Why so few copies?

Why so few copies of the translated volumes available?

I'm asking this as a French-speaking reader.  We see select titles released, since not everything gets translated. But what's most disappointing is that, even among these translations, why are there so few copies for sale?

I don't have exact figures to compare, but i can clearly see there's demand for titles like Eve of Ruin, Shadow of the Dragon Queen, or Keys From the Golden Vault, which sell out completely in stores within a few weeks and create a disproportionate speculative bubble for those unlucky enough to have missed the initial sales. About $28-$45 for a used copy of Shadow of the Dragon Queen in English, compared to $120-$175 in French.

Is this a lack of understanding of this growing market in Europe, with too few copies ordered? Is it the fault of third-party resellers?

I can only assume it has to do with the perceived market.  They don't want to sit on a stockpile of extra books so they plan to sell out.

There may also be some behind-the-scenes things going on with the printers.  Don't know about Europe but that's been hitting the US lately.

If you build it, they will come. 

I expect it's a combination of "WotC's information about the French market isn't as good as its information about the US market" and "It's a smaller market. Underprint by 25% and that might prompt a second printing in the US; in France that same percentage underprinting might be too few copies to get their best printing rates on a second printing".

Quote from Erik_Soong >>

If you build it, they will come. 

"Thinking quickly, Dave constructs a home made megaphone; using some String, a Squirrel, and a Megaphone."  

Quote from Pantagruel666 >>

I expect it's a combination of "WotC's information about the French market isn't as good as its information about the US market" and "It's a smaller market. Underprint by 25% and that might prompt a second printing in the US; in France that same percentage underprinting might be too few copies to get their best printing rates on a second printing".

Aside from a blind spot in cultural norms, that data could be reasonably extrapolated out of the Digital sales.  If digital sales are high compared to population size, and book demand is high, that is a strong indication that a larger and wider print run of books would still sell well.  But the second, more pressing hurdle.... cost.   Translations and localization costs are largely unwanted without orders of magnitude return on investment, and further disincentivized by potential backlash caused by localization mistakes.    Anime had to become a multibillion dollar industry abroad before real quality control was even considered a concern; and fan STILL argue about if the dub is trash or not.  

My guess is they barely consider the market worth their time, otherwise they'd would already be throwing a large advertising budget at it.  I'm actually curious if some of the localization efforts exist primarily to meet regulatory requirements for Markets they DO want to focus on.