Seems that even though Books-A-Million, Barnes & Noble, Borders, et alare all declaring financial losses; even though severalcomic book and graphic novel publishers have closed their doors either by dissolving or merging with another house; even though a handful of smaller publishing houses have merged - and another handful of even smaller presses have simply vanished – and names and titles have changed; even though for about half of 2008, pundits predicted the Canadian price on books published in the USA would for the first time be less than the American price; even though there can’t possibly be an individual or business in America that doesn’t know the economic straights we are all currently in . . . despite it all, Publish America and Lulu.com have been raising the prices on their “clients’” books, often unbeknownst to the client (as revealed today in Angela Hoy’s 11/26/08 Writers Weekly).
I can’t imagine the reasoning behind pricing a trade paperback book at $29.99 – one could just about purchase both Return of the Sword and Rage of the Behemoth for that price. You know what’s nice? I can imagine that 
Then again, I can’t imagine what it must be like to claim $31 million in net income yet at the same time declare all is woe and project terrible times ahead because that very same $31 mill is $17 mill less than last year. I mean, I guess one has to go through such devastating conditions to truly appreciate it oneself. I’ll try to remember to hold my tongue if RBE ever experiences similar losses.
2008 shall be an interesting year all around, it seems - though the slice of the economy that I really did not have to mind before July of this year is now suddenly quite important to me as a new small press publisher. I’ve already set RotB’s price to be the same as RotS’s, and I’m exploring my pricing options on the collections and other titles I hope to bring out next year. While I am intending to be as profitable as possible, I’m planning on making the RBE publications as appealing as possible to the reading public – regardless of income levels. If I can deliver the same high quality product with stunning art inside and out by artists and authors alike for less money without slighting RBE in the least, I’m all for it. So you won’t be finding RBE closing its doors or raising its prices or complaining about making money in 2009.
Instead - you just might find RBE producing something you’ll like. Stick around and see for yourself.
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Heroic Fiction Ring
I still think that the publishing community should seek help from the government, not for a bailout, but on a “Go Read” campaign. Think of the extra readers that could be drummed up.
With disposable entertainment dollars at an all time low, and movie theaters charging the same old prices, publishers should angle books as entertainment that lasts longer at a fraction of the movie cost…
Just my two cents, and now I’m broke.
Which is exactly why I put “Entertainment” in my company name. Though I do want RBE to eventually be so much more than the fiction, the fiction is where it starts and stops, as far as I am concerned. I want RBE books to be sources of comfort – as in the things folks turn to when they’re seeking relaxation, encouragement, hope, entertainment – for all ages, under any circumstances.
As for the publishing community, I think all us publishers and authors – and readers for that matter – should band together and demand that booksellers conduct business like all other retailers by actually buying their products. I just found out this week that New Zealand is the only country that requires its booksellers to BUY the books they stock their shelves with. Buy them – not basically hold them on consignment like American booksellers get to do. “Selling” books to an American bookseller is not a sale in this country, and beware the publisher/author who believes otherwise. There’s too many stories out there of books returned many, many months later and checks and reimbursements demanded to the sometimes ruination of the bamboozeled publisher/author.
If we were to actually start holding booksellers accountable for their purchases and profits, they’d be more inclined to up the advertising and marketing on their end, thus providing an additional boost to a “Go Read” campaign. But yes, I agree, Dave – where’s the Arnold Schwarzenegger of American reading habits?
Unfortunately, in most of the public’s eye, writers do little actual work for a living while raking in big bucks. People think of Rice and King and Rowling and the like, not the millions of writers out there making pennies from their work. Because of this view, it’s not likely there will be any outcry from the public or from politicians to regulate the publishing industry any further than it already is.
However, that doesn’t mean things can’t change, though they would more likely be driven by the market. With the current economy, if B&N turns out to be the only big fish left once the flames have settled, it’s quite possible they’ll pull a Walmart and begin making demands on publishers. While it might seem B&N would want to keep the old system, maybe not. If it’s costing them more in the long run to order a bunch of books then have to package them up and return them, they might switch the way they do things. There’s also the affects of POD and Amazon to consider.
I think eventually the system will change. It will have to. But I don’t think it will be soon. Maybe 20 years from now. But with the ever-changing technology and the current economy, who knows? Big businesses are especially notorious for being slow at changing the way they work, but big drops in the Dow seem to speed things up.
Me? I’ve always felt the cheaper the better when it comes to books. As a writer, I’d rather sell 10,000 books that cost a dollar than a hundred books that cost twenty bucks. But I realize the day of dollar paperbacks is long past. Or is it? Gas was four bucks a gallon not too long ago.
That last is a good arguement, Ty. I’ve been asking for days now why the headlines aren’t all about the increased cash we now have to spend now that gas prices are halved. I mean, last week, after my daughter’s play performance we all went out for ice cream and coffee. I had to fill the gas tank. I filled it for half what I had been all year. My reaction? “Hey honey, how many of your friend’s want to come along and who all wants something?”
