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Greg Kirkman
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 12 May 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 15775
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| Posted: 10 February 2018 at 1:29am | IP Logged | 1
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http://blog.comichron.com/2018/02/end-of-era-last-dc-newssta nd-issues.html
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Robbie Parry
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 17 June 2007
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 12186
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| Posted: 10 February 2018 at 6:17am | IP Logged | 2
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I was surprised to read they were still selling via newsstands up until recently.
You know, I learnt recently how fucked up things are. For instance, digital sales aren't included in sales figures. The two articles I read, which appeared to be factual, stated only direct market sales are included.
How nutty is that (if true)?
How is it any less of a sale if I hit the "Buy" button on comiXology? Must it only be a sale if I walk into a store?
What an odd industry at times!
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Matt Hawes
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
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| Posted: 10 February 2018 at 7:20am | IP Logged | 3
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It's even nuttier than you think, Robbie. The sales reported are those sold to the shops in the Direct Market, and not to the fans/readers/collectors.
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Robbie Parry
Byrne Robotics Member
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| Posted: 10 February 2018 at 7:42am | IP Logged | 4
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I can't imagine any other industries being that way, Matt.
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Matt Hawes
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| Posted: 10 February 2018 at 7:51am | IP Logged | 5
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The comic business has never been like any other business, and all too often that hasn't been a good thing. Sigh.
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Robbie Parry
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| Posted: 10 February 2018 at 8:53am | IP Logged | 6
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When I was sent a link stating that digital comic sales aren't included, I thought that someone had a screw loose!
I presume other entertainment industries don't do that. If I order digital episodes of CHiPs via Amazon or iTunes, I presume that if anyone ever were to compile CHiPs sales figures, then those would be included.
I presume anything I order digitally via Amazon Prime is counted. Or eBooks (80% of my book purchases are eBooks).
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Brian Hague
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 14 November 2006
Posts: 8515
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| Posted: 10 February 2018 at 12:42pm | IP Logged | 7
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Colleen Doran recently tweeted that one of her NY Times bestselling books sold 40,000 copies across the country and six figures worldwide, yet only racked sales of 950 copies to direct market retailers. I wonder if there aren't a few monetary reasons for telling creators and readers that this is a tiny, itsy-bitsy lil' industry wit' not much munnies t'go around... (Cue big Walter Keane painted eyes blinking innocently.)
DC and Marvel are apparently making bank and it is not through the Direct Sales Market.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
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| Posted: 10 February 2018 at 4:30pm | IP Logged | 8
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Cue big Walter Keane painted eyes blinking innocently.•• Uhmmm...
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Brian O'Neill
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Joined: 13 November 2013
Location: United States
Posts: 1964
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| Posted: 10 February 2018 at 7:19pm | IP Logged | 9
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Now, I know. And knowing is half the battle(Walter Keane said he made that up, too.)
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John Jackson Miller
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Joined: 10 February 2018
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| Posted: 11 February 2018 at 1:04pm | IP Logged | 10
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I wrote the DC newsstand piece above (which has since been updated, as we have located more final issues), and may be able to address some of the questions on what data is out there and why.
Currently the comics industry is only able to report on digital sales in aggregate, annually -- our most recent report with ICV2 is here -- because the vendors in the digital sphere, like Amazon/Comixology, and the publishers consider the quantities proprietary and confidential. Were they available we'd certainly report them at Comichron, although in a separate section, because our readers want to know how many print copies specifically exist.
Every industry has varying levels of transparency, with most tending to share only what data they legally have to, or what would advance their interests. We've always had a good idea about music sales because there are third parties tracking performance royalties. In prose books, we know units of physical copies through Bookscan, formerly a Nielsen product -- though you have to pay to get access to the full data, and it doesn't include e-books for the same reason they aren't available for comics.
In fact, comics sales figures have tended to be more available than some other genres because of some historical curiosities. Since they were sold by subscription, postal circulation filings (which our site tracks) for many titles have been available since 1960. Since they had ads, audit bureaus tracked sales for advertisers. (I just visited the Audit Bureau's microfilm archives for data before 1980 last year.) And the reason the Diamond shipping charts are around now is because one of the distributors in the early 1980s thought it would be good to index sales, so retailers could see what titles were selling nationally relative to others.
So some info is out there, though I certainly agree it's definitely not fully transparent, and it always could be more so.
John Jackson Miller
http://www.comichron.com
Edited by John Jackson Miller on 11 February 2018 at 1:54pm
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Eric Sofer
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Joined: 31 January 2014
Location: United States
Posts: 4789
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| Posted: 11 February 2018 at 2:09pm | IP Logged | 11
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Thanks, Mr. Miller! And drop on by anytime.
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Joe Boster
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 29 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 3160
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| Posted: 11 February 2018 at 7:42pm | IP Logged | 12
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Not to mention that being a NYT bestseller has its own metrics on what is and is not a sale. A book can sell out a 100k print run in a week and not be a best seller because someone bought too many, for example.
I agree with the article that the bi-weekly schedule doesn't fit very well with the current newsstand.
Axel Alonzo talking about diversity said that Ms. Marvel sold more online than in print, when asked how much that was he basicly said, no idea but it's a lot.
I think the huge number of books on the stands every month (previews excel file is about 3600 line items in a month) hurts news stands. It certainly hurts me as a small store. a bi--weekly marvel at 3.99 for 2 more pages of story really are one of the worst deals out there.
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