Wonder Woman Sales Figure Discussion

[americanwonder]

Hi TheShadow,

First, we're trying to save this thread for sales figures, and there's another thread now for discussion (a bit confusing, I know).

Second, I think your comments regarding DiDio hating people are uncalled for. No, they don't have great success selling comics staring female leads or non-caucasian men, but then neither does Marvel or any company really. It's not as if the publishers want these comics to fail.

[Gaelforce]

All moved and taken care of :)

[slvn]

I disagree, Wonder Woman's core readers in America were not alienated in any sense. They are still there reading the book, something like 20 to 30 thousand readers or so and that's half the sales and they are gonna read anything with the label "Wonder Woman" in it even if Dan Didio decide to made her black, asian, alien or even a man.

If that's the case, it's good new for Azzarello and Chiang run. If the "core readers" aren't going anywhere, then there's no reason for the revelations in #7 to cause any particular decline (which would be reflected, if it were to happen, in the May numbers or later).

Meanwhile on the other half is where sales are dropping because people were curious and amused about but the trick to keep them reading and following the book is fading away just like all New 52's gimmicks.

You're right that some new readers and collectors who bought the early numbers have surely dropped away. But there are other people--and you can find some of them on the boards--who weren't reading the book before but love it now and are continuing to buy it. Sales have been declining less almost every month, and based on the index (see above), they don't appear to have gone down very much at all in April. It may be that most people who were going to leave have left.

As foretold Wonder Woman sales are dropping and they will not stop dropping because you turn the character into New Coke or in the worst case scenario Crystal Pepsi and people may like something new for awhile but in the end the taste will not last.

For the Coca-Cola company, the problem with New Coke was that fans of the old recipe left. According to you, fans of the old Wonder Woman aren't going anywhere. If that's the case, then DC has very little business incentive not to change the "recipe" back. Their worst case scenario would be that they get a year or so of improved sales before dwindling down to the "core readership." Then they can bring the Amazons back as zombies, nab the Walking Dead fans for a year, and then start over again.

[americanwonder]

... Then they can bring the Amazons bac as zombies, nab the Walking Dead fans for a year, and then start over again.

Lady Death and the Zombizons? It could work. ;)

[RandomFalls]

So comichron already has it's sales estimates up http://www.comichron.com/monthlycomi...2/2012-04.html

They're estimating WW sales at 50,450, which is pretty darn good (though next month it'll drop below 50K which makes me sad) but it's a pretty low drop this month.

For quick comparison, last months numbers - 51,314

[slvn]

So comichron already has it's sales estimates up http://www.comichron.com/monthlycomi...2/2012-04.html

They're estimating WW sales at 50,450, which is pretty darn good (though next month it'll drop below 50K which makes me sad) but it's a pretty low drop this month.

For quick comparison, last months numbers - 51,314

Yeah, that's excellent. If the drop is less than 1,000 again for May, I think we'll have to start saying it may have stabilized. That may not happen in May, due to some people dropping the title because of the revelations in #7. But it it doesn't stabilize in May, I suspect it will in the next few months, and at a level not much lower than 45k.

[Dr. Hurt]

How the hell did Flash get so high up? It's even beaten Aquaman.

[slvn]

How the hell did Flash get so high up? It's even beaten Aquaman.

I'm pretty sure Flash has ranked higher than Aquaman every month; I know it was in March and February. Aquaman's success gets talked about more because its more unusual for that character.

Aquaman (at #11) is doing better than flash in digital sales, though, according to the rankings DC just gave CBR (for digital sales of DC comics in a week in April). Flash is at 18--just ahead of Wonder Woman!

[Rob_Olivera]

Yeah, that's excellent. If the drop is less than 1,000 again for May, I think we'll have to start saying it may have stabilized. That may not happen in May, due to some people dropping the title because of the revelations in #7. But it it doesn't stabilize in May, I suspect it will in the next few months, and at a level not much lower than 45k.

I'm responsible for 1 book sale dropping! I went digital! I think you did too, didn't you SLVN!? That's 2 books! LOL. We need to start digging the internet to see when Digital Sales are reported. Aren't they supposed to, being a publicly traded company?!

[slvn]

I'm responsible for 1 book sale dropping! I went digital! I think you did too, didn't you SLVN!?

I did, but I did it back in September. I think #7 has been the only issue I've bought as a hard copy. (No, not because I was so excited about the new Amazobn backstory! I just happened to visit a comics shop that week.)

We need to start digging the internet to see when Digital Sales are reported. Aren't they supposed to, being a publicly traded company?!

Interesting question. I'm sure Time Warner has to report a lot, but I wouldn't have thought it would go all the way down to the level of how many comics were sold digitally, let alone how many digital issues of each book. For now, at least DC is giving the top twenty list to CBR. It was nice to see Wonder Woman on the list, even if she is only one spot from the bottom.

[americanwonder]

Sales only dropping 800 orders is indeed excellent, especially during a big event like AvX.

Also, I think Slvn is right in that a company like Time Warner doesn't have to report sales/costs at all levels. It would be fun to know, but I don't think we'll see them reported anytime soon. Does Marvel report their digital sales/subscriptions?

[Rob_Olivera]

I did, but I did it back in September. I think #7 has been the only issue I've bought as a hard copy. (No, not because I was so excited about the new Amazobn backstory! I just happened to visit a comics shop that week.)



Interesting question. I'm sure Time Warner has to report a lot, but I wouldn't have thought it would go all the way down to the level of how many comics were sold digitally, let alone how many digital issues of each book. For now, at least DC is giving the top twenty list to CBR. It was nice to see Wonder Woman on the list, even if she is only one spot from the bottom.

Well since we're there...

Let's say they're not "required" to drill-down to stats such as:

Title A = 4000 downloads
Title B = 5500 downloads, etc.. etc..

Let's say they report something such as: 2012 = $980,000.00 in digital sales, then... we average out!

980,000 / 52 =$18,846.00 per title in a year. Divided by 12 (months) = $1,570.51. Divided by 3.99 = 393 downloads.

so, 50,341 hard units sold + 393 downloads = 50,734 actual Wonder Woman generated sales between both mediums. Of course, the eventual 393 number is only an estimated number if we had an actual $980,000.00 published figure, but you get what I'm trying to say.

[americanwonder]

I guess we could assume the digital sales are proportional to hard copy, but I'm not sure they even report total sales for digital.

It would be interesting to see if some comics sold significantly better in one medium over another.

[Rob_Olivera]

I guess we could assume the digital sales are proportional to hard copy, but I'm not sure they even report total sales for digital.

It would be interesting to see if some comics sold significantly better in one medium over another.

The last I read a few months ago, digital sales were approximately 4-7% of earned revenues. The numer grows every month, but not by leaps and bounds. I'm not sure if we'll live to see the day, but I do think one day, a long time from now hard copies will disappear to be replaced by all digital.

[americanwonder]

The last I read a few months ago, digital sales were approximately 4-7% of earned revenues. The numer grows every month, but not by leaps and bounds. I'm not sure if we'll live to see the day, but I do think one day, a long time from now hard copies will disappear to be replaced by all digital.

4-7% and growing? That's cool to know. Thanks for the info.

Yeah, I'm confident digital is the future. Maybe they can at least collect the best stuff later (that's my prefered choice).