More money in my pocket translates to more money spent. When will government understand that. Americans are some of the worst savers in the world. We’re spenders. Wanna see improvement in the economy? Give us more money to spend and we’ll spend it. So far these gas savings haven’t transferred to other things, such as the staples of life, but perhaps government involvement should be more along the lines of keeping prices on everything low rather than bailing out any entity that can’t toe an universally positive bottom line.
Not sure I can pull off the $1 book though, Ty. Too many other factors outside of my control, least of which may be my needing to have one publication pay for the next until I can generate some more consistent and reliable income.
As for booksellers being forced to know and be responsible for their inventory? They really shouldn’t be allowed to be any different than any other retailer out there. Pick-n-Save has to decide what and how much to stock, same as Dunham’s, Fleet Farm, Costco, and the military PX. The only thing they all get to return simply because they don’t sell it is the books. Requiring them to stop running the largest consignment sale on earth can’t hurt the industry, that’s for sure.
Same as a sales-tax-only taxation system that would benefit the majority of us (unfortunately CPAs would be put out of work), it will probably never happen though. There’s too many loopholes and hidey-holes available for the big boys and girls to ever give them up.
Jason, nah, I didn’t expect you (or any other publisher, for that matter) to be able to sell books for a buck a pop.
The gasoline thing is a bit weird, though. I can nearly fill my SUV now for what only gave me a quarter of a tank a few months back, but I keep hearing Americans are holding onto their money. The only thing I can think of is it must be a fear factor. Maybe people are just scared to spend, what with the Dow jumping all over the place and the thousands of layoffs that keep hitting, and the housing market, credit cards, etc., etc.
Yeah, I’m pretty ticked about the whole bailout thing. I understand why some believe it is the only option, but I disagree. As far as I’m concerned corporate America already had a bailout … it’s called bankruptcy … which I realize would still cost jobs and tax dollars, but what we’ve got now is just like throwing money away. And if companies (and to some extent, unions) really want to survive, they will find a way, or they’ll be replaced. I personally think we’ll find the bailouts will only make things worse in the long run, dragging out a recession/depression that might not have lasted more than a couple of years.
I agree with you Ty on bailouts of corporate America, like automakers and other companies, but not with the banks. The financial system relies on the survival of these banks, and people with perfectly normal mortgages would lose their homes of some of these financial institutions crashed. Personally, I don’t think it’s fair that these CEOs get away with making big money at no risk and then have the gov’t bail them out, but it’s a loan, not free money.
If many banks crashed at the same time, FDIC would have to come to the rescue to secure individual accounts and I heard the other day on NPR that the FDIC does not have the funds to cover several major banks at the same time. Public funds would have to be injected to help out with the shortfall, and that money would not get paid back by the banks because they would be bankrupt.
But back to my original idea. If pres-elect Obama wants to improve education, one way is for people of all ages to read more. In Canada, they have a program funded by all levels of government, to advertise reading in the school systems. Schools hold contests on how many books students have read, and there are awards and such. It breeds a healthy reading environment where people are rewarded for reading instead of being disdained.
Sorry, Dave, but I don’t for one second believe any of the bailouts are a loan. Will anything be paid back? Yeah, probably, a trickle here and there over the years so the govt. and corps can say they are doing their jobs. But I don’t believe this bailout money will be paid back within my lifetime (I’m 39) nor do I believe it will be paid back in any kind of timely manner at all.
But, I will admit that maybe I’m just overly skeptical and everything will come out roses eventually.
As for a reading program, it sounds to me like a job for a first lady. Not that Barack can’t or shouldn’t be a part of it, or any other parts or members of the fed govt., but I think he’s going to have much bigger fish to fry. And a reading program has the ring of a social initiative a first lady would handle. I know Baen has been sending books to the troops, maybe it wouldn’t hurt for some publishers to do the same thing in schools.
There is nothing wrong with being skeptical. I was too until I heard that in the 1990’s the US gov’t gave a huge loan to the Country of Mexico to get them through the exchange rate crisis. Not only was all the loan paid back, but the US made interest off the taxpayers funds. I first heard it on npr.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94724671
The gov’t is taking interest in the banks to ensure that they get their money back, and streamline what the execs are going to take in. I guess I’m just trying to be hopeful.
We’ll just have to wait and see how many people can afford the relatively inexpensive RBE books that are for sale this holiday season. Right Jason!!
It’s good to hear about that collection (hadn’t known that), but I sure wish US would collect on all our WWI and WWII debtors – interest on that pile o’money sure could jumpstart the economy right now!
As for the bank thing … private industry, they made their choices, gambled, and lost. Now they should pay the piper. Sure it would be rough, but that’s short term and it would probably teach all of us better ways to handle, invest, and safeguard our money. There’s never been a time bearing the consequences for our actions wasn’t the best policy.
And not to belabor a point … giving the government control of our banking system at the same time that same government is actively working to implement Shariah-Compliant Finance scares the crap out of me quite honestly.
Enuff said.