D&D 5E Amazon US book sales rank.

[bedir than]

I feel like, in this case, exposure to online negativity probably caused the industry to skew conservative in their ordering (and probably also WotC when choosing the print run of the Store Exclusive Cover). My distributor was telling me that some stores ordered, for example, 40 copies, and then reordered 60 more.

In 30 years of retailing, I don't think I've ever underestimated a demand by anything like that (unless you're talking something where I ordered ONE and turned out to need THREE). I didn't personally undershoot by that much, but I DID underorder (though part of that was because I thought that I'd be able to always get more if I needed them, which would have happened if the distributor hadn't needed to fill double-sized reorders).

But my point is - I think those stores that under ordered by that sort of margin were probably overly influenced by online apathy, negativity, and rage.

A word of caution, which you likely already know, there will be a point where they won't be able to reprint as the printers WotC works with in North America are highly limited now. When the DMG full run starts they won't be doing PHB runs for a period of time.

I would not be surprised if there's a short term outage during the holiday shopping period.

 

[Velderan]

A word of caution, which you likely already know, there will be a point where they won't be able to reprint as the printers WotC works with in North America are highly limited now. When the DMG full run starts they won't be doing PHB runs for a period of time.

I would not be surprised if there's a short term outage during the holiday shopping period.

It wouldn't surprise me if what they have for PHB's is basically what they'll have until the DMG and MM initial print runs are done.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

A word of caution, which you likely already know, there will be a point where they won't be able to reprint as the printers WotC works with in North America are highly limited now. When the DMG full run starts they won't be doing PHB runs for a period of time.

I would not be surprised if there's a short term outage during the holiday shopping period.

You have very good points, and you're probably right, though two minor quibbles: 1) They stated that the print run was "massive" (I assume for the Regular Cover) so I don't think that it will need a 2nd Print too soon, though if the demand is THAT high... who knows? And 2) The DMG should be printed already - at least most of the run.

OTOH, the Monster Manual could easily get in the way of a 2nd Print of the PHB - so your point has merit.

 

[jerryrice4949]

I can tell you as someone who has been selling the new book for 17 days... sales are increasing so far over the time, and most people don't even know about it yet. (The latter explains the former).

Curious as someone who sells it, do you have any sense of what customers think of the book once they have a chance to look through it?

 

[Mercurius]

Out of curiosity, does anyone know the ratio of alt to standard covers, in terms of how many are printed?

 

[darjr]

It’s be a sort of new tradition if they have to delay the print run of the dmg to print more PHBs.

 

[Mistwell]

I gotta say, I am really liking the look and feel of the alt cover version I bought. Which of course can't come from Amazon. I will try and stop by a couple local stores and see how their stock is doing.

 

[mearls]

But my point is - I think those stores that under ordered by that sort of margin were probably overly influenced by online apathy, negativity, and rage.

Yeah, and I wonder how much of that comes from a lack of seeing the new rules in context. There are literally no preview videos on the official D&D channel of the designers, or anyone else, running a game using the new rules. There was the game at Gen Con, but that felt more focused on the personalities at the table than on the rules.

My Tuesday game was significantly more fun because of the changes to jump and the new weapon qualities giving the fighter a free push each round. I think showing off the game with scenarios and encounters specifically designed for the new rules would go a long way.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

two of my local FLGS have sold out, and are ordering more. So for all the criticism it appears folks are buying the new PHB

Every new edition comes with shed loads of criticism. But the only one were people followed through and jumped ship was 4e.

There are plenty of people like myself who aren’t going to rush out and buy the new book immediately though.

 

[Zardnaar]

Every new edition comes with shed loads of criticism. But the only one were people followed through and jumped ship was 4e.

There are plenty of people like myself who aren’t going to rush out and buy the new book immediately though.

I've told my players to not buy it if money is tight if they're concerned about getting to use it.

If they have money to burn it's on them. I won't get to see it for another month and pre order got canceled.

I probably won't run it until all 3 are out maybe use it as errata. That depends on how many are floating around as well.

That conversations about two sessions away basically over what to do next.