After some retailers talked about the sell-through of Civil War #5 being down, ICv2 breaks the story that retailer orders were up:
The fifth issue of Marvel’s mega-hit Civil War miniseries was the best-selling comic to comic stores in November, narrowly topping the sales on issue #4. The increase made it a rarity among top titles in November; only five titles in the top 25 were up. Eighteen titles were down, including all five issues of 52 (November included five shipping weeks).
So, does this mean that retailers ordered more issues, but sold fewer, or that the lower sell-through was only felt by a few? Millarworld looks at the numbers, and Mark Millar chimes in:
We had a memo last week that said the delay has, weirdly, HELPED us because it gives newbies a chance to catch up and this is evident in their issue six orders. This also happened on Authority and Ulitmates because word of mouth was spreading during each delay and our sales were getting nice little bumps. The traditional thought is that delays hurt sales, but weird cases like this seem to mean the converse is true on rare occasions. Thus, some very hefty royalties for me and Steve… and just in time for CHRISTMAS!!!
December 19th, 2006 at 11:17 am
Once it becomes accepted wisdom that late books = more sales …. that’s it, I’m out. Tradewaiting is tempting enough, this just would be the push I need.
December 19th, 2006 at 11:34 am
Whether it’s true for CIVIL WAR is open to debate, but in fairness, it *is* true that the last three issues of ULTIMATES all gained in orders despite coming out on a quarterly schedule. Millar’s theory, for that book, might well be right.
December 19th, 2006 at 12:34 pm
Sales haven’t increased because the book is late and newbies can jump on board. Sales have increased because the earlier issues are all in print so the newbies can still start from the beginning of the story. We had the same thing happen with Infinite Crisis.
December 19th, 2006 at 6:26 pm
Possibly. Re-order activity has certainly been very high. But I don’t think that argument would hold true for ULTIMATES.
December 21st, 2006 at 4:58 pm
“Thus, some very hefty royalties for me and Steve… and just in time for CHRISTMAS!!!”
Yeah, that’s the most important part—that Millar gets rich. Because that’s what makes a person a better person is having lots of money.