Now ... I've heard that it's just B&N who's doing the "No books from midlist authors over this length" thing. Is it other booksellers, too? I haven't seen anything official, just rumors so far...
This is almost rubbish, as far as I can tell. Or B&N are telling only select people in the industry this, and not others. What they -are- saying, though, is that they don't want books above a certain price point for mid-list authors. It's the price-point that they've set, not the length, and the publishers have that much maneuver room and no more built in. The shorter the book, the more cost effective it is to publish it -- if it sells in the same numbers as the longer books.
A 250 page 24.95 hardcover is going to be cheaper to produce than a 24.95 800 page hardcover. And 24.95 is the number I've heard floated around. Otoh, I've heard no like number for mass market paperbacks, fwiw.
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branchandroot
Re: Hmm.
Date: 2004-09-10 03:47 pm (UTC)midlist authors over this length" thing. Is it other booksellers, too? I
haven't seen anything official, just rumors so far...
This is almost rubbish, as far as I can tell. Or B&N are telling only select people in the industry this, and not others. What they -are- saying, though, is that they don't want books above a certain price point for mid-list authors. It's the price-point that they've set, not the length, and the publishers have that much maneuver room and no more built in. The shorter the book, the more cost effective it is to publish it -- if it sells in the same numbers as the longer books.
A 250 page 24.95 hardcover is going to be cheaper to produce than a 24.95 800 page hardcover. And 24.95 is the number I've heard floated around. Otoh, I've heard no like number for mass market paperbacks, fwiw.