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rolanniI got a note today from a fan who wanted to know the answer to a very simple question: Was Fledgling going to be published in hardcover? It seems that they only buy Liaden books in hardcover, because of the frequency with which they're re-read.
This is very nice to hear, that people re-read our books not once but many times -- and it's not an unusual thing to hear from Liaden readers. But the note as received contains a fallacy that I feel ought to be addressed.
The assumption implicit in the inquiry above is that all books are published -- sometime -- in hardcover. This is Just Not So. When the first three Liaden books were published by Del Rey -- back when some of our readers were still in middle school -- they were paperback originals. I'm not ashamed of that; in fact, I'm glad of it. People are much more willing to take a chance on a new-to-them author when the price of that chance is under $10.
Meisha Merlin specifically did not want to produce its own mass markets. Mass markets are strippable, which is money down the tubes. As a smallish press, Meisha Merlin wanted returns of whole books that could be re-sold, even if some of them had to be discounted, as hurts. This is why the Liaden Universe® novels from Meisha Merlin were originally published as hardcover-to-preorder, and trade paper for wider distribution. In a word, it was an accident; local custom, not law.
Lately, there's another factor influencing whether or not a book is published as hardcover. Anybody guess?
Right -- the chain bookstores.
The economy, in case anybody has failed to notice, is in the tank, and the bookstores, which had been hurting before October, are scrambling like mad scrambling things to stay in business. This means that they're telling publishers that they're not going to be ordering Certain Things. Re-re-issues of mass market paperbacks, for instance. Hardcovers, for another. Trade papers, for something else.
In order to try to accommodate the bookstores, some publishers are downsizing certain of their offerings. A book scheduled to be published in hardcover, for instance, might be reformatted to trade, so that it has a greater chance of getting into the chains. Another book, at a different rung on the ladder, scheduled to appear as trade paper, is busted back to mass market, for the same reason.
So. That's why I don't know the answer to that so very simple question at the top of this ramble. It may well be that Fledgling will make the hardcover cut. Or, something out of our control and that of our publisher might happen.
And, this, boys and girls, is what makes publishing the Grand Adventure that it is.
This is very nice to hear, that people re-read our books not once but many times -- and it's not an unusual thing to hear from Liaden readers. But the note as received contains a fallacy that I feel ought to be addressed.
The assumption implicit in the inquiry above is that all books are published -- sometime -- in hardcover. This is Just Not So. When the first three Liaden books were published by Del Rey -- back when some of our readers were still in middle school -- they were paperback originals. I'm not ashamed of that; in fact, I'm glad of it. People are much more willing to take a chance on a new-to-them author when the price of that chance is under $10.
Meisha Merlin specifically did not want to produce its own mass markets. Mass markets are strippable, which is money down the tubes. As a smallish press, Meisha Merlin wanted returns of whole books that could be re-sold, even if some of them had to be discounted, as hurts. This is why the Liaden Universe® novels from Meisha Merlin were originally published as hardcover-to-preorder, and trade paper for wider distribution. In a word, it was an accident; local custom, not law.
Lately, there's another factor influencing whether or not a book is published as hardcover. Anybody guess?
Right -- the chain bookstores.
The economy, in case anybody has failed to notice, is in the tank, and the bookstores, which had been hurting before October, are scrambling like mad scrambling things to stay in business. This means that they're telling publishers that they're not going to be ordering Certain Things. Re-re-issues of mass market paperbacks, for instance. Hardcovers, for another. Trade papers, for something else.
In order to try to accommodate the bookstores, some publishers are downsizing certain of their offerings. A book scheduled to be published in hardcover, for instance, might be reformatted to trade, so that it has a greater chance of getting into the chains. Another book, at a different rung on the ladder, scheduled to appear as trade paper, is busted back to mass market, for the same reason.
So. That's why I don't know the answer to that so very simple question at the top of this ramble. It may well be that Fledgling will make the hardcover cut. Or, something out of our control and that of our publisher might happen.
And, this, boys and girls, is what makes publishing the Grand Adventure that it is.
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no subject
Date: 2009-01-25 08:08 pm (UTC)In my mind that's one of the real beauties of e-publishing, a book you can read literally an infinite number times (given infinite time :)) without smudging, tearing, or otherwise blemishing the the dead tree copy you own. It's also very portable every e-book I own(hundreds!) in the palm of my hand.
eBooks
Date: 2009-01-25 09:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-25 10:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-25 11:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-26 04:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-26 03:36 am (UTC):(
no subject
Date: 2009-01-26 11:18 am (UTC)Then if it comes out in tradepaper, you'll have to miss one.
no subject
Date: 2009-01-26 01:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-26 04:04 am (UTC)I notice that Duainfey made hardback; I assume Longeye will, and as Fledgling is a Liaden Universe novel, I would be sure that prospective readers would want it even more than the fantasies. How many future novels get hardbacks is probably a matter of the market, of course.
