What Sales Figures?
There was an interesting article in the L.A. Times last week about how publishers often hide the number of books that are sold.
In case you wonder why major publishers are less and less willing to take risks, the article noted that “we estimate that out of every 10 hardcover adult books, seven lose money, two break even and one is a hit.”
“The real problem with revealing sales numbers,” noted the article, “is that publishers put out too many books — and the vast majority sell poorly. Greco estimated that more than 200,000 titles were published last year, which averages out to 22 new books every hour. This is in addition to about 3.5 million already in print.”
There is an upside: the system allows small and medium publishers to quietly stay in business. Smaller publishers generally have 100% of titles in the break-even-to-profitable categories, so, while their unit costs are much higher (think up to 55% retail discounts, 15% wholesaler, 10% distributor), they make at least 5% on every copy sold after paying production costs.
The smaller publisher will also, almost always, have books in print for much longer periods. Sales may be far lower initially but they tend to grow slowly and then keep going for many years.
There are hundreds of small publishers who have been in business for years. They’ll have never claimed huge sales or paid dramatic advances, but they do pay authors.
So when you’re shopping your books, don’t feel that you need to aim for Random House or HarperCollins or Penguin: a smaller publisher might mean better shelf-life and better profitability in the end.
And that will bring you … way beyond the elements of style!
Posted in Books, Publishing, Getting Published, Publishers on February 18th, 2007