Driven by Graphic Novels, Comics in North America Hit New Sales Record for 2019.
In new numbers released by trade news sites ICv2 and Comichron, The United States and Canada sales of periodical comics and graphic novels took an 11% uptick over 2018, totalling $1.21B.
The reports show that the increase was led by graphic novels, in-particular those geared towards children and sold in retailers and book fairs. Periodical comics in the comic shop market saw an increase overall of 5% by these estimates. 'The shift to graphic novels as the preferred format for comics continued in 2019, bringing sales in the book channel above the comic store channel in North America for the first time in the history of the medium,' the CEO of ICv2 said.
Numbers breakdown:
Digital Comics: $90M
Periodical Comics: $355M
Graphic Novels: $765M
Data for these numbers include NPD BookScan and Diamond Distributors, but for 2019 estimates the methodology changed which could have affected numbers. Past iterations of this data did not include sales of graphic novels sold by comic stores who got their inventory from outside of Diamond Comic Distributors.
NPD BookScan collects weekly point-of-sale data on print books from over 16,000 locations including e-tailers, chains, mass merchandisers, independent bookstores and more covering roughly 85% of the U.S. trade print book market.
Question for the reader: did you buy/read more comics in 2019 than usual? How often did you visit a shop or order online? We're curious to know how you supported the culture!
Paul Brown is the founder of Kulture Popped and Owner of Spotlight Marketing Solutions, LLC- an Atlantic City-based web design and marketing agency.