ForgotPassword?
Sign Up
Search this Topic:
Forum Jump
Posts: 218
Aug 11 09 11:26 AM
drumore wrote: I've discovered that drawing conclusions about sales based on initial orders is like predicting the winner of the Indy 500 based on the starting lineup. It may give some indication, but it's the long race that matters. New Teen Titans Archives had low initial orders, but steady sales and reorders afterwards.
Posts: 10379
Aug 11 09 11:48 AM
Registered Member
I do think there should be two Chronicle editions released each month, and most series that are going to be under this umbrella format should be released twice a year to keep up interest and cover ground.
Posts: 5248
Aug 11 09 11:56 AM
DC Forum Moderator
Fin Fang Foom wrote: I think collections that are "themed" (rather than just a sequential) provide a better entry point -- for whatever that's worth. But more to the point, DC just doesn't seem to have any interest in being tied into sequential collections in the trade paperback range (apart from the Chronicles, which are more of a convenience than anything), and I suspect that might be because A.) they don't publish all that many of them in a given year, and B.) from a marketing perspective, it's probably much easier to sell The Greatest Jimmy Olsen Signal Watch Stories Ever Told than Jimmy Olsen, Volume 7.
I think the "sequential" aspect is probably one of the least important factors in the success of the Showcase series.
Aug 11 09 11:58 AM
Are you saying you have personal knowledge of multiple Archives volumes that had much lower initial orders than other Archives released around the same time that came back to outsell those other Archives within the span of a few years?
NTT #1 didn't get a second printing until the last couple of years, one of the longest waits ever.
Aug 11 09 12:24 PM
And I think to say that DC is doing any "marketing" of any of these books is being generous to say the least.
Really? So DC could just slap together random stories in black & white and they'd sell just as well?
Sorry, I don't think you're giving the buyers enough (any?) credit here
Posts: 2533
Aug 11 09 12:58 PM
Golden Age
Aug 11 09 1:13 PM
Fin Fang Foom wrote: You misunderstand -- I'm not talking about "advertising," I'm talking about the way these books are packaged and sold. To use my previous example: a book with the title The Greatest Jimmy Olsen Signal Watch Stories Ever Told gives everyone -- book buyers, Direct Market retailers, consumers who are familiar with comics and those who aren't, casual bokstore browsers, book reviewers, everyone! -- at a glance, at an instant, without even reading past the title, they get far more information than Jimmy Olsen, Volume 7 could ever give them.
How so? I'm sure the "sequential" quality appeals to some people (perhaps even most of the people here), but I don't think it's necessarily representative of the audience for these books as a whole. I don't see it as a factor that's driving sales -- just something that's taken for granted.
Aug 11 09 2:56 PM
I really doubt that a lot of buyers are influenced by the title of a book - much more significant is the solicitation copy that DC puts next to zero effort in composing - and that's been an issue no matter what the nature of the collection
Aug 11 09 3:17 PM
You know, I was getting ready to politely agree to disagree with you on this issue, but then I come across this little ditty:
Fin Fang Foom wrote: ...and the people who are so completely immersed in the minutae of this stuff that they devise their own imaginary trade paperback collections.
Posts: 7162
Aug 11 09 3:23 PM
Aug 11 09 3:55 PM
Aug 11 09 6:24 PM
FFF - I find it a little too coincidental that this is either the second or third time we've had an exchange that ended with some sort of attempt at an apology on your part.
Your admission that "you sort of knew this would happen" leaves me with little doubt that your remark was an attempt to provoke.
So on thinking it over, I'll try my damndest in the future to refrain from entering into any serious discussion with you. This will no doubt delight the rest of the board, who I'm sure must be bored to tears with these threads by now.
Aug 11 09 8:01 PM
Aug 11 09 8:36 PM
Aug 11 09 9:07 PM
Posts: 1080
Aug 11 09 10:16 PM
Aug 11 09 11:45 PM
Fin Fang Foom wrote: Are you saying you have personal knowledge of multiple Archives volumes that had much lower initial orders than other Archives released around the same time that came back to outsell those other Archives within the span of a few years? It isn't always the sales volume that matters -- in this case, it might have been an indication of sustained interest. Slow, but steady sales. NTT #1 didn't get a second printing until the last couple of years, one of the longest waits ever. Without any idea what the original print run was (relative to any other book), you can't really use that as a guide. Again, it all comes down to the question of how useful the initial order estimates in determining, well, too much more than how many books might have been ordered, initially! There is so much more information, so much more context that we're just not privy to.
Posts: 441
Aug 12 09 12:01 AM
Posts: 158
Aug 12 09 12:44 AM
Aug 12 09 7:22 AM
Fin Fang Foom wrote: If you could explain how you've come to draw some sort of subjective (and obviously negative) judgment from what I wrote, I'd probably be more inclined to apologize.
I think I made it quite clear where you were out of line, so further dialogue on this is pointless to me. But if you really feel the need to continue to "observe" my disturbance (no, that's not too condescending at all!), then at least do it via private Yuku message, so the board is spared any more of this nonsense.
Share This