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Diamond's July Sales Report

Started by drice6900,

53 posts in this topic

Kevin Boyd

Kevin Boyd

Posted
Posted

60,000 copies at $3.00 each = $180,000

- 50% to dealer = $90,000

- 5-10 cents/copy printing = $3000-6000

- distributor costs = ??

---------------------

Just what is Marvel's revenue/issue before deducting cost of paying creatives? My guess is somewhere in the neighbourhood of $50-70K

 

versus

 

25 Cents would be a time period before the direct market, where a significant portion of the print run was returnable. Let's jump ahead to 60 cents, when the direct market was booming

 

200,000 copies at $0.60 each = $120,000

- 50% to dealer = $60,000

- 3-5 cents to print = $6000-10000

- distributor costs = ???

-------------------------------------------------

So around 1984, they were making approx. $25-50,000 on an individual issue.

 

So, in theory, they are actually making more money, but selling less. Creative costs are up as well. So that may make up the difference.

 

TPBs and hardcovers are a little more difficult to detail, but needless to say that this is where the meat of today's additional profits are coming from. Now, with trade paperbacks and books, they have an additional revenue stream and can double (tpb) or even triple (hardcover and tpb) on the same material. Not to mention that they are cheap to prep once the comics have been done. Unless they decide to do a new cover or an extras section there are no creative costs involved.

 

But let's say a TPB sells 5000 copies at $15 each = $75K

 

deduct printing, dealer discount and distributor costs and you end up with a $25-30K bonus. Usually they overprint for reorders so they have additional future revenues.

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AlexH

AlexH

Posted
Posted
60,000 copies at $3.00 each = $180,000

- 50% to dealer = $90,000

- 5-10 cents/copy printing = $3000-6000

- distributor costs = ??

---------------------

Just what is Marvel's revenue/issue before deducting cost of paying creatives? My guess is somewhere in the neighbourhood of $50-70K

 

versus

 

25 Cents would be a time period before the direct market, where a significant portion of the print run was returnable. Let's jump ahead to 60 cents, when the direct market was booming

 

200,000 copies at $0.60 each = $120,000

- 50% to dealer = $60,000

- 3-5 cents to print = $6000-10000

- distributor costs = ???

-------------------------------------------------

So around 1984, they were making approx. $25-50,000 on an individual issue.

 

So, in theory, they are actually making more money, but selling less. Creative costs are up as well. So that may make up the difference.

 

TPBSs and hardcovers are a little more difficult to detail, but needless to say that this is where the meat of today's additional profits are coming from. Now, with trade paperbacks and books, they have an additional revenue stream and can double (tpb) or even triple (hardcover and tpb) on the same material. Not to mention that they are cheap to prep once the comics have been done. Unless they decide to do a new cover or an extras section there are no creative costs involved.

 

But let's say a TPB sells 5000 copies at $15 each = $75K

 

deduct printing, dealer discount and distributor costs and you end up with a $25-30K bonus. Usually they overprint for reorders so they have additional future revenues.

 

Is it possible that you know TOO much? insane.gif

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RustyStaple

RustyStaple

Posted
Posted

A lot of good points Kevin.. 893applaud-thumb.gif

 

When you have 100-200 books available per month at you LCS it gets tough to pick and choose when so many are available, and most long-time readers of a given title will always continue to pick that book up, which could come at the expense of a new title.

 

I disagree with the industry aiming towards an older market too, most 'new' readers today are actually returning fanboys from years ago. But how do you solve the problem?

 

Bill

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Kevin Boyd

Kevin Boyd

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Posted

I disagree with the industry aiming towards an older market too, most 'new' readers today are actually returning fanboys from years ago. But how do you solve the problem?

 

Well, those returning fanboys are now older, aren't they? The current creators are trying to lure these older fanboys back by enticing them with guys like Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld. Who were at the top of the food chain before they quit buying comics a decade ago. God help us if MacFarlane ever awakens from his slumber.

 

Comics also try to appeal to their sensibilities by making characters from their childhood, such as this entire generation that grew up with 80's cartoon characters and related comics (Transformer, GI Joe, Thundercats, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Masters of the Universe, Ghostbusters) and making them slightly more sophisticated than their original counterparts. They also try to lure them in with their favorite movies and TV shows... Aliens, Predators, Buffy, Star Wars, Army of Darkness, Terminator, etc. and the new wave of successful comic book movies also lures back these 20 and 30 somethings by reminding them just how cool Spider-Man can be when done right.

 

To entice NEW readers, these guys are also doing whatever they can - basically throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the walls to see what will stick.

 

Take a look at DC - they are now launching a manga line, a foreign graphic novel reprint line, unifying their children's line, solidifying their superhero universes further (if Identity Crisis isn't a super-hero story written for adults I don't know what is), and appealing to goth girls and Tarantino fans with the bulk of their Vertigo line.

 

Marvel, well, Marvel's kind of screwed up at the moment. They seem to think multiple covers, incentives, more x-men books and deaths for the sake of increased sales is the way to go. Now they are getting into creator owned books. Adult comics were hit or miss.

 

The problem of course, as always, is MORE is never the way to go. Too much diversity always spreads the buyers out too thin and leads to confusion and apathy. That is what killed companies like Valiant, and more recently, CrossGen. Why DC and Marvel don't look at their core titles and tell strong, self contained stories is beyond me. Every story arc doesn't have to be a six part epic and they don't have to launch a half-dozen new titles each month.

 

My favorite book right now is Planetary. Each issue is self-contained but fits within the larger framework of the work as a whole. This is great story-telling and an excellent example of comics done right. It should be a Top 10 book, but since it doesn't have any of the fan-favorites in it it ends up being a Top 50 or 100 title when it comes out (which is too infrequent, and also hurts the title immensely).

 

If only Amazing Spider-Man were organized in such a way, they might actually begin to retain readers rather than lose readers with each subsequent issue until the next "event" brings the speculators and casual fans running back.

 

Perhaps Whedon and Cassaday on Astonishing X-Men is the way to go. If only the stories had been self-contained we would be looking at the great superhero book of 2004 - one that brings in and holds new fans (because of Whedon), art fanboys (because of Cassaday) and X-Men fanboys (because it's the X-Men) and continues to build an audience and a new generation of X-Men fans. The rest of the line certainly doesn't help do that (Chris Claremont AGAIN - what were they thinking?)

 

It certainly isn't Jim Lee's Superman.

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mitol

mitol

Posted
Posted

Marvel, well, Marvel's kind of screwed up at the moment. They seem to think multiple covers, incentives, more x-men books and deaths for the sake of increased sales is the way to go. Now they are getting into creator owned books.

 

In the past year especially, I keep sensing that Marvel's financial plan (comics only) is completely for short-term gain. Long term, their hope is to consistently make one short-term gain after another. It's almost similar to watching WWE and Vince McMahon's storylines. Shock 'em here, shock 'em there, but keep the gimmicks just short enough not to loose the audience's attention. Case in point, Joe Quesada was asked if he had planned to return any other title to its original numbering (eg. Avengers #500). His response was not unless there was a significant number. Well, Daredevil has only seven issues before #450 or maybe they'll just wait until the big #500. Make the extra bucks off the sales of a significant numbered issue and then figure out what to do after that.

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Kevin Boyd

Kevin Boyd

Posted
Posted

http://www.newsarama.com/pages/Tilting/Tilting_8.htm

 

It looks like Brian Hibbs has been thinking about this as well.

 

He takes this week's books as a perfect example of the problem with the modern market. Let's look at the big two individually.

 

DC COMICS

ACTION HERO ARCHIVE VOLUME 1 HC $49.95

ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #631 $2.50

ASTRO CITY SPECIAL $3.95

BATGIRL #55 $2.50

BATMAN ADVENTURES #17 $2.25

BATMAN DEATH AND THE MAIDENS TP $19.95

BATMAN GOTHAM KNIGHTS #56 $2.50

BIRDS OF PREY #72 $2.50

BOOKS OF MAGICK LIFE DURING WARTIME #2 (MR)

DC COMICS PRESENTS ATOM #1 $2.50

DEICIDE VOL 1 TP (MR) $14.95

EX MACHINA #3 (MR) $2.95

FALLEN ANGEL #14 (MR) $2.95

FRACTION #5 $2.50

GREEN ARROW ARCHERS QUEST TP $14.95

HAWKMAN #31 $2.50

HERO #19 $2.50

HUMAN TARGET #13 (MR) $2.95

I AM LEGION THE DANCING FAUN $6.95

JSA STRANGE ADVENTURES #1 (Of 6) $3.50

LUCIFER #53 (MR) $2.50

MANHUNTER #1 $2.50

PLASTIC MAN #9 $2.95

POWERPUFF GIRLS #53 $2.25

ROBIN #129 $2.25

SANDMAN ENDLESS NIGHTS TP (MR) $17.95

SUPERMAN GODFALL HC $19.95

SUPERMAN THE GREATEST STORIES EVER TOLD TP

TERRA OBSCURA VOL 2 #1 (Of 6) $2.95

TOUCH #5 $2.50

WILDCATS CYBERFORCE KILLER INSTINCT TP

 

Yikes. That's 22 comics, 6 trade paperbacks, 2 hardcovers, and 1 new graphic novel for a grand total of 31 items. There are 5 Batman family books out this week plus 1 Batman TPB

 

MARVEL

CABLE DEADPOOL #6 $2.99

DAREDEVIL #63 $2.99

DOCTOR SPECTRUM #1 (Of 6) (MR) $2.99

ESSENTIAL IRON FIST VOL 1 TP $16.99

EXILES #51 $2.99

FANTASTIC FOUR #517 (Note Price) $2.99

INVADERS #1 $2.99

LOKI #3 (Of 4) $3.50

MAN THING #2 (Of 3) $2.99

MARVEL AGE SPIDER-MAN #10 $2.25

MARY JANE #3 $2.25

NEW X-MEN #4 $2.99

ROGUE #2 $2.99

SHE HULK #6 $2.99

STARJAMMERS #3 $2.99

SUPREME POWER #12 (MR) $2.99

ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #64 $2.25

WEAPON X #27 $2.99

WOLVERINE #18 $2.25

X-MEN #160 $2.25

X-MEN DAYS OF FUTURE PAST TP $19.99

X-MEN THE END BOOK ONE DREAMERS AND DEMONS #2 (OF 6) $2.99

 

Although fewer releases this week for Marvel than DC with only 20(!) comics and 2 tradepaperbacks.

 

However here's the worst offender: 9 X-BOOKS (+ 1 TPB), 3 SPIDER-MAN BOOKS, Supreme Power and it's first spin-off Doctor Spectrum, 4 Avengers related books (including FF which ties into Disassembled. She-Hulk, Invaders and Loki). That's 19/22 accounted for.

 

It's no wonder that Daredevil gets lost in the mix as he's all alone! Man-Thing never had a chance! The other odd man out is Essential Iron Fist, but there's enough x-and-Spider-content in there to make it qualify as an honorable member of their respective groupings.

 

The other thing is that half of these titles had issues ship two weeks prior. In five weeks most of these titles have had three issues ship!

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awe4one

awe4one

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Ten of the 22 offerings for Marvel are issue #6 or below which indicates either a new series or mini. That's too many in one week. And of course, how many are really necessary? I'm of the belief that minis should be the exception not the norm and be done only when the story is of an appropriate scale or importance to warrant a "special" printing. Stories that don't meet this criteria could be run or touched on in their normal monthly family title. And I bet if it was, the story would suddenly be compressed from 6 issues to 1 or 2. Probably not a bad thing as the story would be free of all the filler that predominates current minis.

 

Sounds to me Marvel need to gather some focus. Just because you can print X numbers of issues weekly or a month doesn't mean it's necessary or warranted. A little restraint could go a long way....

 

Jim

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Kevin Boyd

Kevin Boyd

Posted
Posted

Let's look at Marvel's output for November 2004: From Previews:

 

AVENGERS LINE:

NEW AVENGERS #1 $2.25 = $

AVENGERS FINALE #1 $3.50 = $

CAPTAIN AMERICA #1 $2.99 = $

IRON MAN #1 $3.50 = $

NEW THUNDERBOLTS #1 $2.99 = $

NEW THUNDERBOLTS #2 $2.99 = $

AVENGERS EARTHS MIGHTIEST HEROES #1 (Of 8) $3.50 = $

AVENGERS EARTHS MIGHTIEST HEROES #2 (Of 8) $3.50 = $

OFFICIAL HANDBOOK MARVEL UNIVERSE BOOK OF THE DEAD 2004 $3.99

CAPTAIN AMERICA & THE FALCON #9 $2.99 = $

SHE HULK #9 $2.99 = $

INVADERS #4 $2.99 = $

THOR SON OF ASGARD #10 $2.99 = $

TOTAL: 13 (average of 3.25/week)

 

X-MEN BOOKS:

ASTONISHING X-MEN #7 $2.99 = $

WOLVERINE #22 $2.25 = $

X-MEN THE END BOOK ONE DREAMERS AND DEMONS #5 (Of 6)

EXCALIBUR #7 $2.99 = $

UNCANNY X-MEN #452 $2.25 = $

GAMBIT #4 $2.99 = $

NIGHTCRAWLER #3 $2.99 = $

X-MEN #164 $2.25 = $

ROGUE #5 $2.99 = $

MYSTIQUE #21 $2.99 = $

NEW X-MEN #7 $2.99 = $

EXILES #54 $2.99 = $

SABRETOOTH #3 (Of 5) $2.99 = $

STARJAMMERS #6 (Of 6) $2.99 = $

CABLE DEADPOOL #9 $2.99 = $

X-FORCE #4 $2.99 = $

ALPHA FLIGHT #9 $2.99 = $

MADROX #3 (Of 5) $2.99 = $

EMMA FROST #17 $2.99 = $

JUBILEE #3 $2.99 = $

DISTRICT X #7 $2.99 = $

NYX #7 $2.99 = $

TOTAL: 22 (5.5 books/week)

 

THE ULTIMATE LINE:

ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #13 $2.25 = $

ULTIMATE NIGHTMARE #4 (Of 5) $2.25 = $

ULTIMATE X-MEN #53 $2.25 = $

ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #68 $2.25 = $

ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #69 $2.25 = $

ULTIMATE ELEKTRA #4 (Of 5) $2.25 = $

TOTAL: 6 (avg. 1.5/week)

 

SPIDER-MAN

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #514 $2.25 = $

MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN #8 $2.99 = $

AMAZING FANTASY #6 $2.99 = $

SPIDER-MAN INDIA #1 $2.99 = $

SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #21 $2.25 = $

SPIDER-MAN UNLIMITED #6 $2.99 = $

MARVEL TEAM-UP #1 $2.25 = $

MARVEL TEAM-UP #2 $2.25 = $

SPIDER-GIRL #80 $2.99 = $

Total: 9 books (2.25/week)

 

MARVEL AGE KIDS LINE:

MARVEL AGE SPIDER-MAN #15 $2.25 = $

MARVEL AGE SPIDER-MAN #16 $2.25 = $

MARVEL AGE SPIDER-MAN TEAM UP #3 $1.75 = $

MARVEL AGE HULK #3 $1.75 = $

MARVEL AGE FANTASTIC FOUR #8 $2.25 = $

Total 5 books (1.25/week)

 

NEW! The Daredevil line - I guess he's not alone!

DAREDEVIL #67 $2.99 = $

ELEKTRA THE HAND #4 (Of 5) $2.99 = $

BULLSEYE GREATEST HITS #3 (Of 5) $2.99 = $

BLACK WIDOW #3 (Of 6) $2.99 = $

Total 4 books (1/week)

 

FANTASTIC FOUR LINE!

FANTASTIC FOUR #520 $2.99 = $

HULK AND THING HARD KNOCKS #3 (Of 4) $3.50 = $

MARVEL KNIGHTS 4 #12 $2.99 = $

Total 3 books (0.75/week)

 

OTHER MARVEL U & MARVEL KNIGHTS & MARVEL MAX:

MARVEL HOLIDAY SPECIAL 2004 $3.99 = $

PULSE #6 $2.99 = $

WARLOCK #3 $2.99 = $

POWERLESS #6 (Of 6) $2.99 = $

TOMB OF DRACULA #2 $2.99 = $

DOCTOR SPECTRUM #4 (Of 6) (MR) $2.99 = $

THE PUNISHER #13 (MR) $2.99 = $

THE PUNISHER #14 (MR) $2.99 = $

Total 8 (2/week)

 

ICON:

POWERS #6 (MR) $2.95 = $

KABUKI #3 (MR) $2.99 = $

 

MERCHANDISE & BOOKS:

NEW AVENGERS #1 POSTER $5.95 = $

ART OF MARVEL VOL 2 HC $29.99 = $

MARVEL MASTERWORKS AVENGERS VOL 4 2ND ED HC $49.99 MARVEL MASTERWORKS GOLDEN AGE CAPTAIN AMERICA VOL 1 2ND ED

MARVEL ENCYCLOPEDIA VOL 6 FANTASTIC FOUR HC $29.99 = $

ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN VOL 5 HC $29.99 = $

ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN VOL 11 CARNAGE TP $12.99 = $

THE PULSE VOL 1 THIN AIR TP $13.99 = $

DAREDEVIL VOL 10 THE WIDOW TP $17.99 = $

PUNISHER MAX VOL 2 KITCHEN IRISH TP $14.99 = $

BLADE BLACK & WHITE TP $15.99 = $

ESSENTIAL IRON MAN VOL 2 TP $16.99 = $

VENOM VOL 3 TWIST TP $13.99 = $

SHE-HULK VOL 1 SINGLE GREEN FEMALE TP $14.99 = $

X-STATIC VOL 4 X-STATIX VS AVENGERS TP $19.99 = $

ALPHA FLIGHT VOL 1 YOU GOTTA BE KIDDIN ME TP$14.99 = $

POWERS FOREVER TP (MR) $19.95 = $

SPIDER-MAN ENTER DOCTOR OCTOPUS KIDS CHAPTER BOOK $8.99

MARVEL AGE SPIDER-GIRL VOL 2 DIGEST TP $7.99 = $

MARVEL AGE FANTASTIC FOUR VOL 2 DIGEST TP $5.99 = $

Total: 5 hardcovers (1.25/week), 12 tradepaperbacks (3/week), 2 digests (0.5/week) and one kid's book)

 

------------

 

That's 72 comics (18/week average)

5 hardcovers, 12 tradepaperbacks, 2 digests, 1 poster, 1 kid's chapter book

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Kevin Boyd

Kevin Boyd

Posted
Posted

Ten of the 22 offerings for Marvel are issue #6 or below which indicates either a new series or mini. That's too many in one week. And of course, how many are really necessary? I'm of the belief that minis should be the exception not the norm and be done only when the story is of an appropriate scale or importance to warrant a "special" printing. Stories that don't meet this criteria could be run or touched on in their normal monthly family title. And I bet if it was, the story would suddenly be compressed from 6 issues to 1 or 2. Probably not a bad thing as the story would be free of all the filler that predominates current minis.

 

Sounds to me Marvel need to gather some focus. Just because you can print X numbers of issues weekly or a month doesn't mean it's necessary or warranted. A little restraint could go a long way....

 

 

No kidding!

 

Their current plan is to make everything a mini-series - if it's successful it becomes an ongoing. For example, I thought Supreme Power was only going to be 12 issues, now it's an ongoing. Emma Frost and Thor: Son of Asgard benefitted from this as they were originally minis and were successful enough to become ongoing titles, which means they have simply commissioned another 4-6 issue storyarc.

 

If an ongoing is unsuccessful it becomes a mini-series. Like Thanos.

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