Bookstore Sales Of Graphic Novels Up 10 Percent In 2014
By Nick Tylwalk
It’s been a mixed year for sales of periodical comics, with dollar sales up slightly to the same point last year and unit sales down slightly. And there have been wild swings along the way, like the blistering month of July.
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But one area where there appears to be consistent growth is in the sale of graphic novels and collected volumes of comics through bookstores and other retailers. Neilsen Bookscan’s latest stats show that sales are up 10 percent through September 14 compared to the same period in 2013.
Publisher’s Weekly says much of the success is due to perennial heavyweights like Batman and The Walking Dead, but it also singled out Saga and a rebound for manga thanks to titles like Attack on Titan.
Ironically, this comes at a time when there are seemingly less places to buy graphic novels than ever before — good luck finding a bookstore in most malls, for instance — but the ones that remain generally stock large selections. It’s good to see Books A Million say that comics are helping its bottom line, as at least in my neck of the woods, BAM stores have moved into several of the locations where Borders used to reside.
No matter how you slice it, though, positive sales news is good for comics however it might arrive.
(via CBR’s Robot 6)