Backlists, Again

6charlong · 01-13-2009, 01:00 AM

In December 2008, Sony offered the free download of a book by L. J. Smith, an author I didn’t know. The book sounded interesting so I tried it, and was pleased to find it was very well written. Apparently this author garnered many fans in the 1990s but her books have been out-of-print until now. One poor woman wrote a fan review of the re-release of Smith’s work saying how it took her five years of searching used book stores to put together a collection of Smith’s work, and expressed her happiness that they were finally being reprinted because her collection had grown “dog-eared” from use.

In all our discussions about how expensive it is for publishers to distribute ebooks there is little mention of the role back-lists like these can play. One of the principle reasons I buy ebook editions is that I’ve run out of shelf space for pbooks. Obviously brick-and-mortar bookstores have the same problem.

What I can’t understand is why publishing houses wouldn’t want to sell their backlists. The cost to store the digital edition of a book is trivial and the “shelf space” for ebook editions would take centuries to fill. So even if they only sell one copy of books like L. J. Smith’s each month until the copyright expires, the sale earns more than the cost of storage and produces revenue from the back-list. The movie industry makes a fortune selling old titles, so why won’t book publishers do it?

igorsk · 01-13-2009, 07:25 AM

It probably is cheap to "store" an ebook as opposed to pbook, but it needs to be produced in the first place. For most of backlist titles it means scaning/OCRing or retyping the entire text, then proofing, formatting and converting into various ebook formats. While each of these steps might be not that expensive, taken together they're quite a substantial investement.

Greg Anos · 01-13-2009, 08:27 AM

There's a lot of NIH (Not Invented Here) syndrome in the publishing business. Also, there are rights questions for older works. (Did the original contract contain e-book rights?) Are there ways to do scanning/proofing cheaply (to the publisher)? Yes, but they'd cede control of the process to a third party.

Relevent example, author "X" has fans. Would any of them be willing to do either a scan or a scan proofing for having their name on the e-book in perpertuity? ("This scan for book "Y" was done by fan "A" and "B" ".) Where to scout for this free labor? A wiki entry? Hmmm... (But the scan will be crappy.) (Have you seen some of the commercial scans?) (But it'll be pirated!) (Um, look around you, it'll already been done!) (But, but, I OWN it. You can't touch it!!!!) (<Shrug>, what part of selling something that cost you nothing don't you understand?)

All of it, apparently. Anytime I suggest this, all the people familiar with the publishing industry sneer at this idea.

DDHarriman · 01-13-2009, 10:13 AM

If I where you I would take care, as they will approach you with crosses, lots of garlic and pointed wooden stakes.

Having thoughts like that(!), you are proposing devilish ideas indeed my friend.

pilotbob · 01-13-2009, 01:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by igorsk

It probably is cheap to "store" an ebook as opposed to pbook, but it needs to be produced in the first place. For most of backlist titles it means scaning/OCRing or retyping the entire text, then proofing, formatting and converting into various ebook formats. While each of these steps might be not that expensive, taken together they're quite a substantial investement.

Maybe they should do some of that distributed work force stuff like Amazon (or is it google) does. Have people volunteer to convert books... providing either the original DOC files or whatever. The converter could be paid some price per book based on units sold.

BOb

pwalker8 · 01-13-2009, 09:27 PM

Apparently, the reason Katherine Kurtz's original Deryni trilogy is now available in ebooks (both Amazon and Sony) is one of her fans scanned it in for her. I might be wrong on this, but I believe that a lot of publishers and book printers require the book in electronic format now, so pretty much if you are going to print it, you will need to either provide it in electronic format or having it scanned in.

One of the explanations that I have heard is that many mid level authors view their back list as their 401K. Once they build up enough of a back list and they are reasonably popular, they get a steady income from back listed books being re-printed. They fear that e-books will cause that income to dry up.

