D&D 5E Amazon US book sales rank.

[darjr]

I'd say, many did not think Radiant Citadel would be as good as it is. I was one of those people. Phenom of a book though.

Yea, it hasn’t followed the trajectory of many of the other books. Many of them shoot up high in preorder for a good long while then drop, then a few weeks ahead of release they rise rapidly again. See Spelljammer for instance.

Radiant Citadel has really took off after release.

Note: I realize Amazon is not the totality of the market of sales for the books, I do think it’s a good proxy for how they are doing generally.

 

[Guest 7034872]

I'd say, many did not think Radiant Citadel would be as good as it is. I was one of those people. Phenom of a book though.

You have yours?? I haven't ordered mine yet because I'm moving, so I figure I'll just order this and Spelljammer together once I'm in my new digs.

So fill me in if you have a moment: what are the biggest stand-outs to you in the book? Especially, what've you found that you didn't expect and/or didn't expect to like so much? (I'm itching to get into this thing after I move...)

 

[Parmandur]

You have yours?? I haven't ordered mine yet because I'm moving, so I figure I'll just order this and Spelljammer together once I'm in my new digs.

So fill me in if you have a moment: what are the biggest stand-outs to you in the book? Especially, what've you found that you didn't expect and/or didn't expect to like so much? (I'm itching to get into this thing after I move...)

It really is just a riot of creativity and passion: each of the authors involved poured a lot into their sections, and the setup of the book means they didn't have to hold anything back to make the material fit on the Sword Coast. But even so, theaterial like maps, NPCs, etc, can be used anywhere so it's a rich vein of usable material.

One particular standout is a dungeon that is the remains of a large monster. Love that sort of thing.

 

[Urriak]

Yea, it hasn’t followed the trajectory of many of the other books. Many of them shoot up high in preorder for a good long while then drop, then a few weeks ahead of release they rise rapidly again. See Spelljammer for instance.

Radiant Citadel has really took off after release.

Note: I realize Amazon is not the totality of the market of sales for the books, I do think it’s a good proxy for how they are doing generally.

Glad to hear Radiant Citadel is selling well. I was afraid that if the book performed poorly, WotC would get more conservative in developing settings original settings, and tack back to FR or other traditional worlds in response.

I believe 5E is the best selling edition of all time, and it's not even close, but I can't remember where I first saw that stat.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I believe 5E is the best selling edition of all time, and it's not even close, but I can't remember where I first saw that stat.

The main difference between 5e and all the others, AFAICT, is that all the rest of them, no matter how high they started, plummeted around year four (give or take) and then trickled until their ultimate end. 5e was still RAISING by 2018. This is why it's totals, no matter how much the market may have been smaller at the start (I don't know about that, but I believe it was smaller than the initial market for 1e, at least) it just keeps on going and going.

I know that as a retailer, in 2e, 3.5, and 4e, by this time, I was lucky to turn over a single copy of any of the core books in a month. New splat books would sometimes only turn over one or two copies in their lifetime. 5e still sells dozens (or more) of every book released, and we still sell core books multiple times a week! AND that's with all the other ways of getting the books competing with us (which never used to be quite the case!)

 

[darjr]

The main difference between 5e and all the others, AFAICT, is that all the rest of them, no matter how high they started, plummeted around year four (give or take) and then trickled until their ultimate end. 5e was still RAISING by 2018. This is why it's totals, no matter how much the market may have been smaller at the start (I don't know about that, but I believe it was smaller than the initial market for 1e, at least) it just keeps on going and going.

I know that as a retailer, in 2e, 3.5, and 4e, by this time, I was lucky to turn over a single copy of any of the core books in a month. New splat books would sometimes only turn over one or two copies in their lifetime. 5e still sells dozens (or more) of every book released, and we still sell core books multiple times a week! AND that's with all the other ways of getting the books competing with us (which never used to be quite the case!)

Your anecdote matched what I’ve found, mostly locally.

 

[Parmandur]

The main difference between 5e and all the others, AFAICT, is that all the rest of them, no matter how high they started, plummeted around year four (give or take) and then trickled until their ultimate end. 5e was still RAISING by 2018. This is why it's totals, no matter how much the market may have been smaller at the start (I don't know about that, but I believe it was smaller than the initial market for 1e, at least) it just keeps on going and going.

I know that as a retailer, in 2e, 3.5, and 4e, by this time, I was lucky to turn over a single copy of any of the core books in a month. New splat books would sometimes only turn over one or two copies in their lifetime. 5e still sells dozens (or more) of every book released, and we still sell core books multiple times a week! AND that's with all the other ways of getting the books competing with us (which never used to be quite the case!)

That is mighty impressive, given how widely available the books are at wholesale discounts! Do you think the Alt covers have helped drive business to you over Amazon/Target?

 

[FitzTheRuke]

That is mighty impressive, given how widely available the books are at wholesale discounts! Do you think the Alt covers have helped drive business to you over Amazon/Target?

Probably a bit. Mostly everyone who already would buy them from us always want those covers! (It would help if we got more than 80% of our order, which it usually tops out at). To make matters worse, we've had a lot of misprints and damages and we don't EVER get replacements on them. I guess that's the drawback to things being "limited".

 

[darjr]

Probably a bit. Mostly everyone who already would buy them from us always want those covers! (It would help if we got more than 80% of our order, which it usually tops out at). To make matters worse, we've had a lot of misprints and damages and we don't EVER get replacements on them. I guess that's the drawback to things being "limited".

This is a story I’ve heard more than a few times.

 

[MockingBird]

Probably a bit. Mostly everyone who already would buy them from us always want those covers! (It would help if we got more than 80% of our order, which it usually tops out at). To make matters worse, we've had a lot of misprints and damages and we don't EVER get replacements on them. I guess that's the drawback to things being "limited".

If I had a local game store I would definitely buy the alt covers just for collectability on top of the standard books for actual use. All I have is Books a Million.