Rocket Bomber

Viz has introduced several new brand names recently; there’s the Haikusoru fiction imprint, a new Shonen Sunday jacket dress that shows up to morning roll-call with a massive backlist (Inuyasha, Yakitate, and Case Closed are just for starters) (& definitely see also), the Sig Ikki website that is (I think?) technically just a part of Viz Signature but the publication details are perhaps secondary to the web push.

[and of course Shonen Jump & Shojo Beat, the venerable Ghibli Library, the license-to-print-money VizKids pokemon titles, and an English backlist that goes back to 2001. In some areas, I don’t even know what I’m missing when it comes to Viz, though I do know that someday I will own all of Eagle no matter what it costs.]

##

So. No surprise, Viz publishes a lot of comics.

Of interest this week, and by request [thanks, Ed] (you certainly can follow me on twitter as well but I make no guarantees) we’re looking in depth at Sig, Sig Ikki, and a handful of titles — Pluto, 20th Century Boys, Vagabond, and maybe a couple others — mostly because I can.

[You don’t get this from BookScan, ICv2, or the New York Times. just sayin’]

##

20th Century Boys

— you’ll note that not every volume ranks each and every week; the ‘new’ volume, #9, has the most consistent rankings over the 8 weeks for which I have comparable data — though preorders (note the rankings for vol 11) start 3 months in advance and are strongest following the first listing of the title on online sales sites.

Someone is reading it, past that I can’t draw more detailed conclusions.

18 Jul 1010. ↑new (0) : 20th Century Boys 2 – Viz Signature, Apr 2009 [1.1] ::
25 Jul 789. ↑221 (1010) : 20th Century Boys 2 – Viz Signature, Apr 2009 [3.2] ::
01 Aug 887. ↓-98 (789) : 20th Century Boys 2 – Viz Signature, Apr 2009 [2.0] ::

25 Jul 903. ↑new (0) : 20th Century Boys 3 – Viz Signature, Jun 2009 [2.0] ::
01 Aug 898. ↑5 (903) : 20th Century Boys 3 – Viz Signature, Jun 2009 [2.0] ::

27 Jun 953. ↑new (0) : 20th Century Boys 4 – Viz Signature, Aug 2009 [1.4] ::
04 Jul 952. ↑1 (953) : 20th Century Boys 4 – Viz Signature, Aug 2009 [1.4] ::
25 Jul 920. ↑ (last ranked 4 Jul 10) : 20th Century Boys 4 – Viz Signature, Aug 2009 [1.9] ::
25 Jul 953. ↑new (0) : 20th Century Boys 4 – Viz Signature, Aug 2009 [1.4] ::
01 Aug 905. ↑15 (920) : 20th Century Boys 4 – Viz Signature, Aug 2009 [1.9] ::

25 Jul 924. ↑new (0) : 20th Century Boys 6 – Viz Signature, Dec 2009 [1.8] ::
01 Aug 913. ↑11 (924) : 20th Century Boys 6 – Viz Signature, Dec 2009 [1.8] ::

27 Jun 908. ↑new (0) : 20th Century Boys 7 – Viz Signature, Feb 2010 [1.8] ::
04 Jul 906. ↑2 (908) : 20th Century Boys 7 – Viz Signature, Feb 2010 [1.8] ::
25 Jul 908. ↑new (0) : 20th Century Boys 7 – Viz Signature, Feb 2010 [1.8] ::

20 Jun 170. ↓-4 (166) : 20th Century Boys 8 – Viz Signature, May 2010 [74.6] ::
27 Jun 215. ↓-45 (170) : 20th Century Boys 8 – Viz Signature, May 2010 [60.5] ::
04 Jul 292. ↓-77 (215) : 20th Century Boys 8 – Viz Signature, May 2010 [42.8] ::
11 Jul 464. ↓-172 (292) : 20th Century Boys 8 – Viz Signature, May 2010 [20.5] ::
18 Jul 1172. ↓-708 (464) : 20th Century Boys 8 – Viz Signature, May 2010 [0.2] ::
25 Jul 215. ↓-45 (170) : 20th Century Boys 8 – Viz Signature, May 2010 [60.5] ::

20 Jun 205. ↓-4 (201) : 20th Century Boys 9 – Viz Signature, Jun 2010 [61.0] ::
27 Jun 86. ↑119 (205) : 20th Century Boys 9 – Viz Signature, Jun 2010 [118.3] ::
04 Jul 103. ↓-17 (86) : 20th Century Boys 9 – Viz Signature, Jun 2010 [107.6] ::
11 Jul 164. ↓-61 (103) : 20th Century Boys 9 – Viz Signature, Jun 2010 [79.0] ::
18 Jul 261. ↓-97 (164) : 20th Century Boys 9 – Viz Signature, Jun 2010 [48.1] ::
25 Jul 336. ↓-75 (261) : 20th Century Boys 9 – Viz Signature, Jun 2010 [26.9] ::
25 Jul 86. ↑119 (205) : 20th Century Boys 9 – Viz Signature, Jun 2010 [118.3] ::
01 Aug 429. ↓-93 (336) : 20th Century Boys 9 – Viz Signature, Jun 2010 [17.1] ::
08 Aug 537. ↓-108 (429) : 20th Century Boys 9 – Viz Signature, Jun 2010 [9.7] ::

08 Aug 832. ↑new (0) : 20th Century Boys 10 – Viz Signature, Aug 2010 [2.6] ::

04 Jul 842. ↑new (0) : 20th Century Boys 11 – Viz Signature, Oct 2010 [2.6] ::
11 Jul 835. ↑7 (842) : 20th Century Boys 11 – Viz Signature, Oct 2010 [2.6] ::
18 Jul 1356. ↓-521 (835) : 20th Century Boys 11 – Viz Signature, Oct 2010 [0.1] ::

The ‘current’ volume for the time period considered, vol. 9, not only is a Top 500 title but manages an occasional Top 100 appearance; similarly, vol. 8 is also still in demand. Alas, the total lack of [tracked] sales of volume 1 points toward this being a fan-favorite only; not enough new readers were picking up the series in June or July.

##

Pluto

20 Jun 558. ↑7 (565) : Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 1 – Viz Signature, Feb 2009 [12.1] ::
27 Jun 527. ↑31 (558) : Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 1 – Viz Signature, Feb 2009 [15.7] ::
04 Jul 475. ↑52 (527) : Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 1 – Viz Signature, Feb 2009 [20.9] ::
11 Jul 592. ↓-117 (475) : Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 1 – Viz Signature, Feb 2009 [10.3] ::
18 Jul 1085. ↓-493 (592) : Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 1 – Viz Signature, Feb 2009 [0.5] ::
25 Jul 1037. ↑48 (1085) : Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 1 – Viz Signature, Feb 2009 [0.9] ::
01 Aug 1393. ↓-356 (1037) : Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 1 – Viz Signature, Feb 2009 [0.1] ::
08 Aug 1398. ↓-5 (1393) : Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 1 – Viz Signature, Feb 2009 [0.1] ::

20 Jun 672. ↓-3 (669) : Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 2 – Viz Signature, Mar 2009 [6.0] ::
27 Jun 695. ↓-23 (672) : Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 2 – Viz Signature, Mar 2009 [5.7] ::
04 Jul 1327. ↓-632 (695) : Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 2 – Viz Signature, Mar 2009 [0.1] ::
18 Jul 1091. ↑ (last ranked 4 Jul 10) : Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 2 – Viz Signature, Mar 2009 [0.4] ::
25 Jul 1042. ↑49 (1091) : Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 2 – Viz Signature, Mar 2009 [0.9] ::

20 Jun 728. ↓-7 (721) : Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 3 – Viz Signature, May 2009 [4.0] ::
27 Jun 925. ↓-197 (728) : Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 3 – Viz Signature, May 2009 [1.7] ::
18 Jul 1104. ↑ (last ranked 27 Jun 10) : Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 3 – Viz Signature, May 2009 [0.4] ::
25 Jul 1046. ↑58 (1104) : Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 3 – Viz Signature, May 2009 [0.9] ::

20 Jun 842. ↓-47 (795) : Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 4 – Viz Signature, Jul 2009 [2.0] ::
27 Jun 880. ↓-38 (842) : Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 4 – Viz Signature, Jul 2009 [2.0] ::

20 Jun 824. ↓-50 (774) : Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 5 – Viz Signature, Sep 2009 [2.2] ::
27 Jun 856. ↓-32 (824) : Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 5 – Viz Signature, Sep 2009 [2.2] ::
01 Aug 1025. ↑ (last ranked 27 Jun 10) : Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 5 – Viz Signature, Sep 2009 [1.0] ::
08 Aug 856. ↑169 (1025) : Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 5 – Viz Signature, Sep 2009 [2.4] ::

20 Jun 806. ↓-49 (757) : Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 6 – Viz Signature, Nov 2009 [2.4] ::
27 Jun 839. ↓-33 (806) : Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 6 – Viz Signature, Nov 2009 [2.4] ::
01 Aug 1037. ↑ (last ranked 27 Jun 10) : Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 6 – Viz Signature, Nov 2009 [0.9] ::
08 Aug 866. ↑171 (1037) : Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 6 – Viz Signature, Nov 2009 [2.4] ::

20 Jun 850. ↑45 (895) : Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 7 – Viz Signature, Jan 2010 [2.0] ::
27 Jun 621. ↑229 (850) : Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 7 – Viz Signature, Jan 2010 [9.9] ::
04 Jul 555. ↑66 (621) : Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 7 – Viz Signature, Jan 2010 [13.9] ::
11 Jul 638. ↓-83 (555) : Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 7 – Viz Signature, Jan 2010 [7.9] ::
18 Jul 894. ↓-256 (638) : Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 7 – Viz Signature, Jan 2010 [2.2] ::
25 Jul 1197. ↓-303 (894) : Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 7 – Viz Signature, Jan 2010 [0.2] ::
01 Aug 1004. ↑193 (1197) : Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 7 – Viz Signature, Jan 2010 [1.1] ::
08 Aug 855. ↑149 (1004) : Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 7 – Viz Signature, Jan 2010 [2.4] ::

20 Jun 349. ↑5 (354) : Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 8 – Viz Signature, Apr 2010 [32.5] ::
27 Jun 521. ↓-172 (349) : Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 8 – Viz Signature, Apr 2010 [16.0] ::
04 Jul 566. ↓-45 (521) : Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 8 – Viz Signature, Apr 2010 [13.0] ::
11 Jul 423. ↑143 (566) : Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 8 – Viz Signature, Apr 2010 [25.0] ::
18 Jul 462. ↓-39 (423) : Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 8 – Viz Signature, Apr 2010 [21.2] ::
25 Jul 867. ↓-405 (462) : Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 8 – Viz Signature, Apr 2010 [2.3] ::
01 Aug 1011. ↓-144 (867) : Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 8 – Viz Signature, Apr 2010 [1.1] ::
08 Aug 872. ↑139 (1011) : Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 8 – Viz Signature, Apr 2010 [2.3] ::

Taking in the larger data set, we can see Pluto doing fairly well, actually. For the 8 weeks presented above, volumes 1, 7, and 8 are all solidly represented, with some decent movement on the backlist.

“Yes,” [you might be thinking to yourself,] “but what does a ranking in the 600s or 800s or 1000s even mean? It’s not a top ten, obviously.”

I’ll state it bluntly: if it shows up in my spreadsheet that means books are being sold online – it’s what I set out to track, it’s what I pull up from source charts weekly. So, yeah, #1011 seems like weak sauce; but out of 10,000 available volumes, even #1011 in a ranking means it outsells 90% of all other manga. And we likely only need to sell 5000 manga total [over it’s in-print life] to ‘break even’ — you can do your own math but at $10 a copy and the publishers’ take of 40% that’s $20K to just about cover printing & localization costs (printing @ let’s-call-it-$3-a-book with that leftover $5k for the translator, editorial, my convention travel costs, bar tabs, and legal expenses to defend against sexual harrasment suits) (that is to say, we’re still losing money)

—and I humbly invite correction, if you have actual publishing costs just laying around and cared to share—

But the midlist or slow-moving-backlist is actually a decent place to be for most publishers.

##

Vagabond is the closest Viz Signature has to a “bestseller”

04 Jul 830. ↑new (0) : Vagabond 1 – Viz Signature, May 2002 [2.7] ::
11 Jul 802. ↑28 (830) : Vagabond 1 – Viz Signature, May 2002 [3.0] ::
18 Jul 1108. ↓-306 (802) : Vagabond 1 – Viz Signature, May 2002 [0.3] ::
01 Aug 885. ↑ (last ranked 18 Jul 10) : Vagabond 1 – Viz Signature, May 2002 [2.1] ::
08 Aug 899. ↓-14 (885) : Vagabond 1 – Viz Signature, May 2002 [2.1] ::

11 Jul 942. ↑new (0) : Vagabond 3 – Viz Signature, Sep 2002 [1.7] ::
18 Jul 950. ↓-8 (942) : Vagabond 3 – Viz Signature, Sep 2002 [1.7] ::

04 Jul 843. ↑new (0) : Vagabond 5 – Viz Signature, Apr 2003 [2.6] ::
11 Jul 843. ↔0 (843) : Vagabond 5 – Viz Signature, Apr 2003 [2.6] ::

04 Jul 874. ↑new (0) : Vagabond 6 – Viz Signature, Jun 2003 [2.2] ::
11 Jul 886. ↓-12 (874) : Vagabond 6 – Viz Signature, Jun 2003 [2.2] ::

04 Jul 948. ↑new (0) : Vagabond 8 – Viz Signature, Jan 2004 [1.5] ::
11 Jul 956. ↓-8 (948) : Vagabond 8 – Viz Signature, Jan 2004 [1.5] ::
25 Jul 1089. ↑ (last ranked 11 Jul 10) : Vagabond 8 – Viz Signature, Jan 2004 [0.6] ::
01 Aug 1082. ↑7 (1089) : Vagabond 8 – Viz Signature, Jan 2004 [0.6] ::
08 Aug 867. ↑215 (1082) : Vagabond 8 – Viz Signature, Jan 2004 [2.4] ::

04 Jul 965. ↑new (0) : Vagabond 14 – Viz Signature, Jul 2004 [1.3] ::
11 Jul 972. ↓-7 (965) : Vagabond 14 – Viz Signature, Jul 2004 [1.3] ::

27 Jun 1017. ↑new (0) : Vagabond 20 – Viz Signature, Mar 2005 [0.8] ::
04 Jul 1029. ↓-12 (1017) : Vagabond 20 – Viz Signature, Mar 2005 [0.8] ::
11 Jul 1050. ↓-21 (1029) : Vagabond 20 – Viz Signature, Mar 2005 [0.7] ::
18 Jul 1060. ↓-10 (1050) : Vagabond 20 – Viz Signature, Mar 2005 [0.7] ::

