How the heck did they know a series was a "hit" in the golden and silver age?

[tib2d2]

You hear about issues in the golden and silver age that "sold out" because of how popular a character or story was. When the majority of comics were sold in news stands or drug stores, how did they measure this?

Ok say an issue comes out, the store has already ordered the 10 copies (for example), and all 10 sell out. Is the owner of the store going to notice that and go "whoa! I need more of that series!" So the next month, he orders 20 copies. Was that the indicator that they had a hit on their hands? That the next month's orders had increased? Could they even notice that in 30 days? I imagine that by the time an issue was on the shelf, the store owner had probably already placed their comics order for the next month.

I just wonder how long it would take for the feedback that DC or Marvel had a hit, sold out title? Its not like mid-month they could call up DC and say "send me more of the current issue of (blank)" Did they wait for letters to arrive in the mail from fans? Was that the quickest and most direct indicator of a hit?

[BohemiaDrinker]

I don't think the newstand model worked like that back then. More like "DC drops comics at newstand - dc waits - dc comes back to collect money from sales and unsold copies".

[Digifiend]

The amount of submissions to letters pages may have been an indicator. The bigger the mailbag, the more copies that title probably sold.

[CaptCleghorn]

I don't think the newstand model worked like that back then. More like "DC drops comics at newstand - dc waits - dc comes back to collect money from sales and unsold copies".

Yeah, portions of unsold covers were returned and the actual (or close to it) number of truly sold copies could be calculated.

[tib2d2]

Ok that makes sense, but I'm wondering how long it would take for the results of a sold out issue to bubble up to the editorial staff so they would realize they had made something popular?

[Digifiend]

Not long. Like I said, letters pages.

[CaptCleghorn]

Ok that makes sense, but I'm wondering how long it would take for the results of a sold out issue to bubble up to the editorial staff so they would realize they had made something popular?

I'd imagine the companies would be pushing this as fast as possible in order to get sales figures to pin down advertising rate information. Also, with outside use of IPs in products like movie serials, radio shows and food products, there might be a tail wagging the dog situation. Companies selling this stuff might have employees' kids who liked the comics and someone says "Hey, let's throw Bananaman on our oatmeal packages to get the kids to want to buy the comic or at least pinpoint it as a "hit".

[tib2d2]

I'd imagine the companies would be pushing this as fast as possible in order to get sales figures to pin down advertising rate information. Also, with outside use of IPs in products like movie serials, radio shows and food products, there might be a tail wagging the dog situation. Companies selling this stuff might have employees' kids who liked the comics and someone says "Hey, let's throw Bananaman on our oatmeal packages to get the kids to want to buy the comic or at least pinpoint it as a "hit".

HAHA, yes, loved classic Bananaman comics!

[DrNewGod]

Ok that makes sense, but I'm wondering how long it would take for the results of a sold out issue to bubble up to the editorial staff so they would realize they had made something popular?

I'd guess inside 60 days, but I don't know for sure. As I understand it, the dates on covers weren't to indicate when an issue published, but when the distributor should pull it. So, 30 days after hitting stands, distributor pulls it, and tries to get the covers back ASAP so the distributor can get reimbursed.

Now, travel times are going to be an issue. So I have to wonder if their marketing decisions were heavily weighted towards demand in NYC and the other nearby East Coast urban centers, since that's who's numbers would turn up fastest.