{"id":4684,"date":"2014-10-06T18:24:00","date_gmt":"2014-10-06T18:24:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2020-08-01T14:44:25","modified_gmt":"2020-08-01T19:44:25","slug":"september-2014-comics-sales-estimates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/2014\/10\/06\/september-2014-comics-sales-estimates\/","title":{"rendered":"September 2014 comics sales estimates online; best quarter since mid-1990s"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n
\"http:\/\/www.mycomicshop.com\/search?q=death+of+wolverine+1&pubid=&PubRng=?AffID=874007P01\"<\/div>\n

The final comics sales estimates for September 2014 are out from Diamond Comic Distributors<\/b><\/a>,
\nand as reported here on Friday, it was a good one, with orders of
\ncomics and graphic novels by comics shops in North America topping $50
\nmillion for the second time in three months \u2014 and just the third time in
\nthe last decade and a half. The result was the best quarter in dollar
\nterms (not adjusted for inflation) in the 17 years that Diamond has been
\nthe exclusive distributor for all the major publishers. At $145.56
\nmillion, it topped the previous record, set in the fourth quarter of
\nlast year, by nearly $10 million. Click to see the sales estimates for
\ncomics ordered in September 2014<\/b><\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Death of Wolverine<\/b><\/i> #1<\/a>
\nwas the top-selling title with orders approaching 262,000 copies, but
\nthe bigger story was DC and its Futures End event. The lenticular covers
\nand the standard versions combined to give DC 115 entries in the Top
\n300 comics list. All those high-volume entries combined to push many
\npublishers out of the Top 300 entirely; only nine publishers put more
\nthan one title onto the list.<\/p>\n

That doesn’t mean those
\npublishers didn’t have successful releases, however: with the
\n300th-place title getting orders of more than 6,300 copies \u2014 nearly but
\nnot quite a record for a four-week month \u2014 that left a lot<\/b><\/i> of volume outside the charts. Archie<\/b><\/i>
\nwas the 401st place title with 3,651 copies sold, for example; last
\nSeptember’s 400th-place book had orders of 2,621, nearly a thousand
\nfewer copies. It’s why the Top 300 comics unit sales could be down 3%
\nwhile overall comics unit sales were basically flat. The additional
\n“Future’s End” entries had the effect of making the “long tail” that
\nmuch longer.<\/p>\n

It’s of interest to look at comic unit sales performance across Septembers across five-year intervals, to see a glimpse of comics performance where cover price inflation is not in play:<\/p>\n

COMICS SHOP ORDERS OF TOP 300 COMICS<\/b>
\nSeptember 1999<\/b><\/a>: 7.06 million copies
\nSeptember 2004<\/b><\/a>: 7.01 million copies
\nSeptember 2009<\/a><\/b>: 7.05 million copies
\nSeptember 2014<\/b><\/a>: 7.89 million copies<\/p>\n

So there has been significant recent growth there, with increases of 12-13%. Of course, the choice of years for selection introduces some distortion: 1999 and 2009 weren’t good years, while 2004 was part of a recovery from a deep hole. But it’s of interest, too, to see where the volume has moved:<\/p>\n

ORDERS FOR 300th PLACE COMIC BOOK<\/b>
\nSeptember 1999: 2,363 copies
\nSeptember 2004: 1,681 copies
\nSeptember 2009: 4,095 copies
\nSeptember 2014: 6,306 copies<\/p>\n

This implies that 2014 unit sales are actually significantly larger than those earlier years, on the basis of volume not captured by the charts. The bench has simply grown stronger relative to what it was in the past: the smaller publishers are releasing more titles, and to more comparative success.<\/p>\n

RECORDS: <\/b>A couple of Diamond Exclusive-era records<\/a> <\/b>were
\nset in the month. In addition to the highest dollar value for comics,
\ngraphic novel, and magazine orders in a single quarter, September saw
\nthe highest dollar value for orders for the Top 300 comics<\/b>, at $31.18 million.<\/p>\n

We nearly saw a record with the <\/b>highest
\nweighted average price for comic books ordered by retailers within the
\nTop 300 \u2014 $3.95, a nickel short of April’s $4 mark. Here we find the
\ninfluence of high prices for the better-selling titles: the Top 25
\ncomics had an average cover price of $4.15.<\/p>\n

And the
\n22.37 million copies ordered of Top 300 comics in the third quarter is
\nthe most in a quarter since the fourth quarter of 1997.<\/p>\n