04 Jul 1199. ↑new (0) : Vagabond 22 – Viz Signature, Aug 2006 [0.1] ::
11 Jul 1208. ↓-9 (1199) : Vagabond 22 – Viz Signature, Aug 2006 [0.1] ::

20 Jun 1152. ↓-97 (1055) : Vagabond 23 – Viz Signature, Oct 2006 [0.1] ::
27 Jun 1205. ↓-53 (1152) : Vagabond 23 – Viz Signature, Oct 2006 [0.1] ::
04 Jul 914. ↑291 (1205) : Vagabond 23 – Viz Signature, Oct 2006 [1.8] ::
11 Jul 887. ↑27 (914) : Vagabond 23 – Viz Signature, Oct 2006 [2.2] ::
18 Jul 1088. ↓-201 (887) : Vagabond 23 – Viz Signature, Oct 2006 [0.4] ::

20 Jun 1083. ↓-104 (979) : Vagabond 24 – Viz Signature, Dec 2006 [0.1] ::
27 Jun 864. ↑219 (1083) : Vagabond 24 – Viz Signature, Dec 2006 [2.2] ::
04 Jul 743. ↑121 (864) : Vagabond 24 – Viz Signature, Dec 2006 [4.3] ::
11 Jul 753. ↓-10 (743) : Vagabond 24 – Viz Signature, Dec 2006 [3.8] ::
18 Jul 932. ↓-179 (753) : Vagabond 24 – Viz Signature, Dec 2006 [1.8] ::
25 Jul 1057. ↓-125 (932) : Vagabond 24 – Viz Signature, Dec 2006 [0.8] ::
01 Aug 878. ↑179 (1057) : Vagabond 24 – Viz Signature, Dec 2006 [2.2] ::
08 Aug 889. ↓-11 (878) : Vagabond 24 – Viz Signature, Dec 2006 [2.2] ::

04 Jul 1010. ↑new (0) : Vagabond 25 – Viz Signature, Feb 2007 [1.0] ::
11 Jul 1010. ↔0 (1010) : Vagabond 25 – Viz Signature, Feb 2007 [1.0] ::

04 Jul 1262. ↑new (0) : Vagabond 28 – Viz Signature, Oct 2008 [0.1] ::
11 Jul 1253. ↑9 (1262) : Vagabond 28 – Viz Signature, Oct 2008 [0.1] ::

04 Jul 1176. ↑new (0) : Vagabond 29 – Viz Signature, May 2009 [0.1] ::
11 Jul 1182. ↓-6 (1176) : Vagabond 29 – Viz Signature, May 2009 [0.1] ::

04 Jul 1212. ↑new (0) : Vagabond 31 – Viz Signature, Jan 2010 [0.1] ::
11 Jul 1215. ↓-3 (1212) : Vagabond 31 – Viz Signature, Jan 2010 [0.1] ::
08 Aug 1218. ↑ (last ranked 11 Jul 10) : Vagabond 31 – Viz Signature, Jan 2010 [0.1] ::

25 Jul 971. ↑new (0) : Vagabond 32 – Viz Signature, Aug 2010 [1.4] ::
01 Aug 963. ↑8 (971) : Vagabond 32 – Viz Signature, Aug 2010 [1.4] ::

08 Aug 1018. ↑ (last ranked 13 Jun 10) : Vagabond The Art of Vagabond: Sumi – Viz Signature, Sep 2008 [0.9] ::
27 Jun 1141. ↑new (0) : Vagabond The Art of Vagabond: Water – Viz Signature, Sep 2008 [0.1] ::
04 Jul 1133. ↑8 (1141) : Vagabond The Art of Vagabond: Water – Viz Signature, Sep 2008 [0.2] ::
11 Jul 1289. ↓-156 (1133) : Vagabond The Art of Vagabond: Water – Viz Signature, Sep 2008 [0.1] ::
01 Aug 832. ↑ (last ranked 11 Jul 10) : Vagabond The Art of Vagabond: Water – Viz Signature, Sep 2008 [2.6] ::
08 Aug 724. ↑108 (832) : Vagabond The Art of Vagabond: Water – Viz Signature, Sep 2008 [4.2] ::

20 Jun 1090. ↑39 (1129) : Vagabond VizBig Edition 1 – Viz Signature, Sep 2008 [0.1] ::
27 Jun 508. ↑582 (1090) : Vagabond VizBig Edition 1 – Viz Signature, Sep 2008 [17.4] ::
04 Jul 405. ↑103 (508) : Vagabond VizBig Edition 1 – Viz Signature, Sep 2008 [27.4] ::
11 Jul 595. ↓-190 (405) : Vagabond VizBig Edition 1 – Viz Signature, Sep 2008 [10.2] ::
18 Jul 1137. ↓-542 (595) : Vagabond VizBig Edition 1 – Viz Signature, Sep 2008 [0.2] ::
25 Jul 1093. ↑44 (1137) : Vagabond VizBig Edition 1 – Viz Signature, Sep 2008 [0.6] ::
01 Aug 1188. ↓-95 (1093) : Vagabond VizBig Edition 1 – Viz Signature, Sep 2008 [0.2] ::
08 Aug 844. ↑344 (1188) : Vagabond VizBig Edition 1 – Viz Signature, Sep 2008 [2.5] ::

11 Jul 693. ↑new (0) : Vagabond VizBig Edition 2 – Viz Signature, Dec 2008 [5.6] ::
18 Jul 689. ↑4 (693) : Vagabond VizBig Edition 2 – Viz Signature, Dec 2008 [5.6] ::
08 Aug 772. ↑ (last ranked 18 Jul 10) : Vagabond VizBig Edition 2 – Viz Signature, Dec 2008 [3.5] ::
11 Jul 1255. ↑new (0) : Vagabond VizBig Edition 3 – Viz Signature, Mar 2009 [0.1] ::
18 Jul 1259. ↓-4 (1255) : Vagabond VizBig Edition 3 – Viz Signature, Mar 2009 [0.1] ::
08 Aug 943. ↑ (last ranked 18 Jul 10) : Vagabond VizBig Edition 3 – Viz Signature, Mar 2009 [1.6] ::

20 Jun 136. ↑4 (140) : Vagabond VizBig Edition 7 – Viz Signature, Apr 2010 [87.5] ::
27 Jun 288. ↓-152 (136) : Vagabond VizBig Edition 7 – Viz Signature, Apr 2010 [42.5] ::

27 Jun 291. ↑new (0) : Vagabond VizBig Edition 8 – Viz Signature, Jul 2010 [42.0] ::
04 Jul 151. ↑140 (291) : Vagabond VizBig Edition 8 – Viz Signature, Jul 2010 [82.5] ::
11 Jul 163. ↓-12 (151) : Vagabond VizBig Edition 8 – Viz Signature, Jul 2010 [79.9] ::
18 Jul 127. ↑36 (163) : Vagabond VizBig Edition 8 – Viz Signature, Jul 2010 [98.1] ::
25 Jul 66. ↑61 (127) : Vagabond VizBig Edition 8 – Viz Signature, Jul 2010 [128.7] ::
01 Aug 60. ↑6 (66) : Vagabond VizBig Edition 8 – Viz Signature, Jul 2010 [135.1] ::
08 Aug 75. ↓-15 (60) : Vagabond VizBig Edition 8 – Viz Signature, Jul 2010 [119.6] ::

11 Jul 899. ↑new (0) : Vagabond VizBig Edition 9 – Viz Signature, Oct 2010 [2.1] ::
18 Jul 775. ↑124 (899) : Vagabond VizBig Edition 9 – Viz Signature, Oct 2010 [3.6] ::
25 Jul 895. ↓-120 (775) : Vagabond VizBig Edition 9 – Viz Signature, Oct 2010 [2.1] ::
01 Aug 1071. ↓-176 (895) : Vagabond VizBig Edition 9 – Viz Signature, Oct 2010 [0.7] ::
08 Aug 973. ↑98 (1071) : Vagabond VizBig Edition 9 – Viz Signature, Oct 2010 [1.3] ::

18 Jul 1121. ↑new (0) : Vagabond VizBig Edition 10 – Viz Signature, Jan 2011 [0.3] ::
25 Jul 910. ↑211 (1121) : Vagabond VizBig Edition 10 – Viz Signature, Jan 2011 [1.9] ::
01 Aug 1005. ↓-95 (910) : Vagabond VizBig Edition 10 – Viz Signature, Jan 2011 [1.1] ::

That was a longer block, let me parse it for you:

Note how the VizBig Collections are selling, particularly the ‘new’ one, VizBig vol. 8: it’s a top 100 title right now. Also, preorders for the later collections (VizBig 9, 10) started last month, likely as soon as they were listed on online sales sites.

Folks are buying this one.

It’s not Naruto or Vampire Knight, but there is some movement on this one, with one type of customer. It’s driven by the value-priced compilations, but that’s better than nothing. [and fans are also still “buying in”, big, with VizBig vol. 1]

##

solanin

20 Jun 1224. ↑13 (1237) : solanin – Viz Signature, Oct 2008 [0.1] ::
27 Jun 897. ↑327 (1224) : solanin – Viz Signature, Oct 2008 [1.9] ::
04 Jul 787. ↑110 (897) : solanin – Viz Signature, Oct 2008 [3.3] ::
11 Jul 952. ↓-165 (787) : solanin – Viz Signature, Oct 2008 [1.5] ::
18 Jul 1342. ↓-390 (952) : solanin – Viz Signature, Oct 2008 [0.1] ::
25 Jul 1163. ↑179 (1342) : solanin – Viz Signature, Oct 2008 [0.2] ::
01 Aug 1154. ↑9 (1163) : solanin – Viz Signature, Oct 2008 [0.2] ::
08 Aug 1286. ↓-132 (1154) : solanin – Viz Signature, Oct 2008 [0.1] ::

##

Rin-Ne

11 Jul 1342. ↑new (0) : Rin-Ne 2 – Viz Shonen Sunday, Jan 2010 [0.1] ::
18 Jul 1364. ↓-22 (1342) : Rin-Ne 2 – Viz Shonen Sunday, Jan 2010 [0.1] ::

20 Jun 248. ↓-1 (247) : Rin-Ne 3 – Viz Shonen Sunday, May 2010 [53.1] ::
27 Jun 430. ↓-182 (248) : Rin-Ne 3 – Viz Shonen Sunday, May 2010 [25.0] ::
04 Jul 496. ↓-66 (430) : Rin-Ne 3 – Viz Shonen Sunday, May 2010 [19.6] ::
11 Jul 572. ↓-76 (496) : Rin-Ne 3 – Viz Shonen Sunday, May 2010 [12.2] ::
18 Jul 1181. ↓-609 (572) : Rin-Ne 3 – Viz Shonen Sunday, May 2010 [0.2] ::
25 Jul 1162. ↑19 (1181) : Rin-Ne 3 – Viz Shonen Sunday, May 2010 [0.2] ::
01 Aug 1227. ↓-65 (1162) : Rin-Ne 3 – Viz Shonen Sunday, May 2010 [0.1] ::
08 Aug 1322. ↓-95 (1227) : Rin-Ne 3 – Viz Shonen Sunday, May 2010 [0.1] ::

The online-plus-print-edition seems to be working, but (at least for the two months tracked) doesn’t seem to encourage a whole lot of people to jump in by buying vol. 1. At least, this title doesn’t have a backlist yet; we’ll see how long it runs.

##

Osamu Tezuka’s Phoenix

just because

11 Jul 1038. ↑new (0) : Phoenix 3 – Viz Signature, Nov 2003 [0.9] ::
18 Jul 1040. ↓-2 (1038) : Phoenix 3 – Viz Signature, Nov 2003 [0.9] ::

27 Jun 807. ↑new (0) : Phoenix 4 – Viz Signature, May 2004 [3.0] ::
04 Jul 813. ↓-6 (807) : Phoenix 4 – Viz Signature, May 2004 [3.0] ::
25 Jul 807. ↑new (0) : Phoenix 4 – Viz Signature, May 2004 [3.0] ::

27 Jun 1207. ↑new (0) : Phoenix 5 – Viz Signature, Oct 2004 [0.1] ::
04 Jul 1257. ↓-50 (1207) : Phoenix 5 – Viz Signature, Oct 2004 [0.1] ::
11 Jul 1301. ↓-44 (1257) : Phoenix 5 – Viz Signature, Oct 2004 [0.1] ::
18 Jul 1307. ↓-6 (1301) : Phoenix 5 – Viz Signature, Oct 2004 [0.1] ::
25 Jul 1207. ↑new (0) : Phoenix 5 – Viz Signature, Oct 2004 [0.1] ::
01 Aug 1256. ↑1 (1257) : Phoenix 5 – Viz Signature, Oct 2004 [0.1] ::

20 Jun 1013. ↓-67 (946) : Phoenix 6 – Viz Signature, Mar 2006 [0.3] ::

20 Jun 1095. ↓-106 (989) : Phoenix 7 – Viz Signature, Jun 2006 [0.1] ::

20 Jun 1124. ↓-97 (1027) : Phoenix 8 – Viz Signature, Sep 2006 [0.1] ::

20 Jun 1147. ↓-100 (1047) : Phoenix 9 – Viz Signature, Dec 2006 [0.1] ::

20 Jun 1170. ↓-64 (1106) : Phoenix 10 – Viz Signature, Feb 2007 [0.1] ::
04 Jul 971. ↑ (last ranked 20 Jun 10) : Phoenix 10 – Viz Signature, Feb 2007 [1.3] ::
11 Jul 982. ↓-11 (971) : Phoenix 10 – Viz Signature, Feb 2007 [1.3] ::

20 Jun 830. ↓-50 (780) : Phoenix 12 – Viz Signature, Mar 2008 [2.2] ::

way down on my charts; needs new Deluxe Editions & a major marketing push. Viz? Got that? Kthxbye.

