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| Hearsay: |
Are hardcovers just promotional copies to generate interest in the more profitable paperback? Say it ain’t so! I like my books weapon-ready. Anyway, this guy thinks we should just do away with hardcovers altogether and go straight to TPO (from BoingBoing). Bookninja looked into this some time ago, when Ninja K was still just a freelancer and not part of the inner cabal of bloggers plotting to destroy the wor… Um, er. I’ve said too much. (Gosh, I really should go rescue some of that content from the old site and bring it over here, shouldn’t I….)
Here’s why I know a book industry era has come to an end: One publisher after another keeps referring to hardcover books as “promotional copies for the paperback edition.”
Yes, hardcover books are selling so poorly that their only use for publishers is to get reviews, book interviews for the author and pave the way for a trade paperback edition that the real audience can afford.
True, the few hardcover books that hit bestseller lists can pay off big time, but these are known commercial hits that are worth giant marketing budgets from the beginning. Or so publishers think.
It’s a much more dangerous risk to try making an unknown author’s book a bestseller, which is why “The Story of Edgar Sawtelle” (before Oprah) was so thrilling: Ecco/Harper knew exactly how to manipulate the formula of big-sprawling-summer-novel+Hamlet gimmick+beautiful-writing+struggling author backstory+DOGS DOGS DOGS = Must Read.
A larger truth, however, is that mid-list and serious literary books by lesser-known authors rarely find their audience in hardcover. Those adventurous readers who watch and clip reviews, look for new voices and love heated book-group discussions most often wait for the paperback, and who can blame them?
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March 6th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
I’d be fine with eliminating hardbacks, though it has nothing to do with the economics of publishing. The damned things are too heavy, take up too much space, cost far too much compared to their trade counterparts ($20 more, in some cases), and they’re a pain in the ass if you’re trying to read pretty much anywhere other than a comfy armchair or sofa (ie. places I don’t have access to during most the time I have available for reading). I mean, seriously, you should try reading the hardback of something like 2666 on a crowded streetcar. Assuming your hand doesn’t snap off at the wrist from the weight, chances are pretty good you’re going to take somebody’s eye out.
March 6th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
It’s the same way that a feature film release is essentially an ad for the DVD – where all the “real money” is made.
March 6th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
First of all, I think it’s worth mentioning that Pat Holt, whom you are quoting at length, is a woman – a very smart, tough woman. Just sayin’. But second, it’s necessary to mention the ongoing publisher struggle, perhaps addressed in the past Ninja post: publicists have to worry about a book NOT getting attention if it’s not a hardcover, and sales reps always whine that books aren’t going to sell at the hardcover price point so they should be TPO. I think we do need to go more the paperback route, but we also have to lower inflated advances when they happen, fix the book return policy with bookstores, and give credit where credit is do when publishers like David Godine produce gorgeous hardcover editions of books, because it is an art. Oh yeah, and Ms. Holt said most of this stuff already on the aforementioned blog.
March 6th, 2009 at 8:14 pm
When a basic, shared eBook platform finally arrives, hardcovers will become art objects. Think of it this way. If you just want to listen to music, you can download the album. But if it’s your favorite band, maybe you’d be willing to dish out for a CD packaged with a signed insert, bonus tracks, and assorted paraphenilia. Likewise with hardcovers – we’ll see them printed for author book tours, with supplemental material, and the like. Certain subjects will still get the hardcover treatment, too – art books, cooking books (hard to imagine laying your kindle down in a pile of flour next to a bubbling pot of hot liquid). Trade will still be the choice of most book buyers (the customers in the bookstore I work at) and the decline of hardcovers will be mourned by people like me who read in any format but prefer to own in hardcover.
March 7th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
Well, between my hardcovers and vinyl LPs, you can damned well bet my friends go incommunicado whenever moving day rolls around. Not that that’s going to stop me from getting rid of either.
And August, think of the wrist muscles you’re developing. Strong and sinewy wrist muscles are the Marilyn Mole, the Angelina Pout, the Milelong Legs of tomorrow– just you watch. It has nothing to do with art (maybe a little to do with weaponry, admittedly), but everything to do with vanity.
March 8th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
Well, as I am a man, I’m not particularly crazy about getting the Marilyn Mole or the Angelina pout, but I suppose I could go with some more masculine equivalent. However those of us who live in tiny basement apartments, maintaining a personal library is difficult enough without tripling the size of you books.