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It's what I call "The Hollywood Mindset".
Guess what will sell, have it created, and market the <bleep> out of it. Then sell the product to all the suckers. That's where you get the ghost written autobiography of a 25 year old comedienne, who's "hot" this year. Or, they latest kiss-and-tell, diet book, how to make a million, ect. Or Iron Man 4. Pump and dump.
Since the shelf life of such creations are about as long as a loaf of bread, the great fear is piracy. Any sale not make while the product is "hot", will never, ever, be made up. That's why DVD's release window got move up over the years, so that the could still use the new release marketing.
There's nothing wrong with this kind of marketing. The problem is, you are not selling to the heavy users. You are selling to the casual users. the people who buy one book a year. The heavy users mostly ignore you.
The "niche" markets cater the the heavy users. The niche buyers buy dozens of books a year, but they won't pay premium prices for them. That's where you get the Baen's, the Harlequins, ect. And they aren't necessarily tied to the "latest book" concept. the book often doesn't have to be new to the market, it's enough that they are new to the reader. And a well run niche just keeps rolling and rolling, until they get bought by a "Hollywood Mindset" publisher who tries to do the blockbuster method to a steady low-margin, albiet, profitable business. Which then wrecks the acqusition, leaving the "Hollywood Mindset" saying that there is no money in niche, and another niche publisher starts up and start rolling and rolling again. And repeat.
The rules for one market don't apply for the other market. Backlist fits the niche market, but not the "Hollywood Mindset" market. And this thread is about what's good for the"Hollywood Mindset" and not the heavy reader market. Hence the conflict.
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