##

Ooku: The Inner Chambers

20 Jun 687. ↑33 (720) : Ooku: The Inner Chambers 1 – Viz Signature, Aug 2009 [5.4] ::
27 Jun 837. ↓-150 (687) : Ooku: The Inner Chambers 1 – Viz Signature, Aug 2009 [2.4] ::
04 Jul 742. ↑95 (837) : Ooku: The Inner Chambers 1 – Viz Signature, Aug 2009 [4.3] ::
11 Jul 902. ↓-160 (742) : Ooku: The Inner Chambers 1 – Viz Signature, Aug 2009 [2.0] ::
25 Jul 1298. ↑ (last ranked 11 Jul 10) : Ooku: The Inner Chambers 1 – Viz Signature, Aug 2009 [0.1] ::
01 Aug 1175. ↑123 (1298) : Ooku: The Inner Chambers 1 – Viz Signature, Aug 2009 [0.2] ::
08 Aug 1155. ↑20 (1175) : Ooku: The Inner Chambers 1 – Viz Signature, Aug 2009 [0.2] ::

20 Jun 369. ↑15 (384) : Ooku: The Inner Chambers 3 – Viz Signature, Apr 2010 [29.8] ::
27 Jun 673. ↓-304 (369) : Ooku: The Inner Chambers 3 – Viz Signature, Apr 2010 [6.8] ::
04 Jul 1126. ↓-453 (673) : Ooku: The Inner Chambers 3 – Viz Signature, Apr 2010 [0.2] ::
11 Jul 1222. ↓-96 (1126) : Ooku: The Inner Chambers 3 – Viz Signature, Apr 2010 [0.1] ::
18 Jul 1336. ↓-114 (1222) : Ooku: The Inner Chambers 3 – Viz Signature, Apr 2010 [0.1] ::
25 Jul 1176. ↑160 (1336) : Ooku: The Inner Chambers 3 – Viz Signature, Apr 2010 [0.2] ::
01 Aug 875. ↑301 (1176) : Ooku: The Inner Chambers 3 – Viz Signature, Apr 2010 [2.2] ::
08 Aug 817. ↑58 (875) : Ooku: The Inner Chambers 3 – Viz Signature, Apr 2010 [2.9] ::

01 Aug 1326. ↑new (0) : Ooku: The Inner Chambers 4 – Viz Signature, Aug 2010 [0.1] ::
08 Aug 448. ↑878 (1326) : Ooku: The Inner Chambers 4 – Viz Signature, Aug 2010 [15.5] ::

Not much action on pre-orders, but a decent movement on books once they come out.

And bloggers talking about how good it is likely doesn’t hurt.

##

Oishinbo

News Flash: Oishinbo is selling.

20 Jun 103. ↑10 (113) : Oishinbo 1 Japanese Cuisine – Viz Signature, Jan 2009 [107.5] ::
27 Jun 131. ↓-28 (103) : Oishinbo 1 Japanese Cuisine – Viz Signature, Jan 2009 [91.1] ::
04 Jul 160. ↓-29 (131) : Oishinbo 1 Japanese Cuisine – Viz Signature, Jan 2009 [78.5] ::
11 Jul 184. ↓-24 (160) : Oishinbo 1 Japanese Cuisine – Viz Signature, Jan 2009 [69.4] ::
18 Jul 236. ↓-52 (184) : Oishinbo 1 Japanese Cuisine – Viz Signature, Jan 2009 [55.3] ::
25 Jul 203. ↑33 (236) : Oishinbo 1 Japanese Cuisine – Viz Signature, Jan 2009 [54.1] ::
01 Aug 235. ↓-32 (203) : Oishinbo 1 Japanese Cuisine – Viz Signature, Jan 2009 [45.0] ::
08 Aug 362. ↓-127 (235) : Oishinbo 1 Japanese Cuisine – Viz Signature, Jan 2009 [22.6] ::

20 Jun 313. ↑4 (317) : Oishinbo 2 Sake – Viz Signature, Mar 2009 [38.1] ::
27 Jun 360. ↓-47 (313) : Oishinbo 2 Sake – Viz Signature, Mar 2009 [31.3] ::
04 Jul 350. ↑10 (360) : Oishinbo 2 Sake – Viz Signature, Mar 2009 [33.0] ::
11 Jul 511. ↓-161 (350) : Oishinbo 2 Sake – Viz Signature, Mar 2009 [16.3] ::
18 Jul 1264. ↓-753 (511) : Oishinbo 2 Sake – Viz Signature, Mar 2009 [0.1] ::

20 Jun 142. ↑12 (154) : Oishinbo 3 Ramen & Gyoza – Viz Signature, May 2009 [85.8] ::
27 Jun 169. ↓-27 (142) : Oishinbo 3 Ramen & Gyoza – Viz Signature, May 2009 [73.2] ::
04 Jul 218. ↓-49 (169) : Oishinbo 3 Ramen & Gyoza – Viz Signature, May 2009 [58.6] ::
11 Jul 389. ↓-171 (218) : Oishinbo 3 Ramen & Gyoza – Viz Signature, May 2009 [29.1] ::
18 Jul 772. ↓-383 (389) : Oishinbo 3 Ramen & Gyoza – Viz Signature, May 2009 [3.6] ::
25 Jul 737. ↑35 (772) : Oishinbo 3 Ramen & Gyoza – Viz Signature, May 2009 [3.8] ::
01 Aug 685. ↑52 (737) : Oishinbo 3 Ramen & Gyoza – Viz Signature, May 2009 [4.9] ::
08 Aug 794. ↓-109 (685) : Oishinbo 3 Ramen & Gyoza – Viz Signature, May 2009 [3.2] ::

20 Jun 234. ↑12 (246) : Oishinbo 4 Fish, Sushi, & Sashimi – Viz Signature, Aug 2009 [56.0] ::
27 Jun 214. ↑20 (234) : Oishinbo 4 Fish, Sushi, & Sashimi – Viz Signature, Aug 2009 [60.6] ::
04 Jul 189. ↑25 (214) : Oishinbo 4 Fish, Sushi, & Sashimi – Viz Signature, Aug 2009 [66.5] ::
11 Jul 309. ↓-120 (189) : Oishinbo 4 Fish, Sushi, & Sashimi – Viz Signature, Aug 2009 [40.9] ::
18 Jul 488. ↓-179 (309) : Oishinbo 4 Fish, Sushi, & Sashimi – Viz Signature, Aug 2009 [19.0] ::
25 Jul 599. ↓-111 (488) : Oishinbo 4 Fish, Sushi, & Sashimi – Viz Signature, Aug 2009 [7.6] ::
01 Aug 1318. ↓-719 (599) : Oishinbo 4 Fish, Sushi, & Sashimi – Viz Signature, Aug 2009 [0.1] ::
08 Aug 1345. ↓-27 (1318) : Oishinbo 4 Fish, Sushi, & Sashimi – Viz Signature, Aug 2009 [0.1] ::

20 Jun 418. ↑35 (453) : Oishinbo 5 Vegetables – Viz Signature, Sep 2009 [25.3] ::
27 Jun 322. ↑96 (418) : Oishinbo 5 Vegetables – Viz Signature, Sep 2009 [37.0] ::
04 Jul 293. ↑29 (322) : Oishinbo 5 Vegetables – Viz Signature, Sep 2009 [42.5] ::
11 Jul 453. ↓-160 (293) : Oishinbo 5 Vegetables – Viz Signature, Sep 2009 [21.8] ::
18 Jul 536. ↓-83 (453) : Oishinbo 5 Vegetables – Viz Signature, Sep 2009 [15.2] ::
25 Jul 518. ↑18 (536) : Oishinbo 5 Vegetables – Viz Signature, Sep 2009 [11.6] ::
01 Aug 1028. ↓-510 (518) : Oishinbo 5 Vegetables – Viz Signature, Sep 2009 [1.0] ::
08 Aug 1362. ↓-334 (1028) : Oishinbo 5 Vegetables – Viz Signature, Sep 2009 [0.1] ::

20 Jun 300. ↑24 (324) : Oishinbo 6 The Joy of Rice – Viz Signature, Nov 2009 [40.2] ::
27 Jun 457. ↓-157 (300) : Oishinbo 6 The Joy of Rice – Viz Signature, Nov 2009 [23.1] ::
04 Jul 1043. ↓-586 (457) : Oishinbo 6 The Joy of Rice – Viz Signature, Nov 2009 [0.7] ::
11 Jul 1328. ↓-285 (1043) : Oishinbo 6 The Joy of Rice – Viz Signature, Nov 2009 [0.1] ::
18 Jul 1161. ↑167 (1328) : Oishinbo 6 The Joy of Rice – Viz Signature, Nov 2009 [0.2] ::
25 Jul 1175. ↓-14 (1161) : Oishinbo 6 The Joy of Rice – Viz Signature, Nov 2009 [0.2] ::
01 Aug 1349. ↓-174 (1175) : Oishinbo 6 The Joy of Rice – Viz Signature, Nov 2009 [0.1] ::
08 Aug 1164. ↑185 (1349) : Oishinbo 6 The Joy of Rice – Viz Signature, Nov 2009 [0.2] ::

20 Jun 274. ↑4 (278) : Oishinbo 7 Izakaya: Pub Food – Viz Signature, Jan 2010 [46.8] ::
27 Jun 259. ↑15 (274) : Oishinbo 7 Izakaya: Pub Food – Viz Signature, Jan 2010 [49.2] ::
04 Jul 279. ↓-20 (259) : Oishinbo 7 Izakaya: Pub Food – Viz Signature, Jan 2010 [45.6] ::
11 Jul 411. ↓-132 (279) : Oishinbo 7 Izakaya: Pub Food – Viz Signature, Jan 2010 [26.7] ::
18 Jul 483. ↓-72 (411) : Oishinbo 7 Izakaya: Pub Food – Viz Signature, Jan 2010 [19.4] ::
25 Jul 357. ↑126 (483) : Oishinbo 7 Izakaya: Pub Food – Viz Signature, Jan 2010 [25.0] ::
01 Aug 432. ↓-75 (357) : Oishinbo 7 Izakaya: Pub Food – Viz Signature, Jan 2010 [17.1] ::
08 Aug 677. ↓-245 (432) : Oishinbo 7 Izakaya: Pub Food – Viz Signature, Jan 2010 [5.0] ::

In terms of units sold, maybe Vagabond is the leader here, but Oishinbo has been an [maybe anticipated, but still] unbelievable success for the Signature line. Nothing here is Naruto — but what is, honestly? — Oishinbo is a solid midlist title and numerous fans are literally [given the cooking theme] salivating for more.

##

here’s the most recent [8 Aug] rankings for the non-Beat-Jump-Viz. Not complete, and as logged extensively above these titles move quite a bit from week to week, but here’s a full reckoning:

72. ↓-32 (40) : Inuyasha 50 – Viz Shonen Sunday, Jul 2010 [122.7] ::
75. ↓-15 (60) : Vagabond VizBig Edition 8 – Viz Signature, Jul 2010 [119.6] ::
164. ↓-103 (61) : Case Closed 35 – Viz Shonen Sunday, Jul 2010 [67.7] ::
236. ↑759 (995) : Inuyasha 51 – Viz Shonen Sunday, Aug 2010 [45.1] ::
243. ↑755 (998) : Biomega 3 – Viz Signature, Aug 2010 [43.4] ::
278. ↓-64 (214) : Afterschool Charisma 1 – Viz Sig IkkI, Jun 2010 [35.9] ::
348. ↓-98 (250) : Biomega 1 – Viz Signature, Feb 2010 [24.0] ::
353. ↑5 (358) : Inuyasha 45 – Viz Shonen Sunday, Feb 2010 [23.5] ::
362. ↓-127 (235) : Oishinbo 1 Japanese Cuisine – Viz Signature, Jan 2009 [22.6] ::
395. ↓-5 (390) : Naoki Urasawa’s Monster 6 – Viz Signature, Dec 2006 [19.5] ::
447. ↓-104 (343) : Biomega 2 – Viz Signature, May 2010 [15.5] ::
448. ↑878 (1326) : Ooku: The Inner Chambers 4 – Viz Signature, Aug 2010 [15.5] ::
465. ↓-86 (379) : Inuyasha 48 – Viz Shonen Sunday, May 2010 [14.4] ::
529. ↓-72 (457) : Inuyasha 49 – Viz Shonen Sunday, Jun 2010 [10.1] ::
536. ↓-23 (513) : Inuyasha 47 – Viz Shonen Sunday, Apr 2010 [9.7] ::
537. ↓-108 (429) : 20th Century Boys 9 – Viz Signature, Jun 2010 [9.7] ::
555. ↓-45 (510) : Yakitate!! Japan 23 – Viz Shonen Sunday, Jul 2010 [9.0] ::
581. ↓-78 (503) : Arata the Legend 2 – Viz Shonen Sunday, Jun 2010 [8.0] ::
622. ↑1 (623) : Inuyasha 46 – Viz Shonen Sunday, Mar 2010 [6.6] ::
677. ↓-245 (432) : Oishinbo 7 Izakaya: Pub Food – Viz Signature, Jan 2010 [5.0] ::
683. ↓-165 (518) : Hyde & Closer 1 – Viz Shonen Sunday, Jul 2010 [4.9] ::
700. ↓-19 (681) : Inuyasha VizBig Edition 4 – Viz Shonen Sunday, Aug 2010 [4.5] ::
704. ↑66 (770) : Uzumaki 3 – Viz Signature, Feb 2008 [4.5] ::
724. ↑108 (832) : Vagabond The Art of Vagabond: Water – Viz Signature, Sep 2008 [4.2] ::
733. ↑ (last ranked 25 Jul 10) : Case Closed 25 – Viz Shonen Sunday, Sep 2008 [4.1] ::
759. ↓-218 (541) : Arata the Legend 1 – Viz Shonen Sunday, Mar 2010 [3.7] ::
772. ↑ (last ranked 18 Jul 10) : Vagabond VizBig Edition 2 – Viz Signature, Dec 2008 [3.5] ::
794. ↓-109 (685) : Oishinbo 3 Ramen & Gyoza – Viz Signature, May 2009 [3.2] ::
799. ↑322 (1121) : Uzumaki 1 – Viz Signature, Oct 2007 [3.2] ::
817. ↑58 (875) : Ooku: The Inner Chambers 3 – Viz Signature, Apr 2010 [2.9] ::
823. ↓-2 (821) : Inuyasha 32 – Viz Shonen Sunday, Jan 2008 [2.8] ::
832. ↑new (0) : 20th Century Boys 10 – Viz Signature, Aug 2010 [2.6] ::
844. ↑344 (1188) : Vagabond VizBig Edition 1 – Viz Signature, Sep 2008 [2.5] ::
852. ↓-3 (849) : Inuyasha 20 – Viz Shonen Sunday, Dec 2004 [2.5] ::
855. ↑149 (1004) : Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 7 – Viz Signature, Jan 2010 [2.4] ::
856. ↑169 (1025) : Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 5 – Viz Signature, Sep 2009 [2.4] ::
858. ↓-28 (830) : Naoki Urasawa’s Monster 3 – Viz Signature, Jun 2006 [2.4] ::
866. ↑171 (1037) : Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 6 – Viz Signature, Nov 2009 [2.4] ::
867. ↑215 (1082) : Vagabond 8 – Viz Signature, Jan 2004 [2.4] ::
872. ↑139 (1011) : Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 8 – Viz Signature, Apr 2010 [2.3] ::
889. ↓-11 (878) : Vagabond 24 – Viz Signature, Dec 2006 [2.2] ::
899. ↓-14 (885) : Vagabond 1 – Viz Signature, May 2002 [2.1] ::
933. ↑8 (941) : Inuyasha 33 – Viz Shonen Sunday, Apr 2008 [1.7] ::
941. ↓-1 (940) : Maoh Juvenile Remix 1 – Viz Shonen Sunday, May 2010 [1.6] ::
943. ↑ (last ranked 18 Jul 10) : Vagabond VizBig Edition 3 – Viz Signature, Mar 2009 [1.6] ::
971. ↑6 (977) : Inuyasha 44 – Viz Shonen Sunday, Jan 2010 [1.3] ::
973. ↑98 (1071) : Vagabond VizBig Edition 9 – Viz Signature, Oct 2010 [1.3] ::
992. ↑7 (999) : Yakitate!! Japan 21 – Viz Shonen Sunday, Jan 2010 [1.2] ::
1018. ↑ (last ranked 13 Jun 10) : Vagabond The Art of Vagabond: Sumi – Viz Signature, Sep 2008 [0.9] ::
1044. ↑ (last ranked 4 Jul 10) : Children of the Sea 1 – Viz Sig IkkI, Jul 2009 [0.7] ::
1051. ↑23 (1074) : Yakitate!! Japan 22 – Viz Shonen Sunday, Apr 2010 [0.7] ::
1054. ↑new (0) : Inuyasha 52 – Viz Shonen Sunday, Sep 2010 [0.7] ::
1074. ↑23 (1097) : Inuyasha 14 – Viz Shonen Sunday, May 2003 [0.5] ::
1092. ↑6 (1098) : Inuyasha VizBig Edition 1 – Viz Shonen Sunday, Nov 2009 [0.4] ::
1097. ↑125 (1222) : Inuyasha 56 – Viz Shonen Sunday, Jan 2011 [0.4] ::
1100. ↑ (last ranked 18 Jul 10) : Inuyasha VizBig Edition 5 – Viz Shonen Sunday, Nov 2010 [0.3] ::
1155. ↑20 (1175) : Ooku: The Inner Chambers 1 – Viz Signature, Aug 2009 [0.2] ::
1164. ↑185 (1349) : Oishinbo 6 The Joy of Rice – Viz Signature, Nov 2009 [0.2] ::
1181. ↑148 (1329) : Kekkaishi 1 – Viz Shonen Sunday, May 2005 [0.2] ::
1211. ↓-3 (1208) : Inuyasha 7 – Viz Shonen Sunday, Dec 2003 [0.1] ::
1218. ↑ (last ranked 11 Jul 10) : Vagabond 31 – Viz Signature, Jan 2010 [0.1] ::
1223. ↑ (last ranked 25 Jul 10) : Inuyasha VizBig Edition 3 – Viz Shonen Sunday, May 2010 [0.1] ::
1234. ↑ (last ranked 25 Jul 10) : Inuyasha VizBig Edition 2 – Viz Shonen Sunday, Feb 2010 [0.1] ::
1252. ↑new (0) : Inuyasha 38 – Viz Shonen Sunday, Jul 2009 [0.1] ::
1277. ↑13 (1290) : Inuyasha 27 – Viz Shonen Sunday, Oct 2006 [0.1] ::
1286. ↓-132 (1154) : solanin – Viz Signature, Oct 2008 [0.1] ::
1322. ↓-95 (1227) : Rin-Ne 3 – Viz Shonen Sunday, May 2010 [0.1] ::
1326. ↓-143 (1183) : Case Closed 10 – Viz Shonen Sunday, Mar 2006 [0.1] ::
1345. ↓-27 (1318) : Oishinbo 4 Fish, Sushi, & Sashimi – Viz Signature, Aug 2009 [0.1] ::
1362. ↓-334 (1028) : Oishinbo 5 Vegetables – Viz Signature, Sep 2009 [0.1] ::
1375. ↑new (0) : Inuyasha 5 – Viz Shonen Sunday, Oct 2003 [0.1] ::
1398. ↓-5 (1393) : Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 1 – Viz Signature, Feb 2009 [0.1] ::

