I just read a wonderful article by retailer Brian Hibbs about selling trade paperbacks and collected editions. Give it a read and come right back…alright, let’s get into it. Is your local comic shop a bookstore selling mostly collected editions, or a newstand selling mostly weekly comic book periodicals. I found this quote to be of particular interest:
My local comic shop now has a dedicated area that displays two weeks worth of trades; I’d love to see more but with so many on the market now it’s very difficult to show more than that. I think if you look at any successful comic shop they have racks and racks of books and a smaller area for new comics and back issues. The areas might be the same size but the books get the glory and prime positioning: where I shop the basement is filled with back issues while the main floor is books, toys and new periodicals.
They also have a liquidation area where I’ve picked up a lot of gems, garnering interest in other new material. I love paying less and they love selling more.
Hibbs goes on:
Until you look at the numbers we don’t realize how few hardcovers and trade paperbacks sell in any significant number. Fantagraphics and Humanoids, two publishers I’m particularly fond of, have a big hit if they move 1000 units; lots (most) sell below 500 copies. We indeed are part of a small reading community.
After finishing the article I immediately saw digital releases as the shining knight for all this collected material. Unfortunately it’s a catch 22: you have to know about the material in order to know you want to read it. As publishers ramp up their digital offerings all kinds of old material will be available, but the more they release the harder it will be to sort through it all.
And of course we can’t forget that old problem of price. DC just released Batgirl Year One in their digital store but want $1.99 per issue; for nine issues that’s $17.91 total. The softcover trade paperback of the series was $19.99 so there’s some savings there, but the sneak here is that it’s not available anymore. Instead of releasing a new print edition DC is going digital. Even more surprising was seeing Camelot 3000 for $1.99 each, $23.88 for all twelve issues. It’s been in paperback for $15 and deluxe for $35. Hmm.
The draw of the comic shop for me is still the brows-ability factor: wander through the aisles picking books up, giving them a good thumbing and discovering works new to you. Plus the recommendations of the staff go a long way when they know where your interests lie.
That was a great article… I’ve always wondered myself about the sheer volume of books that are produced. I think it’s part of a bigger social issue which I wont get into.
The other things I’ve often wondered about are:
1. US cover price. The currency is more or less at parity so it’s not an issue these days but before only few stores sold at US prices, then it became exclusive to members, and eventually it became the norm.
2. The successful shops in town have big blow out sales 2 to 4 times a year. They slash their prices by 50% or more on back issues, and 20% or more on the newer stuff.
It seems to me that these practices, which seems great for the consumer, eventually devalues the things we love and cannibalize regular sales for the retailer.
Have you read through the comments… even more interesting. Here’s their discussion regarding digital:
Lemurion >
Interesting article, and it shows one of the benefits of digital.
Brian Hibbs >
Er, what?
Slow-selling material is most likely to remain slow-selling material whether it is in a physical package or a digital package. We have an absolutely perfect “long-tail” sales mechanism at the moment (Amazon), who reports their sales to BookScan, and even THEY can’t sell slow-selling material in any meaningful numbers.
Especially with digital a significant part of the problem is that the haystack is getting larger and larger every day — it isn’t easy to find the needles!
Lemurion >
Digital allows the periodicals (at least the digital versions) to remain “in print” perpetually. With a system such as the one DC is planning, there’s less of a need to collect every book because things remain available.
Publishers can thus just release print collections of the books that do sell well – so retailers don’t have as much product competing for space. Retailers can focus on stocking things they can sell, without having to take so many gambles.
If a book becomes a surprise hit, or a surprise perennial, in digital it can always be reissued in print.
Brian Hibbs >
Digital sales are LITERALLY meaningless numbers of copies sold. And while that could potentially change at some point, I think there are six dozen structural things that stand in the way of that happening.
Unless and until digital is the MAJORITY of dollars being sold, there is less than no chance that a publisher like DC will produce fewer TPs *because of digital*
I was talking to a publisher the other day about their digital sales on a new hot-ish book, and the sale figures they’ve achieved so far? They’d make more money in looking for loose change between their pillow cushions.
Lemurion >
The big problem with comparing print and digital sales numbers is simple: Most of the print sales in any given week come from books that aren’t available digitally. So anyone who wants “Hot Book X” while it’s hot, pretty much can’t buy it digitally.
It’s not hard to understand that you don’t make as much money when you aren’t selling what people want most.
This is why I’m looking forward to DC’s new digital initiative. Going line-wide with day and date will mean we can get real numbers for the digital market – at least on DC’s side. I’ve no idea how many people are likely to go digital – I’d be surprised if it starts above 10% – but with the same product at the same time at the same price, it will be possible to isolate the digital factor and see what the demand really is.
Once the figures come in for September 2012 (assuming we get digital figures) then we’ll be able to get an idea of the size of the digital market.