An open letter to Trade Publishers

[msagara]

Dear Trade Publisher or Small Press publisher:

Please do not print trade paperback large format books with flat glossy covers anymore.



As a bookseller, I watch what people pick up and put down. I listen to their comments on covers and cover art (and blurbs; those are sometimes funny, and yes, I know full well that the authors don't write them).

One thing that I've noticed happening more and more often in the store when people are browsing and chatting in front of the New Release Trade paperback shelf is that a customer will point at a specific book and say:

"Is this self-published?"

or

"Wow, there are a lot of self-published books here."

In fact, none of the books at which they're pointing are self-published.

I finally realized this weekend that the reason they're asking is because of the cover stock used on those specific trade paperbacks. If the trade paperback has a flat, glossy cover, they ignore the art, the type and the cover design. If it's flat gloss, with no foil, no embossing, no textures, they are now assuming that the book is self-published; they won't even pick it up.

I have no idea where this assumption comes from because with very few exceptions, we do not shelve or attempt to sell self-published books; we just don't have the space. But the fact is: more people are now asking if books that are entirely traditionally published are self-published because of the cover stock used.

If the cover has terrible art or terrible type, but is printed with a matte finish without any of the other frills (i.e. no embossing, no foil, no textures), they don't ask the question at all. It doesn't matter what the cover looks like in terms of composition.

At this point, due to the wonders of PoD technology, they're assuming that any cover that is glossy stock is self-published.

I'm certain that not all of our customers make this assumption; I know they don't blink twice about glossy stock on mass market paperbacks. But with the trade/large format paperbacks, there is a growing assumption, and I find it troubling.

The British trades are frequently bound with glossy stock. This week, there were two novels by relatively unknown names -- and the new PYR title by Kristine Kathryn Rusch -- which were pointed out, and which were instantly classified as "self-published" (the latter, I've had four people ask about in the last two weeks).

I know, again, that not everyone makes this assumption. But the fact that more and more people are asking me, specifically, about them implies that more people are thinking this way. And if people are thinking it and asking, I can pretty much count on the fact that people are also thinking about it and not asking.

I realize that there are many self-published writers, some of whom will no doubt read this. I understand that there is a prejudice against self-published books. The assumption that the books are somehow inferior or garbage, however right or wrong, exists in my customer base, and as a retail employee I accept the fact.

So... what I'd like, at this point, is that publishers choosing a trade/large format paperback for their releases choose a matte finish cover stock for everything, because the customers who are not even picking the glossy cover-stock books up are making the subconscious association between cover stock and publishing venue now and I'm not about to put small notes on every single book to the effect of "Yes, I know this is printed with glossy stock but No, it is not self-published."

It would help if some of the self-published authors were more open about the fact that they're self-published, but a number "create" small presses which have "published them" in order to avoid the perceived stigma, and because of those cases, it becomes harder for the consumer to differentiate between small press and self-pub. The easiest way of doing this for those consumers, at the moment, is cover-stock.


Thank you for your attention,

Bookseller in December

Comments

[jimhines.livejournal.com]

Fascinating. Thanks for sharing this observation. I have zero power over publishers (and I'm still in mass market anyway), but it's always interesting to hear this sort of thing from the bookseller perspective.

[msagara.livejournal.com]

I have zero power over publishers

Oh, I know -- it's why it's not an open letter to authors *wry g*

[damedini.livejournal.com]

Hunh. That would never even occur to me (the self-published thing), nor would I care. If a book is interesting to me, it's interesting, no matter who published it.

[msagara.livejournal.com]

If a book is interesting to me, it's interesting, no matter who published it.

Many, many people pay no attention to publishers at all, fwiw. And clearly, had it been an obvious problem, it would be something to discuss with sales reps, who are really good at passing that information up the chain.

But because it's happening more frequently -- and in at least one case from a customer who avoids even using the internet for email, let alone information -- it's cause for concern on a retail level.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

Goodness, that's interesting. I don't like that format and often don't buy books in it because they don't fit on my shelved very well, but I do see how the link to self-pub would arise. I have no idea if book buyers here think that way -- probably not, as, as you note, a lot of UK publishers do a glossy trade edition before a mass-market.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

Although, she added, I have noticed that some AMericans tend to assume that if they haven't heard of a brand (which tends to be the case with most British brands) they assume it's either bad or in some way minor. I've seen this run the whole gamut from universities (a student once explained to me very carefully how we shouldn't expect any US institution to take any UK university apart from three seriously 'because the others aren't any good, are they?' I was astonished (I tend to forget the US thing about 'State' vs Ivy League) another colleague laughed in her face) to chocolate bars ('Oh, it's a fake Hershey bar'). Mind you, we Britons have our own snobberies.

[msagara.livejournal.com]

I have no idea if book buyers here think that way -- probably not, as, as you note, a lot of UK publishers do a glossy trade edition before a mass-market.