##

[Ed, ask for clarifications in the comments (or on twitter) and I’ll break it down further for you.]

Your Executive Summary and Index, Week Ending 8 August 2010

##

Please read this week’s alert for information on recent title additions to the underlying database used in the charts.

last week’s rankings
About the Charts
Analysis and Commentary Posts

The Weekly Charts:
Your Executive Summary and Index
Week ending 8 August 2010

Internet Archive link: http://www.archive.org/details/MangaRankingsWeekEnding8August2010

Manga Top 500

1. ↑6 (7) : Negima! 27 – Del Rey, Jul 2010 [426.1] ::
2. ↓-1 (1) : Naruto 48 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2010 [403.7] ::
3. ↓-1 (2) : Fullmetal Alchemist 23 – Viz, Jul 2010 [398.0] ::
4. ↔0 (4) : Vampire Knight 10 – Viz Shojo Beat, Jun 2010 [356.2] ::
5. ↑7 (12) : Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle 27 – Del Rey, Jul 2010 [349.5] ::
6. ↑10 (16) : Black Bird 5 – Viz Shojo Beat, Aug 2010 [336.2] ::
7. ↓-4 (3) : Ouran High School Host Club 14 – Viz Shojo Beat, Jul 2010 [328.9] ::
8. ↓-3 (5) : Maximum Ride 1 – Yen Press, Jan 2009 [328.7] ::
9. ↑26 (35) : Rosario+Vampire Season II 2 – Viz Shonen Jump Advanced, Aug 2010 [325.8] ::
10. ↑14 (24) : Shugo Chara! 9 – Del Rey, Jul 2010 [322.2] ::

[more]

Top Imprints
Number of titles ranking in the Manga 500:

Viz Shonen Jump 109
Tokyopop 64
Viz Shojo Beat 50
Yen Press 45
Viz Shonen Jump Advanced 34
Del Rey 33
Vizkids 28
Viz 18
Dark Horse 16
HC/Tokyopop 16

[more]

Top 50 Series:

1. ↔0 (1) : Naruto – Viz Shonen Jump [863.5] ::
2. ↔0 (2) : Vampire Knight – Viz Shojo Beat [760.7] ::
3. ↑2 (5) : Negima! – Del Rey [648.1] ::
4. ↓-1 (3) : Maximum Ride – Yen Press [645.3] ::
5. ↑4 (9) : Black Bird – Viz Shojo Beat [587.6] ::
6. ↓-2 (4) : Fullmetal Alchemist – Viz [565.4] ::
7. ↑4 (11) : Rosario+Vampire – Viz Shonen Jump Advanced [543.6] ::
8. ↓-2 (6) : Bleach – Viz Shonen Jump [519.3] ::
9. ↓-2 (7) : Ouran High School Host Club – Viz Shojo Beat [468.5] ::
10. ↓-2 (8) : Warriors – HC/Tokyopop [448.6] ::

[more]

Top 50 New Releases:
(Titles releasing/released This Month & Last)

1. ↑6 (7) : Negima! 27 – Del Rey, Jul 2010 [426.1] ::
3. ↓-1 (2) : Fullmetal Alchemist 23 – Viz, Jul 2010 [398.0] ::
5. ↑7 (12) : Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle 27 – Del Rey, Jul 2010 [349.5] ::
6. ↑10 (16) : Black Bird 5 – Viz Shojo Beat, Aug 2010 [336.2] ::
7. ↓-4 (3) : Ouran High School Host Club 14 – Viz Shojo Beat, Jul 2010 [328.9] ::
9. ↑26 (35) : Rosario+Vampire Season II 2 – Viz Shonen Jump Advanced, Aug 2010 [325.8] ::
10. ↑14 (24) : Shugo Chara! 9 – Del Rey, Jul 2010 [322.2] ::
15. ↑3 (18) : Maximum Ride 3 – Yen Press, Aug 2010 [252.5] ::
16. ↑69 (85) : Skip Beat! 21 – Viz Shojo Beat, Aug 2010 [248.8] ::
20. ↑18 (38) : Return to Labyrinth 4 – Tokyopop, Aug 2010 [227.5] ::

[more]

Top 50 Preorders:

67. ↑9 (76) : Hetalia Axis Powers 1 – Tokyopop, Sep 2010 [130.0] ::
114. ↑54 (168) : Negima! 28 – Del Rey, Oct 2010 [89.8] ::
201. ↓-79 (122) : Berserk 34 – Dark Horse, Sep 2010 [53.4] ::
214. ↑43 (257) : Finder Series 1 Target in the View Finder – DMP Juné, Sep 2010 [49.5] ::
264. ↓-12 (252) : Naruto 49 – Viz Shonen Jump, Oct 2010 [38.2] ::
282. ↑3 (285) : Ninja Girls 4 – Del Rey, Dec 2010 [35.0] ::
301. ↑9 (310) : How to Draw Manga Style – Quarto Publishing, Jan 2011 [31.9] ::
306. ↑10 (316) : Psycho Busters vols 6-7 collection – Del Rey, Nov 2010 [30.8] ::
321. ↑35 (356) : Dance in the Vampire Bund 9 – Seven Seas, Dec 2010 [27.8] ::
330. ↑7 (337) : Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle 28 – Del Rey, Nov 2010 [26.3] ::

[more]

Your Executive Summary and Index, Week Ending 1 Aug 2010

##

last week’s rankings
About the Charts
Analysis and Commentary Posts

The Weekly Charts:
Your Executive Summary and Index
Week ending 1 Aug 2010

Internet Archive link: http://www.archive.org/details/MangaRankingsWeekEnding1August2010

Manga Top 500

1. ↔0 (1) : Naruto 48 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2010 [420.6] ::
2. ↑1 (3) : Fullmetal Alchemist 23 – Viz, Jul 2010 [414.5] ::
3. ↓-1 (2) : Ouran High School Host Club 14 – Viz Shojo Beat, Jul 2010 [369.2] ::
4. ↔0 (4) : Vampire Knight 10 – Viz Shojo Beat, Jun 2010 [369.0] ::
5. ↑1 (6) : Maximum Ride 1 – Yen Press, Jan 2009 [332.7] ::
6. ↓-1 (5) : Hellsing 10 – Dark Horse, Jun 2010 [318.5] ::
7. ↑26 (33) : Negima! 27 – Del Rey, Jul 2010 [313.0] ::
8. ↓-1 (7) : Naruto 47 – Viz Shonen Jump, Feb 2010 [312.8] ::
9. ↓-1 (8) : Maximum Ride 2 – Yen Press, Oct 2009 [293.6] ::
10. ↓-1 (9) : Bleach 31 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2010 [287.6] ::

[more]

Top Imprints
Number of titles ranking in the Manga 500:

Viz Shonen Jump 100
Tokyopop 66
Viz Shojo Beat 50
Yen Press 46
Viz Shonen Jump Advanced 36
Del Rey 29
Vizkids 28
Dark Horse 21
Viz 18
HC/Tokyopop 16

[more]

Top 50 Series:

1. ↔0 (1) : Naruto – Viz Shonen Jump [905.7] ::
2. ↔0 (2) : Vampire Knight – Viz Shojo Beat [770.2] ::
3. ↔0 (3) : Maximum Ride – Yen Press [648.1] ::
4. ↔0 (4) : Fullmetal Alchemist – Viz [597.8] ::
5. ↑4 (9) : Negima! – Del Rey [552.2] ::
6. ↔0 (6) : Bleach – Viz Shonen Jump [514.0] ::
7. ↓-2 (5) : Ouran High School Host Club – Viz Shojo Beat [508.7] ::
8. ↓-1 (7) : Warriors – HC/Tokyopop [479.5] ::
9. ↑2 (11) : Black Bird – Viz Shojo Beat [473.9] ::
10. ↓-2 (8) : Alice in the Country of Hearts – Tokyopop [450.5] ::

[more]

Top 50 New Releases:
(Titles releasing/released This Month & Last)

2. ↑1 (3) : Fullmetal Alchemist 23 – Viz, Jul 2010 [414.5] ::
3. ↓-1 (2) : Ouran High School Host Club 14 – Viz Shojo Beat, Jul 2010 [369.2] ::
7. ↑26 (33) : Negima! 27 – Del Rey, Jul 2010 [313.0] ::
12. ↑32 (44) : Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle 27 – Del Rey, Jul 2010 [257.1] ::
16. ↑71 (87) : Black Bird 5 – Viz Shojo Beat, Aug 2010 [218.9] ::
17. ↓-3 (14) : Haruhi Suzumiya The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya (novel) – Little, Brown & Co., Jul 2010 [218.7] ::
18. ↑3 (21) : Maximum Ride 3 – Yen Press, Aug 2010 [218.0] ::
23. ↓-12 (11) : Black Lagoon 9 – Viz, Jul 2010 [204.2] ::
24. ↑133 (157) : Shugo Chara! 9 – Del Rey, Jul 2010 [202.4] ::
26. ↓-14 (12) : One Piece 54 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jul 2010 [199.5] ::

[more]

Top 50 Preorders:

76. ↓-23 (53) : Hetalia Axis Powers 1 – Tokyopop, Sep 2010 [118.2] ::
122. ↓-44 (78) : Berserk 34 – Dark Horse, Sep 2010 [84.0] ::
168. ↑28 (196) : Negima! 28 – Del Rey, Oct 2010 [68.2] ::
252. ↓-26 (226) : Naruto 49 – Viz Shonen Jump, Oct 2010 [40.7] ::
257. ↑82 (339) : Finder Series 1 Target in the View Finder – DMP Juné, Sep 2010 [39.8] ::
285. ↑11 (296) : Ninja Girls 4 – Del Rey, Dec 2010 [33.2] ::
297. ↓-91 (206) : Pokemon Diamond & Pearl Adventures 8 – Vizkids, Nov 2010 [31.3] ::
310. ↑161 (471) : How to Draw Manga Style – Quarto Publishing, Jan 2011 [29.9] ::
315. ↓-61 (254) : Spice & Wolf (manga) 3 – Yen Press, Nov 2010 [29.6] ::
316. ↑21 (337) : Psycho Busters vols 6-7 collection – Del Rey, Nov 2010 [29.3] ::

[more]

Yesterday I posted a wall-o-text about books & bookselling, and I know a lot of you [the comics folks] could care less about retail and the rest of you [the retail folks] could give a rat’s ass about my philosopical musings on the future of print in the larger context of the present and continued transmission of culture, and that even if you like the bullshit philosophical musings you honestly would prefer I not drink so much, so the points made could be more clearly, and concisely, expressed.

