I read this interesting article a week ago from a blog I follow, Editorial Ass. It talks about how big publishers will inflate their print runs on a book in order to sell more books in bookstores and to increase their chances with the best-seller lists. Even after having this explained to me many years ago by my boss and publisher in Boston, I still can't make much sense about it. Seems like a waste and a passing of the buck to me. But then I work for a publisher that is very conservative on print runs and that plans to sell through to customers in every print run, rarely going to clearance tactics to get rid of inventory. I guess the word I would use to describe this large-publisher print run theory is bloated.
I have heard that some celebrity authors will by hundreds of thousands of copies of their own books if they are not selling well to make their sales figures more impressive and/or get themselves on the best seller lists.
ReplyDeleteWhat is really real anymore?
Oops, I meant "buy". Typing too fast!
ReplyDeleteBloated like a diseased fish, or bloated like a pregnant woman who ate six chili cheese dogs?
ReplyDeleteEvery time we get our clearance inventory, little to any of it is from Covenant.
ReplyDeleteI don't like this side of the business. Blah!
ReplyDelete