![]() Wizards is working to broaden its audience, which is predominantly males between the ages of 15 and 35. "We're trying to migrate game players into book readers," Schuh said. The increase attention to hobby shops is part of an overall effort to coordinate the release of books and games. Wizards will up its title output to 61 and will also increase its marketing efforts, particularly to small hobby shops and independent bookstores. The publisher has tested the e-book market and other forms of electronic delivery, but will wait until demand increases before developing an ongoing program.Īrcher said he is optimistic about prospects for 2003. "Our audience is used to looking for our titles in hardcover and mass market," said Archer, adding that many customers buy both cloth and paper editions of their favorite titles. The trade paper format is limited mainly to omnibus collections of different series. Most of its books are done in either hardcover or mass market paperback. Wizards released 59 titles last year and has a backlist of 274 titles. Its major tie-ins to games include Dungeons and Dragons, Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance, but, Schuh notes, "There is a misconception that if you don't play the games, you won't understand the book. The company depends heavily on series publishing-both the Salvatore and Weis/Hickman books were part of different series-as well as novelizations of role-playing games. Salvatore's The Thousand Orcs, which now has 100,000 copies in print, and Dragons of a Vanished Moon by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, which has close to 90,000 copies in print. The company had two titles hit the New York Times bestsellers in the year, R.A. "We reaped the fruits of Holtzbrinck's sales effort last year," Schuh said, adding that Wizards also did a better job of coordinating its publicity and marketing efforts in 2002. Wizards moved its distribution to Holtzbrinck in fall of 2000, and after a dip in sales in 2001 as the Holtzbrinck sales force familiarized themselves with the line, sales bounced back in 2002. Liz Schuh, director of marketing for books, gave a great deal of the credit for the improved performance to Wizards' distributor, the Holtzbrinck Group. The success of the Diamondbacks has certainly, I think, taken a little something out of the marketplace as far as expendable income" ( ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 12/5).But Wizards' success in 2002 wasn't just linked to the Potter carryover effect. ![]() I think some other factors are in play with respect to the attendance. Communicating that message to the marketplace is a whole different matter. But Suns President Bryan Colangelo said that he "believes the Suns are a more exciting team and the fans eventually will follow." Colangelo: "I think we've officially put the malaise to rest. SUNS: In Phoenix, Bob Young notes the Suns are averaging 15,202 fans after 11 games at America West Arena, down from an average of 17,990 last season. Both Wizards games on NBC have earned a 2.9 (, 12/4). On TNT, Wizards games are averaging a 1.6 compared to a 1.3 for other games. Sales Dir John Marshall said that the company "already sold more than 1,000, and profit margins from the early games are making recent lower prices easier to absorb." Meanwhile, Rovell wrote that Jordan's return has "been a boost to the networks," as Wizards games have earned a 2.6 national Nielsen rating on TBS, compared to a 1.7 rating for other NBA games. team turns into an 8-40 team, even with Jordan, not many people are going to pay top dollar for that ticket." Rovell noted bought about 3,000 Wizards tickets this season because of Jordan's return. Jerome Cohen, owner of San Antonio-based Best Ticket said, "The Jordan ticket market on the road is still OK right now. have slowly declined," despite the presence of Michael Jordan, according to 's Darren Rovell. As "losses have mounted" for the 5-12 Wizards, "demand for the team's tickets.
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