Dave Taylor and editor friends analyze the question “On average what percentage of books published end up being written off or destroyed as unsold or returned inventory?”
For many trade books, it’s as high as 50-55%. For most midlist trade imprints, 35% is more standard. For even more specific imprints (like tech books) they’re able to get those numbers down even further (maybe in the 20-25% range.) But due to the costs of holding inventory, most groups are managing reprint and inventory run rates very closely. At Penguin, we would typically look at weekly run rates and gauge reprints based on a 3-6 month supply depending on how old the title was and how quickly it was running…
E-books not only reduce overhead costs of warehousing books, they provide an option for publishers who have opted not to keep the book in print. Instead of books going out of print, they may simply go digital. Much as the DVD market is booming while movieg-oing is declining, e-books may represent the prospect of revenue over the long term, while physical books (p-books) may simply be that initial burst of sales motivated by PR blitzes and addicted fans.
(For old fogeys who still like the challenge of buying used books, check out my ruminations on How to Buy Used Books Online ).
Nice commentary. The biggest problem I see with ebooks is that they aren’t on a shelf in the bookstore. While less than fifty-percent of the typical book is now bought in a bookstore (I think that’s right, at least, not 100% sure) it’s still a meaningful percentage, so having a book only in digital form is still somewhat of a liability unless you can really build up word-of-mount.
Dave, it depends on what the author’s goal is. If the p-book ends up being written of as unsellable, giving the few members of your target audience a chance to at least acquire the work in electronic form seems better to me than to give none of them a chance to acquire the work at all.
Of course, if the authors retained the copyrights, they could try and find another publisher. Why just have one option?
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