This may put realistic parameters around comic sales...

[thefreakytiki]

Everyone talks about how current comic sales is the death knell of the industry.  Let's compare it to one of the most anticipated prose books of the year...

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/11/11/02/steve_jobs_biography_sells_380k_us_copies_in_first_week.html

Steve Jobs biography sells 380K US copies in first week


The newly released authorized biography of Steve Jobs moved nearly 380,000 copies in its first week in the U.S. alone, already making it one of the best selling titles of 2011.

Data from BookScan US revealed that Walter Isaacson's book, entitled "Steve Jobs," sold a total of 379,000 copies in its first week in America, according to TheBookseller.com. It outsold the next-best selling title, "The Litigators" by John Grisham, by more than three to one.

The next closest nonfiction title was "Killing Lincoln" by Bill O'Reilly, and Isaacson's detailed retelling of the life of Jobs outsold that by almost eight to one. "Steve Jobs" is already the 18th best selling book of 2011, ahead of "The Confession" by John Grisham. Sales of the book in the U.K. were also high in the first week, with 37,244 copies sold.

I truly believe it isn't that people aren't reading just comics... people just DON'T READ anything anymore.
FWIW, I'm reading the biography and loving it.   


the Tiki

[InspectorSpacetime]

The newly released authorized biography of Steve Jobs moved nearly 380,000 copies in its first week in the U.S. alone, already making it one of the best selling titles of 2011.

Data from BookScan US revealed that Walter Isaacson's book, entitled "Steve Jobs," sold a total of 379,000 copies in its first week in America, according to TheBookseller.com. It outsold the next-best selling title, "The Litigators" by John Grisham, by more than three to one.

The next closest nonfiction title was "Killing Lincoln" by Bill O'Reilly, and Isaacson's detailed retelling of the life of Jobs outsold that by almost eight to one.

there are a lot more forms of entertainment nowadays that don't require your full attention like reading. but tablets will keep the user base level. and late grow.

i have a 2 hour drive round drive for work everyday, so I'm able to blow through audiobooks pretty quickly.

[Felt Martin]

It's a good point.
I do wonder how many copies some world famous magazines sell EVERY month?

[Dean S.]

Yeah....kids read less now days.  I'm not aware of how much it's been studied at a scholarly level, but there were these stories from a few years ago that I was able to find again.  

http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2007/11/19/young_people_reading_a_lot_less/

I'm of two minds on this kind of stuff.  On one hand, it is lousy that people don't read, because those 19% of kids who never read for entertainment are probably the same ones who won't be able to find jobs in our global economy and no amount of "education" or "going to college" is going to fix it because we just don't have that many jobs in the United States for the intellectually uncurious.

On the other hand, I was 11 in 1984 where they're getting their baseline data and I remember being bored a lot.  I don't think kids today are bored that much.  

I think there's also a challenge for authors: write something that kids want to read instead of reading it only because they're bored and there is nothing on TV.

[lugaru]

The problem with comics is that it does not have much of a "long tail" until it goes into the graphic novel stage. I dont know if "long tail" is still used but for a while it was internet jargon for something that is evergreen, meaning it sells a few copies each year for a long time.

That said comics used to be INSANELY popular, and those are the highs we miss, which can only be reached again either by putting out an insanely cheap product (like 99c or less digital copies) or by somehow making it look like every comic will go up in value... which we know it wont.

[leafinsectman (Dan)]

Whatever happened to motion comics? Are still doing those or were they failures? I think if done correctly they could bring in some interest and maybe new readers.

[Lucien21]

We have been hearing that cry of people don't read anymore for years now.

eBook sales are doubling every year and have now surpassed paperback sales.

It may just be that there are that many books flooding the market that the sales are being spread thinly (hereby known as "Marvel syndrome"  )

[Tim H]

Whatever happened to motion comics? Are still doing those or were they failures? I think if done correctly they could bring in some interest and maybe new readers.

I tried the Spider-Woman, Astonishing X-Men, Black Panther, and something else I'm forgetting.  I enjoyed each, but enjoyed the source material more.  I can't see anyone who isn't already interested in comics getting much out of them.

