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Posts: 1050
Aug 12 09 8:34 AM
Bronze Age
Posts: 10379
Aug 12 09 8:35 AM
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Posts: 2462
Aug 12 09 8:42 AM
quincyjb wrote: I think I agree with that contention. A generic series title, followed by "volume 5", is a significant turnoff for a buyer who doesn't own volumes 1 - 4. So significant, that the buyer is unlikely to even pause to consider buying volume 5. Another consideration is that the title and theme may be a hook unto itself. A title like "Phantom Zone Adventures" or "Tales of Krypton" may pique the casual shopper's interest. "Chronicles volume 5" isn't a hook for anyone who isn't already on board with that particular series.
Aug 12 09 8:45 AM
dstepparch wrote: When all you do is take lines out of context that miss a point D.
Aug 12 09 8:53 AM
DavidTai wrote: but right now Archives are not selling, low cost formats are popular and DC is adapting to the market. You're confusing sales with profitability in this regard. The thing here is, as FFF pointed out, DC has a much smaller margin of profitability with the Chronicles compared to Archive -per unit-. That means it has to move that many more Chronicles compared to Archives in order to make the same amount of profit. The current Chronicles -don't- have the seps cost, because that's already been carried by the Archives - so the margin of profitability is a bit bigger because the costs of the color seps aren't factored in here. But if you factored in the cost of the color seps, suddenly the profitability margin becomes much smaller, meaning it -must- sell even more units in order to remain profitable. Or you could raise prices, but then you'd likely lose -some- sales because people are going to just not buy them (see: people who dropped Archives because it went up to 60 instead of staying at 50) If DC is going to the trouble to do color seps for -Chronicles- because they think it's going to be profitable, it seems more likely they'd just release it as an Archive in the first place, where the margin of profitability is much higher to begin with. Or to put it this way, and this is a -very- simplistic estimate, I think Chronicles would have to sell about 2-3 times as many as Archives, assuming costs to be a 20 bucks chronicle vs a 60 bucks archive, to have the same amount of profitability, assuming -both lines- had the same preparation costs. I don't -think- they actually sell that many, even with the chronicles -not- having the same preparation costs.
but right now Archives are not selling, low cost formats are popular and DC is adapting to the market.
Aug 12 09 8:59 AM
Stepping back from the small war for a minute, I'd like to comment on what I see as FFF's most significant suggestion. That is, that a themed titled collection (e.g. "Jimmy Olsen's Crossdressing Adventures") probably has better sales potential than e.g. "Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen: The Complete Chronicles volume 5".
Aug 12 09 9:22 AM
clessidraman wrote: If you think about it there is no reason why a Jimmy Olsen transformations has to sell more then (for example) Lois Lane in 1954 at the same same price point and page count, the readership is the same.
Aug 12 09 9:26 AM
But David that is exactly what Showcase does, it make little profit and sell in larger quantities because of the low price tag and that is my point, Archives as a high price item are not selling as they used to while lower cost items like Showcase and Chronicles and TPBs do, so what if DC has to spend money to color material from Showcase? They do it all the time with all kinds of TPB.
If you think about it there is no reason why a Jimmy Olsen transformations has to sell more then (for example) Lois Lane in 1954 at the same same price point and page count, the readership is the same.
Posts: 158
Aug 12 09 9:51 AM
Aug 12 09 9:52 AM
Aug 12 09 10:03 AM
Well, I'm sure you're right. Archive publishing and sales is no doubt incredibly complex and beyond my grasp. I'm foolish to even generally speculate about them based only on part of the sales picture, inside info from retailers I know, comments I've collected from DC staffers, internet polls of 600+ customers, 12 years of interacting with Greenberger, Brevoort and others on-line. Without COMPLETE information and context, everything I "know" is most likely wrong, insufficient to provide even general indications. Patterns that haven't deviated in 10 years? Meaningless.
Aug 12 09 10:11 AM
Posts: 5248
Aug 12 09 10:18 AM
DC Forum Moderator
pdilley wrote: let's get back to what each of us does well and contributes here
Rest assured - I'm not going anywhere. I'll continue to interact and share ideas with the vast majority of posters here, and just avoid those who choose to employ sarcasm as a weapon of last resort in their arguments.
I just find engaging in that sort of thing a waste of my time.
Thanks for your support, Patrick.
Posts: 21946
Aug 12 09 10:23 AM
Forum Moderator
Aug 12 09 10:30 AM
I think you are arguing a false dichotomy. You have no evidence for your argument that non-serial is superior to serial in sales/marketing value.
FFF, how can coloring a TPB make it non profitable when DC does TPBs every month? You see my point?
Aug 12 09 10:53 AM
Aug 12 09 11:13 AM
Aug 12 09 8:12 PM
Aug 12 09 8:16 PM
It is that desire to make profit from owned properties, together with the significant cost of printing, that make me believe a digital distribution of this material should be announced an-n-n-ny day now. It just makes sense.
Posts: 7162
Aug 12 09 8:36 PM
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