The Walking Dead
Mind-boggling:
http://blog.newsarama.com/2012/03/02/the-amazing-consistency-of-the-walking-dead/
Hell, even without single issue sales, the trades make enough money to support a small country.
To dream the impossible dream.
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Mind-boggling:
http://blog.newsarama.com/2012/03/02/the-amazing-consistency-of-the-walking-dead/
Hell, even without single issue sales, the trades make enough money to support a small country.
To dream the impossible dream.
Comments
Well, a book like CHEW earns more than enough to make a comfortable living.
THE WALKING DEAD has to easily be earning over a million a year.
-BCM
Given how the various trades sell in the bookstore market, including those expensive ass hardcovers, I'd guess (well, an educated guess, I did some of the math) they're bringing in a minimum of five million dollars a year.
I do think consistency in the art team has given both Walking Dead and Invincible a leg up on a lot of books. Walking Dead doing better (pre-TV show) I think just speaks to the zombie fetish crowd.
What's interesting to me is that Walking Dead is mostly talking heads. The cast is so big it's hard to keep track of. And it's depressing as hell. The fact that all of these things don't hurt the book... we can sell more comics.
But yes, curious why a few other titles haven't been able to find the same traction. Next --- Saga maybe?
Yes. That's much closer to reality. It's funny that people think the money's in the TV show, when it's really in the books.
Image is seeing big numbers all over the place, and could own 8-10% of the market by the end of next year.
Back to the point - is it any wonder that Tony wants to see the books? I mean, if there's millions at stake, I'd want a forensic accountant to take a look as well.
If you sell 35,00 monthly copies of an Image book, you're set. Remember...Image doesn't take a percentage of your money. They take a flat fee that doesn't change based on sales. So all the profits go straight into your pocket. My rough guess would be that each single issue of TWD generates at least $25,000 for Kirkman and Adlard. And that's nothing compared to the trades and hardcovers.
That first Walking Dead trade has probably sold...I dunno...250,000 copies by now?
Accroding to bookscan, which surveys about seventy precent of the market and does not include Amazon, "The Walking Dead" books sold 359k copies, a retail gross $8.7 million dollars. That's 9 mill, more or less, which does not include a significant chunk of the market, does not include the direct market (where the trades, ALL OF THEM, are always in the top 300 sold) and does not include sales outside of North America.
Now, granted, that 9 million is not what Kirkman and Co get, but what they do get amounts to a fuck ton of money. I could be wrong, but if they aren't bringing in 5 million plus for Kirkman/Adlard I'd be really surprised.
As Russell said, this is mindblowing and way beyond anything I thought possible
I mean, I will make enough money fro my book to live on through 2012 and with us being a brand fucking new bunch of creators ( as far as the public is concerned) THAT is winning the lottery.
Creating a comic property in modern comics that brings in millions of dollars a year from publishing is something like winning the lottery, using it all to buy loot tickets and winning again, to push the analogy to the breaking point.
Hehe, I had to explain this to my Mom.
Mom: "So when will you make that kind of money."
Me: "Um, never?"
Where as there are quiet a lot of musicians, actors, novelists, songwriters, directors, painters, comedians, athletes that do. Playwrights and preachers might be similar to comics, I don't know.
On the other hand, there are rather less people trying to get into comics, which might help.
Marvel, DC and many creators don't get this; the longer they keep a quality team on a book, the more likely they'll have a long-term success.
That's why I bring up books like CHEW, which makes a ton of money, as well. And that was largely a case of taking the absolute correct approach to putting a book together.
It's not impossible to make a lot of money.
On JUST the trades.