I fully admit my shortcomings. Among other things, I like web traffic for this poor blog. Kinda an attention whore that way.

So in an effort to both increase traffic and direct even more of you to the original essay, while making it more accessible, let me take a single, favourite assertion from yesterday’s post and expand on it, briefly, today:

Bookstores may be grossly inefficient compared to e-books and web sites and all that crap, but sex is also grossly inefficient if the only goal you consider is insemination. Sometimes inefficiencies are a good thing. Sometimes they have a value, even an economic value, well beyond what is most expedient or cost-effective.

Yes, if all you want is a book, you can log onto a web site, spend less than 3 minutes, order exactly what you want, wait the pre-determined time period, and soon you will be surprised with a tiny packet of joy, delivered to you via the offices of professionals who specialize in that sort of thing.

Seems ideal, right? let me replace one word

Yes, if all you want is a baby, you can log in, spend less than three minutes in the process to effect that end, wait the pre-determined time period, and soon you will be surprised with a tiny packet of joy, delivered to you via the offices of professionals who specialize in that sort of thing.

##

Obviously, there are occasional inefficiencies in any process that have little to do with the end result but that we engage in anyway.

One can drink absinthe without a louche and flaming sugar cubes and all of that, but the process is often the point of consumption. One can buy a burger without making reservations, meeting before-hand for drinks and conversation with friends, ordering the appetizer, and later dessert, and much later coffee or port while lounging with said friends in the restaurant’s bar. One can see the Mona Lisa without looking at a single other painting in the Louvre, or visiting the Eiffel Tower and the Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris and Shakespeare & Co. or walking the banks of the Seine under lamplight and moonlight arm in arm with a smiling, laughing companion.

One can engage in the process of insemination without courtship, chaste hand-holding; the uncertain, halting, almost orgasmic first kiss; shared special memories of that night or this place; the arguments, the breakups, the forgiveness, the make-up sex; without foreplay and caresses and knowing that if I blow just so behind your ear I can feel the shudder at the base of your spine through my hand placed just at the top of the curve of your ass, and long sweaty nights and slow, leisurely sunday mornings and that quickie on the floor right before we go to your college-BFF’s wedding. Or the Valentine’s day right after our first anniversary. Or breakfast in bed on your birthday that ended up with me meeting the pizza guy wearing only a sheet because neither of us could be bothered to cook (or even get out of bed) all day and by 4pm we were starving.

Indeed, if one focuses only on the goal, there are many, enjoyable parts of the process that might be missed. And occasionally the process is a lot of fun in it’s own right, and the eventual goal might be a bit of a let-down, or undesired, or impossible to begin with.

Yes, one can easily buy a book online. Click, click, click: we’re done.

Bookstores aren’t about the quick sale of a book [though we’re up for a quickie if that’s all you have time for]

Bookstores are about inefficiency and the grand glorious meandering search, falling in love, and those rapturous perfect moments of book discovery — after a relationship that has lasted for years, a partnership you’re comfortable with, an easy familiarity that you fall into whenever you walk through the door. Those ‘perfect’ book moments may only come once a month, or once a week, if that’s all you can make time for. They can come as often as once a day [or multiple times a day] though it’ll take more of your time and quite a bit more effort on our part, as booksellers.

yes, Amazon and other web sites will satisfy that book jones in scant seconds — coldly, mechanically, and without the personal touch a patient, knowledgeable lover bookseller can provide.

Some days you know exactly what you want. And we’ll humbly provide that.

But we’re also open, ready, and willing to take you by the hand any other day of the week, and walk down those tempting aisles and through the grubby stacks packed from one end to the other with sexy, sexy books. Whether you only want to watch browse, or maybe just dip a toe into ocean of pleasures that books can provide, we’re here for you. And when you’re ready to take the plunge, we’ll be right by your side.

Yes. Bookstores are inefficient. So is really enjoying a meal, or talking to and meeting with friends in person, or travelling the world to see the major cities and centres of culture with your own eyes. So is sex.

Inefficiencies are Great. Love ‘em.

And I hope bookselling remains inefficient for centuries to come.

Some see e-books as the death of bookstores and traditional publishing. And I’ll chime in a little later in this essay with my thoughts on that, but I’ll be going the long way ‘round, so go ahead and get that second cup of coffee and settle in.

Every transaction in publishing [Author to Agent, Agent to Publisher, Publisher to Distributor, Distributor to Retail, Bookseller to You – and the many business transactions that shortcut one or two or all of those interactions] is about words being slowly converted into dollars, and then the flow of dollars back to the Author, ideally, though much like the Colorado River that stream often dries up long before it reaches its supposed final destination.

Books are not produced by Amazon. While an author might go directly to Amazon (or an agent might do so, on an author’s behalf, as has recently caused a stir) even then, Amazon is just digital-storefront and distributor of the files. In a fundamental way, this is no different from Amazon selling any other sort of books, and Amazon’s interest in the deal is limited to Amazon’s take. While I’ll concede that Amazon is taking on some roles of the publisher—production and distribution in the case of e-books—it’s only going that far because e-books are digital and these costs are negligible. What is missing is editorial & financial support, and any marketing of the book. Some books only get written because of the advance on royalties extended to the author by the publisher before the book is finished, sometimes before it’s even written. Amazon isn’t offering that. Sure, you might make more on the back end but you as the author are forced to bear all financial risk. You as the author have to pay someone to proofread and edit your book (assuming you value the polish a good editor can add to even the best manusripts) and you as the author are going to have to arrange your own book signings and tours, and submitting the book to awards committees, and getting listed in catalogues (wait, will there be any catalogues if the major publishers don’t exist any more?) so physical copies of your book can be ordered into bookstores, and placed in libraries.

Amazon just wants the e-book, and their cut of its sale. Of Course Amazon is willing to pay the author more in royalties, maybe even as much as 90% of the purchase price, as they did nothing and the book costs them next to nothing. Your agent is going to work a lot harder for her 10%, let me tell you. Amazon is a parasite, taking the finished product away from folks who worked hard to produce it, and offering money back if and only if it manages to sell.

And the same might be said of all retail (and publishing, if your publisher doesn’t get behind the book) — but editors, publishers’ field reps & marketing departments, and yes, booksellers can all do a lot more than Amazon in selling books. Your take is less, because costs are higher. Those costs are higher because people are actually working on selling the book. A link and a listing on an online sales site are not the same as “being published”

##

90 years ago, publishing worked differently. I’m not usually nostalgic, but it’s the death of the business model of the 1920s & 30s that we’re seeing, and mourning, now.

The book you need to buy (& read) is Jason Epstein’s Book Business: Publishing Past, Present, and Future, isbn 9780393322347.

From the publisher:

“Jason Epstein has led arguably the most creative career in book publishing during the past half-century. He founded Anchor Books and launched the quality paperback revolution, cofounded the New York Review of Books, and created of the Library of America, the prestigious publisher of American classics, and The Reader’s Catalog, the precursor of online bookselling. In this short book he discusses the severe crisis facing the book business today—a crisis that affects writers and readers as well as publishers—and looks ahead to the radically transformed industry that will revolutionize the idea of the book as profoundly as the introduction of movable type did five centuries ago.”

From Wikipedia, Jason Epstein:

A 1949 graduate of Columbia College of Columbia University, Epstein was hired by Bennett Cerf at Random House, where he was the editorial director for forty years. He was responsible for the Vintage paperbacks, which published such authors as Norman Mailer, David Rudomin, Vladimir Nabokov, E. L. Doctorow, Gore Vidal, Itai Guttman, and Philip Roth. In 1952, while an editor at Doubleday, he created the Anchor Books imprint. This was the first of the trade paperback formats, a format which has consistently remained profitable and popular since that time.

In 1963, during the New York City newspaper strike, he co-founded The New York Review of Books, with his then-wife, Barbara Epstein, Elizabeth Hardwick and Robert Lowell.
He wrote a book entitled Book Business: Publishing Past, Present, and Future. In 1979, he and his brother, Zach Epstein were the co-founders of the Library of America which was intended to market archival quality editions of American classic literature. The first volumes were published in 1982, and the company now prints about 250,000 volumes per year.

He has been the recipient of the first National Book Award for Distinguished Service to American Letters and the Curtis Benjamin Award of the Association of American Publishers for “inventing new kinds of publishing and editing and The Lifetime Achievement Award of the National Book Critic’s Circle.”

His most recent endeavour is On Demand Books, the company that markets the Espresso Book Machine, which he co-founded in 2004.

A [possibly ironic, if only in that it exists?] preview of Book Business is available online from Google Books — though currently there are no e-book editions.

You can argue against Epstein’s conclusions in the book [though he backs them with his own money and actions, see ‘Espresso Book Machine’ above] but to say anything about publishing, retail, and digital books without having read his excellent history (& personal take) on the industry you mean to replace is almost criminally negligent. Pitch it as either ‘know yourself’ or ‘know your enemy’ but educate yourself on traditional, 20th-century-style publishing before stepping into this new era.

[and this is just my introduction…]

##

Words Exchanged for Dollars: 5 questions.

What is a book? What is bookselling? Who is best able to sell books? In an era when some to most to all “books” are files, what does “bookselling” even mean?

that’s 4. And:

Are current players (Amazon, major chains, independents, bloggers) going to be future players? Where is bookselling heading?

5 questions to cover and I might not have the answers. There’s nothing to do but start writing.

##

1. What is a Book?

Yeah, I know, you wanted business analysis and advice on which stock to buy now, or even just a summary of book retail with a 3-5 year forecast of the industry, retail prospects, and a sideline on digital media as relates to traditional retail.

The last thing you were looking for was a philosophical discourse on the definition and very nature of the term/idea/form “Book”. But that’s how I roll.

Let’s start with what a book is Not: A book is not a collection of paper leaves bound on one vertical edge, and stained on their surface by heiroglyphic marks meant to represent words and ideas. A book is not a digital file of 1s and 0s, which when properly decoded correspond to those same heiroglyphic marks, a translation into digital of that bound collection of leaves. A book is not a collection of ideas, or a physical document. A book is not a history or story, or an argument or allegory, or a manifesto or call to action, or a summation of past arguments, or a presentation of scientific data, or a historigraphic survey of previously unknown culture, or a speculative excursion into the realms of what might be, or a devout and discrete distillation of mystic experience into a concise statement of the divine.

A book can be all of these things, and several of them simultaneously, but at its very base: a Book is nothing but a mess of words. — permanently recorded words, & ideally meant for posterity, but more often collected and presented for economic gain: Words to be exchanged for Dollars.

(Or pounds, yen, shillings, francs, euros, yuan, shillings, cedi, pesos, manats, pesetas, dinar, marks, kronig, lats, shekles, rials, lira, credits, gil, double-dollars, or geekcred – eventually someone may commoditize and monetize our attention, such that revenue from online ads aren’t ‘priced’ at all but are instead treated separately and traded at their own rates on currency exchanges)

A book is a collection of words presented to the public by the author for gain — whether that’s monetary gain [most common], enhanced reputation & recognition, to support other economic activity, or an increased awareness (and eventual sale) of additonal books or other merchandise. Not every use of a ‘book’ requires money to change hands, but if some economic value is not derived from publication (“the act of making something public”) then that mess of words might as well [most likely will] remain a personal journal or private correspondence.

Even if the only economic benefit is “being read by others”, and the author who gives books away for free is willing to take all other production and distribution costs upon themselves in order to obtain that benefit, there is an economic component to sharing: a perceived benefit for a given expenditure.

“Free” books are hardly that: Religious organizations gain converts, political movements gain members, webcomickers gain fans who buy t-shirts. “Free” is great as a marketing strategy, but nothing is ever free, even if it’s only your attention that is being sold (via online ads, or the visibilty/recognition/popularity/notoriety/loyalty gained and banked for later economic benefit — please reference The Attention Economy)

So. By my definition, every collection of words (including this blog) is a “Book”, and all books have costs, and all books are for “sale”

— we can argue that not all “books” are fully equal [which is obvious, as no matter what class of goods we’d care to consider, even substitutable, ‘equivalent’ goods are not equal]
— and while digital costs are amazingly low, for ‘free’ books those costs are still borne by the ‘publisher’ even if that publisher is a blogger and the cost of ‘publication’ is just the annual web hosting fee.

E-books and ‘new’ formats and ‘new’ publication models are in fact nothing new, and can be shown to have easy historical analogs & also fall into my definitions of ‘book’ and ‘publication’ – to me, the argument is not a matter of Publishing Books but instead Publishing Books for Profit.

##

2. What is Bookselling?

Paper print & publication, and associated retail via book stores and newsstands, have proved more-or-less profitable (occasionally massively so, though losses are just as common) ever since industrial methods were applied to the means of producing books. Costs have fallen, more books are available to more people in more places than ever before, and more people can read even if they don’t bother to. It doesn’t make a whole lot of money as a percentage of costs, but it’s enough to keep the whole thing going, and the whole is a $15 Billion dollar a year business

And profits are a fine side-effect from the need to publish (or perhaps, publishing is a side-effect of the profit motive, though I’d argue there are many, many easier ways to make a buck than writing novels – theft springs immediately to mind, as does digging ditches) and there are so many books and players in the market that we’re tempted to refer to the whole mess as an industry, and institution.

Which is fine.

It’s a great thing, actually, when the sheer volume of books makes one think that books will always be there and that the mass of books published are somehow ‘culture’ or [hang on a sec, let me find my own past wording…] the canon and corpus of all human knowledge.

But there are no guarantees. Even after publication, books only remain in the market if there is money to be made in the sales of new copies, or so long as someone (a library or other academic resource) subsidizes them.

