{"id":5196,"date":"2011-11-04T17:50:00","date_gmt":"2011-11-04T17:50:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2020-08-01T16:31:59","modified_gmt":"2020-08-01T21:31:59","slug":"direct-market-dollar-orders-up-double","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/comichron.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/04\/direct-market-dollar-orders-up-double\/","title":{"rendered":"Direct market dollar orders up double digits in October 2011"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Diamond Comic Distributors<\/b><\/a> released its initial report on October 2011 comics orders today, and the numbers reflect a continuing improvement in the Direct Market. Overall, comics retailers in North America spent 11.93% more ordering comic books and trade paperbacks than they did in the previous October. Orders were also up 2.67% over September, which was the first full month of the DC relaunch. Click to see the preliminary rankings for October 2011.<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

That would suggest a month in which overall dollar orders for comic books, trade paperbacks, and magazines were in the neighborhood of $40.6 million, the first time that figure has topped $40 million since September 2009<\/b><\/a>, a month in which Blackest Night<\/b><\/i> was continuing to build momentum. That would put the year to date at just under $340 million.<\/p>\n

The eye-popping number is the rise in comic-book unit orders of 32.12% over October 2010. Orders rose 6.9% over September, when all the first issues of the DC relaunch were out. While that may sound counter-intuitive, it isn’t when you consider that all those first issues continued to have reorders selling through October. Retailers with an eye on the aftermarket may also have some sense that second issues are historically under-ordered \u2014 something which goes at least back to the experience of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero<\/i> #2<\/b> in the 1980s, which wound up being much more valuable than its first issue.<\/p>\n

So retailers ordered at least a million more comic books in October 2011 than they did in the previous October, and my back-of-the-envelope calculations say the month may edge out December 2008<\/b><\/a> to be the best month for unit orders since May 2007<\/b><\/a>. It’ll depend on what happens at the bottom of the charts. And remember, a large number of DC titles still have orders under-reported by Diamond by 10-20%, owing to DC’s returnability offer. The upshot is that comic book unit sales went positive for the year this month<\/b>, and dollar sales are within a hair’s breadth of doing the same.<\/p>\n

The comparisons:<\/p>\n