Tag: Sales

We often wonder what writer/industry analyst John Jackson Miller does for fun. Is it really crunching sales charts? Looking at his extensive 2012 Comic Book Sales Figures round-up, it doesn't seem to be anything else. The above link will give you his estimates of the top 100 comics and graphic novels for 2012. Here's his analysis of these charts. Including this interesting metric:

Marvel maintained its top publisher spot in both inits and dollars for December, as Diamond released preliminary charts for last month. The Marvel Now books made up 6 out of the top 10 comics, topped by the final issue of Amazing Spiderman. DC's Batman titles had a strong showing, however. Over in graphic novels, Image pretty much crushed it, not just with The Walking Dead but strong showings for Saga, Chew and Fatale as well, making for one of its strongest monthly shares in a while.

Colleen Doran spills the beans gives some metrics on what everyone knows—Nielsen's Bookscan Numbers are way low. Especially, it seems, where comics are concerned. She cites several books she has worked on, comparing her royalty statements and Bookscan numbers:

I imagine that most people read articles about comic book sales in a darkened room, in a enclosed and private space - perhaps curtained off - so nobody can see their shame. But comics...

By Paul Mellerick 

For a rare change we get the number one book this month, as Walking Dead #100 breaks records all over the place. Saga and Buffy are still doing decent numbers, while the third Valiant relaunch, Bloodshot does very well too. Elsewhere, Adventure Time and the Trek / Who crossover continue to punch above their weight, while new licensed Transformers and Crow titles launch strongly for IDW.

 

145 indie books charted this month, up on last month's 135. The bottom book sold 4,187, up on last month's 3,302. They sold approximately 1,717,229, up on last month's 1,344,491, the difference being almost entirely made up of Walking Dead #100. Average sales are 11,842 per book, also up on last month's 9,959, but without Walking Dead it would have been 9,448. As usual, UK and European sales from Diamond UK are not reported in this chart.

 

Out of the 145 books, 27 went up in sales, a little less th

The Walking Dead #100 led the charts in July, even as DC just barely edged out Marvel in both dollars and units—a sign that Marvel NOW can't come soon enough perhaps. BATMAN: EARTH ONE led the graphic novel charts, topping a strong month for DC. Sales were generally flat from June, although remain much higher year to year. Comics were down a tad while GNs declined in dollars but gained in units.

Diamond has released their preliminary information on May's sales charts, and Marvel is back in units and dollars—both hard won victories—while AVX topped the singles chart and the New 52 trades topped the books charts quite handily.

Comics sales are up 40% from May 2011 —so if you want to know if the New 52 was a sales success, there's you answer right there.

Marvel bashed its way back to the top in March, winning both dollars and units and the top book with AvX #1. After getting shut out of the top 10 books for the last few months, they had three books, including the AvX 0 issues and AVENGERS ASSEMBLE #1. AvX #1 is invoiced for March although it only went on sale yesterday, in April, because it shipped to retailers a week early. Comparative charts showed March 2012 pretty flat with 2011, with only graphic novel sales up appreciably -- and that's because of a surge in WALKING DEAD VOLUME 1 sales. This perrennial led the GN chart yet again, buoyed by the TV show no doubt.

Over the weekend, I did a rough estimate of Diamond Top 100 sales chart. Good 'ole Walking Dead turns out to have sold 32,361 in the "official" estimates vs. the 31,596 from January I used for the estimate. That +2.4%, which is just barely outside standard deviation, so it looks like the initial estimates were close again.

Here are the complete sales charts from Diamond for last month:

Walking Dead and Buffy top the chart again, but the debuts of Lord of the Jungle, Fatale and Danger Girl: Revolver push the Turtles down to sixth. Elsewhere there are two new Transformers ongoings, a few more new Image books, and the end of several titles.

 

136 indie books charted this month, 10 up on last month and again less Marvel or DC books charting this month. The bottom book sold 2,606, half of what it was 2 months ago. In total those books sold approximately 1,052,459 down from last month's 1,067,927 with more titles. That's the second month in a row that'. Average sales are 7,739 per book, well down from last month's 8,475. As usual, UK and European sales from Diamond UK are not reported in this chart.

 

This month Image were again the number three publisher, with 5.48% dollar share and a 4.83 market share, followed by Dark Horse with 4.89% dollar share and 3.55% market share, IDW with a 4.35% dollar share and a 3.78% market share, Dynamite with a 3.46% dollar share and a 3.66% market share, Boom with 1.66% dollar share and 1.35% market share and Eaglemoss with 1.47% dollar and 0.30% market share. IDW, Dynamite & Boom are up for the month, everyone else is down.

It's our favorite day of the year! The day retailer Brian Hibbs posts the complete BookScan chart for the previous year, with his own analysis. You can download the entire chart for your own edification in the first link above, but we'll just cut to the chase. Here are the top 20 GNs for the year: