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No. 165409
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Source?
Brian Hibbs wrote something similar about Marvel's double shipping:
http://www.savagecritic.com/retailing/the-problem-with-marvels-current-strategy/
>One primary consideration is that every book, every where, (nearly) every time, suffers from what we generally refer to as “standard attrition” — that is to say that virtually every comic shows a slightly decreasing audience each and every month as readership walks away, or gets sidetracked. There are certainly ways to get bunches of new eyes looking at a book (crossovers used to do it… not so much any longer), and spike those numbers up again… but the general rule is a slow steady leak in all serialized entertainment.
>What happens when you produce your comics twice a month is that the decreasing demand curve does nothing but accelerate because you’re giving readers more opportunities each month to “jump off”; and, in fact, you’re making it considerably easier TO jump off, because it is that much easier to get behind...
>I can’t say for certain about any other store, but at mine, while I sell the most DOLLARS to every-Wednesday readers (thems tending to be the most voracious of consumers to begin with), there are way way way more readers (at least 3:1, maybe as much as 5:1) who get to come in once-a-month maybe?If you’re lucky 15-16 times a year, but many more can only can get in 4-5 times a year.
>A corollary to this is that I rack the last 3 issues of any given series, and this is how I have operated for 23 years now. I’ll break this pattern for things that are hot and are continuing to sell well (I’m still practically selling sets of BATMAN #1-6 almost every week, for example), but that does NOT describe most Marvel comics today. What THIS means is that if issues are put out every 2 weeks, instead of every month, then any given issue is only going to be able to be displayed for 6 weeks, rather than 12. This, too, lowers sales...
>Marvel’s Market Trajectory is dire now, and here’s my anecdote of how bad I think it is: umpty-years ago, when Marvel went exclusive with Heroes World Distribution, therefore setting off a set of dominoes which have almost everything to do with the market’s current state, I decided the only real protest I could make was to not carry Marvel comics on my racks. I would carry every preorder that people wanted to place, but I was unwilling to spend my own money on something that was clear was absolutely against my best interests. There was a …15, 16 month period, I guess?… where Marvel comics were officially “subs only” at Comix Experience (our sales actually increased during those quarters as well, which I found interesting — I attributed it to more rack space being given over to other books; expose = sales.)
>Anyways, today in February of 2012, I’m selling fewer copies of AVENGERS and UNCANNY X-MEN, including both subs and rack sales than I was selling of AVENGERS and UNCANNY during the Year-Without-Racked-Marvels. That’s CRAZY. I had like 32 subs alone for UNCANNY back then — now I can barely sell 20 copies TOTAL of UNCANNY. Because UNCANNY is $4, and because it ships more-than-monthly, I’m grossing more dollars now than I was then… but it’s too a tiny audience, with little prospect for growth… because it is $4 and more than monthly.
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