Something Special: for @yaoipress and the 6 followers she was able to send my way.
I took a very quick pass through the data for 2009 (scarcer, lumpier, and less polished than I’d like) and was able to crunch some “points” based on the rankings that may or may not correspond to online sales for Yaoi Press titles in the past year. Anyway, here are the top YP titles based on my rankings, with an adjusted score for all of last year:
Cain Trilogy – Yaoi Press, Apr 2009 [141]
Winter Demon 4 – Yaoi Press, Oct 2008 [102]
Dark Prince Trilogy – Yaoi Press, Apr 2009 [91]
Happy Yaoi Yum Yum 1 – Yaoi Press, Jul 2009 [73]
Winter Demon 1 – Yaoi Press, Oct 2006 [61]
Yaoi Hentai (anthology) 3 – Yaoi Press, Feb 2007 [37]
The Lily and the Rose – Yaoi Press, Aug 2007 [13]
Stallion – Yaoi Press, Jul 2006 [11]
Enslaved by the Dragon – Yaoi Press, Sep 2005 [5]
Gothic Yaoi Bundle: The Works of Dany & Dany – Yaoi Press, Dec 2009 [4]
Yaoi Hentai (anthology) 4 – Yaoi Press, Oct 2007 [3]
Yaoi (anthology) 1 – Yaoi Press, Mar 2007 [1]
Wishing for the Moon – Yaoi Press, Apr 2007 [1]
Yaoi Hentai (anthology) 1 – Yaoi Press, Oct 2006 [1]
One thought that occurred to me is that a single ‘point’ may correspond to x volumes sold (maybe 10?) and that online sales as tracked by Amazon, B&N, Borders, et al. necessarily exclude direct sales, and also I have no idea what was moved through book stores and comic shops. So overall sales may be up to 40 (but likely only 20) times the point value found. (but what to make of a single point? The Lily & the Rose likely sold more than 100 copies online, but still didn’t crack the top 1000 on the sites that I track…)
I can only guess… and my best guess is based on manga that hit the sweet spot in the middle of my charts — Dark Horse series Blood+ was the touchstone I used last year (because they posted actual sales numbers for the books that I could base an analysis on) but I know the very top of the chart is under-represented, and I have no real idea what to make of the bottom.
[Not that Yaoi Press is putting out bad books, I did not say that: I’m just saying their volume is lower than the majors. Which should be obvious, but which also means I have less data from which to develop educated opinions]
There are also these, which didn’t rank in 2009 but are still in my database from 2007-8:
Cain 1 – Yaoi Press, Sep 2007 [0]
Cain 2 – Yaoi Press, Apr 2008 [0]
Dark Prince 2 – Yaoi Press, Apr 2008 [0]
Dark Prince 3 – Yaoi Press, Sep 2008 [0]
Reflections: the Artwork of Kosen – Yaoi Press, Jan 2008 [0]
Saihoshi the Guardian Omnibus – Yaoi Press, Dec 2007 [0]
Winter Demon 2 – Yaoi Press, Jun 2007 [0]
Winter Demon 3 – Yaoi Press, Feb 2008 [0]
Yaoi (anthology) 2 – Yaoi Press, Apr 2008 [0]
Yaoi Gothic Sketchbook – Yaoi Press, May 2007 [0]
Yaoi Hentai (anthology) 2 – Yaoi Press, Apr 2006 [0]
I know these sold more than zero. This reflects the limitations of my method. Maybe I have good guesses for YP’s top 5, or top 10 — but I can’t say much about the rest of their catalog, and I can only hope my aggregate online sales estimates are close to the mark. A direct hit is a lucky shot, more often than not.
And thanks: to @yaoipress for sending a few folks my way; hopefully y’all will stick around.
