Valiant Entertainment - July Sales Estimates

[jmatt]

At this rate, in 20 years there will be as many VEI comics as Turok #1s

[leonmallett]

The A&A Far Far Away arc is fantastic, one of the best arc's of the re-launch

if people/valiant fans aren't reading this arc ...they are missing out

the drop in sales does not coincide with any drop in quality

[leonmallett]

Is there any way to publicly access total sales including reorders of each discrete VEI issue (even if North A,merica only)?

[BugsySig]

Is there any way to publicly access total sales including reorders of each discrete VEI issue (even if North A,merica only)?

Nope. Comichron is the site that I think best estimates the orders, but only for the top 300. This month, for the first time in a long time, Diamond released the total number of units sold per publisher. If you subtract the sales of those in the top 300, it would give you the number of reorders from previous books. That's the closest you could get, but it won't tell you which books received the reorders, they don't release it every month, and it may not even include books outside the top 300...so basically you are S.O.L.

[kjjohanson]

So how many reorders are necessary to make the top 300?

5,300 in July.
http://www.comichron.com/monthlycomicss ... 13-07.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So chances are we're not going to get an accurate assessment of the true numbers of A&A, unless it make an unlikely jump.

[Paul Nolan]

So how many reorders are necessary to make the top 300?

5,300 in July.
http://www.comichron.com/monthlycomicss ... 13-07.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So chances are we're not going to get an accurate assessment of the true numbers of A&A, unless it make an unlikely jump.

We're not going to get an accurate assessment of ANY comic.....

[mateo107]

i do believe them when they say they're quite content with the numbers on q&w. i think this is what the relaunch of a "cult series" which never sold a lot of comics in the first place, can do.

going by comichron, this new Q&W #1 seems to have sold better than the original in 1997.

it's a shame to see the sales fall on several books, but at least VEI's overall sales are up $10K, and X-O went up as well.

[StarBrand]

Any thoughts as to why X-O went up? Btw, Paul Nolan for president.

[BugsySig]

Any thoughts as to why X-O went up? Btw, Paul Nolan for president.

It was the released July 10, just 2 weeks after the end of Planet Death. So it had less time for reader apathy to set in, features EW, was billed as a new "jumping on point" and had 3 weeks of potential reorders. It also had 4 covers, including a 1:50.

[StarBrand]

Any thoughts as to why X-O went up? Btw, Paul Nolan for president.

It was the released July 10, just 2 weeks after the end of Planet Death. So it had less time for reader apathy to set in, features EW, was billed as a new "jumping on point" and had 3 weeks of potential reorders. It also had 4 covers, including a 1:50.

Thanks.

[grendeljd]

It's kind of unfortunate that these numbers are so inaccurate (and thanks to Paul for sharing your knowledge about this), because seeing the numbers probably has an effect on some people's decisions to support or ignore some titles.

I'm generalizing here, but I suspect the average persons on this board interested in these sales analysis threads are likely to be hardcore fans who won't be swayed to drop a book if its numbers appear to be dropping, but what about the casual fan who comes across these reports elsewhere on the Internet?

Most people would have no idea how accurate/inaccurate these figures are, it's a shame to think of the adverse effect on public opinion that supposedly poor numbers may have...

[StarBrand]

It's kind of unfortunate that these numbers are so inaccurate (and thanks to Paul for sharing your knowledge about this), because seeing the numbers probably has an effect on some people's decisions to support or ignore some titles.

I'm generalizing here, but I suspect the average persons on this board interested in these sales analysis threads are likely to be hardcore fans who won't be swayed to drop a book if its numbers appear to be dropping, but what about the casual fan who comes across these reports elsewhere on the Internet?

Most people would have no idea how accurate/inaccurate these figures are, it's a shame to think of the adverse effect on public opinion that supposedly poor numbers may have...

Good point. These numbers aren't doing Valiant any favors.
These types of inaccuracies must also occur on average at the same rate with all titles from all other comic book publishers as they do with Valiant titles, though. So, IDW title x, for example, would be subject to the same inaccuracies as Valiant title x, and therefore an average person could be swayed by those potential inaccuracies affecting that articular IDW title as that person could likely be swayed by these Valiant numbers. So, all comic book titles are potentially affected by these types of inaccuracies relative to public opinion, not just the Valiant titles.

[Phoenix8008]

It's kind of unfortunate that these numbers are so inaccurate (and thanks to Paul for sharing your knowledge about this), because seeing the numbers probably has an effect on some people's decisions to support or ignore some titles.

I'm generalizing here, but I suspect the average persons on this board interested in these sales analysis threads are likely to be hardcore fans who won't be swayed to drop a book if its numbers appear to be dropping, but what about the casual fan who comes across these reports elsewhere on the Internet?

Most people would have no idea how accurate/inaccurate these figures are, it's a shame to think of the adverse effect on public opinion that supposedly poor numbers may have...

