Publishers struggle despite blockbuster books

STLtoday.com ^ | 7-29-03 | Hillel Italie (AP)

[FairWitness]

NEW YORK - This would seem to be a great time for the book world.

"Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" has set sales records. Hillary Clinton's memoir, "Living History," has sold more than 1 million copies. Other recent successes include Oprah Winfrey's book-club pick "East of Eden" and Walter Isaacson's "Benjamin Franklin."

[FairWitness]

The above article mentions several liberal authors (e.g., Hillary Clinton, Oprah, Madeline Albright, Toni Morrison), but appears to ignore conservative authors (and their publishers).

Compare to: Book publishers ride wave of conservative readership and People of the book (conservative readers)

[xtorpedoman]

Ayn Rand described this very situation in her writing....

[mewzilla]

Wonder where they got the sales figs for Hillie's book? Simon & Shyster? Limbaugh was saying recently that S&S is claiming they made back Hillie's advance. With accounting like that, no wonder they're laying off people.

[Mamzelle]

Fox (Murdoch) needs to buy and promote a publishing company--one based on what people are reading and what they want to read. S&S is not likely to make back Hillary's advance--so how can they call the book a blockbuster? It isn't just the 8M they have to make back, but actually printing and distribution and promotion costs. Have they even sold (I mean to retail purchasers from retailers, not the stacks of unsold books sitting at B&N) a million copies of Living History?

[DB]

I simply don't have time to read nontechnical books.

[mewzilla]

A note to publishers: I used to sell books. Customers' biggest complaint: price. Lower the prices, you'll sell more books.

[FairWitness]

A note to publishers: I used to sell books. Customers' biggest complaint: price. Lower the prices, you'll sell more books.

One solution to customer's complaint?: Publishers are experimenting with cutting hardcover prices or skipping hardcover and releasing books in cheaper paperback editions.

[Portnoy]

I simply can't afford to buy hardcover, so when a book comes out that I must keep for my collection, I try to wait and get it in a used book store...

I wonder when the publishing companies will come down on used book stores like the RIAA has on File-swapping....

[mewzilla]

Cheaper paperback editions? I don't know that I'd call what they're charging for mass markets or trades cheap. I rarely get popular fiction at bookstores any more. I'll go to Wally/K-Mart, or to a used book store. The trade paperback prices are even worse because it doesn't cost the price discrepancy for publishers to print them. They really make money on those puppies.

[Reeses]

The internet and the Acrobat reader have got to be having a growing impact. When I buy software now there is no longer a hardcopy manual. By researching on the internet I can find things and avoid having to purchase a book. I still do buy many books however it is much less than I needed to before. Once a high print quality and low cost electronic handheld book viewer hits the market, traditional hardcopy publishing is finished.

[justshutupandtakeit]

That is unfortunate for everybody.

[Xenalyte]

Toni Morrison has severe writing deficiencies. I have no idea how that woman came to be regarded as a premier novelist. Her plots are abstruse, her vocabulary is limited, and her characters are utterly unlikable.

[DB]

In 20 years will there be such thing as a physical library?

I think there is a good chance that for the most part there won't.

The writer will be able to directly sell his/her work directly to their clients without publishers. Much like the music industry is facing now.

[Reeses]

Cities keep building libraries left and right, but I think it has more to do with vote buying and legacy building. San Francisco recently opened a beautiful new library. It is a stunning work of architecture. However they only put about 2 percent of the money into book buying. The material available is a sad joke.

[Reeses]

Another sad thing about libraries these days is they are so politically correct. If FreeRepublic was a book, it would be removed.

[gaspar]

A curious aspect of the book world that is not generally known is that serious works with a limited audience, say economics in Eastern Europe, are being produced in limited editions of 2,000 or less and carry a price tag of $75 up. The publishing houses sell the books to University libraries and to government, do not advertise the works, and come out with a small but tidy profit.

[Reeses]

University professors that write $150 books tend to require their students to buy their books.

[goodnesswins]

S&S is laying off 75 people? Guess it's so they can SAY they made money off shrillary's "book." Sheesh.

[FairWitness]

A curious aspect of the book world that is not generally known is that serious works with a limited audience, say economics in Eastern Europe, are being produced in limited editions of 2,000 or less and carry a price tag of $75 up.

University professors that write $150 books tend to require their students to buy their books.

I recently decided to buy a new Biochemistry textbook (my "newest" old text was from 1975). The price was $146! I gritted my teeth and bought it, but I thought long and hard before doing so, and will probably never buy another textbook.