I'm starting to get the impression that "sales of 4e products" is being equated with the corebooks and first module by alot of people...We know the corebooks sold well initially, and we even know amongst complaints of poor quality the special sneak peek module H1 sold well initially...but what about all the stuff that has been released that seems to be brushed over by 4e proponents, let's see...
1. FRCG
2. FRPG
3. H2 Thunderspire Labyrinth
4. Adventurers Vault
5. Character Record Sheets
6. Dungeon Masters Screen
7. FR1 Scepter Tower of Spellgard
8. H3 Pyramid of Shadows
9. P1 King of the Trollhaunt Warrens
I might have missed some stuff, but I haven't heard anything about any of these books going into new prints, or selling all that great. I could be wrong, but some of them are ranked pretty low on Amazon...even in comparison to other companies gaming products.
Another point for those claiming they aren't seeing any used 4e books for sale...I see them all the time on ebay and amazon...right now on amazon there are...
13 used core rules sets for sale starting around $55
14 Used PHB's from $18 and up
12 used DMG's from $15
9 used MM's from $18
So yeah, people are selling them back.
I think something that will be interesting to watch is how the DDI affects sales of books. Most hardcore gamers, who like 4e, will probably sign up for the DDI...however they have less incentive to buy the books once they do, since they have the compendium. On the other hand casual gamers and those who may not be as enraptured with 4e will be very discerning about what they buy...Thus they're reduced or even non-existent purchases and the (possibly) reduced purchases of the hardcore gamers may lead to a situation where the cost of publishing books and maintaining the DDI is not made up from the sales of either product and one will have to be dropped in order to cut costs.
I know I don't like 4e enough to subscribe to DDI at this point...yet WotC isn't really releasing anything that feels like a gotta have, for me, in the book department. I am starting to get the feeling that material is being held back for DDI (Dragon specifically) that could have been included in the already sparse books WotC is releasing, and it makes me reluctant to invest in this edition.