Originally Posted by
Raye
That isn't moving the goal posts, that is being off topic. There is a big difference. Am I off topic? Sure, but I am not the one who started that, I just can't let stupid conspiracy talk stand unchallenged.
this right here, this is moving the goal posts. You made statements earlier in the thread, stating examples of things Marvel would do if they believed digital and trades were viable. You never specified specifically which books had to meet these requirements, just that if Marvel saw digital or trades as viable they would have a line catering to that. You seemed to be speaking generally about digital and trade viability, not specifically in relation to books with new characters. (though, there is planty of evidence that these books do perform better in trades and digital relative to their print numbers than most other books, it is not exactly a secret that new readers, especially girls, tend to opt to read in trades or digital) Turned out they were doing exactly what you said they would be doing, I said so. Now you are coming up with excuses, making new caveats that you never stated initially, thus moving the goal posts.
The Digital Originals line was created after most of these books started being published. That they are not a part of it isn't a sign that they are not viable digitally, just that they missed the boat on getting in on it. If it works out for Marvel, they may roll other books into the line, we will have to wait and see.
I am not the one who misunderstood something here. I can understand your math. It's just that it doesn't matter. You are operating under a completely flawed idea of how the direct market works, and thus the numbers you posted are, get this, COMPLETELY IRRELEVANT.
I will explain in detail how things work, since you seem to be having trouble grasping this.
-Marvel/Diamond release the solicits to the stores 3 months in advance.
-The stores read these solicits, and using them as well as their own history and the sales charts Diamond releases make estimates about how many issues they anticipate they will be able to sell.
-They place orders with Diamond reflecting those estimates.
-Diamond tells the publishers how many issues they will need to fulfill orders at the final cutoff date.
-The publishers tell the printers to print enough issues to fulfill the orders, plus maybe a few extra, based on what they think may see some re-orders, but usually not too much (Publishers saying they sold out often doesn't mean anything if they went with a small over print)
-The comics are shipped to Diamond who process them and ships the comics to shops.
The publishers are not just printing books blindly, they ARE printing to order. And typically don't end up with a lot of stock left over, considering the scale of the runs. They know which runs are more likely to see re orders and print maybe an overprint to cover that, but it all depends on the specific book.
Again with moving the goalposts. You are an ace at this, considering you apparently don't even know what it means.
You made a bizarre conspiracy claim that Marvel was lying about how many issues sold (.... To what end? Bragging rights? An awful lot of trouble for something so inconsequential) by increasing the price of the books in order to increase their dollar share. The fact that Diamond releases unit share numbers as well clearly shows this is not what is happening, which is why I brought it up. If it was, then there would be a severe mismatch in the unit and dollar shares, and there isn't.
And now just ignoring everything said about the newer characters selling in markets other than Diamond. They sell poorly in one market of several, that doesn't mean they are doing poorly overall. Marvel isn't going to publish as many issues as they have of Squirrel Girl, Ms Marvel, Moon Girl if they were losing money, they just wouldn't. You don't like the stories, fine, whatever, I doubt you are their target audience anyway. but that doesn't mean they haven't found an audience elsewhere, or that their stories do not resonate with the audiences they are actually aimed at.