Publishers Fret as Multiple Blockbusters Loom
Dateline: Publishers Row. Publishing executives in New York are concerned that their fall releases will overwhelm the stalwart handful of readers lurking in these United States. Due to the nature of licensing agreements they are not worried about readers beyond these shores even though they add up to about one billion people. One third of the readers of this blog reside outside the US; this is an international operation.
Simon & Schuster reached out to bloggers to garner reviews for Imperium: A Novel of Ancient Rome. They did not to reach out to this reporter despite the fact this blog contains three Roman legions, albeit sporadically, that is, whenever they attack Wellington Leg. What in the name of viral marketing does that imply?
Daniel Menaker, President of Random House, compared the Web to a teenager’s bedroom. Abandon all hope ye who enter here. He goes on to say that the Web cannot be ignored which I think means that a teenager’s bedroom can be. Random House is sending Charles Frazier on the road by means of the automobile, a relatively new technology still prone to mechanical breakdown.
Jerome Kramer of Kirkus Reviews says “publishing is caught up in the blockbuster mentality,” not a new observation, but apt perhaps in this backend loaded flood of holiday time releases. Many believe the publishing industry is looking to Hollywood to explain the business model of crisis management. Hollywood produces bad products with quick turnaround times. My thought on the subject is this: have confidence in what you publish and develop a modern distribution system. Bookstores offer a Depression era model of terms of trade, By that I mean thier policy of retuning unsold books. So the anxiety in New York really isn’t about the books, but the way they are bought and sold.
I think this awkward relationship has been left by the side of the road, not by design, but through the brutal efficiency of technology. The angst approaches the existential when book people contemplate the obvious question, who is the consumer? How will the need to connect with readers play against the fearsome power of a handful of buyers? If you’re placing too much product into too small a funnel, do you fix the product, produce fewer books, or get a new funnel? That’s the business problem facing Publishers Row.