• and let me note here: that could be money made by the author and original rights holders, or money made by pirates. Both activities—publication & piracy—promulgate additional copies [in the digital age, copies ARE the continued existance of a work, though more often than not the means to produce/procure them are morally wrong]
• and ‘sales’ refers to the direct paper-for-money transactions, ad revenue to be gleaned from web hits, circulation within a library system that prompts the purchase of replacement copies, or additional copies, or copies for new library branches, old-fashioned bookstore sales and even the new-fangled ‘ebooks’.
• While this month’s paycheck [and being able to eat] are the primary focus of authors and all other actors in the publication industry, today’s profits are no guarantor of future income, or even a good indication that a popular book will remain in print 10 years from now.
• Allow me to repeat that: most, if not all books, only get 10 years. After that, editions remain in libraries, used book stores, and warehouses, but new books are not being printed. 20 years out, dedicated readers can find a copy but it is no longer in general circulation or for sale at the original retail price. 30 years on and the last used paperbacks are either stuck in collections or discarded as they deteriorate – 40 years on the hardcover editions are either firmly held by collectors [first-editions, mostly] [if your book is worth anything] while the majority have been forgotten, sold by the library in a book fair, lost in basements and attics, slowly falling apart if still in circulation, and rarely if ever read. After 50 years, you’re either known as a genius and your works classic, assigned to students and subject to reprint in new editions every 8 years, or you’ve been forgotten.
• We all like to give lip service to the permanence of print, but paper (particularly the cheap pulp paper used through most of the last century) is not a proper medium for archives and even worse: there is only the scarcest minority that even cares: Collectors, historians, archivists, sociologists, and fans — and there are few enough of any of these classes — but past the core [maybe 500 people, total] that actively lobby to preserve the history of print, everyone else discounts ‘old’ stuff and only cares about what’s new — and I’m not just talking about genre fiction, the ‘pulps’ [sci-fi, mystery, noir, adventure stories with lurid covers] but also ‘serious’, ‘literary’ fiction. Literary fiction actually has very few fans. And if it’s more than 20 years old either it’s famous – or it is lost at this point. Print seems permanent, but in practice has proven to be even more ephemeral than radio and early film and television: I can buy a CD box set of the Lone Ranger radio dramas [c. 1933-54], but not only can I not buy any of the top 10 New York Times Bestsellers from 1933, I’d be hard pressed to even know what those books were. The vast, ever expanding internet only takes us back to the 50s [link] and only because some brave volunteer took the time to type those in from historical sources.

What is bookselling? Well, at its most basic it’s the exchange of words for dollars. But bookselling is also the mechanism that keeps books in print. Dickens would be just another magazine serialist, Shakespeare an actor who wrote sonnets to an unknown mistress, Homer a blind poet with an astounding memory, Dante a little known minor Italian politician, Twain a newspaper reporter with an adventurous streak, and the Brontës just three sisters who liked to tell each other stories. We know these authors, and their books, because the books have been sold more-or-less-continuously through the decades, centuries, and millenia since their deaths.

If books were not sold, it would be up to librarians to keep the flame alive. And I love libraries. I love librarians. I like ‘em so much I’d marry one.

But nothing gets books published and distributed quite like the corrupting influence of dollars. Dirty, filthy commerce with profit motives and scamming the marks for two bits. Exploiting authors, skirting the law, ignoring foreign copyrights, out and out piracy on occasion. It’s an occasionally vile business but it puts books on shelves and into the hands of readers.

So long as a buck can be made on the sale of a new or used book, there’s going to be a person [or multi-billion dollar corporation] there to accept your money and keep the books in print.

This is bookselling: exchanging words for dollars. The profit motive is the only motive. Ah, yes, but no matter how base the activity, the main side effect is that new books get written, and printed, and sold. Old books get new editions and the backlist grows deeper every year.

Bookstores may be grossly inefficient compared to e-books and web sites and all that crap, but sex is also grossly inefficient if the only goal you consider is insemination. Sometimes inefficiencies are a good thing. Sometimes they have a value, even an economic value, well beyond what is most expedient or cost-effective. Just because there is something new, doesn’t mean we forget the old; it takes minutes to microwave but hours to cook; seconds to txtmsg but days to really catch up with old friends; A week to read the Bible, or Koran, or Upanishads, or the Tibetan Book of the Dead, but a lifetime to put principles into practice and to truly lead a moral life. [allow me to note, smugly, that religion starts with books] [and atheism, even moreso]

You can use Amazon if you like: it’s quick, and sterile, and over in just minutes.

Books can be sold in many ways, but to me Bookselling means Bookstores, and I like bookstores for the same reasons I enjoy sex.

##

3. Who is best able to sell books?

Publish or Perish isn’t just an axiom in academia, it’s true for all authors. The best way to sell your backlist is to keep writing new books, minting new fans, and keeping yourself in the public eye. Some authors can get away with only one book [Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind, Lee’s To Kill a Mocking Bird, Sewell’s Black Beauty, Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces] but most will publish at least two, or will also write poetry and plays and essays — a life in print, not a single masterpiece. And for fans of Nora Roberts or James Patterson, the constant output is comforting and affirming: there will [seemingly] always be another book.

And it’ll be a bestseller. There are many ways to consider best-sellers and “bestselling” authors: there is an elite cadre of 80 or so authors, living and dead who have sold more than 100 Million books apiece. This is the height to which we all aspire. More than 1,400,000 different titles are made available for sale each year (at least since 2007) of which three-quarters will sell less than 100 copies. Of the 300,000 or so remaining titles, only 1-2% could be considered ‘bestsellers’, a number that is a scant 3-hundreths of one percent of the total books in print. [2007 numbers: 1.45 Million Books, of which only 483 sold more than 100,000 copies – source: Harpers index].

The odds are slightly better than the lottery, though the cost of ‘tickets’ are higher (you have to write a book first) (and no data on how many of those ‘bestselling authors’ are in fact debut authors, who manage a bestseller right out of the gate; of the 500 bestselling books each year almost all will be from ‘name’ authors working on their 5th or 10th or 20th book. Maybe the lottery is easier.)

My point is that the one actor best able to sell books is the Author, and she can do that best by writing more books. Nothing moves the backlist like a new release.

If Agatha Christie had written only 4 books [pick your favorite 4] she might still be known today but she is recognized as a master of the genre because she wrote so much. Poe, actually, invented the mystery in three short stories [featuring proto-Sherlock Dupin] but few remember Poe as a mystery writer since he wrote so little. [so little mystery; obviously we remember him for other reasons].

While I turn it back on the author, saying, “Well, you are best able to sell your books” it’s not because I have given up my duties as a bookseller, but because it’s true: the best way to sell books is to write more books. You don’t obsess over your debut, and think, ‘I’ll write the sequel once this one is a bestseller’ — you write the sequel and the third book and a fifth and a ninth, especially if they all feature the same main characters, because this is what avid readers love most. Not a book, but a series; not an experience of hours but of days, and waiting patiently over years for the latest book from a favorite author.

Other than the author, friends telling friends about books is the best way to sell books. I can loan you the book, in fact, if I see you often enough and I like (& trust) you that much, but more often I just tell you about a title and leave you to your own devices in finding it. Bookclubs also operate in this friends-telling-friends mode, as does Oprah—in as much as some people love Oprah and take her recommendations with the same weight as they would the word of a friend.

So, dear Author, you can ‘sell’ the books yourself by writing compelling books and compelling sequels, lots of ‘em. Personal recommendations are next-best and most valued, & after that comes book reviews (when favorable) whether found on blogs or in print. Reviews can be hit or miss, though, as it depends not only on the opinion of the reviewer, but of the level of trust the reader has in the source (and on the review running in a publication which is itself widely read).

All other bookselling is in the hands of strangers.

Bookstores can shelve your books, which is a bare minimum. Your title can be faced-out (with cover fully visible) or merely spined, your book could end up on feature shelves, display tables, endcaps, front-of-store displays, or even the “Staff Recommends” display — sometimes with nothing more than a shelf-talker with a quick blurb from an enthusiastic bookseller, maybe moved to the most prominent display next to the bestsellers, maybe in a small stack next to the register or infomation desk.

Obviously, Booksellers can do a lot to sell your books for you. Bookstores specialize in books, and all kinds of books, not just the top 10 available at 50% off the cover price at CostCo., not the 40 books in a rack at the grocery store or the 200 titles at Target or Wal-Mart.

Yeah, sure we charge more. Unlike Wal-Mart, we’re not in the discount goods business: we sell books, dammit.

100,000 titles, Five Hundered times the books at Wal-Mart, Ten Thousand times the number of books at CostCo. Yeah, so maybe they sell more books that I do; which is fine and great. But unless your last name is “Patterson” you likely don’t see any of that and shouldn’t care. How do books become besellers? Through word of mouth, friends telling friends, and booksellers putting books into the hands of customers daily.

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4. In an era when some to most to all “books” are files, what does “bookselling” even mean?

I’ve already covered this one once: Rethinking the Box: Selling Books in the Post-Book Era

let me summarize: even without a bookstore, I’ll be a bookseller. I will engage people, talk about books, recommend my favorites, and make readers enthusiastic about authors and titles. I can do that from a blog, if I have to, but I prefer to do it from a physical storefront. And there is a lot to be said for handing a book to a customer: here is the physical object, you can take it home today.

E-books are fine if readers already know they want the book, but there is a much higher curb to overcome if no one has heard of you as an author and is entirely unfamiliar with the book. There is no way to ‘browse’ an e-book. Some samples are available, but how do you encourage people to download them?

Word-of-mouth and friend-to-friend and Reviews & Recommendations become even more important. Expertise and experience becomes even more valuable, not just to sell the books, but to even know what’s out there given the millions and millions of options.

If Amazon kills bookstores, then my role as bookseller (and my experience, as a reader & lover of books) is all the more valuable. I might be out of a job, but with a little hard work I might even end up making more money. Amazon will have relieved me of the hard work of stocking titles, moving inventory, and physically handling books. All that is left is the high-touch, highly personal task of selling books and I can sign up as an Amazon affiliate and take my commission. Instead of selling to one person at a time, I can post to a blog and sell to 50. Nothing is guaranteed, and damn I’ll miss the bookstore, but bookselling isn’t tied to the physical store, and it’s a hell of a lot more than just listing books on a web site. Sales is an interpersonal skill, and so long as there are ways to communicate it will persist in that person-to-person interaction.

##

5. Are current players (Amazon, major chains, independents, bloggers) going to be future players? Where is bookselling heading?

Anyone with a billion dollars in this game will continue to be a player for as long as they want.

They may not have the same market share, and may be forced to abandon what they used to think of as their ‘core’ business, and maybe they can’t support the same staff, but the brand and the ability to at least try in the new market (whatever it is) is still there.

We’ll still have Amazon, and Barnes & Noble. Borders may end up as just a website with a handful of ‘showcase’ stores, or even just a single location, but they have a strong brand and millions of customers and aren’t going anywhere. Random House, Macmillan, Penguin, HarperCollins, Hachette, and Simon & Schuster will still put out books; the major publishers are either part of mass media conglomerates or are massive media companies in their own right. Publishers make books; the actual printing of books was long ago outsourced — in a world without print there will still be reasons for, and a profit made from, the packaging and marketing of books.

Maybe the current top 10 companies will look nothing like some future top 10, but they’ll all still be there (free standing or merged or bought out by upstarts, but present all the same) — an actual failure and exit from the game entirely will be rare. Yes, some few are going to fail to adapt, but I have high hopes for the industry.

I have no idea where bookselling is heading. But I get up each morning, put on my boots, and take each step, each day as it comes. I cannot see the path ahead of me but I’ll walk it to wherever we’re headed. And can I sell you a book?

[You’ll note that even in an essay on the uncertainty and potential failure of the market, I already ‘sold’ you one. Or did you miss my pitch for Epstein’s book at the top of the post?]

Disclaimer: as an employee of Barnes & Noble I’m one of the ‘assets’ that will be considered in any sale — a small part (.02% or thereabouts) of the field management team that actually runs the damn stores.

While B&N may sign my paychecks: My statements are my own, represent my own opinions and analysis, and were neither suggested by, vetted through, nor approved by my employer, and as always I run the [very slight] risk of getting fired over something I had the temerity to say in a public forum.

That, and I’ve been drinking for about 4 hours, and while that has nothing to do with my employment, in a spirit of full disclosure it likely colours the following analysis. ;p

##

The media is going to have fun with some of the possibilities and potential of the official press release, Barnes & Noble to Evaluate Strategic Alternatives, particularly after speculating for so long on the sale of Borders. Here’s an annotated, paragraph by paragraph translation, with highlights for key portions, and a bit of dramatization:

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New York, NY – August 3, 2010 – Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world’s largest bookseller, today announced that its Board of Directors intends to evaluate strategic alternatives, including a possible sale of the company, in order to increase stockholder value. The Board came to this decision based on the price of Barnes & Noble shares in the marketplace, which the Board believes are now significantly undervalued.

Key phrases: ‘to increase stockholder value’, and that one at the end of the paragraph, ‘the price of Barnes & Noble shares in the marketplace, which the Board believes are now significantly undervalued’.

Nothing there about the company, or losses (or past profits for that matter), or potential, or performance. No changing publishing models, new hardware, or digital initiatives. Just the stock price. And if I owned 10 or 20 million shares of a stock, I’d likely be worried about the paper-profits-but-more-recently-losses too. Ah, yes, but the stock price is about investor perceptions and expectations and has very little to do with company performance or actual value, especially in a recession.

It’s a recession, we’re talking about retail, of course the stock is down. Duh. But I guess they felt they had to say [and do] something.

The process of evaluating strategic alternatives will be overseen by a Special Committee of four independent directors: George Campbell Jr., William Dillard, II, Margaret Monaco and Patricia Higgins, who will serve as Chair of the Special Committee. The Special Committee will consider all alternatives to increase stockholder value and will recommend a course of action to the company’s full Board. The Special Committee has selected Lazard to serve as its financial advisor and Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell LLP to serve as its legal advisor.

“See? Even when this special committee comes back with the result I want, I took pains to tell you it was independent, and we hired an accountant and a lawyer and everything“

Also note the use of the terms ‘all alternatives’ and ‘recommend’ — it still has to go to and through the full board of directors, no matter what the conclusions are

The Board stated: “As the world’s largest bookseller, Barnes & Noble has an iconic brand and unique competitive advantages we believe will position the company to succeed over time in a rapidly changing market. The Board is confident in Barnes & Noble’s strategy and fully supportive of the senior management team, which is delivering explosive growth in our fast-developing digital business. The Board has concluded that a review of strategic alternatives is the appropriate next step to take full advantage of our compelling digital opportunities and to create value for shareholders, customers, and employees.”

Here, they insert a direct quote into the press release to give the impression that this is an objective news article [see, it reads just like one, right?] and to also work in at least five nebulous ‘assets’ and ‘advantages’ of the company, along with Big Plans and Strategery and junk, all of of which “create value for shareholders” — oh, yeah, and the customers.

and? “And, um, do we have to bring up the employees? Yes? [*sigh*] OK, we also pay people to sell things. But they’re not as important as the Unique & the Digital & the Explosive! See, Wall Street? We had to mention that we pay people to sell books, but we mentioned it last. Can we a least get half-credit for that?”

Leonard Riggio, the company’s founder and largest stockholder, has informed the Board that, in light of its decision to explore strategic alternatives, he intends to consider the possibility of participating in an investor group to acquire the company.

