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Not necessarily, Anke. But they did tend to be some of our older titles from three or four years ago. Our contracts usually run for three or five years, but we try to keep the calaogue relatively small and manageable for the browser, so not all contracts are extended and full rights are returned.
Highest requests were for sparkling new releases, but several very popular give-aways were for the generally low-sale group.
My own theory is that these books -- where there was never any author support for us in their promotion (it's not a contractual obligation here for an author to join in the promo effort -- but, gosh does it help!) were simply overlooked until that fifty-fold increase in browsing our site exposed their potential value to folks who'd never heard of them before.
Dunno. Assessing anything other than the editorial quality of work and an author's literary value, is quite beyond me as a humble editor. I'm no statistical analyst. But it's food for lots of thought.
And that result should tell ALL authors (whether with a publisher, big or small, or self-publishing) that promotion is everything in acheving recognition and sales.
Can't remember who it was off hand. But someone recently said during the general debate on piracy and DRM imposition: "Piracy is not the threat to authors ... OBSCURITY is."
How right he was.
Even the Big Five with their massive promotional budgets and marketing resources tend to give little exposure to mid-listers and to few first-timers.
Contractual or not, the fact is that the author himself is more often than not responsible for his or her success (ask Amanada Hocking).
For the brand-name writers, promotional input is contractually demanded. And it is so time-consuming and draining that there's little writing space or creative energy left.
The author's job doesn't end when s/he types the words 'The End' at the bottom of an ms ... that's when it starts.
Good luck and best wishes. Neil
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