The Corean Chronicles
F&SF Fiction as an "Arthouse" Relic?
Last week, I was talking to an editor, and he made the observation that, overall, paperback book sales of bestselling authors have been declining steadily but inexorably over the years... and the situation is even worse for other authors. Now... if this were a trend where those paperback sales were being replaced by e-books or the like, I'd chalk it up to changing technology. But it's not. As I understand it, in science fiction and fantasy, it wasn't uncommon to have first paperback printings of 50,000- 100,000 books for a publisher's top writers [excluding, of course, the very small handful of runaway best sellers like J.K. Rowling and Robert Jordan]. Today, it's more like 30,000 - 50,000.
One immediate response is along the lines of, "What do you expect when new paperbacks are eight dollars?" But I'm talking about what's happened in the last few years... AFTER paperbacks had reached the $6-8 range. Besides, the real costs of other items have increased in the same way as those of books.
At the time when an Ace double was 35 cents, I could get a hamburger, fries, and a Coke from MacDonald's for the same amount. Now the average paperback F&SF book is three times as long as that Ace double and costs $7.99. People are buying full meals from MacDonald's for about the same amount, but the difference is that the market for fast food has exploded, and the market for books has not.
Certainly, one factor is the "profit motive." All of the large F&SF publishers have been gobbled up by one of the media conglomerates, and conglomerates want to make money first, and publishing books is only a means by which this is possible. The same is also true of the booksellers. The results are anything but good for the fiction market.
No matter how many or how few books are printed and shipped, some are always returned. For example, one of the more popular best-selling F&SF authors has a "sell-through" of 70-80%. That is extremely high. The "normal" range for successful authors is more like 50-60%. One critically acclaimed author once actually achieved a dismal sell-through of 4%, i.e., 96% of the books printed and shipped were returned unsold. Now... enter the accountants of the bookstore chains. They look at the sales of even a best-selling author and note that they didn't sell all of the books of that author's last book... and they order fewer copies of the next book. Even if the sell-through ratio goes up considerably, say ten percent, and that is a considerable increase, the total number of books ordered and sold goes down... And for the author's next book, the chain's initial order will again decrease... and so on.
Then add to that the fact that reading among Americans under the age of thirty has dropped precipitously, for a number of factors, including the internet, computers, and media-created attention-deficit-disorder which makes reading boring, because it requires sustained concentration and thought. And all the technology and convenient e-book readers won't help with those who can't concentrate in the first place.
What does this mean for publishing?
I'd say that a certain trend is already emerging. The larger publishers are cutting loose more and more authors who were once "mid-list" because their sales numbers are falling and because the break-even point for larger publishers is a higher number of copies than in the past. Authors who have a small but loyal following are turning to the smaller presses, who are now providing higher quality products, and who can produce fewer copies "economically." Add to that print on demand.
But... the basic problem is that the number of outlets for books is continuing to diminish, and except in the mega-stores or the minimal numbers of F&SF specialty stores, the range of choice is almost non-existent. While the mall bookstores are being replaced in some places by anchor chain bookstores such as Borders and Barnes & Noble, thousands of malls have no book outlets at all. While every Wal-Mart has a book department, it's a rare Wal-Mart that stocks more than 20 F&SF titles -- and that's one percent of the number of F&SF titles published in a year, and those 20 don't include anything from the small presses.
So the small press editions are mostly relegated to online sales, local sales, specialty F&SF stores [of which there are only a few handfuls left], and convention sales. These outlets aren't enough to expose new readers to the true range of speculative fiction, and without such exposure, the number of new readers will remain low, and, unless matters change, as the older readers die off, the reading base will diminish.
Does this mean that in another generation, the only devoted F&SF readers will be gray-haired and restricted to a few specialty stores and one carrel in the chains?
I hope not... but it's not looking all that promising [unless you all go out and buy more paperbacks!].
I'd rather buy a regular paperback at $8 then a SP at $20 CND. When SP titles are almost the same cost as hard covers it doesn't make sense to buy.
Jim Shannon
Problem is that where I live there is no book shop and I'm rarely in a place where I have time to visit a book shop. This means that I'm not in a position to lift a book off the shelf and read some of it to see if I like the writing style, etc.
When it comes to online book sites from authors that have written several books I find that they usually don't help you figure out which ones to read in what order. There was one author that had written about 17 books in a series. I tried to find out in what order they should be read but never did find out and thus I didn't buy any of them.
I guess I'm just too busy to do something to help me find new authors. Like I thought I'd subscribe to a SF & Fantasy magazine but when trying to order it through amazon.com the order was refused as I lived in Canada.
The other problem is that I don't have time to read blogs and such. I'd be happy to subscribe to an email newsletter that told me about authors and what they were writing with perhaps some samples from the book.
I was sent a couple of SF books by Jack Bode and really enjoyed them and have since purchased all of his books. I did a web page for him on my site but when searching for him on the web I pretty much only found him on my own site.
How would someone find him as I can't see anywhere he is listed or even talked about?
I think we need to examine a different method of communication. Like I have to remember to come to your site to see what you are writing and I might arrive here a couple of times a year. I'd likely subscribe to a newsletter if you did one.
If I go to Tor books I'm going to have to spend a lot of time going through the authors and then reading some of the background, then read a bit of the book. I really don't have time for that although I wish I did. I note they do a newsletter and I have just signed up for it. I hope they do a weekly newsletter as that way they could highlight an author each week and let us know what books they have written and also give us a bit from the book. That way I'd gradually learn about new authors to me, they may be old authors to others :-)
I think the other problem is the online second hand book shops. Abebooks.com for example sell a load of SF books and you can usually pick them up for $1.00 a time and if you buy several the cost of shipping is quite low especially if you purchase them from 1 outlet.
I suspect this is ignored when you look at book sales. However, this is one method I find to try a new author and if I like the author I'll purchase their books. Now I know that me purchasing a second hand book does nothing for your profits but if I like the author I will purchase any new books that are printed and these you will make a profit from.
Some months ago the BBC did a survey and found that the majority of people just visited some 6 web sites in a month. They might indeed visit others if they are doing research but only up to 6 on anything like a regular basis. That makes it a challenge for any web site to get a volume of regular visitors.
These days it's easy for web sites to add RSS feeds to their sites. This could be another way for book companies to promote their books but they need to be proactive and seek out sites that could inbed their feeds for them. They should then email them giving details of their feed and asking if they'd like to take them.
Recently Scottish Television asked me if I could carry their RSS news feeds on my site. They provide a small picture for each news item and explained how I could add this to my site. I have since added their 4 feeds to the site.
All of that said I believe the very best way to increase sales is to put together a really high quality weekly newsletter which would feature an author in each issue. Remember that when you buy a book from a new author it's often the book cover or title that catches the eye. You then pick it up to read the book summary or flyleaf. Should that be of interest then the next step is to read how the book starts then a bit from another part of the book. At that stage if I like the writing I'll purchase the book. This means that for us that have to deal online we need at least this amount of information to decide if we wish to purchase the book. A link to a place where the book can be purchased would make it easy to purchase. I also feel that where it is an established author the newsletter needs to suggest in what order past books should be purchased.
Like in your case "Fall of Angels" would seem to be the first book to read even though it's your sixth book. For those that haven't read your books you need to give some guidance. Also...what about a book on "The Ancients"? :-)
I might add that I only read books in my armchair or in my bed. I have yet to read a full book online and I've been full time in the online industry for over 25 years... and that does mean I was online before the Internet :-)
I'd further add that I've eaten more cheese since I started reading your books and I do have every one of them.
Alastair McIntyre
ElectricScotland.com
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