Saturday, January 06, 2007

Best sellers


This is something new for me. the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly has a list of top selling Graphic Novels and Comics. It has nothing to do with Diamond or Wizard Entertainment. It seems like they got their list from Midtown Comics in NYC. That store has a great location (40th street ...I think) so it's a short walk from the EW offices.

My question is: Entertainment Weekly has a lot of readers and they when they report on something they can affect it's popularity. Why do they trust Midtown Comics to decide the best sellers? Did they call the Manager and ask for a report? No offense to Midtown, but couldn't EW call St. Marks comics located in the Village or some other place? Am I missing something here? I guess that's more than one question.

Congrats to the books on the list. I just wonder about the accuracy of this list.

4 comments:

Marie Javins said...

That's weird. Maybe it's the shop closest to the writer's apartment. Why wouldn't they even check with Hanley's?

From now on, how about we base the bestselling novel lists on what is sold at the Union Square Barnes and Noble, or the top movies on what is doing well at Newport Mall.

mmclaurin said...

It's the way of all things pop culture. A movie could be #1 in podunk Iowa, and #5 in MY and LA. So in terms of national importance, it's #5. It's all a crapshoot, a dartboard guess that people take as gospel, and that makes and breaks lives. In this age of the internet, where people can get so many opinions at the touch of a button, mags like EW become relevant except as the publicity machine it was created as.

Sorry, I've taken too many cynical pills this morning. I'll be better after lunch, when I pick up my rose colored glasses prescription.

Steve Buccellato said...

Heidi MacDonald is on the case...

http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog/2007/01/09/the-cowboys-aliens-scandal/

Steve Buccellato said...

I guess I was too lazy to hyperlink. I feel guilty. Here you go...

Link!

Hope that works :D