Quote:
Originally Posted by DMcCunney
It wouldn't surprise me if Baen's ebooks were cannibalizing their MMPB sales, but I suspect Baen doesn't care. They were struggling as an MMPB house, and if the Free Library hadn't been instituted, I suspect they wouldn't exist now. Paperbacks are a very difficult market in which to make any money. I've heard tales of MMPB releases with press runs as low as 15,000 copies, which I find hard to believe. Given what's normally needed to fill the distribution channels, and the normal level of returns, I have a hard time understanding how that sort of press run can make money.
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Back when I was running a small publishing company we ultimately determined that it was impossible to make money on any size initial press run of an MMPB, unless it was a large run, returns didn't exceed 5%, and all the rest of the run was sold to consumers -- in other words, not possible. Instead, we tried to beat the pattern and do a small press run (5-10,000) and build enough interest for a backlist (there was no POD in those days). Unfortunately, that didn't work either because for a small press, which we were, distribution and warehousing costs ate up profits and returns killed us. Even backlist titles became problematic.
If I were doing it today, I would do a very small press run -- just large enough to put a book or two in most book retailers hands -- and then POD thereafter.
Ultimately, however, the difference between success and failure is the amount of money and effort put into marketing a title (assuming the writing is good), and even with the Internet, marketing costs are not cheap, which is why there is so much consolidation among publishers.