IDW comic sales

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Dominic
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Re: IDW comic sales

Post by Dominic »

Marvel and DC could not completely stop producing new content. But, they could cut well back on it and focus on *good* content. (Not that we should expect this or anything.)

I am with Don 100%. I prefer compilations, but finding them is more difficult than it needs to be. This is especially true with Transformers. Distribution could end up being the point of failure for the industry, especially if publishers focus on bookstores, (known for epic laziness on this front). If people cannot find a product, they will not buy it.
I kept going back to buy the rest, but the guy never ordered them.
Ah, isn't it great when comic stores blow their one real advantage? Seriously, they cannot complain about you not picking up that "Atomic Robo" compilation. They clearly do not want your money anyway.

It was an offhand comment in one of the forums. I think the person claimed that Jonah Hex was still going because the trades sold well. Take that with a grain of salt.
It makes enough sense that there is little reason to be skeptical.
Amazon.com has everything in plentiful stock--and though you have to pay shipping, most of it is actually discounted to the $13-15 range, so at times you end up paying just as much, give or take two or three bucks, as you would at a store.
Amazon sucks. Where the hell does an on-line retailer get off not accepting PayPal? I tried ordering from them once about a week back. I *refuse* to use a credit card for anything other than an emergency. When somebody is offering to give you money for a product, do not be picky about the delivery of that money.

I happily spent $5 extra dollars to order it directly from the author.
And if you look at DC and Marvel, both companies have decades of material they could collect into trades and publish. Some of the older stuff isn't very readable and might not always sell well, but some of it certainly will.
Agreed. I recently read "Secret Wars". It was *terrible* in places. The fact that there are mainstream writers working in comics will feed into what you are talking about. (I hate Meltzer, but he fills the house....before burning it down.)

He's even pretty much stated as such that he would rather the floppies get delayed if it means a better product in the trades. (This was in relation to the art change in AHM 9.)
I actually agree with him on this. Deadlines are important. But, if push comes to shove, it is better to have a product that will age better, rather than just ship on time.


Dom
-needs to secure a copy of "Transformers: Exodus".
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Onslaught Six
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Re: IDW comic sales

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Dominic wrote:Ah, isn't it great when comic stores blow their one real advantage? Seriously, they cannot complain about you not picking up that "Atomic Robo" compilation. They clearly do not want your money anyway.
It was actually the individual orders. And it's a funny story, too--the first issue was delayed on the East coast. (I believe Prowl and I had a discussion here when it happened, since he'd gotten the issue and I didn't.) I wasn't aware of this until I checked online to see that Clevinger and Wegener were aware of this. Nothing they could do, apologised a lot. (Actually, I have a running theory that Diamond and/or the printers are trying to screw them out of being successful. Both have been vocal about not liking Diamond and how much they power they have and how much they shaft smaller books like theirs. Part of me thinks they're not even really on Diamond's radar, but I love me a good conspiracy, and Diamond plotting against Atomic Robo is just too funny to let go.)

Anyway, I stopped in that day, asked if they got it in. Guy said no. Having nothing else I had to buy, I left. Returned the next week, when it was supposed to ship to the East coast? Still nothing. Then the semester ended for summer, and I couldn't get over to Indiana as easily. I've never gone back. (Mostly due to logistics.)
Amazon sucks. Where the hell does an on-line retailer get off not accepting PayPal? I tried ordering from them once about a week back. I *refuse* to use a credit card for anything other than an emergency. When somebody is offering to give you money for a product, do not be picky about the delivery of that money.

I happily spent $5 extra dollars to order it directly from the author.
I have a debit card (or had one, I don't right now, long story) so I never really had a problem. I can understand your frustration that way though.
I actually agree with him on this. Deadlines are important. But, if push comes to shove, it is better to have a product that will age better, rather than just ship on time.
Definitely. His reasoning was that, inside of a year, nobody is going to remember or care if AHM #9 came out a week or two late. Now, everyone who ever recommends this series will have to go, "It's great, the art's wonderful, except for these six or seven pages in Issue 9, they suck. Deadlines, you know.")

That said, deadlines are indeed important. I have seen many a book get tangled by huge deadlines, to the point where there are less issues finished than years the comic has existed.
-needs to secure a copy of "Transformers: Exodus".
Yeah, this whole Exodus/WfC/TF Prime thing is *really* getting messy...but I suspect all will be clear after this weekend. Probably as early as Friday or Saturday, we'll know if one leads into the other.

Incidentally, the IDW WfC book that was in discussion appears to just be an adaptation of Exodus. So if you get one, I suspect not much will be missing from the other.
BWprowl wrote:The internet having this many different words to describe nerdy folks is akin to the whole eskimos/ice situation, I would presume.
People spend so much time worrying about whether a figure is "mint" or not that they never stop to consider other flavours.
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Dominic
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Re: IDW comic sales

Post by Dominic »

I would prefer to get both though.

