Quote:
Originally Posted by BuddyBoy
Actually Gudy, MMPBs do cannibalize hardcover sales, which is why they aren't usually released at the same time as the hardcover.
In order to maximize the profit for a title, the publishers may choose to release it first in hardcover, then about a year later as a MMPB once the hardcover sales have tapered off. Of course some titles start as MMPB right off and some never leave hardcover at all, though the perma-hardcovers are usually non-fiction.
Publishing houses aren't charities, you know.  |
They go to MMPB a year after they come off the New York Times bestseller list. If the publisher doesn't want to invest that much into the book, they go right to MMPB of trade paperback.
The DaVinci Code took several years to go into mass market. People would always ask me when it would, and I'd tell them when people actually stopped buying the hardcover.