Mass-Market Paperbacks
In 1993, John Grisham's A Time to Kill, The Pelican Brief, and The Firm were the longest-running paperback best-sellers, accounting for many million-copy sales. Right behind Grisham in the ranking were Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park, Rising Sun, and Congo. Of course, the success of these books may be attributed to their exposure as movies, as well as hardcover editions.
Most mass-market paperback best-sellers, about 90 percent of the books that sold two million copies or more, are reprints of hardcover books. Each year about 120 paperbacks make the one-million- plus club. But not all these big-number mega-books make a profit for their publishers. We'll see why later in this chapter.
The mass-market paperback was created in 1939 by Robert deGraff, who then headed a new company called Pocket Books. World War II gave this hybrid a big boost once word got around that these lightweight, small-size books fit comfortably in the back pockets of GI uniforms. And, of course, they were inexpensive-about ten cents. Soon there were a number of publishers producing mass-market paperbacks of fiction and nonfiction trade books.
The Market Today
About twelve large publishers dominate the mass-market paperback field, issuing about ninety different titles a month. Another group of publishers contribute about three hundred additional paperback titles to this already crowded market. Popular fiction accounts for more than 75 percent of mass-market paperbacks published.
The highest-paid players in this league earn advances from half a million dollars on upper book.
Mass-market paperbacks are sold in bookstores, drugstores, college bookstores, supermarkets, convenience stores, and airline terminals. The books are distributed to about ninety thousand outlets by a group of 450 independent wholesalers, who also distribute magazines.
The wholesalers ship books to the hundreds of outlets within their geographical territories. Problems arise because most non-bookstore outlets can only handle about fifteen or twenty titles, and this space is often reserved for best-sellers. Since most mass-market paperbacks are sold on a consignment basis, if the books don't sell fast, the covers are stripped and the books are returned to the wholesaler for full credit.
Let's look at the economics of mass-market paperbacks. Suppose that a publisher prints two hundred thousand copies of a $5.99 paperback. If 40 percent of the books are sold (the industry average), that's eighty thousand copies. The publisher's yield on each copy sold, after the wholesalers and national distributors take their cuts, is only about $2.40, multiplied by the eighty thousand sold copies, for a total of $192,000. From this, the publisher must pay an advance to the author, the cost of printing the books, and editorial and other in-house services. There surely is not much left for profit.
Publishers must therefore rely on getting their share of best-sellers, or publishing smaller quantities of books by authors who have established a niche, and are assured of selling a given number of copies of every book they write. In the field of science fiction, for example, about a dozen authors fit into this category. There are even special imprints for publishers in this genre.
Specialization is clearly a factor in mass-market publishing. There are "women's" authors like Danielle Steel, Jackie Collins, Belva Plain, Sidney Sheldon, and Judith Krantz. Then there are books by Stephen King, Ken Follett, Tom Clancy, and Joseph Wambaugh that predominantly appeal to men. Publishers also put out whole lines geared to special interests like westerns, adventure, romance, and mystery.
How Publishers Acquire Mass-Market Paperbacks
With lesser-known authors who write hardcover trade books, the originating publisher often holds the paperback rights and is free to sell these rights to anyone it chooses. The publisher may even retain the right for its own paperback imprint. More established authors retain paperback rights for themselves. If a hardcover trade book takes off, or if the author's works always sell well in paperback, there may be an auction for these rights.
If the hardcover publisher holds the rights, its subsidiary rights director and senior editor conduct the auction. If the author holds the rights, his or her agent runs the show. For paperback publishers, the publisher and senior acquisition editors participate in the bidding process.
When a paperback publisher buys a book for a large sum of money, it may do its own editing, and also institute its own promotion and publicity campaign.
The acquisition phase of mass-market paperbacks is often stressful but exciting at the same time. Jobs at a paperback publisher, however, are very much the same as they are at a hardcover trade house, with perhaps a bit less emphasis on the editorial side.
Trade Paperbacks
Fireside Trade Paperbacks is an imprint of Simon & Schuster. A recent catalog lists fifty-seven titles, none of which are fiction. Twenty- seven of these books are original, never having been published in hardcover. Trade paperbacks are printed on better paper than mass- market paperbacks, and as a result the average price for these books is $11 to $12, about midway between hardcover and mass-market paperbacks. The subject matter of the books on this list mirrors that of Simon & Schuster's nonfiction hardcover line, with titles such as Is Estrogen Right for You, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Divorce Busting, Your Money, Your Self, and Baseball's Even Greater Insults.
Recent best-selling trade paperbacks from other publishers include such titles as Life's Little Instruction Book, The T-Factor Gram Counter, What to Expect When You're Expecting, and Gloria Steinem's Revolution from Within.
Trade paperbacks have been with us for about forty years. They were formerly referred to as quality paperbacks, and in fact there is a major book club in this format, Quality Paperback Book Club, a sister to the Book-of-the-Month Club. The Quality Club has about a million members, and issues seventeen catalogs a year with twenty to twenty-five new books in each.
The earliest trade paperbacks were reprints of great literature, geared to the college market. Since their price was lower than the hardcover versions, trade paperbacks met with early success. Soon supplementary books for college courses were printed as trade paperbacks, sparking a mini-revival movement in publishing circles. Today, the output of many university presses is in the trade paperback format. Trade paperbacks are also widely used by small, independent presses.
There are about a dozen major trade paperback imprints, primarily emanating from large hardcover publishers. Simon & Schuster has Fireside and Touchstone, Random House has Vintage, Doubleday has Anchor, and HarperCollins has Harper Perennial.
Although the number of trade paperbacks sold is only about 20 percent of mass-market paperbacks, it is estimated that they account for about 25 percent of all books sold in bookstores. One recent bestselling trade paperback was an original, Life's Little Instruction Book, which sold 3.39 million copies. About fifty trade paperbacks sell more than two hundred thousand copies a year.
Fiction is not a popular subject for best-selling trade paperbacks. Only one book, a reprint of Anne Rice's The Witching Hour, made the lists in recent years.
John Thornton, a veteran trade paperback editor, estimates that there are only a couple of hundred editors in the publishing industry who specifically work on trade paperbacks.1 In determining where trade paperback editors get their ideas for books to publish, Thornton lists reprinting public-domain books, reprinting or simultaneous printing with in-house hard covers, buying paperback reprints of hardcover books, and, finally, publishing a trade paperback of an original work.
