In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Chapter 8 Blockbusters The book industry always needs a menace. -0. H. Cheney (1931) Since 1950 there have been major changes in the structure, ownership, and financing of the book industry in the United States. The situation should be familiar by now to anyone who is interested in current literature ; indeed, it is hardly possible not to have heard about these conflicts in publishing, even if one reads only the newspapers. Briefly the situation is this: over the last twenty years, o~vnership of nearly all major American trade houses has fallen into the hands of conglon~erates. This shift has altered the stnicture of authority and accountability within the publishing industrv. Many houses are now pebbles in huge conglomerates, and one frequently hears it said that the profit margin is all that matters. Authors of serious books are said to be worried, as are publishers who wish to see themselves as intellectuals or cultural arbiters. What effect will a predominantly business mentality have on publishing? Will unprofitable or marginal types of publishing-experimental fiction, biography, history , and belles lettres-die out entirely?' Other factors complicate the picture. Since World War 11,the relationship bcnvcen paperback and hardcover publishing has changed. Paperback houses now control much of the market and influence virtually all decisions about the publication, promotion, and distribution of books. The neighborhood bookstore has almost vanished because of the emergence of chain outlets like B. Dalton and Waldenbooks. These outlets, usually located in shopping centers or other high-traffic areas, deal in volume . Thev emphasize quick-turnover best-sellers, frequently offered at discount prices, and are set up to encourage impulse buying. Their cash registers are wired into central computers, their inventories are carefiilly I. Recent studies of the book industy include Thomas Whiteside, The Blockbuster Cornplex : Con~lorne~ates, Show Business, and Boob Publishin8 (Middlctown, Conn.: Weslcyan University Press, 1981);Leonard Shatzkin, In Cold TVe (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1982);and Lewis A. Coser, Charles Kadushin. ancl Walter W. Ponrell, Books: The Cztltz~re and Curnme~ce (?fPt~blishi7ilg ( N e ~ v khrk: Basic Rooks, 1985). Blockbusters / 145 controlled, and they stock only what ulill sell. There is no room for slow titles from a publisher's backlist. Agents wield more power on thc literary marketplace today than they did formerly largely because the possibilities for recycling a modern bestseller have become so numerous: magazine serialization or excerpting, hardback publication, book clubs, paperback sales, abridged or digest publication, movie rights, television rights, translation rights, drama rights, and other ancillary rights. Ideally the entire campaign for a bestseller should be orchestrated by an agent and a publisher in such a v+ laJ7 as to attain maximum exposure and sales. The author is important in these promotional efforts: he or she must be willing to go on tour, appear on television talk shows, attend autograph parties, and be available and agreeable to the media. If the campaign works, the author is handsomely rewarded-but, of course, it does not always work. Publishing is a high-risk business that involves a strong element of gambling. All publishers gamble, but they must be able to back their wagers with predictable lines of textbooks, juvenile titles, cookbooks, encyclopedias , or religious titles. Cash flow has always been a problem, particularly in a slow season, and venture capital has in the past been fairly scarce. Publishers interested primarily in malung money can cut some of the risks by concentrating on those books that are sure to sell. They can publish volumes conceived to meet a particular need and appeal to a predictable market-reference tools and technical manuals, for exanlple. Though the profits in this lund of publishing are not great, the hazards are relatively small. The cxciternent and quick profits are in high-risk areas, however-popular fiction, investigative reporting, public personalities , and current events. And the eco~lomics are such that a publisher's investment on a potential blockbuster is very small compared to what can be earned if the book is a success.The key is to select the best-seller ahead of time, but no one has been able to do that with regularity. The consequent strategy employed by some publishers is to overproduce : to publish more titles than one's firm can hope to market successfi~lly,then choose the three or four that attract the best initial response and throw the entire weight of one's promotional efforts behind them. If a book does not respond, the publisher should...

Share