Valiant Entertainment - July Sales Estimates

[Donovan]

I stopped ordering the Variants this month, so that's over 50 copies of X-O right there...

With two higher ratio incentive covers in one month, I had to bail.

[slimydog]

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

+1

[slimydog]

We are Valiant collectors, we are different than any other Universe collector, How many other Universes have fan panels and the type of get togethers across the country like we do...it's easy they dont.
-Brian

Hell yeah.

[Dallow Spicer1]

Yikes! At least X-O did better than expected. And Q&W it seems couldn't have came at a better time. Thank the Valiant gods for Asmus and Fowler!

Well, depends what you expected. Even at 21k copies, it'd be the weakest launch in vei history. The next best launch, Archer & Armstrong, sold about 23.500 units.

The difference between the launch of Quantum & Woody and the other titles is for some reason it seems to have gained more attention from the wider comic related sites/podcasts which I assume will transfer into increased sales. So my guess is that the average sales of Q&W won't drop to the level of A&A (whilst the same creative team stays on board at least).

[Paul Nolan]

The drops for A&A 11 compared for 10 is easily explained, and is down to Diamonds flawed chart system.

A&A 10 came out the first release date of June and had 3 weeks of comic reorders included in the numbers.

A&A 11 came out the THIRD week of the month which meant fewer reorders would be included in the mix.

With the latest Harbinger the same thing is in effect. If the book ships on a later week than usual you'll see a hit on the numbers shipped because reorder activity will slip past the chart cut off date.

[BugsySig]

The drops for A&A 11 compared for 10 is easily explained, and is down to Diamonds flawed chart system.

A&A 10 came out the first release date of June and had 3 weeks of comic reorders included in the numbers.

A&A 11 came out the THIRD week of the month which meant fewer reorders would be included in the mix.

With the latest Harbinger the same thing is in effect. If the book ships on a later week than usual you'll see a hit on the numbers shipped because reorder activity will slip past the chart cut off date.

That makes way too much sense. Who let you in here? Why don't you have a chart?

[lorddunlow]

The drops for A&A 11 compared for 10 is easily explained, and is down to Diamonds flawed chart system.

A&A 10 came out the first release date of June and had 3 weeks of comic reorders included in the numbers.

A&A 11 came out the THIRD week of the month which meant fewer reorders would be included in the mix.

With the latest Harbinger the same thing is in effect. If the book ships on a later week than usual you'll see a hit on the numbers shipped because reorder activity will slip past the chart cut off date.

That's a little more reassuring.

[tchalla8]

The drops for A&A 11 compared for 10 is easily explained, and is down to Diamonds flawed chart system.

A&A 10 came out the first release date of June and had 3 weeks of comic reorders included in the numbers.

A&A 11 came out the THIRD week of the month which meant fewer reorders would be included in the mix.

With the latest Harbinger the same thing is in effect. If the book ships on a later week than usual you'll see a hit on the numbers shipped because reorder activity will slip past the chart cut off date.

Interesting...so you actually have re-orders for these titles not show up in the numbers because they don't happen in the same month as the initial release.

Who let the man with the brain in here?

[Paul Nolan]

Interesting...so you actually have re-orders for these titles not show up in the numbers because they don't happen in the same month as the initial release.

Who let the man with the brain in here?

Yep, its also why you see the really big publishers always release their biggest crossovers on the first Wednesday of the month, the maximum reorders can be added to initial orders to give them that little push over and above their rivals.

Not to mention when you see Marvel and DC books from the month before showing up at the bottom of the top 300, all bets are on they were released at the end of the previous month.

[tchalla8]

Interesting...so you actually have re-orders for these titles not show up in the numbers because they don't happen in the same month as the initial release.

Who let the man with the brain in here?

Yep, its also why you see the really big publishers always release their biggest crossovers on the first Wednesday of the month, the maximum reorders can be added to initial orders to give them that little push over and above their rivals.

Not to mention when you see Marvel and DC books from the month before showing up at the bottom of the top 300, all bets are on they were released at the end of the previous month.

So the take away from all this is....reported numbers don't mean jack squat when it comes to overall sales....or anything else for that matter.

[lorddunlow]

Interesting...so you actually have re-orders for these titles not show up in the numbers because they don't happen in the same month as the initial release.

Who let the man with the brain in here?

Yep, its also why you see the really big publishers always release their biggest crossovers on the first Wednesday of the month, the maximum reorders can be added to initial orders to give them that little push over and above their rivals.

Not to mention when you see Marvel and DC books from the month before showing up at the bottom of the top 300, all bets are on they were released at the end of the previous month.

So the take away from all this is....reported numbers don't mean jack squat when it comes to overall sales....or anything else for that matter.

ding ding ding We have a winner!

[Paul Nolan]

Interesting...so you actually have re-orders for these titles not show up in the numbers because they don't happen in the same month as the initial release.

Who let the man with the brain in here?

