Watchmen Sales Update

Publishers Weekly reports today that DC Comics has had to print 300,000 additional copies of Watchmen in the past two weeks to cover additional demand generated by the movie trailer. By comparison, Watchmen sold 100,000 copies in 2007 -- and that's already a great number for a 21-year-old book.

Remember how last week I noted that the new trailer had increased sales week-over week by 244 percent? Well, in the week after that (ending 7/27), sales increased another 75% to -- well, let me quote DC's Paul Levitz: "Bookscan records Watchmen selling 10,000 copies in one week."

These are the kind of sales that other publishing people salivate over, and I'm no exception. If those 300,000 copies of a $19.99 book all headed straight out to accounts (and they won't have, but let's keep the math simple) at an average 50% discount, that's a cool $3 million that just dropped right into DC's laps.

And the movie is still seven months away...

Update: And then, just a couple of hours later, I saw a guy (apparently about my age) reading Watchmen on the subway. Looked like he had just started it, too.