This is chaff, cover, and whiffs ever so slightly of self-serving bullshit.

The board of directors is setting up an ‘independent’ committee to review ‘strategic’ alternatives, and the Chairman of that Board (who is also the largest shareholder) says, “Well, if you guys are looking at all the alternatives, and no really this just occurred to me, maybe I could just buy the whole mess outright.”

Wait, was this a PR relating relevant steps Barnes & Noble and its Board are taking in a tough market to secure their business and reassure skittish investors, or just a back-door way for Riggio to advertise that he wants to [perhaps fully intends to] take the company private, and you should buy in with him now while the stock price is cheap and the gettin’ is good?

Let’s ask Len – next ‘graph:

Mr. Riggio stated: “I fully support the Board’s decision to evaluate strategic alternatives at this time. Regardless of whether I participate in an investment group that buys the company, I, as well as the entire senior management team, am willing and eager to remain with the company and see it through the challenging years ahead.” Mr. Riggio continued: “Having spent a lifetime in bookselling and building this great company, I am as committed as ever to the future of Barnes & Noble.”

Might I be permitted a translation? “Hey Burkle: You think you know B&N, but you don’t know B&N. You can buy the stock, but you can’t buy the company, I’m the damn company. [*obscene gesture*] …and either me or a dozen people who think like me are going to be running B&N, still running B&N no matter who owns it, unless you plan to fire all of us—might as well cut the femoral artery—in the process of taking over.”

A number of other analysts will no doubt form different conclusions based on this surprise press release. Some Already Have. There is the now hoary 3-year old titter over a Borders/B&N combination — which is like buying two gas-guzzling clunkers instead of one, when what you really need is an electric bike — and 3-decades old ‘greed is good’ models of leveraged buy-outs and Profits For Everyone [except current shareholders, customers, employees, book lovers, and publishers]

Oh, and while market wet dreams and the merest hint of buyout encourage all the hyennas and vultures to salivate and circle ‘round, remember:

There can be no assurance that the review of strategic alternatives will result in a sale of the company or in any other transaction. There is no timetable for the review, and the company does not intend to comment further regarding the evaluation of strategic alternatives, unless a specific transaction is recommended by the Special Committee or the process is concluded.

This press release lands with a big splash, and yet: Nothing has been announced. In the end, maybe nothing will ever be announced.

It did have one effect, though: at time of posting, B&N’s share price was up 28% in after-hours trading. That’s all the Board wanted, after all, and in addition to goosing the stock price, this PR also has the handy side-benefit of pushing Kindle 3 news off the top of the link blogs and well out of the discussion. Barnes & Noble rumour mill = Media Win.

That’s my first impression; more to follow, as I now have to spend all of tomorrow figuring out just what this means.

Oooo… a comment! Comments are [almost] always rewarded.

soysauce commented on the recent rankings :

“I was expecting one piece to be in the top 5 at least.”

##

Going back six weeks, we can see One Piece doing quite well:

[series ranking]
20 June 4. ↔0 (4) : One Piece – Viz Shonen Jump [607.9] ::
27 June 4. ↔0 (4) : One Piece – Viz Shonen Jump [568.9] ::
4 July 8. ↓-4 (4) : One Piece – Viz Shonen Jump [459.6] ::
11 July 8. ↔0 (8) : One Piece – Viz Shonen Jump [484.7] ::
18 July 7. ↑1 (8) : One Piece – Viz Shonen Jump [503.9] ::
25 July 12. ↓-5 (7) : One Piece – Viz Shonen Jump [415.9] ::

What explains the drop? Well, there is the way the series score is calculated, first:

Previously when figuring out the top 50 series I took the top ranked volume of a given series as a base, then added one tenth of the scores for all remaining volumes in the series. The thinking behind that method was to account for a popular series like Naruto (with 33 ranked books) without creating an unsurmountable barrier to other series that might have one or two equally highly ranked volumes — but only 4-5 volumes total

The trouble with this method is that a highly ranked one-shot (that not-quite-manga vampire/lycanthrope/romance abomination Dark Hunger, for example) is going to beat any number of other, perhaps more qualified series because of its high score and a quirk of the math.

The fix in place this week is to use the combined score of the top two books in a series as the base series score (and then add 1/10 of the rest, as before) which doesn’t change anything really when comparing series (as long as they have at least two books in them) but automatically puts any one-shot or single volume at a disadvantage.

This is, in my opinion, a good thing. And since it’s my chart, that’s what we’re going to see from now on.

[that’s from 2 years ago, and I haven’t changed the formula since.]

So performance of individual volumes can make a big difference, and even with 50+ volumes ranking (though some are way down the list) the primary factor is the relative ranking of the top 2 volumes.

It’s not a complete picture, but let me go through the spreadsheet and break out the rankings of select One Piece books to give you an idea of where it was, where it is, and where the series is going.

Obviously, there is Viz’s speed-up, 5 volumes a month over six months, starting in January [with a new story arc] with volume 24; the last batch (49-53) landed on 1 June. There is the new volume (54) which released 6 July — and also the (rather nice) 3-volume value omnibuses that collected volumes 1-12. Sales of these have been more modest, but still solidly in the midlist; let’s look at not just the first of those, but also volume 13, which will give us an idea of how many folks are ‘graduating’ from the cheap intro to the series into collecting single volumes.

The Blitz:

20 June
24. ↑1 (25) : One Piece 51 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2010 [215.1] ::
25. ↓-1 (24) : One Piece 53 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2010 [214.4] ::
28. ↑7 (35) : One Piece 50 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2010 [199.4] ::
36. ↑4 (40) : One Piece 52 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2010 [186.2] ::
38. ↑6 (44) : One Piece 49 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2010 [183.8] ::

27 June
21. ↑4 (25) : One Piece 53 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2010 [213.3] ::
30. ↓-6 (24) : One Piece 51 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2010 [199.2] ::
35. ↓-7 (28) : One Piece 50 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2010 [182.3] ::
45. ↓-7 (38) : One Piece 49 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2010 [162.9] ::
46. ↓-10 (36) : One Piece 52 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2010 [162.6] ::

4 July
43. ↓-22 (21) : One Piece 53 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2010 [163.1] ::
48. ↓-13 (35) : One Piece 50 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2010 [158.4] ::
57. ↓-12 (45) : One Piece 49 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2010 [146.3] ::
62. ↓-32 (30) : One Piece 51 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2010 [141.5] ::
69. ↓-23 (46) : One Piece 52 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2010 [136.7] ::

11 July
80. ↓-32 (48) : One Piece 50 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2010 [125.5] ::
96. ↓-53 (43) : One Piece 53 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2010 [113.4] ::
115. ↓-53 (62) : One Piece 51 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2010 [103.9] ::
119. ↓-62 (57) : One Piece 49 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2010 [101.8] ::
124. ↓-55 (69) : One Piece 52 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2010 [99.8] ::

18 July
142. ↓-46 (96) : One Piece 53 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2010 [87.4] ::
158. ↓-78 (80) : One Piece 50 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2010 [81.6] ::
182. ↓-58 (124) : One Piece 52 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2010 [73.0] ::
183. ↓-68 (115) : One Piece 51 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2010 [73.0] ::
299. ↓-180 (119) : One Piece 49 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2010 [39.8] ::

25 July
144. ↓-2 (142) : One Piece 53 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2010 [77.5] ::
185. ↓-3 (182) : One Piece 52 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2010 [58.7] ::
194. ↓-11 (183) : One Piece 51 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2010 [56.6] ::
219. ↓-61 (158) : One Piece 50 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2010 [49.9] ::
456. ↓-157 (299) : One Piece 49 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2010 [16.0] ::

Strong sales throughout June softened over the course of July; and I think we can see why I use the arrows [assuming your browser is displaying the characters correctly] plus the number of ranks gained-or-lost each week. When I do a pull like this of a single series, or volume, its a handy easily-read visual cue.

The Latest:

20 June [One Piece 54 not yet ranked]
27 June 639. ↑new (0) : One Piece 54 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jul 2010 [8.8] ::
4 July 161. ↑478 (639) : One Piece 54 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jul 2010 [77.8] ::
11 July 18. ↑143 (161) : One Piece 54 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jul 2010 [226.5] ::
18 July 9. ↑9 (18) : One Piece 54 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jul 2010 [300.9] ::
25 July 12. ↓-3 (9) : One Piece 54 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jul 2010 [251.6] ::

Reminder: the official street date for 54 was Tuesday, 6 July. So, not much pre-ordering going on but as soon as it actually hit shelves we were lining up to buy: it went from #161 into the top 20, and will likely still be a top 25 title for another couple of weeks.

Starting Points:

20 June 357. ↑4 (361) : One Piece 1 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2003 [31.2] ::
27 June 290. ↑67 (357) : One Piece 1 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2003 [42.2] ::
4 July 263. ↑27 (290) : One Piece 1 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2003 [49.0] ::
11 July 298. ↓-35 (263) : One Piece 1 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2003 [42.6] ::
18 July 249. ↑49 (298) : One Piece 1 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2003 [51.4] ::
25 July 191. ↑58 (249) : One Piece 1 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2003 [57.2] ::

Net gain over 6 weeks of 26 points and 170 ranks — For a 7 year old book

20 June 423. ↓-2 (421) : One Piece vols 1-3 collection – Viz Shonen Jump, Dec 2009 [24.8] ::
27 June 314. ↑109 (423) : One Piece vols 1-3 collection – Viz Shonen Jump, Dec 2009 [38.0] ::
4 July 316. ↓-2 (314) : One Piece vols 1-3 collection – Viz Shonen Jump, Dec 2009 [38.9] ::
11 July 425. ↓-109 (316) : One Piece vols 1-3 collection – Viz Shonen Jump, Dec 2009 [24.9] ::
18 July 436. ↓-11 (425) : One Piece vols 1-3 collection – Viz Shonen Jump, Dec 2009 [24.2] ::
25 July 408. ↑28 (436) : One Piece vols 1-3 collection – Viz Shonen Jump, Dec 2009 [20.1] ::

Net movement here might as well be flat, though there was a spike two weeks before 54 came out. General rule: a new release moves the backlist

Jumping On Points:

20 June 182. ↔0 (182) : One Piece 24 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jan 2010 [71.7] ::
27 June 172. ↑10 (182) : One Piece 24 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jan 2010 [71.4] ::
4 July 203. ↓-31 (172) : One Piece 24 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jan 2010 [62.8] ::
11 July 242. ↓-39 (203) : One Piece 24 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jan 2010 [54.0] ::
18 July 190. ↑52 (242) : One Piece 24 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jan 2010 [71.1] ::
25 July 160. ↑30 (190) : One Piece 24 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jan 2010 [68.7] ::

20 June 385. ↑1 (386) : One Piece 13 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jan 2007 [28.6] ::
27 June 450. ↓-65 (385) : One Piece 13 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jan 2007 [23.5] ::
4 July 345. ↑105 (450) : One Piece 13 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jan 2007 [33.5] ::
11 July 204. ↑141 (345) : One Piece 13 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jan 2007 [63.1] ::
18 July 187. ↑17 (204) : One Piece 13 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jan 2007 [71.6] ::
25 July 264. ↓-77 (187) : One Piece 13 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jan 2007 [38.7] ::

One Piece vol 1 was ranking in the high 200s, the vols.1-3 omnibus in the 300s to 400s, but the speed-up jumping-on point, volume 24—six months after release—is hovering around 200 and the “I just gotta have it” resumption volume after the 4 value collections—vol 13—seems to match the sales of the first omnibus easily, and out-ranking it 4 weeks out of 6.

##

Since the series ranking is a composite score, even a top 10 single volume might not be enough to vault your favourite into the “top 5”.

But I don’t compile rankings to find a top 10 — OK, fine, I post the top 10 lists because that’s what garners hits and I love my readers; I’d love for there to be more of you — but for me the point of the exercise is the midlist and the long tail.

Starting points, jumping in, new releases, and the 30-volume product dump that was Viz’s ‘speed-up’: Lots and lots of books, and all selling online [I should note here: my rankings are based on online sales, discovered by loading up sites and looking at their ‘bestsellers’; there is no secret knowledge, just publicly available info and a massive investment of time].

In actual fact all but 4 volumes of One Piece rank, just not in the top 50 or top 500:

