Forum - View topicCurrent Manga Sales
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skafreak51
 Posts: 212 |
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I've been wondering this for a while now. I know manga don't sell extremely well here, or rather, comics in the US don't sell much to begin with especially compared to Japan, but when I see actually tracked numbers it makes me confused.
I don't have the article on me, but earlier this year it was announced that manga made up 47% (or something like that) or the US graphic novel industry in terms of sales. Then, I see a website that tracks the numbers, like this.. http://www.icv2.com/articles/markets/22382.html And the numbers of manga sales don't even compare to the US graphic novel sales. Is this site correct, and manga just truly don't sell spectacular in the US? Either way, it makes me one sad puppy. Pitiful numbers for any of those series... |
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Touma
 Posts: 2651 Location: Colorado, USA |
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I believe that those numbers are correct, however those are for comic book stores. Those numbers do not include sales through regular book stores and on line stores, such as Amazon and Right Stuf. I do not think that there are any dependable numbers for manga sales because on line sales are not tracked. |
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TitanXL
 Posts: 4036 |
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IcV2 mainly reports sales through Diamond, which pretty much deal with comic shops. They do not count book stores like Barnes and Noble or general stores. Nor online sales for that matter.
It says right there "these are estimates of the sales on graphic novels by Diamond U.S. to comic specialty stores" Also keep in mind these are the units shipped to the stores, not what actually sells. They could sell 50,000 issues to the store, but only 20,000 are actually bought by people and the other 30,000 are rotting on the shelf non-returnable to the publisher. |
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marie-antoinette
 Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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Except that's not true, books are 100% returnable to the publisher. They may still be rotting unsold but it's the publisher that takes the hit for that, not the store. |
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Moomintroll
 Posts: 1600 Location: Nottingham (UK) |
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Stuff sold through Diamond to comic shops is almost always non-returnable. There are occasional promotional exceptions (e.g. the first issues in the recent relaunch of DC's titles) but, in general, it's a completely different set-up to regular book distribution. |
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marie-antoinette
Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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Are you sure that applies to manga as well as comics? I can understand the comics having a different model but I don't see why a manga publisher would use two different ones, especially when the reasoning for books being returnable would be identical (to convince the store to put more on the self and increase title visability).
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Moomintroll
Posts: 1600 Location: Nottingham (UK) |
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Diamond pretty much has a monopoly on distribution to almost all comic shops in North America and Diamond don't do returns.
What the publisher and the retailer would like doesn't really come into it - in the North American comics market the distributor is king. Most of the biggest US comic publishers have exclusive distribution contracts with Diamond for the "direct market" (i.e. comic shops). I think that includes at least some of the manga publishers (it certainly includes Dark Horse) so the retailers don't have any choice in the matter. Individual retailers could certainly make individual arrangements with publishers that aren't Diamond exclusive but most don't bother to do so. In other words, if manga publishers didn't use Diamond for direct market sales, most comic shops wouldn't order any of their stuff whatsoever. And, yes, that state of affairs is as screwed up and unhealthy as it sounds. On the other hand, traditional returnable bookshop sales aren't exactly always in the publisher's interests either - just ask anybody who used to work for Tokyopop... |
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marie-antoinette
Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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Interesting. Obviously most of my publishing knowledge comes from the main chain bookstores, who tend to deal directly with publishers for the most part.
And yeah, the book industry is a bit of a crazy beast when it comes to some companies having unhealthy shares in parts of it. Up here in Canada, Chapters/Indigo basically has a monopoloy on the market, enough that they can actually convince publishers to change the cover of books if the company doesn't like it, since if Chindigo doesn't carry a book it's pretty much sunk (there are a few independents left but they are few and far between, the biggest competition is probably Amazon.ca). And of course, there is always the unstoppable force that is Random House. Resistance is futile. |
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skafreak51
Posts: 212 |
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Returns or not, that's a relief. I know most manga fans don't but their manga at comic stores, so...
I'm relieved that some manga are selling more than 300 copies lol. |
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Alan45
 Village Elder Posts: 10013 Location: Virginia |
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Comic books (the floppies) were considered periodicals and were mostly sold at news stands and were returnable. About the time news stands started to die, the direct market stores opened with the basis that the comics were not returnable.
This was not the bad deal it seems. Since comics were rarely reprinted (no trade paper backs then) the back issued were usually collectible and would sell eventually, often at high prices. When trade paperbacks/graphic novels came out they were handled on the same basis. When manga first came out it was issued in floppies with no guarentee of a trade paperback. They were handled just like regular comics. Comics went through their own boom and bust in the 90's and many comic shops have been very careful about what they buy. Even before manga became available in book stores, my local comic shop was pre-order only for most manga titles. Now they don't carry any manga that is not pre-order for someone. I continue to buy from the comic shop because with pre-order I don't miss stuff and I get a discount for bulk orders. |
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Vertical_Ed
Company Representative
Posts: 278 Location: New York, NY |
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Yes. All Diamond sales are non-returnable. I know quite well as I sell and publish manga. |
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marie-antoinette
Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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LOL, thanks Vertical_Ed, I know better than to doubt you.
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marvinting
Posts: 3 |
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Thank u for sharing!
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