VALIANT April 2013 Sales Discussion

[BugsySig]

1%!

1.11% to be exact, with just 6 books (and some trades)

And all that in an April that was down almost 6% in unit sales from March. That's huge.

Top 10 Publishers in April:

PUBLISHER DOLLAR SHARE UNIT SHARE
MARVEL COMICS 37.95% 41.78%
DC ENTERTAINMENT 25.98% 27.72%
IMAGE COMICS 9.04% 9.87%
IDW PUBLISHING 7.54% 5.59%
DARK HORSE COMICS 4.35% 4.09%
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT 2.98% 2.60%
BOOM! STUDIOS 1.92% 1.97%
VALIANT ENTERTAINMENT 1.04% 1.11%
EAGLEMOSS PUBLICATIONS 0.94% 0.19%
ZENESCOPE ENTERTAINMENT 0.80% 0.72%

When the full numbers come out next week, I predict Harbinger Wars to have done very well. It was in the top 10 for advance reorders in March, which is a good sign.

Expect Harbinger and Bloodshot to have gotten a boost from the crossover as well, and XO to continue to hold strong as Planet Death continued.

I'll be curious to see if Shadowman continues to perform well and lands as the #2 [continuing] VALIANT title.

[magnusr]

It's a landmark! Very happy to see it. Still gotta ask if the big ones had less issues out than normal?

/Magnus

[Phantom]

Great news

[drmirage]

I'm always exciting in hearing about this. VEI's a company the other publishers are keeping an eye on.

[FormerReader]

I hope we see the numbers increasing across all the titles this month.

[bygranddesign]

[Baramos]

I have to say, with only six titles that actually is incredibly impressive. Look at Dynamite for instance, it has 2.9% of the market share, but dozens and dozens of titles (I read The Shadow and Green Hornet, but that's about it...), whereas Valiant only has six. So any one individual Valiant title is undoubtedly selling more than any one individual Dynamite title. Going with this theory and logic, if Valiant increases the amount of titles they sell, they should be able to start rivaling Dynamite and Boom! in the next couple of years.

[erwinrafael]

I have to say, with only six titles that actually is incredibly impressive. Look at Dynamite for instance, it has 2.9% of the market share, but dozens and dozens of titles (I read The Shadow and Green Hornet, but that's about it...), whereas Valiant only has six. So any one individual Valiant title is undoubtedly selling more than any one individual Dynamite title. Going with this theory and logic, if Valiant increases the amount of titles they sell, they should be able to start rivaling Dynamite and Boom! in the next couple of years.

unless the titles start cannibalizing each other's audiences.

[BugsySig]

I have to say, with only six titles that actually is incredibly impressive. Look at Dynamite for instance, it has 2.9% of the market share, but dozens and dozens of titles (I read The Shadow and Green Hornet, but that's about it...), whereas Valiant only has six. So any one individual Valiant title is undoubtedly selling more than any one individual Dynamite title. Going with this theory and logic, if Valiant increases the amount of titles they sell, they should be able to start rivaling Dynamite and Boom! in the next couple of years.

unless the titles start cannibalizing each other's audiences.

Dynamite will have a book here and there that outsells the VALIANT titles, but not often (The Shadow has done well, and the Masks crossover for example).

Undoubtedly as the number of titles increase, they will cannibalize each other, but the market place has been growing steadily so there is room for growth.

[Phantom]

Dark horse is going to drop when it no longer publishes starwars/

Adventure time is helping boom.

Something else but I forgot.

Go valiant !!!

[shadow5555]

Probably going to drop my monthly Shadowman in favor of waiting for TPB's (as I mentioned before, just can't get to the LCS as much as I'd like due to my work schedule, mostly that and price has a major part in it too) I'm sure that's not going to help the bottom line for them, but then again I am rebuying TPB's of books I already own (I have 1-5 of Shadowman and the TPB of Vol 1 coming Monday and Vol 2. preordered already) and if I do manage to get in I'll grab the zero issues since they weren't announced in collections yet and probably Harbinger Wars as well.

Looking forward to them re-taking their spot in the top 3 back where they belong.

[BugsySig]

Probably going to drop my monthly Shadowman in favor of waiting for TPB's (as I mentioned before, just can't get to the LCS as much as I'd like due to my work schedule, mostly that and price has a major part in it too) I'm sure that's not going to help the bottom line for them, but then again I am rebuying TPB's of books I already own (I have 1-5 of Shadowman and the TPB of Vol 1 coming Monday and Vol 2. preordered already) and if I do manage to get in I'll grab the zero issues since they weren't announced in collections yet and probably Harbinger Wars as well.