01-13-2009, 01:00 AM	#1
6charlong friendly lurker Posts: 896 Karma: 2436026 Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: US Device: Kindle, nook, Apple and Kobo	Backlists, Again In December 2008, Sony offered the free download of a book by L. J. Smith, an author I didn’t know. The book sounded interesting so I tried it, and was pleased to find it was very well written. Apparently this author garnered many fans in the 1990s but her books have been out-of-print until now. One poor woman wrote a fan review of the re-release of Smith’s work saying how it took her five years of searching used book stores to put together a collection of Smith’s work, and expressed her happiness that they were finally being reprinted because her collection had grown “dog-eared” from use. In all our discussions about how expensive it is for publishers to distribute ebooks there is little mention of the role back-lists like these can play. One of the principle reasons I buy ebook editions is that I’ve run out of shelf space for pbooks. Obviously brick-and-mortar bookstores have the same problem. What I can’t understand is why publishing houses wouldn’t want to sell their backlists. The cost to store the digital edition of a book is trivial and the “shelf space” for ebook editions would take centuries to fill. So even if they only sell one copy of books like L. J. Smith’s each month until the copyright expires, the sale earns more than the cost of storage and produces revenue from the back-list. The movie industry makes a fortune selling old titles, so why won’t book publishers do it?

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01-13-2009, 07:25 AM	#2
igorsk Wizard Posts: 3,442 Karma: 300001 Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Belgium Device: PRS-500/505/700, Kindle, Cybook Gen3, Words Gear	It probably is cheap to "store" an ebook as opposed to pbook, but it needs to be produced in the first place. For most of backlist titles it means scaning/OCRing or retyping the entire text, then proofing, formatting and converting into various ebook formats. While each of these steps might be not that expensive, taken together they're quite a substantial investement.

01-13-2009, 08:27 AM	#3
Greg Anos Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,248 Karma: 35000000 Join Date: Jan 2008 Device: Pocketbook	There's a lot of NIH (Not Invented Here) syndrome in the publishing business. Also, there are rights questions for older works. (Did the original contract contain e-book rights?) Are there ways to do scanning/proofing cheaply (to the publisher)? Yes, but they'd cede control of the process to a third party. Relevent example, author "X" has fans. Would any of them be willing to do either a scan or a scan proofing for having their name on the e-book in perpertuity? ("This scan for book "Y" was done by fan "A" and "B" ".) Where to scout for this free labor? A wiki entry? Hmmm... (But the scan will be crappy.) (Have you seen some of the commercial scans?) (But it'll be pirated!) (Um, look around you, it'll already been done!) (But, but, I OWN it. You can't touch it!!!!) (<Shrug>, what part of selling something that cost you nothing don't you understand?) All of it, apparently. Anytime I suggest this, all the people familiar with the publishing industry sneer at this idea.

01-13-2009, 10:13 AM	#4
DDHarriman Guru Posts: 860 Karma: 4380 Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Almada, Portugal Device: Cybook Gen3, Sony PRS 505, Kindle DXG and Samsung Galaxy Note	If I where you I would take care, as they will approach you with crosses, lots of garlic and pointed wooden stakes. Having thoughts like that(!), you are proposing devilish ideas indeed my friend.

01-13-2009, 09:27 PM	#6
pwalker8 Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,195 Karma: 70314280 Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Atlanta, GA Device: iPad Pro, iPad mini, Kobo Aura, Amazon paperwhite, Sony PRS-T2	Apparently, the reason Katherine Kurtz's original Deryni trilogy is now available in ebooks (both Amazon and Sony) is one of her fans scanned it in for her. I might be wrong on this, but I believe that a lot of publishers and book printers require the book in electronic format now, so pretty much if you are going to print it, you will need to either provide it in electronic format or having it scanned in. One of the explanations that I have heard is that many mid level authors view their back list as their 401K. Once they build up enough of a back list and they are reasonably popular, they get a steady income from back listed books being re-printed. They fear that e-books will cause that income to dry up.

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