Book sales and bookstores up in 2015
The book is alive! Alive, I tell you! Bookstore sales rose in 2015 for the first time since 2007. It was only a modest...
Where Were the Creators For DC’s Relaunch?
Announcing how frequently your new titles ship, but not who the creators are says a lot about priorities...
ComicsPRO underway in Portland—is DC’s Rebirth on the agenda?
https://twitter.com/mr_oberts/status/700339353344540677
ComicsPRO, the annual meeting of the top retailers organization in North America, is taking place in Portland, OR for the next three days, with...
Wal-mart may set up their own graphic novel sections
Despite the jitters everyone is having about the Big Two's periodical publishing programs, as we reported the other day, graphic novels did pretty well in 2015, with sales up 22% in bookstores. Calvin Reid follows up on this sanguine report with an interview with Diamond Book Distributions Kuo Yu Liang, who says
2016 will probably be their best year ever.:
The latest Eric Stephenson tells-it-like-it-is interview pokes “dull, “bland” industry
Image Comics publisher Eric Stephenson is always quotable and evidently not afraid of being quoted, as he often tweaks other publishers in a blunt...
Ch-ch-ch-changes for The Beat
If you're a faithful Beat reader, you know the past year has been filled with discussions of the economics of running a comics news website. This talk was prompted by an unprecedented run of comics sites closing down or losing key personnel. I summed up a lot of my thoughts back in September, pointing out that the realities of the web make running any kind of independent site very difficult these days.
IDW announces new international licensing program, kicking things off with Archie
About a year ago, IDW made headlines by buying Top Shelf. They haven't topped that yet, but they do have a new business division:...
Must read: the last decade of graphic novel publishing and the next five
As we wrap up our big picture look at where it's at, here's a piece that Calvin Reid and I put together for Publishers...
Is Marvel’s Relaunch Stumbling Out of the Gate?
The November sales estimate headlines are all about how the market is up, owing to Dark Knight 3, Vader Down and a metric ton of Marvel’s relaunched #1’s. You expect a certain amount of that. Stunts sell, as long as the publishers don’t over-extend the market for variant covers (and they sure seem aggressive in emphasizing those instead of the content in between the covers). What you’d miss out on if you only read the headlines is that Marvel’s #2 and #3 issues aren’t getting a ton of traction relative to those gaudy #1 sales totals.
Barnes & Noble buys 76,000 Double Take comics
As long as we're throwing some numbers around, Barnes & Nobles has stepped on the DObletake train , purchasing some 7,600 Super Packs for...
Barnes & Nobles sales down, but people still love adult coloring books
B&N released its quarterly SEC filing, and sales were down in many business segments. However the adult coloring book craze continues to drive sales as people find a sense of well being and serenity in staying between the lines. PW's Jim Milliot has a succinct write up of the results:
Layoffs and changes at Wizard World
Just a few days ago I was predicting some consolidation in the crowded convention business in 2016, and like clockwork I learned that there have been layoffs at the convention company Wizard World, following the most recent financial statements that revealed a slowdown in convention revenue. I reached out to a WW spokesman for confirmation and was told "We are working to run the shows as efficiently as possible."
