Brian Hibbs of Comix Experience in San Francisco, California saw our coverage of first half graphic novel sales (see "Signs of Event Fatigue in the Comic Market"), and had this to say.

ICv2: "While graphic novel sales were growing in the bookstore market during the first half of 2011, they were declining in the comic shops where they have been hurt by the lack of a major media-driven sales driver like last summer's Scott Pilgrim movie."

I'm not certain that parses, because the bookstore side *should* be more impacted by media-driven sales than the comics specialty market.

One factor that I don't think has been discussed anywhere is that the move to Day Early Delivery changed the manner (and timing) with which Diamond processes reorders--it can now take ten days or more for many stores to receive backlist orders.

I tend to suspect that slower reorders lead inexorably to fewer turns, and that will be the bulk of the lower sales on the book side of the Direct Market.  I know that for us, the reverse is certainly true--Baker & Taylor offers next day arrival of reorders (well, to San Francisco, at least, dunno about other cities) for $2.50, regardless of the number of boxes or the weight, and that one thing means there are many weeks where I'm placing two reorders a week, and getting MORE TURNS on the books I am buying from them accordingly.  That also may be some of the reason for Diamond's reported lower relative sales.  While Diamond certainly has a lock on the brokered publishers, and on periodical distribution, there ARE other choices for the rest of the significant business opportunities out there.

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