What Is The Acceptable Return Percentage Before The Publisher Decides To Pull The Plug?
By Jerry D. Simmons | April 24th, 2006 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)

This is the seventh and final blog of the What You Should Reasonably Expect From Publishers series of answers to individual questions. The basis for these blogs is an article entitled “Opportunities For New Writers.” For background read the article first, then the earlier blogs. If you are not certain of the order go to the headline on my home page.

Don’t allow an agent, editor, or publisher tell you as a new author that they do not have a return percentage in mind before launching a new imprint or series. Your publisher does and you need to convince them to share that number with you. Don’t be naive about the whole situation; the launch is designed to increase sales and market share, i.e. shelf space. If the expenditure of a minimum $100,000 in advertising, promotion, and publicity does not generate enough net copy sales over the course of a few months, the launch will be considered a failure and money will be lost.

Each publisher who makes the in-house decision to launch a new imprint or series; does so with the understanding that you must sell X number of copies to pay for the marketing campaign and you have to ship X number of books to cover the anticipated sell-through. With those facts in sight, an acceptable return percentage is calculated and everyone involved with the new launch knows what it is. The only reason why they would not be willing to share that number with the authors is if the expectations and percentage is too high.

For example, on a hardcover launch they would likely expect at least a 50% sell through (net copies sold divided by the total number printed, not shipped). For a trade paperback that percentage could be 50-60% and on a mass-market launch they could get away with as low as 40%. The publisher can only tolerate lower than anticipated sales for a short period of time before they decide the launch was a failure and yank the entire program off the market. Where does this leave the authors? With a poor sales history and struggle to overcome the problem.

 

How Long Will These Incentives Last?
By Jerry D. Simmons | April 18th, 2006 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)

This is the sixth blog of the What You Should Reasonably Expect From Publishers series of answers to individual questions. The basis for these blogs is an article entitled “Opportunities For New Writers.” For background read the article first, then the earlier blogs. If you are not certain of the order go to the headline on my home page.

If the publisher launching the new imprint or series has a track record for being the first to market with new imprints or series, do some homework. Go to your independent bookstore, introduce yourself to the buyer, and ask for input on the reputation of the publisher and their track record for new imprints or series? Also ask if the publisher typically backs up their launch with incentives and do they stand behind their product? If you explain why you are asking these questions, chances are you will get honest answers. Reassure the buyer your conversation will remain confidential.

Any publisher with a history of constantly turning over new imprints or series is not the kind of company you should attach yourself to as an author. As least this is not the way you want to launch your own writing career. Most reputable publishers introduce imprints or series sparingly and only under certain circumstances. They should be more than willing to share with their authors all of this information as a way of attracting better writers.

You want to see in writing that the initial phase of the marketing campaign will last no less than one year after the publication of the first set of titles. Anything less hardly gives the books a chance to survive on store shelves. I’m aware of one publisher whose launch lasted for over 4 years. Accordingly, the incentives offered to booksellers should be in place for no less than one year.

The final question in this series: What is the acceptable return percentage before the publisher decides to pull the plug?

 

Is The Publisher Offering Incentives To Their Customers To Purchase Large Quantities of Books?
By Jerry D. Simmons | April 17th, 2006 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)

This is the fifth blog of the What You Should Reasonably Expect From Publishers series of answers to individual questions. The basis for these blogs is an article entitled “Opportunities For New Writers.” For background read the article first, then the earlier blogs. If you are uncertain of the order, go to the headline on my home page.

At this point in our discussion it has been established that your publisher is spending a minimum of $100,000 for a complete marketing campaign. Part of that money should be budgeted for promotion, which means they are willing to pay incentives to their customers (the booksellers) for taking a preset quantity of copies for distribution.

The incentives can range from advertising allowances in bookstore newsletters, to placement fees for special in-store displays such as a floor or a variety of options available within each store. This will especially hold true for your major chain bookstores and most of the larger independent bookstores.

If your publisher is offering special discounts or cents per copy for large quantities of books to be shipped to the re-supply jobbers or independent distributors, be careful. Such large quantities may never see the light of day and can cause considerable returns over the course of the first three to six months after the launch.

Any special incentives offered to booksellers should be aimed at the retail bookstore market, with a smaller percentage going to the re-supply side. If the launch is a mass-market paperback then a larger percentage of the combined incentives will be going to the independent distributors.

As an author you want to know what percentage of incentives are being focused on the retail side compared to the distributor side. The largest piece of the promotional budget should be going to the retail side and not the distributor side of the marketplace.

Next I will answer: How long will the incentives last?

 

What Is The Expected Distribution Of The Books For This New Imprint?
By Jerry D. Simmons | April 12th, 2006 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)

This is the fourth blog of the What You Should Reasonably Expect From Publishers series of answers to individual questions. The basis for these blogs is an article entitled “Opportunities For New Writers.” For background read the article first, then the earlier blogs.

The key to distribution for an individual title is not how many copies are shipped but where they are being shipped. When a publisher launches a new imprint or series that important point will fly right out the window. When a company is spending big money to promote a launch, the key is total gross shipments. As many copies as they can ship to as many customers as possible. To reduce costs and maximize the marketing budget you need exposure and this translates into shipping large quantities of books.

For example, if a publisher were spending $100,000 on a marketing campaign, it would be foolish to try and keep your distribution low to improve sell-through. So with the big advertising budget come big shipments. This goes hand in hand and one supports the other. Obviously you want to sell as many net copies as possible but this is a risk you take when launching a new imprint or series.

To answer the questions specifically, you want to know the budget numbers for the individual titles that make up the new launch. Typcially several titles are shipped together and often times the position of each title within the launch will vary. So you want to ask what are the specific budget numbers for the new launch? In particular, your own book and where it is positioned within the group? Don’t be alarmed if your title is not among the top titles, in the long run this may be a benefit.

With a marketing budget of $100,000 a publisher would need to ship around 50,000 copies of a hardcover, perhaps 100,000 of a trade paper, and between 150-200,000 of a mass-market. These are of course rules of thumb and not hard and fast numbers. At least it gives you a range when you ask for an answer and they start throwing numbers about.

Next I will answer: Is the publisher offering incentives to their customers to purchase large quantities of books?

 

What A Writer Should Reasonably Expect From Publishers
By Jerry D. Simmons | April 4th, 2006 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)

In an article I wrote entitled Opportunities For New Writers I stated the following: If this is your opportunity to finally get your book published, know some of the questions to ask:

A very astute reader sent me an email asking for further explanations. She very accurately said she would not know what a writer should reasonably expect from publishers. This was an excellent question and one that should be explained in depth. Thank you Nancy for your questions and feedback!

First, you need to understand what is happening. A new imprint is a major change for a publisher and they will not make such a move without a solid basis for doing so. Typically new imprints offer the publishers the chance to segregate their list into smaller groups of titles, which can often result in larger orders. They do this with categories such as science fiction, mystery, or a particular sub-genre within a larger category such as romance or even nonfiction.

Within my former company Little Brown was an imprint. They launched Back Bay which became a new imprint within the Little Brown company. Imprints are clearly identified on the spine of each book and if you want to know which larger company owns the imprint, go to the inside front and you should find the name of the bigger house.

A new series is a way of promoting an imprint or category of titles that a publisher has on their list. The bottom line on any new imprint or series is to segregate the list in such a way that smaller groups of titles are offered to customers. This can result in larger orders and expanded shelf space or market share. The purpose of my article was to try and explain to writers that a manuscript bought for a new imprint or series is certainly an opportunity, but one that needs some examination. I will answer each of the individual questions in separate blog entries.

 

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