The Novel and Manga of Haruhi Suzumiya

[Matt122005]

GDB, I actually noticed something. The rank at Barnes and Noble is constantly changing, every few days. When I did my own rank searches back a while ago in this thread, many of the novels had increased in their ranks, one fell.

So I don't quite understand what you mean by BIASED in not mentioning it. How is the rolling 6 month sales period relevant? Can you please explain?

[GDB]

Originally Posted by Matt122005

So I don't quite understand what you mean by BIASED in not mentioning it. How is the rolling 6 month sales period relevant? Can you please explain?

Any sales from 6 months ago and prior aren't calculated into the sales ranking. The sales for an item build up for 6 months, and then gradually replace the oldest day with the newest day once that 6 month limit is hit (or however often they actually have it set to update the numbers).

I have a feeling there might be some sort of weighted balance to it as well, but since there's no specific statement of that, it can't be determined.

But basically, Haruhi has had 5 months to gather sales numbers to obtain its rank. FMA 20 hasn't even technically released yet and it's close in rank, so to say Haruhi "beat" it is biased.

[Matt122005]

The article has added an "additional note" to itself. GDB, you should read it. lol

[GDB]

That's better. *nod*

So, as to the question posed in the blog (whether light novels could become a profitable industry in America), I'm going with "no" for now. Not because I think they can't be profitable, but I'm sure there are some who don't quite trust these companies to not suddenly stop producing the material, leaving you with an uncomplete series.

...I'm looking at you, TokyoPop! Only doing volumes 1-8 of Slayers out of 15, what kind of crap is that? Especially when 9-15 is the actual material not covered in the anime.

[Matt122005]

Yea, of course, with me, I'll buy a light novel regardless if it gets continued or is delayed or already got canceled. haha

I love light novels enough that just reading one in the series is awesome.

By the way, a fan translation for Slayers vol 9 is available, if you didn't know.

Anyways, I think its really cool that we can see a list of top ranked light novels. Its something only Japan has been giving us, which really doesn't affect us, since we can't read them. lol

[CrowKenobi]

Originally Posted by GDB

...I'm looking at you, TokyoPop! Only doing volumes 1-8 of Slayers out of 15, what kind of crap is that? Especially when 9-15 is the actual material not covered in the anime.

Sadly, I gotta echo your thought there...

<--Owner of 1-8... at least I've got the manga volumes that were released too! (NOT by TP, though)

[bayoab]

Originally Posted by Matt122005

Haruhi's hardcover is at #2. The hardcover was stocked in the Manga section.

The softcover which is at #4 was stocked in the teen section.

This alone should be the red flag to why this is total nonsense. There were 10k hardcover and 40k softcover printed, so how in the world could the softcover be outselling the hardcover? The answer is simple and obvious: Because it is based on internet orders only. The hardcover is only available via internet orders. It was not stocked in most (all?) B&N retail locations. The softcover on the other hand was stocked in almost ever location. Thus the majority of it's sales would be in person.

[Matt122005]

Originally Posted by bayoab

This alone should be the red flag to why this is total nonsense. There were 10k hardcover and 40k softcover printed, so how in the world could the softcover be outselling the hardcover? The answer is simple and obvious: Because it is based on internet orders only. The hardcover is only available via internet orders. It was not stocked in most (all?) B&N retail locations. The softcover on the other hand was stocked in almost ever location. Thus the majority of it's sales would be in person.

I'm confused, why is it "total nonsense?"

I don't believe the article said the sales were directly from the stores. It said that the ranks were taken from the Barnes and Noble website. Which would of course, naturally, include online sales.

It doesn't change the fact that its selling that much. It simply means that the Haruhi fans are buying the hardcover up fast, and soft cover sales are really good, but just not as quickly selling.

So how is this "total nonsense"?

You honestly aren't making any sense.

[CrowKenobi]

I think it would make sense if bayoab meant to say that that how could the hardcover be outselling the softcover when there is more softcover books out there...

