publishers. Image had 66 new comics this month, IDW 48, Dynamite 40, Dark Horse 39, Boom 29; it all contributed to a month where the 300th place book this July would have ranked 250th just five years ago and 192nd 10 years ago. The middle-to-lower tier titles are simply stronger relative to times past, and there are more of them.

 

The aggregate change statistics:

 

TOP 300 COMICS UNIT SALES

July 2014: 8.09 million copies

Versus 1 year ago this month: +11%

Versus 5 years ago this month: +17%

Versus 10 years ago this month: +32%

Versus 15 years ago this month: +21%

YEAR TO DATE: 46.48 million copies, -5% vs. 2013, +10% vs. 2009, +10% vs. 2004, +4 vs. 1999

ALL COMICS UNIT SALES

July 2014 versus one year ago this month: +14.73%

YEAR TO DATE: -3.16

 

RELEASES

New comic books released: 530

New graphic novels released: 312

New magazines released: 49

All new releases: 891

 

http://www.comichron.com/

 

 

 

 

 

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ygogolak

ygogolak

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Standouts, to me. Surprised Sandman is getting that much love.

Also, in the top 100 books only 8 non-Big 2 books.

 

8 Grayson 1 $2.99 DC 81,433

12 Walking Dead 129 $2.99 Image 72,908

13 Sandman Overture 3 $3.99 DC 72,563

27 Life With Archie (comic format) 36 $4.99 Archie 57,054

30 Saga 21 $2.99 Image 55,893

32 Outcast By Kirkman & Azaceta 2* $2.99 Image 55,126

42 Life With Archie Comic 37 $4.99 Archie 48,842

54 Low 1* $3.99 Image 43,340

59 Doctor Who 11th 1 $3.99 Titan 41,068

67 Doctor Who 10th 1 $3.99 Titan 39,707

 

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the blob

the blob

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Posted

The amazing thing to me is how titles with 5-10K print-runs are viable. That's the difference between now and 1997 I think. And I think it's kind of cool that there are several hundred titles to choose from each month.

 

What does the owner/creator if of an Image book like Skullkickers witha a 6K print-run make from that after paying people, etc. Is he clearing 25 cents a copy on a $2.99 book?

 

I suppose with other projects, signings, TPBs, digital copies, etc. you can live off $1500/mo from your comic.

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the blob

the blob

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i was wrong, skullkickers is down to 2300 copies. how on earth is that viable? is it really a $500-$1000 month hobby for the creator? (of course, if it ever gets sold as a cartoon or something...)

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the blob

the blob

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I guess the thing is the creator can live anywhere and work from home. So if he does have 2-4 of these low print run books going at once i suppose you can scrape together a living and hope something gets optioned or something. And then hope your spouse has health insurance you can glom on to.

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Hekla

Hekla

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Posted

I would love to hear about financial side the creator-owned process, top to bottom. I'm sure ithe profit split varies depending on who came up with what % of the story, design of the 'look' (for example, it seems from reading the bonus material in Invincible that Kirkman is sometimes heavily involved with cover layouts and character design), etc.

 

Sure, writers can have multiple titles they're working on vs. 1 for the typical artist, but the artists gets to sell their OA plus commissions & convention sketches. Again, I think it would make a fascinating comic-con panel discussion.

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