Yep, its also why you see the really big publishers always release their biggest crossovers on the first Wednesday of the month, the maximum reorders can be added to initial orders to give them that little push over and above their rivals.

Not to mention when you see Marvel and DC books from the month before showing up at the bottom of the top 300, all bets are on they were released at the end of the previous month.

So the take away from all this is....reported numbers don't mean jack squat when it comes to overall sales....or anything else for that matter.

They do provide a comparison provided the same comic gets released the same week every month (except 5 week months mean extra re-order activity for comics released in weeks 1-4) but any variation in release circumstance, and you can only analyze skewed numbers.

When you also add in to the equation that no-one knows how digital sales are performing (do they suffer from attrition like shop comics? is comixology gaining users?) how lucrative foreign licensing deals are etc etc. its really not worth using the numbers for anything.

[Dallow Spicer1]

Just so I'm clear....reorders are significant enough to account for a 2k drop in orders as reorders may not be included for July? So retailers can reorder a comic in the same month it actually gets released? So, for some retailers they will have ordered A&A, realised they haven't ordered enough and then order more but this hasn't been counted? Will this even out the following month? Presumably A&A will have orders of 14k plus (ie the usual 12k + 2k 'missing' reorders)?

Apologies for all of the follow up questions but I'm not fully understanding what happened?

[lorddunlow]

Just so I'm clear....reorders are significant enough to account for a 2k drop in orders as reorders may not be included for July? So retailers can reorder a comic in the same month it actually gets released? So, for some retailers they will have ordered A&A, realised they haven't ordered enough and then order more but this hasn't been counted? Will this even out the following month? Presumably A&A will have orders of 14k plus (ie the usual 12k + 2k 'missing' reorders)?

Apologies for all of the follow up questions but I'm not fully understanding what happened?

Yes. A real life example: My LCS just forgot to add Q&W to my order when it was solicited. Release day, I said, "hey, where's my Q&W?" He said, "I forgot to add it to your order, and it looks like I sold all of my copies. I'll order you one." He ordered it on the spot. I'm sure this happens quite a bit, plus if stores don't order enough, etc., etc.

[tchalla8]

Will this even out the following month? Presumably A&A will have orders of 14k plus (ie the usual 12k + 2k 'missing' reorders)?

I would assume it doesn't even out in reported numbers because what's reported is only for the new issue for that particular month and not anything re-ordered from the previous month;s release.

[Dallow Spicer1]

Will this even out the following month? Presumably A&A will have orders of 14k plus (ie the usual 12k + 2k 'missing' reorders)?

I would assume it doesn't even out in reported numbers because what's reported is only for the new issue for that particular month and not anything re-ordered from the previous month;s release.

Yeah, that does make sense actually (although highlights the massive flaw in the data). Cheers

[BugsySig]

Will this even out the following month? Presumably A&A will have orders of 14k plus (ie the usual 12k + 2k 'missing' reorders)?

I would assume it doesn't even out in reported numbers because what's reported is only for the new issue for that particular month and not anything re-ordered from the previous month;s release.

They are only reported if the reorder number is large enough to appear in the top 300. I believe it happened once for an issue of XO, but that may have been a 2nd printing (I forget).

Look at TPB sales, for example. TWD Vol 1 is almost always in the top 10 because it gets reordered. Of course trades are reprinted all the time where as monthlies are not, but retailers can reorder monthlies until Damond's stock runs out. I bet you could go on there right now and get at least 50 issues of Turok #1...those have got to still be in the back room somewhere

[Aram]

Will this even out the following month? Presumably A&A will have orders of 14k plus (ie the usual 12k + 2k 'missing' reorders)?

I would assume it doesn't even out in reported numbers because what's reported is only for the new issue for that particular month and not anything re-ordered from the previous month;s release.

They are only reported if the reorder number is large enough to appear in the top 300. I believe it happened once for an issue of XO, but that may have been a 2nd printing (I forget).

Look at TPB sales, for example. TWD Vol 1 is almost always in the top 10 because it gets reordered. Of course trades are reprinted all the time where as monthlies are not, but retailers can reorder monthlies until Damond's stock runs out. I bet you could go on there right now and get at least 50 issues of Turok #1...those have got to still be in the back room somewhere

Nope. Didn't you hear? They buried 700,000 of them in the lot next to the atari ET cartridges and covered it with cement. Unfortunately it was only 700,000... so the remaining Million+ copies still make it the most over printed Valiant book in existence.

[greg]

Valiant sales went from 77K books to 87K books.

[CallMeBloodshot]

Valiant sales went from 77K books to 87K books.

nice

[Dallow Spicer1]

Valiant sales went from 77K books to 87K books.

nice

X 2

[kevinbastos]

Valiant sales went from 77K books to 87K books.

Great work, Charty.

I mean, GREG!



I mean... Uh.... Greg! We worship you! NO! NO! NOT EVIL GREG!

[kjjohanson]

Valiant sales went from 77K books to 87K books.

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

[kjjohanson]

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

[greg]

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

5,300 in July.
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