Recently, I’ve been reading a lot concerning publication of Literary Fiction as trade paperbacks rather than hardcover. This is especially true regarding new authors, but is also becoming more prevalent with an established writer who might have seen a reduction is sales on his or her last book. And while in previous posts I’ve dodged the question by going straight to the Kindle as a solution, I think the idea of initial release as a trade paperback deserves a bit more time and thought.
So, let’s begin by stating what I would think has to be an undeniable fact: one would tend to try out a new author for $13.00 more quickly than they would for $25.00. I remember when I discovered John Irving. The World According to Garp had just been released but rather than read it, I chose instead to buy his first three novels in paperback. I read them in order—Setting Free the Bears, The Water-Method Man, and then The 158 Pound Marriage, and to this day I’m glad I did. Irving is better understood if you read him from the beginning and watch his talent develop. Which is not to say that Irving’s first three books were originally published as trade paperbacks—they weren’t. And not that he’s necessarily hurting because readers didn’t discover him as quickly as they would have had he been in paper first—he isn’t. Still, though, I believe he would have developed a loyal following before Garp.
The same was true for me with Richard Ford. I read A Piece of My Heart and The Ultimate Good Luck as paperbacks before I read The Sportswriter. Again, his growth as a writer was apparent and I’m glad I read him in that order.
But what am I saying here? Both Irving and Ford were published in hardcover first—it just so happened that I discovered them in paperback. Why should those examples be used to promote paperback initial releases as a good idea? The answer is that we live in different times, times created by large corporations deciding that writers are entitled to blockbuster status. With the sales Irving and Ford had on their first books, in today’s economy, I seriously doubt there would have been more.
Back in the late 1970’s and early 80’s I was running my own company in Los Angeles and happened to be closely tied to the motion picture business. I used to sit in on negotiations where production companies hatched schemes to pay actors and actresses to star in movies. The scheming was done to avoid breaking the million dollar barrier—in other words, at that time no one had ever been paid a million bucks to star in a film—at least not so anyone would know it. I well remember the day the barrier was broken—I remember the film, and I remember the actor who was paid. Hollywood is now broken; it hasn’t been the same since. Sadly, the publishing industry, with the seven figure advances paid today by the large corporations who control it, are busting this industry apart as well.
I don’t believe we’re at a point where we need to start saying that, “From the ashes, a bright and shining new publishing industry will be built,” but it’s getting closer. It’s simple, really. All they have to do is stop paying the seven figure advances, publish new writers in trade paperback, and then, and this is important, let the writer have a larger share of any profits. See, I really don’t believe that writers write because of the possibility of mega-bucks. Not that anyone would turn it down, but writers write in many cases because they have to. Writers write, readers read—it’s a nice relationship, the purpose of which is to get books into readers hands at a reasonable price while insuring the writer an adequate, if not enormous income. I even see a time when the large corporations tire of the game and abandon the industry to those who built it in the first place—book lovers! Now, wouldn’t that be nice?