[Matt122005]

Well, thats easy, duh. lol

In the past 6 months, more haruhi fans have bought the hardcover than people have bought the softcover. It's really not that hard to understand.

The sales ranks aren't based on how many copies sold total, simply how well and fast they are selling compared to others.

[quigonkenny]

Originally Posted by bayoab

This alone should be the red flag to why this is total nonsense. There were 10k hardcover and 40k softcover printed, so how in the world could the softcover be outselling the hardcover? The answer is simple and obvious: Because it is based on internet orders only. The hardcover is only available via internet orders. It was not stocked in most (all?) B&N retail locations. The softcover on the other hand was stocked in almost ever location. Thus the majority of it's sales would be in person.

Sauce? I've seen the hardcover stocked in the B&N near me. Granted, it was only one copy, so "stocked" probably isn't the best word, but that's as many as I've seen anywhere, and if they only printed 10,000 (something else I've never seen a source for) then one per store isn't very surprising. And I've never seen more than two or three of the softcovers in any one place either (I'd like to say they were gathering dust, but that's probably more my own biased opinion...).

Not to say that your assumption that the numbers only take into account internet orders is false. The fact that Yami no Moribito is even on that list (much less in the top ten) when it has yet to appear (to my knowledge, and I looked) in any brick-and-mortar B&N or Borders in at least the Houston area (ended up ordering mine at the local Borders) does lend that assumption some credence. Damn good book, BTW...

I don't think we can assume where the novels were stocked to have much effect, either. I've seen both versions of Melancholy in both the manga section and teen sections at various bookstores. But that's hardly surprising. I've seen the same volume of Artemis Fowl stocked in two different places in the same store at the same time, and it's considerably more popular and its classification (teen fantasy) is fairly obvious. Most places I've been tend to put questionably genred titles wherever the person stocking at the time thinks they go, so I doubt there's an actual in-practice hard and fast rule about it, even if Little, Brown or even B&N supposedly has an "official" method to their madness.

[bayoab]

Originally Posted by Matt122005

I don't believe the article said the sales were directly from the stores. It said that the ranks were taken from the Barnes and Noble website. Which would of course, naturally, include online sales.

So how is this "total nonsense"?

Because without understanding what the statistic is actually measuring or how it is generated, a conclusion is being made. This is pretty much trying to add meaning to something and the result does not even make sense given the outside data.

And the comment I made is that the sales are only from the website and thus only online sales. No retail sales are included at all. If this is true, the all of the paperback copies that were reported spotted in this thread would not have been included in that "sales rank" and thus it would be artificially deflated.

Originally Posted by Matt122005

In the past 6 months, more haruhi fans have bought the hardcover than people have bought the softcover. It's really not that hard to understand.

Do you really think that could be possible? Something with 10000 total copies outselling something with 50000 copies? Now, if they ran a second printing of the hardcover, that would make things interesting.*

The sales ranks aren't based on how many copies sold total, simply how well and fast they are selling compared to others.

What is the difference between "sold total" and "how well", especially for a title that has only been out for 5 months? Also, if that was true that it was measuring momentum, then the sales rank is including a measure of the derivative of the actual sales and it would be even more meaningless at any singular point in time. Especially since the ranking is recalculated daily, this would make a single day's numbers even more meaningless.

Originally Posted by quigonkenny

Sauce? I've seen the hardcover stocked in the B&N near me. Granted, it was only one copy, so "stocked" probably isn't the best word, but that's as many as I've seen anywhere,

When the hardcover first came out, I checked every single B&N via their online lookup within a small range of NYC. There was not a single copy available in retail stores in the US's most populous city. (I even went to a store and asked if there was a nearby B&N with a copy.) The paperback on the other hand showed up pretty much everywhere. If you check now, you will find similar results.

and if they only printed 10,000 (something else I've never seen a source for)

Source

Not to say that your assumption that the numbers only take into account internet orders is false. The fact that Yami no Moribito is even on that list (much less in the top ten) when it has yet to appear (to my knowledge, and I looked) in any brick-and-mortar B&N or Borders in at least the Houston area (ended up ordering mine at the local Borders) does lend that assumption some credence. Damn good book, BTW...

