Booksellers hope that the publishing industry can use the current downturn as an opportunity to publish fewer books. “They need to have some sense of what is going on in the country and what the readers are really looking for,” said Vivien Jennings, owner of Rainy Day Books, an independent bookstore in Fairway, Kan.
Well, yes. And a lot less me-tooism would help
I am so happy that there may be fewer books published. Who needs 200,000 books published in the US EACH year -- most of them simply awful.
ReplyDeleteThis is an opportunity for publishing companies to do what they should do in the first place: MARKET the books already published. (What, they really don't know how?) Typically, the editors and marketing departments just toss books into the marketplace and hope for the best.
Well, I can attest to that, Lynne. Though in fairness there are some publicists who do an outstanding job. I could name several, but I think they know who they are.
ReplyDeleteSadly, I think it likely they'll still just toss books into the market without any marketING, because they've let go all the marketing department people go.
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting that the highlighted paragraph from the lady in Kansas seemed to be the only one focused on improving the bottom line by providing readers throughout the country with books they would actually like to read. The rest seemed to be about how to make it cheaper for the same folks in the same locations to make the same decisions on what makes it into print. This could imply that while the quantity of books would drop, the topics and styles won't change much. Marketing of the truly good stuff would help, but the overall business model seems a little off.
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