X-Books Sales for May

[Anduinel]

Sales are often low even with issues that sell out, because people buy it off the shelf instead of pre ordering. So suppliers don’t have enough supply.

Yeah, it looks like there was more demand than retailers were anticipating when they did pre-orders, hence issue #2 selling out and going back to print.

[Harpsikord]

No shit, those books just launched.

And are two massively popular teams featuring massively popular solo characters many of whom have starred in films.

Those are the "general audience" books.

[comicbookfan5878]

It seems that even the marriage can not boost sales much.

I'm glad Laura kept a reasonable number of sales until the end.

Domino, Cable or Rogue and Gambit deserved more. I'm not surprised with New Mutants sales after all minis rarely get good numbers (many readers understand that minis does not matter).

The art for New Mutants is too weird to be a top seller. Magik looks horrendous in this comic. A better artist would have increased sales. This artist is way too niche...

[HandofPrometheus]

And are two massively popular teams featuring massively popular solo characters many of whom have starred in films.

Those are the "general audience" books.

Crazy how the X-men are not up there with them no more. It's sad.

[Disciple of Redd]

We'll see where Avengers is 4 or 5 months in.

[Grey]

Yeah, it looks like there was more demand than retailers were anticipating when they did pre-orders, hence issue #2 selling out and going back to print.

Yea, it’s sad. I’m pretty sure the same thing happened with men red and jean grey isssues #2. Imo these second printings can actually be a bad sign of the book’s trajectory because some people who would’ve otherwise kept reading the series dropped it do to unavailability. (I have no proof, just a hunch.)

This is why I’m always harping on how people should pre order the books they like.

[Slicknickshady]

X Men Red will be below Gold when it gets to September. IMO.

[akiresu_]

X Men Red will be below Gold when it gets to September. IMO.

I'm no fan of Gold (and do prefer Red), but you can see why. Red, 5 issues in, has barely completed a storyline. The ending of 5 felt like the end of a prologue. Meanwhile, at #5, Gold was wrapping up its second story, whilst setting up future stories and building up overarching character beats.

Red doesn't seem to have half the momentum that it so desperately needs and I can see that allowing casual readers to drop off, despite fans evangelising the product (that and the beautifully rendered, but boring and uninformative covers probably do it no favours).

[Digifiend]

Another problem is that Red is only monthly, whereas Gold (and Blue) is twice a month.

Now that the artist is changing anyway, the artist excuse no longer applies. Get it double shipping. Maybe they'll do that when the book changes it's name (no way is it staying as Red past the second trade, since Gold and Blue will be gone by then).

[GailSimone]

I knew Domino would have a huge drop without the excessive alternate covers.

Seriously, all three issues have had a second printing number one has had theee so far and demand is still really high.

Retailers place their orders for issue two way before issue one even comes out, they have to guess at demand. But Domino and several other recent launches are reversing a downward trend.

It’s still a tough market, but we are doing WAY better than the number quoted here.

[Silver Fang]

Seriously, all three issues have had a second printing number one has had theee so far and demand is still really high.

Retailers place their orders for issue two way before issue one even comes out, they have to guess at demand. But Domino and several other recent launches are reversing a downward trend.

It’s still a tough market, but we are doing WAY better than the number quoted here.

So are these numbers just estimates?

They get posted here when shown, but are the somewhat accurate to how a book is doing, or are they totally off, and should be ignored?

[Confuzzled]

So are these numbers just estimates?

They get posted here when shown, but are the somewhat accurate to how a book is doing, or are they totally off, and should be ignored?

The monthly reminder that these numbers aren't numbers of issues actually sold, but just estimates of how many copies LCS's ordered.

[anyajenkins]

And there are not numbers from marvel or diamond. They are estimates created by a third party.

[donpricetag]

No X-book sold over 60,000. Two issues of Avengers and four issues of Justice League did better.

What do you expect after several years of seemingly deliberate mediocre writing and equally disappointing art (in a visual medium)? The books have gotten better but I think this decade peaked between 12' and 15'

[GailSimone]

So are these numbers just estimates?

They get posted here when shown, but are the somewhat accurate to how a book is doing, or are they totally off, and should be ignored?

They are estimates of a narrow but significant number. They are valuable mostly in comparison to other numbers estimated the exact same way, ie. month by month for the same title, or in overall comparison to other titles. They can be useful determining market share (though it’s still a guess), but are less valuable in determining dollar share (for which they are pretty much useless).

It’s data, but it’s not hugely useful for the result people most often use it to express. Anyone calling themselves an expert based on these numbers simply doesn’t know the full picture. Retailers know more, publishers know more still, and even creators don;t get a full picture until MUCH later. In some cases, we never really do get the full picture. So we can be completely in the dark for months at a time. There’s no condescension here, it’s just multiple revenue streams and the fact that many purchase outlets are not included in this estimate.

It’s odd. And honestly, we are often just as in the dark as anyone. Insider sales knowledge can be hard to come by and very slow to arrive. But when it does arrive, there are a lot of outlets that this estimate doesn’t cover.

Hope that makes sense. It’s good information, and on the whole it can be meaningful, but some books are hugely profitable in ways this list doesn’t even cover. The reverse is also true, some sales numbers are inflated and don’t actually get purchased.

I wish this stuff was a lot more transparent. Hope that helps!