shift happens

"...and a continued perception of comics shops as 'man caves'
unable to shift to selling merchandise that appeals to women and children"

American comics and graphic novels (and media based on them) are more popular than ever, but the way these works are purchased is being transformed by a new wave of consumers looking for new material and new places to buy it.

Obviamente -ou nem por isso mas tenham paciência e continuem connosco nesta viagem- esta metemos na gaveta da identidade com os anteriores. Identidade do meio, e de quem o faz. Comunidade? Não, dores de parto da atomização que se previa.

2017 has been a year of rapid change

The growth in popularity of book-format graphic novels and the rapid influx of a new generation of female comics fans over the past decade are beginning to produce a U.S. comics marketplace that looks a lot more like the book trade. Sales of graphic novels via the book channel - which includes chains and independent bookstores, online retailers such as Amazon, mass market retailers - continue to grow. The direct market, on the other hand, is struggling.
in "Comics Shops Fight Bookstores In the Race to Sell Graphic Novels" ^{13 out 2017}

Nota um: a inclusão de todos os canais acima, grandes cadeias, indies, Amazon e superfícies comerciais indiscriminadas. Nota dois, formatos, e com eles os seus públicos:

The comics marketplace has become a contest between bookstores and the direct market, as well as "a battle of the formats" between traditional periodical comics and the growing popularity of graphic novels. Comics shops are "struggling to accommodate their legacy consumers while appealing to new readers," many of whom are either unfamiliar with comics shops, uninterested in traditional comics, or looking for new retail options.
in "Comics Shops Fight Bookstores In the Race to Sell Graphic Novels" ^{13 out 2017}

Nota três, de onde pegamos da última entrada, elitismos:

Part of the problem is that the comics shop market can be conservative in what it offers consumers.  Indeed, the channel can sometimes be hostile - or perceived to be hostile - to new kinds of comics content or even new kinds of fans. This is an emerging class of comics consumers -part of a younger indie and manga- influenced generation that isn’t focused solely on superhero comics -that the traditional comics market, which continues generally to cater to an aging straight white male clientele and to focus on stocking periodical-format comics, often struggles to attract.
in "Comics Shops Fight Bookstores In the Race to Sell Graphic Novels" ^{13 out 2017}

Reforço a bater no ceguinho, nos excertos que se segue puxem o debate a um plano astral acima, e leiam "digital" online vs "analógico" em pacotes que se vendem ao balção, e temos a mesma correlação de "novos" vs "velhos":

• These new comics consumers can find what they want a lot easier in the book trade rom traditional book publishers with graphic novel imprints or from a new generation of indie comics houses.
• The inability of comics shops to return most titles, tends to "limit experimentation" at a time when all pop culture retail channels should be experimenting with new kinds of graphic novel content.

Ah, formatos e canais, by any other name. A fechar, duas notas contraditórias. Primeiro, que os livros estão de volta não é surpresa, mas quando desse regresso se deve ao ebook sido barrado por estratégias intencionais de concertação de preços?

This shift in consumer preference  is being driven by both a "new emerging demographic" that is primarily young and female and the overall revival of print sales in recent years.
in "Comics Shops Fight Bookstores In the Race to Sell Graphic Novels" ^{13 out 2017}

Segundo, vide primeiro, falamos da indústria dos comics e como outras indústrias, também aqui se acercam que a nova economia é uma de dados:

The importance of studying comics consumers: NPD BookScan plans to collect more data from the direct market, principally through the use of consumer surveys and interviews, since most comics shops do not have POS systems that can extract and transmit data.
in "Comics Shops Fight Bookstores In the Race to Sell Graphic Novels" ^{13 out 2017}

Last-not-least, nada se perde, tudo se transforma:

If current trends continue, the book channel will soon become the primary outlet for comics sales. It would be the first "channel power flip since comics shops took over from newsstands" in the 1980s.

...afinal o mundo é feito de mudanças, não há novidade aqui, apenas o same ol' same new.

shift has happend