Publishers’ Lists: An Old Fashioned Approach?
Tags: book publishers, book titles, canadian book publishers, publishers lists, web-2.0
I was reading the latest issue of Elle magazine while on vacation. It told me, that smart consumers “buy 70% from preseasons and 30% from the runways.”
That is, fashion is moving from a two-season industry to a 4,5,6 season industry–spreading out the products over the year. This ensures that the consumer is purchasing more steadily and more frequently and that the designers are receiving a more reliable and regular income.
This lead me to think about the book industry. Book publishers produce two lists–spring and fall. All titles must correspond to a single list season. Titles are then ranked on this list according to the title’s expectations and titles are selected to be showcased in the traditional media outlets. Quill & Quire even produces issues around the release of these lists.
This results in very few books getting lots dollars behind it and lots of media attention, and lots of books getting ignored and supplied with shoddy marketing tactics.
What if the publishers’ seasons were scratched? Why can’t publishers have four seasons? Or release books monthly? Or–even better–line up with other cultural (comic books, DVDs, video games, CDs) products and release products every Tuesday? (I need to point out that it was Matt who told me about this Tuesday thing. I’m not that pop culture savvy.)
The only argument against this that I can see is that catalogues are expensive to produce and this will make the catalogue production more complicated. I don’t see the downside of having two big catalogues a year and a weekly e-newsletter or blog update citing this week’s latest titles. This way, more books can get more attention from more people will have greater access to a publisher’s titles. Why should a book be number 37 on a spring list when it can be number 2 on the March list?
Open up this newsletter to consumers directly–as opposed to booksellers only–and readers will not only be more aware of what is happening in the publishing world, they’ll be more engaged. Publishers would have more time-and, more importantly, more space–to sell books.
Digital media essentially creates limitless space through which books can be marketed and sold. We no longer have to be bound by time constraints and marketing budgets. All we need is some innovation. Putting lists and catalgoues online isn’t enough. More than the medium needs to change–the entire approach to marketing and selling books needs to change.
And isn’t this what it all comes down to? Selling books?
Are there any reasons to stick to the old two-season model?
Image by Joe Gratz. Licenced via Creative Commons.
Hi Erin,
I ran across your blog after a few months of following Melanie McBride’s blog. I thought I’d drop a line seeing that I’m a former Centennial grad
You make a lot of good points about the two-season model, I had wondered a lot about that myself when I first started in the book industry. I can honestly say that publishers push out way too many books. Usually the two-season model is related to the financial situation that most book publishers encounter and the timing of each book before the end of a fiscal year is critical to the budget for the forthcoming season. And the fiscal year causes a lot of reluctance to change the business model.
A couple of publishing folk I’ve had the pleasure to meet and work with at one point, Monique and Dan, have had a great discussion here about the need to simply focus on better books — http://www.somisguided.com/index.php/weblog/comments/better-books-grand-finale/
Hope the OTD is turning out well!
Ehren,
Thanks for the comment! It’s amazing that even though we learn so much in this program, we still have so much left to learn. I start my internship soon, so I bet I’m going to be in for a shock!
and thanks for the link! It’s definitely something worth reading.
OTD is going well, stressful, as I’m sure you can remember, but well!
Erin,
You’re right! There’s plenty to learn. I actually just emailed Denise earlier today to suggest that there are somethings that I felt have been left out of the curriculum and really should be taught with more focus. Just out of curiosity, where are you doing your internship? And what would you like to go into?
Yes, OTD was pretty crazy back then but you guys are doing great if you’re willing to tackle Wordpress! Almost no one wanted to touch the website in my year. So sad
but I’m happy to see the change.
I’m doing my internship at Kate Walker, where Saffron Beckwith works.
On one hand, it should be great because I’ve hear fantastic things about Saffron (my section doesn’t have her as a prof) but on the other hand, not so great because I definitely want to be an editor!
Either way, it should a great experience.
what do you do and where did you intern?!
That’s pretty cool that you’re hanging out at Kate Walker. I haven’t actually met Saffron either as I had someone else as an instructor for book marketing but like you, I hear things as well. I wonder if you’ll be showing up to sales conferences!
There are lots of editorial opportunities, but unfortunately many don’t tend to be full time because most companies employ editors through contracts or freelance work. Do you want to edit books or magazines? Interestingly enough, they each operate quite differently.
I originally interned with Dundurn about 2 years ago and I’m still here! I deal with everything web-related — primarily online marketing, including online retailers … among other things. Lots of stories that I wanted to share with you guys during career week but never actually ended up making it out there because of the crazy timing with work. Oh well, another time! Feel free to give me a shout if you have any questions.