[leafinsectman (Dan)]

I've only seen the Black Panther one in cartoon form. I'm cool with it since they showed it on tv and I didn't have to buy it. I don't know if I'd buy that over the original comic.

I don't think adapting an existing comic and just moving things around and adding sound is really pushing things.

[LA Rabbit]

Whatever happened to motion comics? Are still doing those or were they failures? I think if done correctly they could bring in some interest and maybe new readers.

Some of them are on Netflix streaming.  I think it is tough for them to compete with traditional animation.

[evaD]

Some of them are on Netflix streaming.  I think it is tough for them to compete with traditional animation.

Very hard. I've watched a few and the only appreciation I've had for them is because I know where it's coming from.  It's cool because they're are taking the print comic and giving it some motion. But if you don't know or care about that, as the viewer, it looks like someone got lazy or cheap.

[valance_the_hunter]

Data from BookScan US revealed that Walter Isaacson's book, entitled "Steve Jobs," sold a total of 379,000 copies in its first week in America

I would like to see what the other 312,217,034 bought that week.

[Jon O]

I don't feel motion comics are very viable, aside from source material I don't know what separates motion comics from poorly animated cartoons.

[darrell]

Ive worked for the New York Library system for over 10 years and the amount of books checked out of libraries went up in the last few years and not down and yet the budget for books keeps going down and not up.

[Julian Lytle]

Everyone talks about how current comic sales is the death knell of the industry.  Let's compare it to one of the most anticipated prose books of the year...

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/11/11/02/steve_jobs_biography_sells_380k_us_copies_in_first_week.html

Steve Jobs biography sells 380K US copies in first week


The newly released authorized biography of Steve Jobs moved nearly 380,000 copies in its first week in the U.S. alone, already making it one of the best selling titles of 2011.

Data from BookScan US revealed that Walter Isaacson's book, entitled "Steve Jobs," sold a total of 379,000 copies in its first week in America, according to TheBookseller.com. It outsold the next-best selling title, "The Litigators" by John Grisham, by more than three to one.

The next closest nonfiction title was "Killing Lincoln" by Bill O'Reilly, and Isaacson's detailed retelling of the life of Jobs outsold that by almost eight to one. "Steve Jobs" is already the 18th best selling book of 2011, ahead of "The Confession" by John Grisham. Sales of the book in the U.K. were also high in the first week, with 37,244 copies sold.

I truly believe it isn't that people aren't reading just comics... people just DON'T READ anything anymore.
FWIW, I'm reading the biography and loving it.   


the Tiki

HUH? Those are a lot of books. Does that include digital too like Kindle and Books on apple devices?

Also I'm not a big reading for entertainment guy myself-I read everyday though-I fucks with NEWS. I prefer reading about the now. The only stories (fiction and stuff) I read are comics. I could give a damn about Grisham I want to know more about the shit popping off in the Middle East.

Also I don't know if it's fair to say that younger people don't read. When I was a kid I damn sure didn't have devices on me to pull up information in a moments notice to figure something out. Also younger people prefer not TALKING on the phone and writing each other messages all day-or tweets or status updates. The problem with the future is the kids who don't have access to this TERRIBLE technology that "distracts"

[SilverBulletKY]

That's what I was thinking .. 380k books sold in one week, for a non-fiction biography - sound like quite a few people are reading to me.

[Ryan 'gobo' C.]

That's what I was thinking .. 380k books sold in one week, for a non-fiction biography - sound like quite a few people are reading to me.

That's one of the best selling books in general though. Not just best-selling non-fiction biographies, and it blew everything else out of the water.

[David]

That's one of the best selling books in general though. Not just best-selling non-fiction biographies, and it blew everything else out of the water.

Plus, the subject matter is someone that died very recently.  It's not a biography of one of the first settlers that mined for gold, but someone that the majority of the world talks about almost daily.

[Felt Martin]

It would be interesting to know how many Watchmen trades were being sold each week at the peak just before the film came out.

I have no idea. Could there have been a week when its sales approached that or is that ridiculous?

[David]

It would be interesting to know how many Watchmen trades were being sold each week at the peak just before the film came out.

Sold to readers might be tough.  But DC ordered up to one million copies around the time the trailer went public a few years ago in anticipation of movie goers heading to the bookstores.