Robert Boyd of LPC, the company that sells Tokyopop titles to bookstores, told ICv2 that Sailor Moon sells better than any of the other graphic novels his company reps by a factor of 'at least' 1.5.  Tokyopop estimates that the company has sold at least a million English language Sailor Moon books in North America.  Since the beginning of this year LPC alone has sold over 25,000 copies of the bestselling Sailor Moon graphic novel, and five other Sailor Moon books have registered similarly strong performances during the same period.  Book Scan, the professional service that tracks sell-through in the book market lists Sailor Moon books with juvenile titles where it has to compete with Harry Potter, Goosebumps, and Anamorphs.  According to Boyd if Sailor Moon were listed with graphic novels, it would easily have topped Marvel's Ultimate X-Men collection, which did head Book Scan's most recent list of graphic novel bestsellers.

 

What this means to pop culture retailers is that there is a huge market for Sailor Moon graphic novels that bookstores are capturing and comic/pop culture retailers are not.  Note that many of the bookstores are racking Sailor Moon in the children's or 'tween' sections, which could be an important factor in spurring sales.  While it certainly isn't necessary to have a 'shojo' section, some differentiation among manga trade paperbacks would be desirable, and it might be a good idea to rack Sailor Moon and some of the other shojo titles in a 'kids' comics section.  If specialty stores rack manga titles alphabetically, then the Sailor Moon books end up next to Sanctuary, a brilliant series of graphic novels to be sure, but one which is pretty adult in content and might well be off-putting to a 12-year old girl who is looking for Sailor Moon.  Joe Field of Flying Colors in Concord, CA uses a poster for Tokyopop's Shojo anthology Smile right by the door of his store to let potential customers know that he stocks shojo titles (see 'How To Sell Shojo').  For info on other shojo p.o.p. display items, see 'Retailers--Grow with Shojo!'

 

Certainly the Sailor Moon manga series provides retailers with plenty of books to sell. Tokyopop's Sailor Moon graphic novel series includes 10 volumes in print with number 11 due out in October.  Tokyopop also publishes two other Sailer Moon series, each with four graphic novels so far, Sailor Moon Supers, and Sailor Moon Stars.

 

According to Boyd, Sailor Moon is Tokyopop's best-selling title but three other series of graphic novels are growing quickly in popularity.  Gundam Wing is not a shojo title, but it is Tokyopop's second leading series in bookstore sales, followed closely by Cardcaptors, which is a true shojo saga, and is becoming increasingly popular thanks to its television slot on the Kids WB.  Surprisingly Clamp's Magic Knight Rayearth, which has received anime, but not television exposure here in the states, is selling almost as well as Gundam Wing and Cardcaptors, both of which have had major TV exposure.  A key point to remember is that not only are there a lot of Sailor Moon titles available, there are also other strong shojo properties that could form the basis of a real profit center in many stores.