Well, my argument was simply based on the above logic. I can't actually find anything for or against that idea since it seems that B&N would be able to somewhat track retail sales too. Note that the disparity in the sales rank of the second book can also be accounted for in that the book is 25-33% off and hardcore buyers are more likely to pre-order than casuals.


*If anyone wants to verify if there was a second printing, simply open the cover to the page with all the weird data on it and look at the number on the bottom. The 1 will be missing if it is the second printing.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by GDB

Wow, so a book that's been out since April has more sales than a book that technically doesn't come out until next week. 5 months worth of sales versus negative 8 days. As I said before, that blogger leaves out a LOT of necessary information.

I... see. Needless to say, I don't follow the FMA manga, so I didn't know how long volume 20 had been out for.

Oh well, at least Haruhi is doing great compared to other light novels.

[ijuinkun]

Originally Posted by GDB

...I'm looking at you, TokyoPop! Only doing volumes 1-8 of Slayers out of 15, what kind of crap is that? Especially when 9-15 is the actual material not covered in the anime.

I think you just answered your own question there--TokyoPop likely thought that the later volumes would sell fewer copies specifically BECAUSE they were stories that were not animated (and therefore not "familiar" to fans).

[quigonkenny]

Originally Posted by bayoab

When the hardcover first came out, I checked every single B&N via their online lookup within a small range of NYC. There was not a single copy available in retail stores in the US's most populous city. (I even went to a store and asked if there was a nearby B&N with a copy.) The paperback on the other hand showed up pretty much everywhere. If you check now, you will find similar results.

Ah, the same "scientific method" I used for the Moribito novels... ^_^ I guess there's no way to really tell from that. I never bothered to check the stores for the Haruhi hardcover at the time it came out, since I had preordered it on Amazon, but checking now, it does show up in-stock at at least one Houston-area B&N location (seems to be much more popular at Borders). Ha! NYC FTL! ^_^

Next time I'm in my local Borders, I'll check to see if it's a first or second ed, if they have a copy.

Originally Posted by bayoab

Source

Thanks. One of my pet peeves is people on the net quoting "facts" like they're etched in marble, without giving a source. That "source" usually ends up being someone's speculation on another thread (often the same person now quoting the "fact") or a 2ch hoax. We get that a lot with Haruhi, as I'm sure you know... ^_^

[Kogetsu Shirogane]

Originally Posted by quigonkenny

Thanks. One of my pet peeves is people on the net quoting "facts" like they're etched in marble, without giving a source. That "source" usually ends up being someone's speculation on another thread (often the same person now quoting the "fact") or a 2ch hoax. We get that a lot with Haruhi, as I'm sure you know... ^_^

Did you know that Volume 10 will be the last?! I heard it from a guy, who heard it from another guy, who got the information from 2ch, so it must be legit!


Something like that?

[Solachinx]

I know for a fact that my local Books-A-Million and Barnes and Noble does not carry the hardcover edition. Huzzah 4 teh interwebz!

[Apache Thunder]

Originally Posted by Kogetsu Shirogane

Did you know that Volume 10 will be the last?!

If that's true, it better dam well end the story line in a satisfactory way. For it to be the last, I hope he writes up a decent conclusion to the whole story line.

Or perhaps he can leave opened ended in a way that would allow the Anime to pick up from.

After the 10th perhaps the Anime can then go full original content with help from the author. I bet they can make that work if they really try.

[Ithekro]

I think you missed his sarcasm.

[Heminga13]

I always had the notion that Tanigawa might have been given a couple years to work on how he wants the series to go while Kadokawa worked on their plans for the anime and other variations of the story. Having the novels end at 10 seems like a strange spot to end based on what's happened so far.