Sales Chart: Silver Sprocket Top 200 Indie Bestsellers of 2022

By Avi Ehrlich

owner of Silver Sprocket radical indie comic book store and publisher

[Editor’s note: My recent campaign for more comics sales information has led to many conversations and several folks have reached out with more information. You’ll see more data coming in the next few weeks, but publisher/retailer Avi Ehrlich wrote to us with information on their own sales, and we’re excited to share their thoughts. Of course this is one store, and one set of data but everything helps paint a picture. PS: if you haven’t read Fun Girl you are missing out!]

Greetings from independent-only comic book store Silver Sprocket in San Francisco!

The following is intended to be helpful to fellow retailers by sharing the sales figures of our best selling comics of 2022 from our in-person comic book store. This is part of an effort to encourage comic shops to pay more attention to indie comics and to show off how well our in-house publications do when put on display. 

Our store does not carry any periodicals, with every mini-comic or graphic novel being an evergreen quality read that will still be worth championing next month or next year. Included in this chart is not only each title’s sales for 2022, but also the same title’s sales from 2021 when applicable, to show that a curated selection of evergreen quality comics has staying power. 

We do not carry any Marvel, DC, or any corporate owned IP at all. We do carry some books from major publishers like Abrams, PRH, and Scholastic, but they are all creator-owned and not contract work for a corporate overlord. We are a hub for comics appreciation and creation, not a fan-club for an intellectual property farm that barely cares about our existence.

We’ve curated a fantastic community of readers, many of whom didn’t realize they liked comics before visiting our store and are now self-publishing their own diy comic-zines that we are thrilled to feature in the shop. As a store owner, it is extremely fulfilling and fun to curate this utility and fertile creative space with our community. 

I’m not saying everyone has to or should do things our way, and nothing against mainstream superhero comics. You obviously know your store best and the things about it that bring you joy! My point is that a hand-picked curation of your favorite stand-alone reads (superhero or not!) will be a lot more accessible and immediately fulfilling than something a reader needs to commit to and remember a schedule for. But please consider that indie books from publishers firmly in the business of making comics (not speculation on TV and movie rights) sell well and have a long lifecycle. We’re sharing our data in the spirit of community with hopes that the rising tides of indie comics can lift all boats.

Every book in our store is displayed face-out so that our customers can literally judge these books by their covers. Anything in shrink-wrap or a polybag is opened up so at least one display copy is accessible, and we have plenty of places for people to sit and read anything they want.

On the publishing side of the business, I’ve been losing my mind with comic shops who will “give our books a chance” and be impressed with how their initial order sell out over just a few days, but not re-order the books that sold out, opting to “check out the new books we have next month” instead. This is maddening because the books we publish stay relevant and worthwhile, and will still be new to future people who walk into your store and haven’t had a chance to check them out yet.

Have some faith in your favorite comics, put them in places of honor, and champion them to the people who come into your store. 

This “top 200” accounts for about 50% of our in-store comic sales, out of 1,882 titles overall that had sales this year. Our in-house publications are near the shop entrance but otherwise displayed in the exact same way as everything else. This chart is for in-person sales at our Valencia St location only, and not for any mail-order, wholesale, conventions, or anything else

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Please reach out if you’d like introductions to any of these alternative publishers or their distributors. We would love to help anyone source any of the fantastic books on this list and make comic shops better for everyone. Shops looking to carry Silver Sprocket books can order directly from us for 50% off and free shipping, or use your existing accounts with Lunar, Diamond, Ingram, or SCB.