D&D 5E Amazon US book sales rank.

[Henadic Theologian]

It seems that the non-core books sell the best at the pre-order stage. From older conversations (primarily about GW products) the bulk of purchases are within the first month to three months of a books, with a sharp drop-off after that. These days I imagine a good bulk of these books have already been on pre-order, probably for a couple months. Don't know how that might affect sources like the USA Today booklist.

It is interesting how huge of a price drop the Bigby book has though - I'm seeing it on Amazon at 44% off (and Phandelver is already 38% off; Planescape is 30% off; Book of Many Things which is to be released next doesn't appear to have a discount at all yet). I wouldn't expect a book that's selling like hotcakes to have such a huge discount so soon after it's release.

I think Planescape will be an exception to that because of what happened with Spelljammer. So many folks are like I'll wait and see if this is a train wreck like Spelljammer, because they felt burned when they pre-ordered Spelljammer.

I only bought Planescape on preorder because October 23 is my Birthday and I was curious if the Wizards Digital/Physical Bundle will be worth it (never bought any D&D Beyond stuff before).

 

[darjr]

Yeah. I don't really have any answer here. WotC has tried pretty hard to keep the FLGS alive. Organized Play, that sort of thing but, wow, it must be such an uphill battle. It's not like WotC's the only one in this position either. GW obviously is in the same boat. Need to keep the FLGS alive as a huge marketing vector but how?

Encounters was nice. Not sure about the return or how effective it was but it drew people to our local stores.

 

[Velderan]

All D&D books have 30-40% on Amazon, all thr time. Amazon charges wholesale prices, same as Target for books.

Yeah, pretty sure all the D&D books that Target carries have a 30% off sticker on the cover so that's their standard price. They also several times a year offer a "buy 2, get 1 free" promos that mix in movies and music items.

Of the FLGS in my area, one has a $10 membership program that offers 10% off basically everything in the store. Another takes 15% off the price of their hardcover books (or at least they do for the PF2e books, I assume they'd do the same for 5e). That makes it pretty tough to make much money, there's pretty much no way for them to compete with Target or Amazon on price.

 

[Velderan]

Yeah. I don't really have any answer here. WotC has tried pretty hard to keep the FLGS alive. Organized Play, that sort of thing but, wow, it must be such an uphill battle. It's not like WotC's the only one in this position either. GW obviously is in the same boat. Need to keep the FLGS alive as a huge marketing vector but how?

I'm really curious how effective the FLGS alt covers are for driving customers to support FLGS. It just seems like the stores near me basically exist because of MtG and Pokemon cards at this point.

 

[Parmandur]

I'm really curious how effective the FLGS alt covers are for driving customers to support FLGS. It just seems like the stores near me basically exist because of MtG and Pokemon cards at this point.

Well, those bookscan numbers that leaked recently (whi h di not include any FLGS sales, or any alt covers by extension) seem to show a drop-off in Advenrure sales that start just about when they started doing alt covers for Adventures (Ghosts of Saltmarsh in 2019).

This suggests to me that the percentageof books dold at FLGS is probably increased when there is an alt cover.

I think the alt covers must be quite successful, since they went from doing one a year to doing it for every single book.

 

[bedir than]

I think Planescape will be an exception to that because of what happened with Spelljammer. So many folks are like I'll wait and see if this is a train wreck like Spelljammer, because they felt burned when they pre-ordered Spelljammer.

Remember, online angst about Spelljammer isn't necessarily a reflection of the general sentiment around the product.

The same people that hate the Spelljammer triple box insist that SCAG is worthless (it remains a top 10 D&D product every single week).

 

[mamba]

I think the alt covers must be quite successful, since they went from doing one a year to doing it for every single book.

it is a cheap and easy way to get people to buy from FLGS, but I have no idea how much additional traffic it brings their way

 

[Parmandur]

it is a cheap and easy way to get people to buy from FLGS, but I have no idea how much additional traffic it brings their way

Well, me at least. So that's 1. But I imagine it must be a lot of sales in absolute terms, since they are doing 5 alt covers a year now.

 

[Velderan]

Remember, online angst about Spelljammer isn't necessarily a reflection of the general sentiment around the product.

The same people that hate the Spelljammer triple box insist that SCAG is worthless (it remains a top 10 D&D product every single week).

I'd think there's 2 things to consider for Spelljammer.

1. Amazon has had it discounted pretty heavily, so perhaps someone who might not find value in it at $70 thinks $40 is fair for what they'll get out of it.

And probably more importantly..

2. The majority of 5e players were not 2e players, so you can't exactly be upset about missing content if you don't have a previous version to compare the current offering to. It's possible current 5e players are content with what was offered in the set because it did what they need. It's pretty much impossible to know and we can only speculate.

 

[mamba]

Well, me at least. So that's 1. But I imagine it must be a lot of sales in absolute terms, since they are doing 5 alt covers a year now.

I sometimes get the alt cover, but I have to like it better by enough to justify it, and frequently I do not like it better at all…

Also, recently the bundle is a better option for me, same price but with the digital version on DDB and the regular cover. I assume that is hurting FLGS now