Hi John,
One speaks (writes) in haste and repents at leisure.
Having been with a small publishing firm of specialty books for a
number of years, I am sensitised to the "why does it cost so much
question." I apologise for an inconsiderate reply to a sincere question.
Unfortunately for those of us who love books and buy a lot of them,
things one would take to be economies are not necessarily so for the
small publisher. More on the big guys, who are different, follows later.
There really aren't any significant savings with modern processes. The
state of the art is not very different from 40 years ago. Careful
editing is not done on the screen--it's still done by having the
manuscript read by an editor, author revisions made, fact-checking done
by someone else, then having the manuscript typeset.
Galleys are then read by the editor and anyone one else he/she can get
to read them. They then go back to the author for corrections. The thing
to remember is that few books are written by real pros. Most books are
written by someone who has a story to tell, but who is expert in his
field of study, not necessarily a writer.
We have recently had postings about a book (name forgotten) that was
said to be an encyclopedia of the automobile. A number of listers noted
errors of fact in the text. Sounds to me as though the editing was
hurried, and the fact-checking was incomplete. This is all labor cost.
It was always my experience that when the paper industry was in a slump
the prices of book paper went up because the paper companies needed the
cash. Then, when they returned to their usual incredible wait-time for a
stock item, the prices went up again because of supply and demand. One
would have to ask Mr. SD Warren, or Mr Scott, or Mr. International Paper
how that could be so. I know that I read about prices of newsprint
falling and felt that the liquid used in its processing was crocodile
tears, at the very same time the prices of book papers just kept
increasing. A small book publisher reads about the competition, but he
does not experience its benefits.
You're quite right, there is no economy of scale for the publisher who
does a run of 3000 -10,000 copies. It's just not there.
A couple of major costs for the publisher are the book clubs and the
book stores. The cost of the author, unless he is a big name, is known.
Generally, an author earns 10% of the price the publisher sells the book
for. Stephen King gets a better deal. On the other hand, the publisher
can pretty well estimate the number of copies King is likely to sell.
The first, second, third-time author is not a sure bet for the publisher.
Publisher has to front the money for all costs, internal, and all
production costs, external, before a book leaves the warehouse.
If he is dealing with a book club, such as BOMC, he sells the book at
pennies over production cost. Book Club may demand the right to inspect
the invoices from suppliers. A sale to a Club is, fortunately, a one-way
sale. The books are not returnable to the publisher for refund or credit
if they don't sell. However, if the Book CLub doesn't move them, the
club will remainder their unsold copies at 10-25 cents, and kill the
publisher's slow-but-steady market. That is known as the Back List, the
titles that just keep on selling regularly. (what one dreams of....)
The benefit to getting in bed with a book club is that they take a
significant portion of the press run, and that does get the economy of
scale of, say, a 5000 run vs a 3000 run. Not large numbers. It's a
stressful decision, let me assure you.
The regular bookstore is your outlet for "trade" sales. Bookstores
expect a 40% discount from cover price, and full rights to return unsold
copies for credit or refund. To get to them, the publisher does his
advertising and has commissioned book reps out in the field calling on
the bookstores. Hardly efficient, but books by unknown authors are sold
be feel, touch and gut-reaction of the bookstore buyer. The bookstore
can't make an impulse sale without a book on the shelf--an unsold book
may return to the publisher for any reason. Oh, by the way, if the dust
jacket is torn in the bookstore, it is expected that the publisher will
send a new one. More frequent than a request for a new jacket, though, is
an unauthorised return of a book with a request for its replacement with
one that has a new jacket. Postage paid by publisher. So, for a trade
publisher, almost every title is a gamble. The $15 cover price book may
cost $3 in direct manufacturing costs, plus editorial, plus consultant,
plus overhead, and it goes out the door at 40% of the $15. Not a great
margin for a speculative venture.
The textbook business is something else, agreed. When did you ever in
your entire education get to the end, the "current information" part of a
text? How often is an assigned text "revised" and repriced? I worked my
way through college. More recently, I paid for books for two daughters
who went to school in New England. Neither ever bought a used book--this
year's edition was "the" edition for the course. Their "rapidly evolving"
undergraduate programs? Marketing and Elementary Education. I agree
with you that a book that will be "obsolete" in twelve months hardly
requires a last-forever stitch and bind job. Knowing the trade book
business, it's hard for me to understand the greed (what a harsh word) in
the text market.
You noted the expensive coffee table books. Beats me how they can be
produced as they are and sold, except that they are on the remainder
table the day after publication. They all seem to have a lot of pictures
and little text, and that is scarcely edited, and they are published in
Singapore. We never found that we could get the quality we wanted at any
savings by going out of the USA, and the hassles of different time zones
and ocean shipping are huge. I don't know how they do it, unless,
perhaps, they have an international market that is broader than ours.
The publishing biz is consolidating at a rapid rate. The small
publishing house has never been a good example in an MBA's studies. As
they consolidate, they do get economies of overhead, and some economies
of paper purchasing. Alas, they tend to be less adventuresome with
respect to publication of an unknown. Look in the Atlantic Monthly, or
the NY Times Book Review to note the decline in the number of publishing
houses in the last decade. I think that's sad. However, the large
publisher can better afford the risk of producing 20,000 copies. He may
well have his own ad agency in house and his own staff of sales reps. He
may have the ability to get TV, movie, video, etc etc rights ad infinitum
and in all parts of the known universe. The small publisher who puts
together books on MGs, or boats, or light airplanes is not likely to see
a movie follow the book. (Lassie...OK)
How does a reader value a book? We have all paid $50 for the MGB
workshop manual in one edition or another. I doubt that any royalties
are paid for this. Once it was printed, it became a back list book, a
steady source of revenue for Bentley, one hopes. IT seems like a lot of
$$ for a book. On the other hand, how much useful information does one
get from it? Immeasurable, I would say. Could this be distributed on
CD? Certainly, and the cost of production and distribution would be much
less. One can argue about the utility of a computer in the workshop, but
the information could be presented just that well. A $20 hardcover
novel may tell a good story that could be skimmed in 2.5 hours. Suppose,
though, that it is savored, and passages are re-read because they are
meaningful and sound so good as they pass the mind's ear. If the book is
then a five hour read, it cost $4.00 per hour, at a time when a movie,
around here is $7.50 for a one-time experience. To me, the book wins
that comparison. I once tried taking a laptop out to the back porch to
read. What a miserable experience that was.
But I confess-- I love books. I'm surrounded by them. They are on every
horizontal surface in this house. Probably the best way in which to be
transported from this vale of tears would be to be reading in a chair
next to the bookshelf and to have it fall over and crush oneself
instantly. Perhaps it could be an MG book that was being read at the
time.
So, thanks for asking a question that is increasingly important in an
electronic age.
Bob
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