Here’s all of One Piece from 25 July:
12. ↓-3 (9) : One Piece 54 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jul 2010 [251.6] ::
144. ↓-2 (142) : One Piece 53 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2010 [77.5] ::
160. ↑30 (190) : One Piece 24 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jan 2010 [68.7] ::
185. ↓-3 (182) : One Piece 52 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2010 [58.7] ::
191. ↑58 (249) : One Piece 1 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2003 [57.2] ::
194. ↓-11 (183) : One Piece 51 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2010 [56.6] ::
216. ↑6 (222) : One Piece 25 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jan 2010 [50.6] ::
219. ↓-61 (158) : One Piece 50 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2010 [49.9] ::
252. ↑102 (354) : One Piece 44 – Viz Shonen Jump, May 2010 [41.7] ::
264. ↓-77 (187) : One Piece 13 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jan 2007 [38.7] ::
274. ↑110 (384) : One Piece 42 – Viz Shonen Jump, Apr 2010 [36.5] ::
284. ↑162 (446) : One Piece 43 – Viz Shonen Jump, Apr 2010 [34.2] ::
323. ↓-44 (279) : One Piece 11 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jul 2006 [28.6] ::
347. ↓-46 (301) : One Piece 46 – Viz Shonen Jump, May 2010 [25.9] ::
355. ↑9 (364) : One Piece 40 – Viz Shonen Jump, Apr 2010 [25.0] ::
370. ↑75 (445) : One Piece 41 – Viz Shonen Jump, Apr 2010 [24.1] ::
373. ↑85 (458) : One Piece 37 – Viz Shonen Jump, Mar 2010 [23.2] ::
408. ↑28 (436) : One Piece vols 1-3 collection – Viz Shonen Jump, Dec 2009 [20.1] ::
424. ↑56 (480) : One Piece 45 – Viz Shonen Jump, May 2010 [19.1] ::
432. ↑113 (545) : One Piece 23 – Viz Shonen Jump, Dec 2009 [18.2] ::
440. ↑58 (498) : One Piece 48 – Viz Shonen Jump, May 2010 [17.5] ::
452. ↓-51 (401) : One Piece 47 – Viz Shonen Jump, May 2010 [16.3] ::
456. ↓-157 (299) : One Piece 49 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2010 [16.0] ::
502. ↓-10 (492) : One Piece 26 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jan 2010 [12.5] ::
509. ↔0 (509) : One Piece 2 – Viz Shonen Jump, Oct 2003 [12.0] ::
533. ↑14 (547) : One Piece 34 – Viz Shonen Jump, Mar 2010 [10.7] ::
542. ↓-52 (490) : One Piece 27 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jan 2010 [10.1] ::
558. ↑6 (564) : One Piece vols 4-6 collection – Viz Shonen Jump, Jan 2010 [9.6] ::
567. ↓-91 (476) : One Piece 29 – Viz Shonen Jump, Feb 2010 [9.1] ::
595. ↓-148 (447) : One Piece 30 – Viz Shonen Jump, Feb 2010 [7.8] ::
623. ↓-47 (576) : One Piece 35 – Viz Shonen Jump, Mar 2010 [6.4] ::
624. ↑45 (669) : One Piece 28 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jan 2010 [6.4] ::
633. ↓-155 (478) : One Piece 14 – Viz Shonen Jump, Apr 2007 [6.1] ::
635. ↓-66 (569) : One Piece vols 10-12 collection – Viz Shonen Jump, May 2010 [6.0] ::
644. ↓-180 (464) : One Piece vols 7-9 collection – Viz Shonen Jump, Mar 2010 [5.7] ::
679. ↓-34 (645) : One Piece 39 – Viz Shonen Jump, Apr 2010 [4.9] ::
682. ↓-11 (671) : One Piece 3 – Viz Shonen Jump, Mar 2004 [4.8] ::
699. ↑78 (777) : One Piece 36 – Viz Shonen Jump, Mar 2010 [4.4] ::
722. ↓-226 (496) : One Piece 10 – Viz Shonen Jump, Apr 2006 [4.0] ::
723. ↓-82 (641) : One Piece 31 – Viz Shonen Jump, Feb 2010 [4.0] ::
760. ↓-125 (635) : One Piece 38 – Viz Shonen Jump, Mar 2010 [3.5] ::
780. ↑149 (929) : One Piece 5 – Viz Shonen Jump, Sep 2004 [3.3] ::
826. ↓-126 (700) : One Piece 16 – Viz Shonen Jump, Nov 2007 [2.8] ::
884. ↓-102 (782) : One Piece 15 – Viz Shonen Jump, Aug 2007 [2.1] ::
905. ↑71 (976) : One Piece 9 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jan 2006 [1.9] ::
1051. ↓-21 (1030) : One Piece 8 – Viz Shonen Jump, Sep 2005 [0.8] ::
1075. ↓-89 (986) : One Piece 33 – Viz Shonen Jump, Feb 2010 [0.7] ::
1090. ↓-537 (553) : One Piece 32 – Viz Shonen Jump, Feb 2010 [0.6] ::
1104. ↓-385 (719) : One Piece 22 – Viz Shonen Jump, Oct 2009 [0.5] ::
1138. ↓-170 (968) : One Piece 4 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jul 2004 [0.3] ::
1200. ↓-291 (909) : One Piece 21 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2009 [0.2] ::
1247. ↑14 (1261) : One Piece 18 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2008 [0.1] ::
1338. ↑21 (1359) : One Piece 17 – Viz Shonen Jump, Mar 2008 [0.1] ::
1382. ↓-204 (1178) : One Piece 12 – Viz Shonen Jump, Oct 2006 [0.1] ::

“Missing” are volumes 6, 7, 19, & 20 — though these just fall outside my data collection methods, it’s not like no one is buying them.

Your take-away:

• One Piece was a top 5 series, back in June when it had five new volumes and was basking in the tail-end of Viz’s six month long marketing promo. It was in the top 10 right up until last week.
• 54++ volumes still add up: One Piece is a top 25 property and is going to stay there for years to come.
• Fans aren’t obsessively pre-ordering One Piece: they wait for the books to come out. One Piece is popular, but doesn’t have the same hungry fans as say, Hetalia, Berserk, or some of the OEL titles
• You may only read the top 10, but I post a top 500 volumes and top 50 series each week, and I track the weekly movement of 1200+ individual manga.
• I have a lot of data, and a lot of ways to sort the data; I’m just waiting for somebody to pay me for this.
• …but so long as I have to work another job to make the rent, these charts aren’t going to be all they could be. It’s a fun hobby, but ‘hobby’ is where it stays. I’m happy to run a “breakout” chart & analysis like this for one of My Dear Readers, especially one who takes the time to comment [thank you, soysauce] but it takes time.
• you should all be grateful that I like math and have an odd hobby.

last week’s rankings
About the Charts
Analysis and Commentary Posts

The Weekly Charts:
Your Executive Summary and Index
Week ending 25 July 2010

Internet Archive link: http://www.archive.org/details/MangaRankingsWeekEnding25July2010

Manga Top 500

1. ↔0 (1) : Naruto 48 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2010 [427.8] ::
2. ↔0 (2) : Ouran High School Host Club 14 – Viz Shojo Beat, Jul 2010 [397.3] ::
3. ↑10 (13) : Fullmetal Alchemist 23 – Viz, Jul 2010 [385.0] ::
4. ↓-1 (3) : Vampire Knight 10 – Viz Shojo Beat, Jun 2010 [372.7] ::
5. ↓-1 (4) : Hellsing 10 – Dark Horse, Jun 2010 [355.1] ::
6. ↓-1 (5) : Maximum Ride 1 – Yen Press, Jan 2009 [347.0] ::
7. ↓-1 (6) : Naruto 47 – Viz Shonen Jump, Feb 2010 [323.4] ::
8. ↓-1 (7) : Maximum Ride 2 – Yen Press, Oct 2009 [311.6] ::
9. ↓-1 (8) : Bleach 31 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2010 [309.4] ::
10. ↑2 (12) : Alice in the Country of Hearts 1 – Tokyopop, Feb 2010 [264.9] ::

[more]

Top Imprints
Number of titles ranking in the Manga 500:

Viz Shonen Jump 102
Tokyopop 67
Viz Shojo Beat 48
Yen Press 48
Viz Shonen Jump Advanced 36
Vizkids 27
Del Rey 24
Dark Horse 21
HC/Tokyopop 15
Viz 15

[more]

Top 50 Series:

1. ↔0 (1) : Naruto – Viz Shonen Jump [931.4] ::
2. ↔0 (2) : Vampire Knight – Viz Shojo Beat [759.8] ::
3. ↔0 (3) : Maximum Ride – Yen Press [679.6] ::
4. ↑7 (11) : Fullmetal Alchemist – Viz [567.7] ::
5. ↓-1 (4) : Ouran High School Host Club – Viz Shojo Beat [554.3] ::
6. ↓-1 (5) : Bleach – Viz Shonen Jump [515.2] ::
7. ↑1 (8) : Warriors – HC/Tokyopop [492.8] ::
8. ↓-2 (6) : Alice in the Country of Hearts – Tokyopop [472.5] ::
9. ↑1 (10) : Negima! – Del Rey [431.1] ::
10. ↑2 (12) : Black Butler – Yen Press [424.3] ::

[more]

Top 50 New Releases:
(Titles releasing/released This Month & Last)

1. ↔0 (1) : Naruto 48 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2010 [427.8] ::
2. ↔0 (2) : Ouran High School Host Club 14 – Viz Shojo Beat, Jul 2010 [397.3] ::
3. ↑10 (13) : Fullmetal Alchemist 23 – Viz, Jul 2010 [385.0] ::
4. ↓-1 (3) : Vampire Knight 10 – Viz Shojo Beat, Jun 2010 [372.7] ::
5. ↓-1 (4) : Hellsing 10 – Dark Horse, Jun 2010 [355.1] ::
9. ↓-1 (8) : Bleach 31 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2010 [309.4] ::
11. ↑14 (25) : Black Lagoon 9 – Viz, Jul 2010 [256.6] ::
12. ↓-3 (9) : One Piece 54 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jul 2010 [251.6] ::
14. ↑2 (16) : Haruhi Suzumiya The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya (novel) – Little, Brown & Co., Jul 2010 [239.7] ::
19. ↑34 (53) : Inuyasha 50 – Viz Shonen Sunday, Jul 2010 [211.5] ::

[more]

Top 50 Preorders:

21. ↑1 (22) : Maximum Ride 3 – Yen Press, Aug 2010 [210.9] ::
36. ↑15 (51) : Warriors Ravenpaw’s Path 3 – HC/Tokyopop, Aug 2010 [173.0] ::
48. ↑26 (74) : Return to Labyrinth 4 – Tokyopop, Aug 2010 [152.1] ::
53. ↑35 (88) : Hetalia Axis Powers 1 – Tokyopop, Sep 2010 [142.7] ::
78. ↑53 (131) : Berserk 34 – Dark Horse, Sep 2010 [113.2] ::
87. ↑151 (238) : Black Bird 5 – Viz Shojo Beat, Aug 2010 [108.8] ::
159. ↑66 (225) : Alice in the Country of Hearts 4 – Tokyopop, Aug 2010 [68.7] ::
174. ↑131 (305) : Bleach Color Bleach+: The Official Bootleg – Viz Shonen Jump, Aug 2010 [63.8] ::
196. ↑61 (257) : Negima! 28 – Del Rey, Oct 2010 [55.1] ::
206. ↑58 (264) : Pokemon Diamond & Pearl Adventures 8 – Vizkids, Nov 2010 [53.7] ::

[more]

[if you want a conclusion to the ellipsis in the title, skip down to the end]

I really like the numbers posted by the Association of American Publishers at publishers.org

The Association of American Publishers is the national trade association of the U.S. book publishing industry. AAP’s more than 300 members include most of the major commercial publishers in the United States, as well as smaller and non-profit publishers, university presses and scholarly societies—small and large. AAP members publish hardcover and paperback books in every field, educational materials for the elementary, secondary, postsecondary, and professional markets, scholarly journals, computer software, and electronic products and services. The protection of intellectual property rights in all media, the defense of the freedom to read and the freedom to publish at home and abroad, and the promotion of reading and literacy are among the Association’s highest priorities.

All really good stuff, that. Plus: numbers! I love numbers.

From publishers.org back in February, Year End 2009 net domestic [U.S.] sales by category

Adult Hardcover: $1,600 million, +6.9% [year-to-year]
Adult Paperback: $1,400 million, -5.2%
Adult Mass Market: $775.6 million, -4.0%
Children’s/YA Hardcover: $765.1 million, -5.0%
Children’s/YA Paperback: $577.7 million, +2.2%
Audio Book: $177.2 million, -12.9%
Religious Books: $588.7 million, -9.0%

University Press Hardcover: $58.2 million, -3.0%
University Press Paperback: $61.8 million, -0.1%.
Professional and Scholarly: $766.4 million, -2.9%
Higher Education: $4,200 million, +12.9%.
El-Hi [elementary to high school, K-12]: $3,500 million, -13.8%.

E-books: $169.5 million, +176.6% over 2008

In 2009, ebooks sold less than all other trade categories (even audio books outsold ‘em, dollar wise) and while the university presses didn’t post a stellar showing, text books [for all ages, 5-25] are totally rockin’ the hell out of the print business. Put that in your pipe and smoke it. The trade business (including e-books) is a scant $6.05 billion while text books and the scholarly set are at $8.59 billion.

[puts the acquisition by B&N proper of B&N’s college division into a whole new light]

That’s an oh-my-gods $14.6 billion dollar industry (though the U.S. Census Bureau in parallel reports bookstore sales over the same period at $16.7 billions, so I guess our gross margin is 15% or so) more than half of which are text books [which don’t have e-book versions yet] and to convert that into comparable numbers: 14.6 billions are 14,600 millions, and e-books are all of 1.14% of that.

Most [including Amazon] like to ignore textbooks and so report e-books as a percentage of trade book sales, but still were only at 2.8% — and you can exclude bibles and other religious books, to get to 3.1%, and exclude children’s books as well and inch the percentage of e-books to 4.3% [of a specified class of books, a subset only equal to two-sevenths of the total]

And duh: the segment is growing. But, um, [and it hurts me to point this out] manga was growing by double digits 3 years ago; enough to grab the attention of major retailers and publishers both. How’s that working out these days? Note: present performance is no guarantor of future growth.

numbers go up, numbers go down; for the most part though, there are trends in place and no matter what the markets or consumer demand: A billion is a billion is a billion. E-book sales might hit that mythic, mystical One Billion Sales mark in just 2 years, if current growth can be extrapolated and sales are in fact tripling year-over-year [it’s actually just a tad slower than that, and the market could saturate — with the accompanying flattening of that growth curve — faster than you can blink] but even if e-books hit their billion in December 2012 [that date sounds familiar…] that is still only 6-7% of the total market and I shouldn’t have to remind you: e-books sales are also book sales so the growth of e-books means a larger book market in general: One Billion Dollars of e-books, combined with inflation, growth of retail markets related to increasing U.S. population, e-books as an extension of the book market into populations who don’t buy [physical] books, and a massive increase in backlist sales made possible by e- editions of all kinds of books, from the popular backlist to formerly out-of-print books [nothing is out of print when it’s e-] and suddenly we could see the book market explode

up to $20 billion, or $25 billion in 10 years: and yet, with a core of $15 billion in text books, regular print hardcovers and paperbacks. That is to say, while all the growth in publishing [and it looks to be spectacular growth] is going to be an e-volution as both new books, midlist, backlist, the marginalia and the oldest of the old books all come to the new digital marketplace: there is at least one generation left that likes the feel of actual print books and so I predict not the death of publishing, and the bookstore, but a wealth of knowledge and an embarassment of books on top of the current national chain bookstores and remaining independents.

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Now let me point out that one shouldn’t conflate my use of historical numbers in the first third of the post with the conclusions presented after.

This is a common trick, where a wave of real (or real-seeming) numbers are then used to hand-wave guesswork and conclusions.

I’m not presenting investment advice, analysis, or prognostication. I’m just pointing out that $15 Billion Dollars in Book Sales is a massive number, and that my impression of e-books so far is that yes, they present the main growth potential in the industry but I don’t personally feel e-books are going to cannibalize other book sales to the degree some gloom-and-doomers [or overenthusiastic internet CEOs] would have us believe. Yes, the bestseller lists are going to get hit, and hit hard. Yes, the popular backlist will either transform or move ‘online’ wholesale. But the long tail, paperbacks from 30 years ago, used books, collectible first editions [which only get more collectible with smaller print runs], people using bookstores like libraries [with our wifi, and laissez faire attitude toward the theft of electricity and the costs of housekeeping & babysitting your ass while you camp out all day] — Amazon can’t do this and never will. The bookstore is a lot more e- and internet-proof than folks give us credit for.

A ‘revolution’ could change the whole game overnight, but so far e-books are just… books… and at the moment only 1-4% of the business anyway.