For a look into how publishers make book buy, publish, market decisions, I might suggest the NY Times, Sunday, May 13 article by Shira Boss on the publishing industry. Some points:
Discussing how some books are buoyed by favorable press and word of mouth while others with similar attention go nowhere, the article asks what makes for good/bad sales. Answer: "No one really knows." And, quoting William Strachan, editor and chief at Carroll & Graf Publishers: "It's an accidental profession, most of the time ... Nobody has the key."
The article goes on to say publishers do not follow other industries in doing sufficient or in-depth market research and views consumer taste "as a mystery ... akin to the uncontrollable highs and lows of falling in love or gambling." Compensation in the industry is not tied to sales performance. Analysts looking at the industry tend to be stunned by its unpredictability, small profit margins, and "almost total lack of market research," says Eric Simonoff, literary agent at Janklow & Nesbit.
An exception in the industry is consumer research gathered by Romance Writers of America, an association that publishes a regular market study of romance readers. It reports on demographics, what respondents are reading, where they get books and how often, and what kinds of covers work.
Possible implications: if you are writing romance and wanting to hit the market, maybe you have a chance to find data on what your potential readers want. But for the rest of the market, one might as well write from the heart and not obsess too much about market potential since publishers themselves don’t know. Perhaps there is relief there too, as rejections may say little about either the literary quality or marketability of your work, coming from an industry and its middle-people (agents) who are themselves in the dark. The summary line of the article says much: "People think publishing is a business, but it's a casino."
Other thoughts?
Another
Discussing how some books are buoyed by favorable press and word of mouth while others with similar attention go nowhere, the article asks what makes for good/bad sales. Answer: "No one really knows." And, quoting William Strachan, editor and chief at Carroll & Graf Publishers: "It's an accidental profession, most of the time ... Nobody has the key."
The article goes on to say publishers do not follow other industries in doing sufficient or in-depth market research and views consumer taste "as a mystery ... akin to the uncontrollable highs and lows of falling in love or gambling." Compensation in the industry is not tied to sales performance. Analysts looking at the industry tend to be stunned by its unpredictability, small profit margins, and "almost total lack of market research," says Eric Simonoff, literary agent at Janklow & Nesbit.
An exception in the industry is consumer research gathered by Romance Writers of America, an association that publishes a regular market study of romance readers. It reports on demographics, what respondents are reading, where they get books and how often, and what kinds of covers work.
Possible implications: if you are writing romance and wanting to hit the market, maybe you have a chance to find data on what your potential readers want. But for the rest of the market, one might as well write from the heart and not obsess too much about market potential since publishers themselves don’t know. Perhaps there is relief there too, as rejections may say little about either the literary quality or marketability of your work, coming from an industry and its middle-people (agents) who are themselves in the dark. The summary line of the article says much: "People think publishing is a business, but it's a casino."
Other thoughts?
Another
