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Readership in Comics

Started by westform,

30 posts in this topic

Flaming_Telepath

Flaming_Telepath

Posted
Posted
Folks, what I'm getting from the response so far, and granted there haven't been many, is that all this stuff about readership declining is purely anecdotal. Yes, readership per ind. title might be down, yes, there might be fewer comic stores out there.... but overall readership might be up given that there are many, many more titles to choose from and many more outlets to buy or read comics. Maybe comic stores are fewer because many people are using subscription services, or buying at mass market outlets like Borders or Walmart,... or even reading their comics online?!? Also, there are many who don't read comics monthly, but instead wait for the trade paperback compilations (I am in this group)!!

 

The bottom line for me so far, I wish we could forgoe the assumed argument that readership is down and that will hurt comic art in the future. There seems not to be any emperical evidence to support this argument. For all we know, readership is way up as evidenced by the uprising of comics in the popular culture via movies, toys, video games, and yes, trade paperbacks. This may in fact be another 'golden age' of comic readership... all taking place under our limited radar.

 

OK, if you need the evidence, I have extremely good connections with two comic shop, one based 30 miles outside of London, one based right in the very centre of London. I have actually worked with both of them at some point over the last ten years.

 

One has been in business 14 years, the owner of the other has been in it for 17 years.

 

According to both of them, sales of new comicbooks has declined dramatically over the last ten years...fewer and fewer books are being bought year on year.

 

So much so that they are now forced to carry as much peripheral krap (busts, cards, DVDs) as the store will hold to cover the severely declining income from comics. They have also got to the point where some titles will only be ordered for pull list customers, with maybe only a copy or two left for the shelves. Back ten years ago, their 'shelf stock' would start on every book at ten copies and move upwards. Now, they can barely afford to stock them at all.

 

Yes, the TPB are ever-increasing in popularity, but if you add these units sales to the units sales of the source material, you also don't get anywhere close to the units sales of 10 years ago.

 

What is most concerning about this is that I'm talking about comparing 2007 to mid-90s...which in itself was no great shakes. Very few TPBs, nothing like the range of titles we see now....and sales could never match up against 10 and 20 years prior.

 

One of the owners of the shops actually has predicted that comics as we know them will die within 10-12 years. TPBs are the wave of the future, but without the source material already there to be compiled, just what is the market going to look like?

 

Can you imagine Bryan Hitch having to complete what amounts to five or six comics before the TPB can get released? :insane:

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Mighty Hal

Mighty Hal

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Thanks, Flaming Telepath. That's what Frank (from my local comic shop) is telling me, too. I remain friends with a former owner of small comics place -- and she says her contacts are saying the same thing, too. Owners aren't getting by on comics alone; and their back issues, if they sell at all, are usually being sold on eBay.

 

Trade paperbacks make up for some of the slippage, of course. But, if no one reads the original comic, will there be a market for the TP?

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gaz973

gaz973

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Speaking as someone who still enjoys getting about 30 moderns per month, I would say that the cost is definitely the main factor pushing sales down. How many kids want to lay out that sort of money on a regular basis with so much other stuff they can spend it on?

The vanishing of comics from newsagents, etc and various other factors have helped but the only answer is that existing collectors need to breed more children faster and brainwash them into comics. Otherwise we're doomed, I tell's ya. DOOMED.

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Satya-migration

Satya-migration

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Trade paperbacks make up for some of the slippage, of course. But, if no one reads the original comic, will there be a market for the TP?

 

Ok, this seemed a somewhat strange assumption - that only if you read the original comics would you go and buy the TPBs. There are people who do not buy the regular comics of ongoing titles, choosing instead to wait for the trades as they come out. This is with regards to modern, ongoing titles.

 

 

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JayT

JayT

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Trade paperbacks make up for some of the slippage, of course. But, if no one reads the original comic, will there be a market for the TP?

 

Ok, this seemed a somewhat strange assumption - that only if you read the original comics would you go and buy the TPBs. There are people who do not buy the regular comics of ongoing titles, choosing instead to wait for the trades as they come out. This is with regards to modern, ongoing titles.

 

 

I think what was being pointed out was that if the individual issues don't sell well the publisher (except in unique cases) won't decide to put the arc/run/series in a trade. The thought being that yes, some people wait for the trade which could reflect in the initial sale, some series just suck and that's why people don't buy them in the first place and interest would not be there for a trade. This doesn't apply to some lines that are definitely written with the trade in mind (a lot of Vertigo).

 

If a regular new marvel or DC title sales 10,000 copies - you probably won't see it get traded.

 

What I think the industry is going to run into is a bit similar to what has the TV networks adapting - where people definitely don't watch some shows due to time issues (or several others) and wait for the DVD and what occurs is several shows that would eventually find an audience get canceled and find it later on DVD.

 

It will be interesting to see how it evolves.

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