The aggregate changes:<\/p>\n

TOP 300 COMICS UNIT SALES<\/b><\/div>\n

September 2014<\/a>: <\/b>7.89 million copies
\nVersus 1 year ago this month<\/b><\/a>: -3%
\nVersus 5 years ago this month<\/b><\/a>: +12%
\nVersus 10 years ago this month<\/b><\/a>: +13%
\nVersus 15 years ago this month<\/b><\/a>: +12%
\nQ3 2014: 22.37 million copies, +2% vs. Q3 2013
\nYEAR TO DATE: 60.76 million copies, -4% vs. 2013, +8% vs. 2009, +9% vs. 2004, +4 vs. 1999<\/p>\n

ALL COMICS UNIT SALES<\/b>
\nSeptember 2014 versus one year ago this month: -0.12%<\/b>
\nQ3 2014 vs. Q3 2013: +6.15%<\/b>
\nYEAR TO DATE: -2.04%<\/b><\/p>\n

TOP 300 COMICS DOLLAR SALES<\/b><\/div>\n

September 2014: $31.18 million
\nVersus 1 year ago this month: +4%
\nVersus 5 years ago this month: +27%
\nVersus 10 years ago this month: +56%
\nVersus 15 years ago this month: +69%
\nQ3 2014: $85.67 million copies, +7% vs. Q3 2013
\nYEAR TO DATE: $230.44 million, unchanged vs. 2013, +20% vs. 2009, +45% vs. 2004, +53% vs. 1999<\/p>\n

ALL COMICS DOLLAR SALES<\/b>
\nSeptember 2014 versus one year ago this month: +4.58%<\/b>
\nQ3 2014 vs. Q3 2013: +10.3%<\/b>
\nYEAR TO DATE:<\/b> +2.69%<\/b><\/p>\n

TOP 300 TRADE PAPERBACK DOLLAR SALES<\/b><\/div>\n

September 2014: $7.39 million
\nVersus 1 year ago this month: -2%
\nVersus 5 years ago this month: +3%
\nVersus 10 years ago this month, just the Top 100 vs. the Top 100: +37%
\nVersus 15 years ago this month, just the Top 25 vs. the Top 25: +78%
\nQ3 2014: $22.29 million copies, +4% vs. Q3 2013
\nYEAR TO DATE: $64.69 million, -4% vs. 2013<\/p>\n

ALL TRADE PAPERBACK\u00a0 SALES<\/b>
\nSeptember 2014 versus one year ago this month: +8.49%<\/b>
\nQ3 2014 vs. Q3 2013: +7.04%<\/b>
\nYEAR TO DATE: +4.33%<\/b><\/p>\n

TOP 300 COMICS + TOP 300 TRADE PAPERBACK DOLLAR SALES<\/b><\/div>\n

September 2014: $38.57 million
\nVersus 1 year ago this month: +3%
\nVersus 5 years ago this month: +13%
\nVersus 10 years ago this month, counting just the Top 100 TPBs: +43%
\nVersus 15 years ago this month, counting just the Top 25 TPBs: +81%
\nQ3 2014: 107.94 million copies, +7% vs. Q3 2013
\nYEAR TO DATE: $295.12 million, -1% vs. 2013<\/p>\n

ALL COMICS AND TRADE PAPERBACK\u00a0 SALES<\/b>
\nSeptember 2014 versus one year ago this month: +5.64%<\/b>
\nQ3 2014 vs. Q3 2013: +9.33%<\/b>
\nYEAR TO DATE: +3.19%<\/b><\/p>\n

OVERALL DIAMOND SALES (including all comics, trades, and magazines)<\/b><\/div>\n

September 2014: approximately $50.78 million (subject to revision)
\nVersus 1 year ago this month: +6% Versus 5 years ago this month: +24%
\nVersus 10 years ago this month: +65%
\nQ3 2014: $145.56 million copies, +9% vs. Q3 2013
\nYEAR TO DATE: $395.1 million, +3% vs. 2013<\/b><\/p>\n

RELEASES<\/b><\/span>
\nNew comic books released: 484<\/b>
\nNew graphic novels released: 265<\/b>
\nNew magazines released: 13<\/b>
\nAll new releases: 762<\/b><\/p>\n

As noted above, the average comic book in the Top 300 cost $3.77; the average comic book
\nretailers ordered cost $3.95. The median and most common price for comics offered was $3.99. Click to see comics prices across time.<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

That’s
\nit for September’s report. I’ll be at New York Comic-Con later this
\nweek, signing at the Random House\/Del Rey booth. And wherever you are, be sure to visit your local comic
\nshop here<\/b><\/a>.
\n\u00a0<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The final comics sales estimates for September 2014 are out from Diamond Comic Distributors, and as reported here on Friday, it was a good one, with orders of comics and graphic novels by comics shops in North America topping $50 million for the second time in three months \u2014 and just the third time in … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4685,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[72,17,75],"class_list":["post-4684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-2014-sales","tag-diamond-monthly-reports","tag-quarterly-reports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4684"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4684\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6421,"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4684\/revisions\/6421"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}