ComicsBeat has been home to Brian Hibbs’ book analysis for the past eight years, detailing the sales of graphic novels that disrupt the best-selling and publishing trends in comics and traditional comics publishing. This is one of the most important things we have posted on Beat, and it is an incredible resource for the industry.
Sadly, we will no longer be able to publish this data in 2025 or above.
As we all know, Circana Bookscan has changed its policy to provide us with this analytical data. Since 2017, Brian and I have Kristen McLeanBookscan’s book Data Guru, and familiar characters from comics industry events. Kristen was able to make an arrangement where we had access to the data and could publish the top 20 books of the year and could analyze them without throwing out the chart form.
Unfortunately, Kristen has moved to another part of the carriage, and the book department has been reorganized and downsized, leaving us with no access to data anymore.
Brian has conducted more than 20 years of analysis and has used leaked information before working directly with Bookscan. Unfortunately, we are also told that if we use leaked information, we will face legal action. I’ve considered collecting data to buy data, but I’ve been told that it will cost five numbers – I don’t think anyone in the industry will fund this.
It is an understatement to say that I feel sad and frustrated about this change. Brian hints at it in the tilt of the Windmills #300 column, but I want to do it formally here.
Circana Bookscan’s changes return to the merger between the NPD Group (formerly Bookscan’s homeland) and the private equity firm controls the information resources that occur between the two in 2023. Like many things in the world, the more accurate the data becomes due to digital collection and improved analysis, the closer it is to it, and the harder it is to achieve.
We are still trying to work with Bookscan to get any kind of reports, but I’ve been told they are also having difficulty accessing other uses of graphical novel data.
So, tradition ends. There is less sales information in the comics industry than ever before. But there are some highlights: ICV2 is still releasing charts through Bookscan, which we call the most reliable ongoing data for chart comic sales.
Prana Direct Market Solutions, operated by Atom Freeman, is collated for single issue sales in its newsletter – if you haven’t already, you should sign up for that information. These charts are early, but over time, they will become more robust.
We will be making available information for 2024 sales later this week (shorter version: Dogman once again. We will also focus on some other data collection efforts that are being started or continued as much as possible.
We will continue to provide past reports to those interested. In some ways, the 20-year history of Brian’s efforts has taken over a crucial period in the development of the comic market itself: from an industry that relies on journal sales in comic stores to a wide range of industries with multiple reliable sales channels, and a broad sales channel, and a vital and profitable part of the publishing industry widely accepted as an important and profitable part of the publishing industry. We are now in another large-scale transition period, and a new information center will surely emerge. We will sit here with popcorn.
When we end this, everyone should be very grateful to Brian Hibbs. When we connect to this change, he observed that not having to spend time writing his annual 20,000 word report would give him time to do other things. It was a difficult task and took many hours and it was a valuable service to the industry.
This is a good run.