I don't think this used to be an issue here, either; it's only fairly recently that I've been asked, but I'm being asked more often. When the books are ordered, they're often ordered from catalogues, and frankly, because we know that the books aren't self-published -- demonstrably -- it's not one of the things we think about on the ordering end. Or it hasn't been.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

Indeed. In fact, I can't recall having ever seen a self-published novel in a bookshop, apart from tiny local village ones sometimes. (With a 'local author' sticker.)

[touchstone.livejournal.com]

I have to admit - I've bought several PYR books, but there's something about the them that does give a dubious first impression. Maybe it IS the cover stock, though that hadn't registered specifically - just a vague feeling of 'is this a real publisher? is this book going to be schlock?' And that's despite having read and LIKED several books they published.

[amergina.livejournal.com]

I wonder if it's particular to SF/F readers? (As I recall, you work at a SF/F bookstore.)

I can't think that there are more self-pubbed SF/F books out there than any other type, but maybe there's greater exposure at cons and such. And yes, the trades do tend to have glossy covers.

Maybe it's a case of enough people in the SF/F fandom being burnt by bad self-pubbed titles* (which are often trade paperbacks) and enough of them having glossy covers that you're seeing the start of the inevitable reaction.

(*I know not all self-pubbed titles are bad. But a lot are.)

I think this also shows that readers do notice quality in fiction and do steer away from bad books. (There's the democracy of the marketplace right there.) Sadly, it sounds like a marker being used for "bad book" is now "trade paperback with glossy cover."

[fiction-theory.livejournal.com]

I'm one of those customers who would make that assumption about such a book based on cover stock. If I see something with a flat, glossy cover, I think eep, self published, run away!.

And you're right. It's due to the book looking like a PoD book, which I tend to have a large bias against, I admit.

[msagara.livejournal.com]

I've been enormously impressed with the quality of the fiction they've chosen, especially the SF. So it's doubly painful when people make this assumption.

And I'm assuming, as well, that the matte stock is probably more expensive (it certainly retains fingerprints more readily), which is its own difficulty. I just think, given everything else, that it's becoming a necessary investment =/.

[msagara.livejournal.com]

Thank you for this.

As I said, we know it's not self-pubbed, so it's not something at the forefront of our thoughts -- but I really do think it's a bit of an issue, and in particular, an issue for people who are perfectly willing to pay the money for the more expensive format (i.e. instead of choosing a mass market instead).

[touchstone.livejournal.com]

Agreed; I've had no issues with the books I've read. This is a presentation or marketing problem, not a content problem.

[burger-eater.livejournal.com]

Looks like some readers have experienced the "wave of the future," and they don't like getting all wet.

[takumashii.livejournal.com]

I've actually caught myself making this assumption for certain trade paperbacks, though I didn't realize it was a glossy vs. matte issue. (I think it's glossy plus bad cover art that pings my buttons.) Thanks for the post!

[maiac.livejournal.com]

It's never occurred to me that a book in a bookstore would be self-published. I've been taking for granted that self-published books are also self-distributed, and therefore the bookstores don't deal in them.

[mtlawson.livejournal.com]

Has there been a gradual increase in the number of comments, or did the Harlequin brouhaha have an impact?

[msagara.livejournal.com]

In my experience with my LJ and the comments it receives, I'd say that comments about some aspect of publishing/bookselling -- or my experiences with either -- are generally higher than those about other things.

Unless I ask a question, in which case people are generally kind enough to answer it :).

[merriehaskell.livejournal.com]

You know, yes. I have this same subconscious association. It occurs to me less in a bookstore and more at work. I work in interlibrary loan, and I'm in charge of receiving borrowed materials. We occasionally purchase items rather than borrow them from a library if there are few lenders available and the price is right. I always look three times at glossy trade paperbacks to make sure they aren't self-published when they're returned from patrons, to see if I really should send them on to cataloguing or not.

How did that become such a knee jerk association so quickly? I so rarely actually encounter POD books, but I instinctively know that's what one looks like.

(Just went over and thumbed around my copy of Jenna Starborn, which is trade paper with a glossy-ish cover, a trade paperback from Britain (Jaine Fenn's Principles of Angels), and a POD from Anthology Builder. The other qualities are paper weight, "flippiness" of the pages, and the crackability of the spine, but they are secondary to the glossy covers. I can tell Jaine's is not POD because it's slightly more flippy and less stiff in the spine than the POD, but not by much, and I would question it if I didn't know. Jenna Starborn I have no questions about, but maybe it's too old/not glossy enough.)

[mtlawson.livejournal.com]

Oh. Whoops.

What I meant was whether you noticed more people at the bookstore making self-publishing comments gradually going up, or whether people were more sensitized to make such comments after the Harlequin Horizons announcement.

::sigh:: I need to say what I mean more frequently.

[mouseferatu.livejournal.com]

May I copy this to the various author's mailing lists that I'm on, and the editors with whom I work? I think they'd find it fascinating.

[msagara.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure the two are related (Harlequin & the comments), although I can't say for sure. There are two customers who are very frequent, and if they have the time, I'll ask them why they asked.

[msagara.livejournal.com]

Please feel free to do so; it's an open letter :).

[mouseferatu.livejournal.com]

I figured you'd be cool with it, but better safe and all that. :-)