The other day I was going over sales figures with my editor, and we got to talking about where the publishing market is going. I knew that paperback sales had taken a huge hit, but just how huge I didn’t realize, although I was certainly aware that my own paperback sales had taken hits. According to my editor, on average, once you get below the huge best-sellers, like A Game of Thrones, Twilight, The Hunger Games, etc., on average paperback sales are now running at 20-30% of what they did fifteen years ago, if not lower in some cases. Authors who could count on selling 100,000 copies or more in paperback are now selling 20,000 -30,000, and the same is true of newer authors whose hardcover sales are at the low New York Times bestseller levels. In more and more cases, publishers aren’t even issuing some books in paperback, but only in hardcover or trade paperback and then ebook format. It’s not just a matter of price, either, no matter what readers claim, since, in real dollar terms paperbacks are either lower or only slightly higher in price [depending on which measure of inflation is used] than they were fifteen years ago.
What’s happened?
The immediate suspicion is that the “lost” paperback sales have been replaced by ebook sales, but the sales numbers don’t support that in the case of paperback books, although there’s a fairly good correlation in the sale of hardcovers, that is, for a number of authors, hardcover and initial ebook sales [at the higher price] are fairly close to former hardcover sales alone, although this results in lower author royalties.
There are a lot of other explanations for the paperback book sales decline out there. Many cite piracy and ebooks as the reason, and just as many claim that “pirated” editions actually increase sales, although I’m skeptical of the latter argument on this. Here’s why. Over the past year or so, I’ve received more than a few emails and comments along the lines of “I first read one of your books as a pirated download.” All of those who contacted me with that line went on to say that they now purchase my works, for which I’m grateful.
BUT… this raises several another questions. Just how many readers out there are there who read one of those pirated editions and said, “Forget it! This just isn’t for me.”? And how many others read a few pages and turned away? And how many people in that reading and interest bracket would have bought and tried a paperback twenty years ago?
These questions are very relevant, especially in the case of the decline of paperback sales. Before the advent of ebooks and the subsequent widespread piracy – and it’s everywhere – a reader had to get a hold of a physical book, and that physical book had to be paid for, and that counted in sales. Even if the reader didn’t like it, and threw it in the trash or gave it to a friend, a copy of the book was sold, and someone had to make an effort to do something with the book. In addition, after having invested in buying the book, a great percentage of readers would struggle through the book. In my case, this is particularly relevant, because many of my books are so complex that they develop slowly. All you have to do is look at all the reviews to see that. In the “old” days, I suspect I hooked more readers because they didn’t want to “waste” their money. Today, when readers scan a pirated ebook, they’ve invested nothing, and there’s no cost to them, and many, I believe, just turn away from something that doesn’t provide immediate gratification.
Add to this something I’ve also heard and read a lot about in the last year, and that is an attitude of entitlement – that readers “deserve” to know whether they’ll like a book before they pay for it. What? If you go to a movie, or rent one, or purchase a DVD, you don’t get to see it and make a decision to pay for it after the fact. Even if you see in on cable or satellite, you’re essentially paying for it. You can read up on restaurants, but you don’t get to eat the meal and then refuse to pay for it because you didn’t like it, at least not for long, and not without a great deal of unpleasantness.
Then… there’s simply the vast number of websites offering free downloads of books. There are literally scores offering my books. Would they all be doing this if there weren’t a demand? I don’t think so.
I’ve been fortunate, in that, while I’ve taken some considerable hits in the pocketbook from this so-called market shift, I still sell enough that my publisher continues to publish my books in hardcover, mass market paperback, and ebook format. There are all too many good writers who have not been that fortunate and who are not good web-and-internet promoters… and their books no longer see print… or much in the way of new readers even when e-published. In essence, they’ve been pushed out by cheap and usually inferior works by writers who aren’t as good in writing but who are far more effective at promotion… by a class of works that might be called “internet penny dreadfuls” [mixing anachronism and technology, so to speak]. That’s not to say that there are not some good authors who are e-publishing their own works, but they’re a very small minority among the flood of self-published ebooks.
Publishers can’t compete with this new class of “penny dreadfuls” – and they won’t. To stay in business, they’ll have to chase the popular best-seller market, as is already happening with the proliferation of books about vampires, werewolves, zombies, or those which glorify violence of all kinds [yes, I do mean The Game of Thrones] while retaining those authors who have a dedicated following and discarding those whose sales drop off, while Amazon pushes for cheaper and cheaper ebooks [with the unwitting help of the U.S. Department of Justice]. The old model of publishers developing authors has almost vanished, and current trends will likely finish it off.
Technology changes things, including popular attitudes, and most of them won’t change back, and that means that the publishing field is changing and will continue to do so. But…please don’t make the argument that pirated ebooks are good for authors, books, good writing, or literature. They’re only good for the ultra-popular writers and the great self-promoters… and that narrows the range of available books in a very practical sense.