Comments on: Time doesn’t matter

By: GhostFolk.com

GhostFolk.com — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 17:43:35 +0000

I try real hard not to comment… but, wow, I agree 100% with every word of this. The only caveat on the topic about backlist becoming frontlist is that it can't be done at all without the publisher AT LEAST keeping the book(s) in print down the road a year or two in the first place.

By: J. Nelson Leith

J. Nelson Leith — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 12:57:51 +0000

This is a spot-on critique. It seems like publishers are using an attrition strategy: just throw books at readers and whatever fails to click right away gets buried.

But, as military theorists would be quick to point out, attrition isn't so much a strategy as a complete lack of a strategy. What you're proposing is far more professional, and would likely reduce the work load of publicists and booksellers, and certainly that of editors and agents.

The only downside I can see is that it would make it slightly more difficult for new authors to break in.

By: DGLM

DGLM — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 23:15:35 +0000

Thank you for your comments. This can work for non fiction and for fiction as well. Publishers should be able to take themes from novels and repromote the fiction at different times of the year. I just wish that publishers would see that this is in everyone's best interest — besides which, it's good business.

By: Anne R. Allen

Anne R. Allen — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 23:21:41 +0000

Sharon–alas, it's true. A wonderful writer named Jean Brodie told me over a decade ago that a published book has a shelf life somewhere between fresh milk and yogurt.

By: Sharon Bially

Sharon Bially — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 20:02:22 +0000

One more thought: what a strange contradiction that something that takes years to produce and has an infinite shelf life would even be considered a short-term product. Are books nothing more than merchandise?

By: Sharon Bially

Sharon Bially — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 20:00:29 +0000

I have been thinking about this a lot recently, and could not have said it better. You articulated it perfectly. Thanks.

By: Kristin Laughtin

Kristin Laughtin — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 19:38:16 +0000

I agree. With so many books moving online, nothing has to go out of print anymore! And if a book has potential to be relevant and desired at multiple points, why wouldn't publishers want to support that? They'd have to do some moving around as far as publicity dollars, I'm sure, but my impression was that they were in the business of supporting whatever's likely to make them money anyway…

By: Amber Argyle

Amber Argyle — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 18:43:51 +0000

I can see this working for nonfiction, but what about fiction?

By: Kristina Holmes

Kristina Holmes — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 18:20:56 +0000

I think publishers need more (talented) folks working in their marketing/publicity/digital promotion departments. I'm always amazed when I hear that a single publicist is working on 15 or 20 different books at a time. How is it possible to do a good job with that kind of load, no matter how talented you are? And why go to all the trouble of publishing a book if you're not going to support the author's efforts to promote it (meaningfully, not just superficially)? Filling out in-house promotion-related departments would be an investment well worth making.

I agree that publishers need to see books in a new way given recent tech developments. In-house promotion must accompany that. It seems to me that we're doing a whole lot of work to publish a book, only to shortchange such a critical piece to making a book successful.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 18:02:03 +0000

You make an excellent point about the marketing possibilities in the electronic publishing age. I do think, though, that it isn't necessarily a matter of this never occurring to publishers – I think it could be more a matter of them not having the time, resources, or manpower to continue promoting all of their backlist titles. When you have a small marketing department and 20-30 new frontlist titles you're working on, sometimes going back to backlist titles falls to the bottom of the to-do list, unfortunately.