For ebook, backlist is 80% & frontlist is 20% of sales

[Top100EbooksRank]

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/b...ong-tail-.html

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt trade president Gary Gentel said there is “no doubt” that the move to e-books is affecting the sale of backlist titles, and he provided some HMH math. At the publisher, the print book sales ratio of titles is 40% frontlist/60% backlist while for e-books it is 20/80. “What this says to me is that with the decline of physical space, which cuts into the display of mid and deep backlist, consumers are moving to e-books because of availability,” Gentel said. One reason e-book backlist is growing is that readers who finish an e-book and want to read more titles by that author can immediately download the title, publishers said.

Physical
40% front- 60% back
Ebook
20% front - 80% back

[HarryT]

Without knowing the actual numbers involved, it's difficult to see what this story is actually saying. Are customers buying MORE backlist e-books, or FEWER frontlist books?

[Kali Yuga]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Without knowing the actual numbers involved, it's difficult to see what this story is actually saying. Are customers buying MORE backlist e-books, or FEWER frontlist books?

If you read the article...

• The loss of Borders and other shelf space is cutting into backlist sales
• It's easier for people to find backlist online
• Publishers aren't efficient at getting backlist to the remaining small stores

I'd also assume that since it's a format shift, at least some people are purchasing older books they already have in paper form.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

If you read the article...

• The loss of Borders and other shelf space is cutting into backlist sales
• It's easier for people to find backlist online
• Publishers aren't efficient at getting backlist to the remaining small stores

I'd also assume that since it's a format shift, at least some people are purchasing older books they already have in paper form.

I have read the article, but it doesn't (as far as I can see) answer the question I asked. Are people buying more backlist books because of eBooks (good), or fewer newly-published books (bad)?

[elemenoP]

I'm surprised at this because I think backlist ebooks are priced too high! I guess publishers can price them as high as they want and people will still buy them. Not that I actually know Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's backlist pricing strategy, but most backlist books by the big six seem to be priced the same as frontlist titles, maybe a dollar cheaper. I'll take a used paperback instead, thanks!

eP

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I have read the article, but it doesn't (as far as I can see) answer the question I asked. Are people buying more backlist books because of eBooks (good), or fewer newly-published books (bad)?

I'd expect the answer to be: both.
The article carefully avoids addressing the ratio of ebook to pbook sales but we already know that total spending on books is growing slowly so if there is any *big* shift in buying patterns towards ebook growth--which most publishers are seeing--it will of necessity require some canibalization.

Given that the total shift from p- to e- has so far been modest, the quoted numbers suggest merely that when looking for backlist titles consumers are moving to ebooks and that for new releases, p-books are still dominant.

Which is not too surprising as the bulk of total book sales still go to the casual readers (2-3 titles per year) rather than avid readers (2-3 titles per month) and the casual readers are more likely to be drawn in by new releases. The backlist perforce relies more on avid readers than the frontlist and avid readers are more likely to own ereaders than casual readers; add it up and it is most likely the avid readers, now faced with a deeper, more accessible backlist are shifting their budget at least partly towards the ebook backlist and away from new print releases.

Instead of being *forced* to feed their habit solely from recent releases, they have a deeper menu to choose from and are less likely to settle for a recent mediocrity or celebrity when quality older titles are available.

(This feeds into what we've been hearing from the publishers, that the bar for what consitutes a "bestseller" has been dropping and that that is why they have been reducing advances for new releases.)

The article makes a big deal of the loss of shelf-space but my read is that the lost shelf-space was redundant to start with. (If it wasn't, Borders would've been a viable outlet instead of imploding overnight.)

I would, however, be careful to read too much into these numbers: HMH is the weakest of the bigger publishers so their frontlist weakness may not be reflected at the other publishers throwing 7-figure deals at 50 Shades wannabees.

http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat...re-deal_b55229

[djulian]

This transition in purchasing habits makes sense to me--I tend to use my Kindle to grab a lot of the books previously published by an author that I discover and enjoy. It's great having 12 books by the same author all in a folder on my device and not taking up a whole shelf in my office.

My guess is that the increased sales in the backlist are not reducing sales of the frontlist--overall readership seems to be increasing, though I have no articles to back that up, just my own experience and that of other ereader owners that I know. We're all reading more than we were before.

[crossi]

I've been rebuying all my old favorites that are reasonably priced. I've bought many more backlist books than new releases because first my old favorites I know I like and for new books only about one in ten turn out to be keepers so old favorite books get first priority. Second new releases are just priced too high. I'll wait for those. Once I've rebought all my old favorites then I might start looking around at the newer books.

[BeccaPrice]

I've heard this kind of thing given as one reason why publishers are reluctant to release back-list books as ebooks - because each new release is on competition not only with every other new release, but with all the books previously released. The number of readers seems to be static, so the more back-list books there are available, the more competition for any future release. (I've also heard this as a reason why the Big 6 hate indy books - because there's that much more competition, and most indy books are more reasonably priced.)

[crossi]

The publishers must be really ticked at authors who take back rights to their backlist and then turn around and undercut the prices of that publisher's new releases then. I wonder if there has been any retaliation against writers doing that? Explicitely or not letting authors know that if they do so they can't expect to publish any more of their books.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by crossi

The publishers must be really ticked at authors who take back rights to their backlist and then turn around and undercut the prices of that publisher's new releases then. I wonder if there has been any retaliation against writers doing that? Explicitely or not letting authors know that if they do so they can't expect to publish any more of their books.

Wouldn't be wise.
If the author is significant enough that the publishers care, the backlist will generate enough income the author won't care about getting blacklisted and simply self-pub the new titles. (C.f., Konrath.)
Moving forward there won't be much room for pettiness in publishing, just hardheaded business.

[jbcohen]

What is backlist? How old does a book need to be before it becomes backlist?

[crossi]

Backlist

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A backlist is a list of older books available from a publisher, as opposed to titles newly published (sometimes called the frontlist).

Building a strong backlist has traditionally been seen as the way to produce a profitable publishing house, as the most expensive aspects of the publishing process have already been paid for and the only remaining expenses are reproduction costs. A strong backlist is also a form of The Long Tail in modern business plans.

"The backlist is the financial backbone of the book industry, accounting for 25 to 30 percent of the average publisher's sales," wrote The New York Times. "Current titles, known as the front list, are often a gamble: they can become best sellers, but they are much more likely to disappear in a flood of returns from bookstores. By contrast, backlist books usually have predicable sales and revenues."[1]

[fjtorres]

For a specific author, the backlist is everything but the most recent release.

[speakingtohe]

I buy or borrow more backlist books than frontlist because I can.

I have hundreds of authors I have been reading and it was thrilling to discover that I could get books by them that I had never even heard of, much less seen in stores or library.

I do try and read at least one new author every week or so, but even then I now tend to start with the first book published or first book in a series when I can.

Most good series books can be read in random order without lessening the enjoyment. I read The Godwulf Manuscript (#1 Spenser by Robert B. Parker) after reading many, many Spenser novels and the thrill was akin to finding $100 bill I had stashed away and forgotten.

Even for non series books I would rather go by published order. No real reason except that if an author has published several books then the first ones should be worth reading.

Overall I don't even want to look at frontlist (with the exception of new recommended authors) until I have read the backlist, by which time, today's frontlist will be backlist.


Helen