Forum - View topicNEWS: ICv2 Estimates U.S. Manga Sales Were Down 17% in 2008
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Tofusensei
Posts: 365 |
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That ain't good.
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rankothefiremage
 Posts: 523 Location: Michigan |
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It's better than alot of other industries, also given the cuts and delays in production it makes sense the the number sold would go down as well.
Also the traditional g-novel's have had a good year to a span of good comic related movies to draw people into getting them. (Batman, Iron man, the Hulk, and even the up coming watchmen) Considering how things are this isn't to bad, and companies have already started to adjust for it. -Gabe |
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Lemoncookies23
Posts: 355 |
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*Sigh*
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GeneralArrow
 Posts: 225 Location: United States |
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Its not good but unless larger retail and smaller comic stores come to the conclusion that 10 dollars is pricey this will continue to happen. Heck even 4 dollars for an American comic is getting kinda pricey these days.
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Richard J.
 Posts: 3367 Location: Sic Semper Tyrannis. |
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I think putting all the chairs near the manga section to encourage grazing might have more to do with it than the price. And the prices aren't exactly easy to bring down when you're already expecting low sales. Does anyone really believe the US manga publishers are moving tens of thousands of copies of everything? It's just like with anime, a few titles sell great and the rest barely make a profit or in some cases, don't.
The really sad thing is, if everyone reading scanlations bought the collected manga, the price tags would long ago have dropped substantially. |
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walw6pK4Alo
 Posts: 9322 |
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You can still grab a manga and walk to the cafe, even if it's across the store. And you can't stop people from reading without paying short of shrinkwrapping every product. The only annoyance you should have is the people who sit down in the actual aisle and block other people. And not everyone wants to collect manga, it's pricey for ones that go on really long, and people might not to re-read it either. And no, libraries can't always be counted on for having huge selections. |
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eyesopen0791
 Posts: 108 Location: A Sleepy Town in California |
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I think the decrease in manga sales are a result of the economic slowdown combined with saturation of titles. As bad as scanslations may be for the manga market, they wouldn't account for a significant one-year drop of 17%, unless we look at percentage stats for the last 5 years or so, then we can make guesses on a trend.
Quote: ICv2 surveyed manga publishers about their expectations for 2009, and estimates that approximately 1,224 graphic novels will be published in 2009 Is it just me, or does any manga publisher really put out targeted advertising for their manga titles? With over 1000 titles to be published, how does the average manga lover filter out what titles to read/buy? For me, I go by what's newly published, favorable ANN reviews, and positive buzz. |
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Ashen Phoenix
 Posts: 2947 |
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Indeed. I think, while of course it's not good to see a decrease, this can perhaps be seen as "the best of a bad situation" since, as you said, with the decline of sales in every aspect of business, it's actually not all that bad for manga and graphic novels, overall. If anything, I hope this could urge more fans to save up and buy more of their favorite series whenever possible instead of resorting to fan scans and the like. Since, at present, I think acting from a consumer's front, that is really the majority of what we can do to help at. |
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posterior_praiser
 Posts: 296 |
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Without scanlations i would not have bought even half the manga titles I own. I like to know that a manga is good before investing in it, esp. with longer titles. I think scanlations might actually help manga sales rather than depleat them (cause someone who would not have bought say, a long running shonen manga, might buy a few volumes with their favorite arc instead)
The drop in sales is probably due to a saturation of the market with alot of obscure titles, combined with losses in every sector of the economy this past year. |
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SakuraAlchemist
 Posts: 62 |
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*u* But that would be heaven if everything was shrinkwrapped... i could actually go in to a store, pick the volume i want off the shelf and buy it rather then having to inspect it only to find bent corners and lots of wear and tear and just putting it back. I Can never get the volumes i want because they are so beat up. ?_? i don't think i've been able to buy manga in months for this reason. (Me = Collector = will only buy if it's in new/perfect condition ) |
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fighterholic
Posts: 9193 |
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I think it's a matter of when that 17% drop occurred. If it was constant throughout the year, then there's reason to worry. If it happened right at the end, then obviously with the way financial situations are working then you would understand that everybody is affected by the slumping economy. Heck, even my company that I work for has been having to lay off people, though there had never been any major layoffs done in the four years that I have been there.
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britannicamoore
 Posts: 2618 Location: Out. |
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I think its the fact people really don't have much money anymore. That leads to less buying. In 07 I bought $50 of books a month more in some cases. Last year, I could barely afford to get 1 a every two months. Unless I had the cash.
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enurtsol
 Posts: 14889 |
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So that's why manga need to be turned into some good mainstream movies, preferably live-action. 
Watchmen has been the best selling GN for months and months now, and that's like $30-$40 each, and along with the other pricey Batman GNs, helped grow the American GN market to US$395 million, 56% of sales even with only 45% of the releases (meaning more sales per volume - it's cheaper to reprint more copies of a particular volume than print more different volumes). So people are buying. |
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Big Hed
 Posts: 1607 Location: Melbourne, Australia |
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I don't see why having everything shrinkwrapped needs to be such a big step. It's standard practice in both parts of the world that I live in (Kinokuniya is great, although Borders also feels it necessary to wrap two straps of duct tape around every volume, which is a pain in the ass in all honesty). |
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amono
 Posts: 11 |
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Here something for all of you to think about.
I noticed in my town that Wal-Mart has started selling manga! I kid you not, the worlds biggest retailer selling Fruits Basket, Bleach, and Naruto for 6 bucks a pop! So if Wal-Mart became a big distributor of manga it might mean cheaper "Always Low" prices : ). Would you buy manga at Wal-Mart? |
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