Surveying the Great Comic Book Sales Chart Debate
Let’s look at the results of a ComicsPRO straw poll about one of the most talked about topics from behind-the-scenes in comics.
While the fracturing of the comic book distribution landscape 11 has had a great many impacts in recent years, one of the most publicly lamented has been the loss of sales charts. They still exist, to some degree, with ICv2’s data from ComicHub, a point of sale system used by around 125 shops, 12 being the most clear and public representation of that. But almost everyone I’ve talked to in comics questions the usefulness of these charts, if only because it offers readers an incomplete view of the market, 13 which means there’s little confidence in the sales data that’s currently available.
That’s resulted in plenty of discussions behind the scenes about the value more comprehensive sales charts — whether that’s sell-in, meaning sales from the distributor to comic shops, which is what Diamond Comic Distributors used to report and entities like Comichron would analyze, or sell-through, which would be sales from shops to customers, something the industry has never really had — could have in the direct market. You might know where I stand already. I wrote about the topic last year and firmly came down in the camp of sales charts are a want, not a need.
That’s because the the stated value of sales charts has always been that they make it easier for comic shops to make informed decisions while ordering, 14 but as far as I can tell, very few — if any — retailers use them in that way, and we’re in a boom period where sales are up significantly without rankings to guide anyone. If sales charts were so crucial, then how do you explain the ups and downs of the market during an era that’s lacked them?
Everyone has their own take on this, though, many of which differ from mine, as I know from having a great many conversations about this very topic. But those discussions have mostly been with a few people rather than a wider swath of stakeholders, which made me wonder: What do the varying folks who work in the direct market think?
That’s why getting more opinions on the subject was one of my goals at the recent ComicsPRO, the conference for the trade organization for comic shops. I have my opinion, of course. But with many of the movers and shakers of the direct market attending this conference, I saw an opportunity to see where stay stand.
So, for the three and a half days I was there, I put together a straw poll of attendees. The goal was to talk to a mix of people, whether you’re talking about roles — participants included retailers, publishers, creators, press, and beyond, and I aimed for different roles and levels of experience for each — the region they’re from, gender, or whatever. While this was hardly a scientific study and I ultimately only picked up 60 total votes on the subject, 15 it was still an interesting exploration of a rather hot button topic in comics.
subscribers only.
Learn more about what you get with a subscription
Let’s speed run what happened. Diamond stopped distributing comics altogether for obvious reasons. DC stepped in and brought in a pair of new distributions, one of which stuck in Lunar Distribution. Penguin Random House stepped in, too. Diamond filed for bankruptcy and is effectively gone now. Universal Distribution is now getting involved.↩
Although that number is on the decline, from what I’ve heard.↩
It also generates other complaints, which I’m not going to get into, but trust me when I say those exist.↩
This is what I’ve always been told, but after posting this, it was pointed out to me that there are plenty of other reasons beyond that one, including some of the stated reasons below. Thus, this added footnote!↩
I would have gotten more but these conversations typically were more than just getting a person’s vote before I headed out. They almost always turned into lengthier chats, and I am but one person.↩
Speaking to the lack of science guiding me, there was some level of variation in how I asked people each time. I did my best to be consistent, though, and much of the variation connected to clarifying questions people would ask me.↩
Although one retailer I talked to was a hard no on both wanting and/or needing sales charts, simply because they just didn’t believe there’s any real value to them and they’ve seen the downside of how these numbers can toxify the conversation around comics.↩
Like the current “DC is wiping the floor with Marvel!” take, except backed by real data.↩
In multiple roles.↩
The rationale is that sell outs underline the risk aversion and a lack of foresight of publishers as much as anything.↩
Let’s speed run what happened. Diamond stopped distributing comics altogether for obvious reasons. DC stepped in and brought in a pair of new distributions, one of which stuck in Lunar Distribution. Penguin Random House stepped in, too. Diamond filed for bankruptcy and is effectively gone now. Universal Distribution is now getting involved.↩
Although that number is on the decline, from what I’ve heard.↩
It also generates other complaints, which I’m not going to get into, but trust me when I say those exist.↩
This is what I’ve always been told, but after posting this, it was pointed out to me that there are plenty of other reasons beyond that one, including some of the stated reasons below. Thus, this added footnote!↩
I would have gotten more but these conversations typically were more than just getting a person’s vote before I headed out. They almost always turned into lengthier chats, and I am but one person.↩