8 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ JANUARY 27, 2020
News
W
ith trade editions and
graphic novels repre-
senting the largest and
fastest-growing segment of the $1.
billion–per-year comics publishing
market, it’s surprising that Marvel
Entertainment, which dominates
comics periodicals and enjoys a
gigantic media footprint for its IP,
has not made the book business a
priority—until now. Marvel, which is
owned by Disney, is starting to flex
its muscles with a multipronged
approach to the book publishing
market, targeting every segment,
from teens to hardcore collectors.
We recently spoke with Sven Larsen,
director of licensed publishing for Marvel, about the
company’s vision and programs for the book market.How has the overall trade book program evolved
since you’ve been at Marvel, from a management
vision standpoint?
In terms of strategy, our management team is trying to
respond to and anticipate trends in the market. We’ve all
seen the emergence and strengths of middle grade and
YA graphic novels, for example. They’re the future readers
of our core product, so we’re very interested in reaching
that audience. It’s one of our increased areas of focus.
We’re also looking at formats beyond the traditional trade
paperback to expose new readers. That coalesces into
our Rising Readers line, done in the 6”×9” format,
popularized by Smile and the Amulet series. They carry
a distinctive trade dress and are designed for great value.
We’ve expanded our trade program for teens with our
most inexperienced-reader-friendly material [Marvel
characters that even noncomics readers are likely toMarvel Trade
Books: Going
Big, Young,
and Strong
The Weekly Scorecard
Print Unit Sales Up 3% in
Mid-January
With the four major categories posting increases over the week
ended Jan. 19, 2019, sales of print units rose 3% in the week
ended Jan. 18, 2020, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan.
The juvenile nonfi ction category had the largest increase in the
week, with unit sales up 7.4%. Guts by Raina Telgemeier once
again topped the category list, selling more than 7,000 copies. In
third place on the list was First Flaps and Facts: Giant Dinosaurs,
which sold more than 5,000 copies in its fi rst week. Print unit
sales increased 5.3% over 2019 in juvenile fi ction, led by the
familiar one-two punch of Fetch -22 (Dog Man #8) by Dav Pilkey
and Wreck ing Ball (Wimpy Kid #14) by Jeff Kinney, which sold
more than 26,000 copies and 15,000 copies, respectively. A new
release, Leadership Strategy and Tactics by Jock o Willink, topped
the adult nonfi ction category bestseller list, selling more than
41,000 copies. Another new book, Tightrope by Nich olas Kristof
and Sheryl WuDunn, debuted in sixth place on the category list,
selling more than 10,000 copies. Altogether, print unit sales in
the category rose 2.8% over 2019. Print unit sales of adult fi ction
titles rose for the second week in a row, up 1.2% in the most re-
cent week over 2019. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
stayed atop the category list, selling more than 24,000 copies.
Lost by James Patterson and James O. Born was in second place,
selling nearly 19,000 copies in its fi rst week. Another Patterson-
Born title, The River Murders, was #5 on the category list, selling
nearly 10,000 copies in its second week.SOURCE: NPD BOOKSCAN AND ERS APPROXIMATELY 80% OF THE PRINT BOOK MARKET AND CONTINUES TO GROW.PUBLISHERS WEEKLY. NPD’S U.S. CONSUMER MARKET PANEL COV-TOTAL SALES OF PRINT BOOKS (in thousands)
JAN. 19, JAN. 18, CHGE CHGE
2019 2020 WEEK YTD
Total 12,140 12,509 3.0% 2.8%JAN. 19, JAN. 18, CHGE CHGE
2019 2020 WEEK YTD
Adult Nonfi ction 6,083 6,253 2.8% 2.4%
Adult Fiction 2,234 2,262 1.2% 2.9%
Juvenile Nonfi ction 824 885 7.4% 5.9%
Juvenile Fiction 2,244 2,363 5.3% 4.0%
Young Adult Fiction 343 344 0.1% -1.9%
Young Adult Nonfi ction 40 46 12.0% 7.2%UNIT SALES OF PRINT BOOKS BY CATEGORY (in thousands)UNIT SALES OF PRINT BOOKS BY FORMAT (in thousands)
JAN. 19, JAN. 18, CHGE CHGE
2019 2020 WEEK YTD
Hardcover 3,251 3,410 4.9% 2.6%
Trade Paperback 6,958 7,240 4.1% 4.6%
Mass Market Paperback 805 702 -12.9% -10.8%
Board Books 572 587 2.4% -2.8%