Dom
-has a mother who works at a bookstore.
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andersonh1
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Re: IDW comic sales

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Dominic wrote:I am with Don 100%. I prefer compilations, but finding them is more difficult than it needs to be. This is especially true with Transformers. Distribution could end up being the point of failure for the industry, especially if publishers focus on bookstores, (known for epic laziness on this front). If people cannot find a product, they will not buy it.
There are two Barnes & Noble bookstores nearby and one Books a Million. Barnes & Noble have a pathetically small selection of trade paperbacks, and the selection has actually decreased recently. Books a Million is quite a bit better, but even they don't have nearly the selection as the local comic shops.
Amazon sucks. Where the hell does an on-line retailer get off not accepting PayPal? I tried ordering from them once about a week back. I *refuse* to use a credit card for anything other than an emergency. When somebody is offering to give you money for a product, do not be picky about the delivery of that money.
I don't use credit cards either. The debit card is the way to go. You might also browse Ebay for trade paperbacks if you want to use Paypal. I've gotten some good deals on IDW Star Trek trades from Ebay sellers and the books look like new.
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andersonh1
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Re: IDW comic sales

Post by andersonh1 »

Updated sales numbers for the ongoing series. The last time I updated, we had numbers through issue 6.

Some sales figures for the ongoing series:
#1 15,213
#2 12,516
#3 12,609
#4 12,221
#5 11,993
#6 12,171
#7 11,932
#8 12,360
#9 12,369

So far, sales seem consistently around 12,000, and so fairly stable from month to month.
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andersonh1
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Re: IDW comic sales

Post by andersonh1 »

Here's an interesting note about another IDW series that demonstrates just how big the difference between the estimated and actual sales can be.
From ICV2 sales estimates:

Quote: TRUE BLOOD #1: IDW 30,296

And then this from IDW:
True Blood #1 boasted a print run of over 53,000 copies, sold through comic stores and other outlets,and offering multiple covers. IDW and Diamond Comic Distributorsalso offered exclusive versions of the first issue at San DiegoComic Con, all of which were sold out by the end of the show.The second installment ofthe series will release on August 18th.
Transformers doesn't sell that much of course, but it does make me wonder how much higher sales are than the numbers we get from ICV2, given the discrepancy on this series.
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Dominic
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Re: IDW comic sales

Post by Dominic »

I would be more skeptical of the IDW numbers. Clearly, somebody is wrong in their counts. But, who has more incenctive to fudge the numbers, IDW or ICV2?


Dom
-you would be amazed how mich counting "pass around" value can help.....
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andersonh1
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Re: IDW comic sales

Post by andersonh1 »

Dominic wrote:I would be more skeptical of the IDW numbers. Clearly, somebody is wrong in their counts. But, who has more incenctive to fudge the numbers, IDW or ICV2?
What evidence do you have that either group is fudging numbers?

Two points.
1) The ICV2 numbers only count sales to comic shops, as far as I know. Sales elsewhere and overseas are not counted. So the discrepancy between their numbers and IDWs is easily understandable.
2) What does IDW gain by putting out a false sales number? I don't see how that would benefit them in any way.

The point is, the number we get from ICV2 are only a part of the sales picture. We don't know what percentage their numbers are, but more comics are sold than are counted by them.
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Dominic
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Re: IDW comic sales

Post by Dominic »

ICV2 has no incentive either way.

But, publishers have an incentive to fudge the numbers as high as possible. Higher sales numbers means that advertising space becomes more valuable. I once worked at a publication and was told by the publisher to include "pass around" numbers. In other words, I was told to assume that 2 or 3 people read every copy that moved. I am pretty sure our claimed read numbers were higher than our print run.

I am not saying IDW is doing anything on that scale. But, the incentive to fudge a bit is there.


Dom
-no, seriously. I was told to triple our circulation.
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andersonh1
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Re: IDW comic sales

Post by andersonh1 »

Dominic wrote:ICV2 has no incentive either way.

But, publishers have an incentive to fudge the numbers as high as possible. Higher sales numbers means that advertising space becomes more valuable. I once worked at a publication and was told by the publisher to include "pass around" numbers. In other words, I was told to assume that 2 or 3 people read every copy that moved. I am pretty sure our claimed read numbers were higher than our print run.

I am not saying IDW is doing anything on that scale. But, the incentive to fudge a bit is there.
That makes sense, but doesn't IDW typically only advertise their own books with their ad space? I'm not sure they sell ad pages like DC and Marvel do. So I'm not sure what you describe applies to IDW.
Dom
-no, seriously. I was told to triple our circulation.
I believe it. I see where you're coming from.
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