At leats they can pay to make hardcovers
Date: 2009-01-26 05:03 am (UTC)But presumably all these folks know they can pay a [library] bindery (like, say, Acme Bookbinding) to hard bind a paperback into a hardcover? I think it probably costs around $30, but they'll certainly do it for you, assuming the inside margin isn't miniscule. Voila! Instant hardcover. And probably 1-of-a-kind collectable, too.
John Hawkinson
Re: At leats they can pay to make hardcovers
Date: 2009-01-26 08:31 am (UTC)The problem with after-production bookbinders, as far as I am aware, is that they don't actually re-bind the pages, they just add a hard cover. This means that the pages are still as likely to fall out when the glue becomes old (which is the problem I generally have with paperbacks, the actual cover is fine but half the pages fall out), as compared to a proper hardcover book where they are (preferably) sewn in the middle of each folded sheet (or group of them).
My preference is harcover for long term, and mass market for portability. But hey, if something from a favourite author is only available in trade I won't refuse to buy it *g*...
Re: At leats they can pay to make hardcovers
Date: 2009-01-26 02:44 pm (UTC)Cathy C
Re: At leats they can pay to make hardcovers
Date: 2009-01-26 09:36 pm (UTC)Keristor, I don't know what bindery you may have had the misfortune to patronize, but both local binderies around here, Acme and Wells (http://www.wellsbindery.com/) (Waltham, MA) do real binding. (It's why I mentioned having enough interior margin). Specifically they both do oversewing. Acme has a bunch more options, too: sew through-the-fold, recase with original sewing and signatures retained, double-fan adhesive bind with spine notching. Your choices might be limited if there's not a lot of margin, though.
I've had the opportunity to take tours of both Wells and Acme, and both are impressive and fascinating. (Wells is a small family-run local bindery; Acme is a much bigger place, and they also do edition binding, as well as bunch of other stuff. They bound the world's biggest book (Bhutan, 5 foot by seven foot)...)
Separately, Kath: I think Sharon's point was that Amazon's data can't be considered reliable at this stage. Even if Baen was originally intending to publish Fledgling as a hardcover original, which appears to be uncertain, it's quite possible that they will change their mind by the time September rolls around, because of economic factors.
On the other hand, it's not as if the economics are such that mass market always sells better than trade always sells better than hardcover. Because of stripping and that many mass-market books are sold through non-bookstores, it may well be that a small hardcover run will be more profitable for the publisher and authors than a mass-market run would be (also, hardcovers and trade paperbacks are much higher margin items than mass-market paperbacks). And it's also true that even though they are cheaper, trade paperbacks are less likely to be ordered by store buyers than hardcovers are. They can be kind of niche. (err, at least that's how it used to be. Maybe it's not true anymore?)
I think a lot will depend on how Duainfey does when it releases in paperback in February, and also Longeye in April in hardcover. Even though it's not Liaden Universe, many chain buyers make purchasing decisions based on sales figures from authors' prior books.
John Hawkinson
no subject
Date: 2009-01-26 04:07 pm (UTC)~ Kath
Fledgling in hardcover?
Date: 2009-01-28 11:00 pm (UTC)# ISBN-10: 1439132879
# ISBN-13: 978-1439132876
Re: Fledgling in hardcover?
Date: 2009-01-28 11:06 pm (UTC)I note, without irony, that Amazon.com was offering to sell all comers a copy of Web of the Trident for many months after it was agreed by all parties that no such book was being published, and that it cheerfully took pre-orders for Liaden mass market paperbacks subsequently canceled by the publisher.
Amazon isn't infallible. *coughs*
Baen Order Form
Date: 2009-01-30 08:44 pm (UTC)I can say that when I was ordering frontlist books last week, Fledgling was in the Baen catalog as a hardcover. It kind of made me sad, since the standing order from The Boss is that we are not ordering hardcover SF as frontlist this year. We can still do special orders (which we do all the time), but it isn't quite the same as having a copy in the store.
Tanya
Sharon, define 'strippable', please
Date: 2009-02-16 05:47 am (UTC)scribble a cat for me, please, too?
Craig
Re: Sharon, define 'strippable', please
Date: 2009-02-18 11:11 am (UTC)This is why it's bad form to buy a book without its front cover -- neither the author nor the publisher get any -- as opposed to, for the author, anyway, a few cents -- money from a stripped book, and the bookstore has presumably received a credit.