Looking forward to them re-taking their spot in the top 3 back where they belong.

I think the hope is eventually the tpb market will be just as big a revenue generator as the monthlies. Look at what Image is able to do with trades...its the majority of the profits for most of their books.

So don't feel bad, just be sure to preorder the trades either through your LCS or a service like DCBS. That way VEI has a better indicator of how many copies to make.

[manga4life]

More success for Valiant? I'm not surprised at all! They're a financial success, a critical success, and sooner or later they'll be a media success and it's all thanks to a wonderful and hard working creative staff and management team.

Bigger things are coming......I have foreseen it......

[Phoenix8008]

April Sales figures!!
110 Harbinger Wars 1 18,729
141 Harbinger 11 14,299
148 Bloodshot 10 13,376
151 X-O Manowar 12 13,216
170 Shadowman 6 11,759
175 Archer & Armstrong 9 11,125

Graphic Novels
68 X-O Manowar Vol. 2 Enter Ninjak 1,638
80 Shadowman Vol. 1 Birth Rites 1,428

[tchalla8]

April Sales figures!!
110 Harbinger Wars 1 18,729
141 Harbinger 11 14,299
148 Bloodshot 10 13,376
151 X-O Manowar 12 13,216
170 Shadowman 6 11,759
175 Archer & Armstrong 9 11,125

Graphic Novels
68 X-O Manowar Vol. 2 Enter Ninjak 1,638
80 Shadowman Vol. 1 Birth Rites 1,428

I have no idea if this is good or bad

[cdgodin]

Somewhat disappointed with Harbinger Wars sales. I expected them to be in the 30,000s.

[Phoenix8008]

Nice numbers from all the titles with Harbinger Wars leading the pack as expected! And a nice kiting effect pulling Bloodshot up into 3rd place... above X-O even!

[BugsySig]

April Sales figures!!
110 Harbinger Wars 1 18,729
141 Harbinger 11 14,299
148 Bloodshot 10 13,376
151 X-O Manowar 12 13,216
170 Shadowman 6 11,759
175 Archer & Armstrong 9 11,125

Graphic Novels
68 X-O Manowar Vol. 2 Enter Ninjak 1,638
80 Shadowman Vol. 1 Birth Rites 1,428

March #s for comparison:

135 X-O Manowar 11 $3.99 Valiant 15,765
153 Shadowman 5 $3.99 Valiant 13,145
167 Harbinger 10 $3.99 Valiant 12,196
180 Archer & Armstrong 8 $3.99 Valiant 11,072
183 Bloodshot 9 $3.99 Valiant 10,959

Trades:

44 Archer & Armstrong Vol. 1 $9.99 Valiant 1,852
133 Valiant Masters Ninjak HC Vol. 1 Black Water $24.99 Valiant 930


I did think Harby Wars would break 20k, but it was close (2nd printing maybe?). A&A even, Harbinger Wars tie in books with a 2-2.5k boost, Shadowman down 2k as it still moves to level out (still only at issue 6). XO a slight dip after the start of Planet Death, but it still sits around 13k which seems to be its floor right now.

I am hopeful the two #0 issues, the $1 debuts and FCBD keep the momentum going in May.

[greg]

Somewhat disappointed with Harbinger Wars sales. I expected them to be in the 30,000s.

Shadowman #1 was 25,000 and only the 5th title... seems odd to predict 30,000 for Harbinger Wars as the 6th.

[Phoenix8008]

Somewhat disappointed with Harbinger Wars sales. I expected them to be in the 30,000s.

I'm fairly optimistic despite this number, although I didn't have an expectation so it's harder to be dissapointed. It's a limited series, so it doesn't have the same collecter appeal for it's #1 issue as the ongoing series do. So the fact that this has a pretty good number starting out should mean that it will stay stable at that number approximately for its whole run of 4 issues (hopefully) instead of the giant drop off in sales after the first issue. So if that is a 'true' number that will stay stable, this means that there are more readers than usual (based on the sales figures of the other regular titles) checking out this series. Which fits with the jump in sales for Harbinger and Bloodshot as well!

