On Wed, Jun 05, 2002 at 12:25:33AM -0400, Scott Ingram <singram at videotron.ca> wrote: > I gather by 'jobbers and wholesalers' you're referring to small bookstores > and their ilk? I can understand why this upsets people, but I don't > understand how this would affect paperback sales. Is it the case that the > larger chains are pushing the top-ten authors (Clancy, King, etc...) and not > stocking the lesser known authors? Or is it that their increased buying > power is forcing publishers to sell their wares at a lower price? It's certainly not lower prices. Paperbacks have been going UP. I have heard it expressed that publishers are having trouble making money on small-run paperbacks, and thus are reluctant to publish them. They are pushing to either move their authors to hardcover (stepping up) or cease publishing them at all (stepping down), whereas in the past it was possible to stay in the middle (midlist). It's annoying, because new authors basically get one shot at a major hit, and if it fails, drop off the face of the earth. Established midlist authors who have proven that they won't get that major hit just disappear, no chance given. I'm not sure what's causing this problem. I just wish it would stop. -- Matthew Hunter (matthew at infodancer.org) -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/pgp-signature Size: 240 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://dragaera.info/pipermail/dragaera/attachments/20020604/310f11ac/attachment.pgp