Good point. These numbers aren't doing Valiant any favors.
These types of inaccuracies must also occur on average at the same rate with all titles from all other comic book publishers as they do with Valiant titles, though. So, IDW title x, for example, would be subject to the same inaccuracies as Valiant title x, and therefore an average person could be swayed by those potential inaccuracies affecting that articular IDW title as that person could likely be swayed by these Valiant numbers. So, all comic book titles are potentially affected by these types of inaccuracies relative to public opinion, not just the Valiant titles.

Actually, I disagree that seeing numbers like this might encourage someone to drop a Valiant book. In all my years of collecting comics, adding things to pull lists, removing titles from said pull lists, etc... I can't think of one time that I thought to myself 'Hmmm, I really like this Uncanny X-Men comic, but it's sales just dropped this month so maybe I should stop buying it. Obviously it's an inferior product and isn't going to stand the test of time. I'll just be a lemming and drop it because some others did so.'

I've also never heard anyone I know make this argument. If I am going to read or drop a title, it'll be because I like it/don't like it, or can't afford it. Not because it had bad numbers one month, or even 6 months in a row. Heck, if I really liked the comic and wanted to try to help the company keep it going, I'd think about buying two copies to try and help out.

[Paul Nolan]

But people won't bother trying a book if they think it will end soon.

[kjjohanson]

But people won't bother trying a book if they think it will end soon.

Have you ever used recent sales numbers as a determinant as to whether you will buy a book? I make my decisions based on quality.

[BugsySig]

But people won't bother trying a book if they think it will end soon.

True, but I don't think that many people actually look at the sales numbers. I never looked at a sales number until the VEI launch. If a book is always late, constantly changing creative or there are rumors of pending cancellation, that was how I'd determine if a book was worth continuing/picking up. Out of the VEI books, only Shadowman has had any big issues with creative changes, no books have shipped late, and every indication is all the books will continue for the foreseeable future.

[Phoenix8008]

But people won't bother trying a book if they think it will end soon.

True, but I don't think that many people actually look at the sales numbers. I never looked at a sales number until the VEI launch. If a book is always late, constantly changing creative or there are rumors of pending cancellation, that was how I'd determine if a book was worth continuing/picking up. Out of the VEI books, only Shadowman has had any big issues with creative changes, no books have shipped late, and every indication is all the books will continue for the foreseeable future.

+1 QFT

I can't imagine someone who would do a business analysis of a title before reading it to determine if they are going to spend the $4 or not. Is one month enough data to be sure that it's worth the $4? Maybe get a 6 month statistical analysis before deciding, just to be sure. If they aren't already reading the title, they're not gonna care enough to go hunt up the statistics for sales IMHO. But I suppose for a few people out there in the world, it may be the path they take. I just don't see it being a threat to VEI's continued growth (and eventual domination of the comic book industry! ).

[BugsySig]

But people won't bother trying a book if they think it will end soon.

True, but I don't think that many people actually look at the sales numbers. I never looked at a sales number until the VEI launch. If a book is always late, constantly changing creative or there are rumors of pending cancellation, that was how I'd determine if a book was worth continuing/picking up. Out of the VEI books, only Shadowman has had any big issues with creative changes, no books have shipped late, and every indication is all the books will continue for the foreseeable future.

+1 QFT

I can't imagine someone who would do a business analysis of a title before reading it to determine if they are going to spend the $4 or not. Is one month enough data to be sure that it's worth the $4? Maybe get a 6 month statistical analysis before deciding, just to be sure. If they aren't already reading the title, they're not gonna care enough to go hunt up the statistics for sales IMHO. But I suppose for a few people out there in the world, it may be the path they take. I just don't see it being a threat to VEI's continued growth (and eventual domination of the comic book industry! ).

Maybe if someone came up with some kind of a chart...

[jmatt]

Maybe if someone came up with some kind of a chart...

He's never around when you need him. I'll take a look down in Greg's private reading room on level 3.

[BugsySig]

Maybe if someone came up with some kind of a chart...

He's never around when you need him. I'll take a look down in Greg's private reading room on level 3.

Can I "quote" you on that?

[grendeljd]

But people won't bother trying a book if they think it will end soon.

I generally agree with everything Phoenix8008 said in counterpoint to my comments above - ultimately I was just idly musing on the idea of dropping sales figures creeping into social media news articles/podcasts etc. If the info is there for the enthusiasts, and those who are writing publicly about this stuff, I'd hate to see the trickle-down effect of their opinions affecting readers choices based on inaccurate info.

I think Phoenix is absolutely right, no one does in-depth market research before deciding to buy a comic off the shelf. I don't. And Bugsy makes a good point too, there are other more important factors like the quality of the book & timeliness of its release that would have a greater impact on buyers choices... But as Paul said above, I think there would also be some people who wouldn't try something out if they thought it was tailing off or going to end due to 'poor' sales*

*relatively speaking.

[retrovideogameaddict]

While I would love to see Valiant achieve higher orders, I don't think that these numbers are bad by any stretch and I think the company is probably profiting nicely from numbers such as this. Especially since digital sales aren't really a part of this equation.

Valiant will continue to grow and the fact that they want to create more books tells me that the numbers they're selling are raking in enough cash to continue to expand and that their wallets are just fine. So congrats to Valiant on the good work!