My hope is that any new readers checking this out that weren't already ready any Valiant titles will stick with some of them now and grow the overall sales for the company. Or that the story and changes to titles like Bloodshot attract more readers than they push away and keep the sales numbers of those ongoing titles that are connected to this mini-series bolstered from what they were before it started.

Can't wait to go home and add these figures into my Excel sheet and update my homage to Charty to include April data!

[BugsySig]

Somewhat disappointed with Harbinger Wars sales. I expected them to be in the 30,000s.

Shadowman #1 was 25,000 and only the 5th title... seems odd to predict 30,000 for Harbinger Wars as the 6th.

You can also basically count the additional Bloodshot and Harbinger sales toward the HW #. That would put it around 23-24k in additional sales.

[shadow5555]

Probably going to drop my monthly Shadowman in favor of waiting for TPB's (as I mentioned before, just can't get to the LCS as much as I'd like due to my work schedule,

I think the hope is eventually the tpb market will be just as big a revenue generator as the monthlies. Look at what Image is able to do with trades...its the majority of the profits for most of their books.

So don't feel bad, just be sure to preorder the trades either through your LCS or a service like DCBS. That way VEI has a better indicator of how many copies to make.

That's the problem though (see bold quote) and one of the main reasons to go to TPB's for me, is that I can't get into the LCS, so Amazon, has become my defacto comic book resource for pretty much everything that is collected.

I can't remember what year I bought any TPB's or special edition books from my LCS and my singles are usually older stuff (I grab off of Ebay or am finishing collections off with) with the exception of the new Valiants and some of the new 52, which I'm considering dropping altogether (I think I have 3 or 4 books on my pull at the moment, Shadowman being one) I just cannot make it in, and to order those TPB's from the LCS is more hassle than it's worth at this point, when Amazon is 10X more convinient for me.

And I think that bears out in as you mentioned Image is pulling in big bucks with TPB's (walking dead being massive for them, I'd be curious to know where it sold better LCS, Amazon or elsewhere?)

[manga4life]

Nice bumps in orders for Harbinger and Bloodshot this month, and unlike others I didn't expect Harbinger Wars to break 20k, I was expecting between 17-18k in orders. Still, that's more than enough to draw Valiant come profit and to widen your number of readers, so great job to Valiant this month!

[BugsySig]

Probably going to drop my monthly Shadowman in favor of waiting for TPB's (as I mentioned before, just can't get to the LCS as much as I'd like due to my work schedule,

I think the hope is eventually the tpb market will be just as big a revenue generator as the monthlies. Look at what Image is able to do with trades...its the majority of the profits for most of their books.

So don't feel bad, just be sure to preorder the trades either through your LCS or a service like DCBS. That way VEI has a better indicator of how many copies to make.

That's the problem though (see bold quote) and one of the main reasons to go to TPB's for me, is that I can't get into the LCS, so Amazon, has become my defacto comic book resource for pretty much everything that is collected.

I can't remember what year I bought any TPB's or special edition books from my LCS and my singles are usually older stuff (I grab off of Ebay or am finishing collections off with) with the exception of the new Valiants and some of the new 52, which I'm considering dropping altogether (I think I have 3 or 4 books on my pull at the moment, Shadowman being one) I just cannot make it in, and to order those TPB's from the LCS is more hassle than it's worth at this point, when Amazon is 10X more convinient for me.

And I think that bears out in as you mentioned Image is pulling in big bucks with TPB's (walking dead being massive for them, I'd be curious to know where it sold better LCS, Amazon or elsewhere?)

TWD is such an aberration...it probably sells well everywhere.

I only buy trades except for VALIANT, which I buy digitally. If I can, I preorder through DCBS because they usually have very good discounts. If I'm looking for back volumes I go through Amazon or InStockTrades.com.

Right now I am getting Saga, Manhattan Projects, Locke & Key and Hawkeye as they come out in trade. Probably gonna add Young Avengers to that. I also just started reading Chew, so I'll be getting those trades, too.

[400yrs]

Somewhat disappointed with Harbinger Wars sales. I expected them to be in the 30,000s.

Shadowman #1 was 25,000 and only the 5th title... seems odd to predict 30,000 for Harbinger Wars as the 6th.

You can also basically count the additional Bloodshot and Harbinger sales toward the HW #. That would put it around 23-24k in additional sales.

Yep. The HW, Bloodshot and Harby numbers are good.

The one I'm a bit disappointed with is the X-O number. Yeah, there's going to be a bit of drop from the first issue of planet death, but I was hoping it would've retained more people than it did.