Warning: This article will probably make me a few enemies.
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A few years ago, Wall Street Journal journalist Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg wrote a telling article regarding the dirty little secret of book publishing: book returns. Over 30% of all books sold to bookstores are returned unsold to publishers. No other industry has this rate of returns. In fact, it would be almost impossible for most industries to remain solvent with one in three products being returned to the manufacturer. In 2001, The Publishers Manufacturing Association (PMA) issued a 43 page PDF detailing the causes of this phenomena and problems it causes.
To summarize, bookstores place orders based on what they believe to be demand, but generally over order to ensure inventory and keep their shelves looking full. After six months (on average), if a title has not sold, it is returned to the publisher for a full refund (either actual cash refund or a credit toward a new order).
One of the many problems of this system is that it often creates a false sense of interest in a title, leading to second or third printings that are not even needed. For example, let's say a publisher was hedging their bets on a book by a new author, and only printed 10,000 for the initial run. The author has a pretty face (her picture is on the back cover), and bookstores assume she'll be doing a book tour and that perhaps she will be able to do a signing at their store to help sell the book. The publisher gets orders for 12,000 copies.
Now it isn't cost effective to print an extra 2,000, but the publisher is not about to turn away the orders. So the publisher, anticipating more demand, prints a second run of 10,000. But 6 months later, the author never did a book tour (because there was never one planned, and the publisher never intended to pay for one), and the books never got a lot of attention in the bookstores because everybody was stockpiling the latest Harry Potter on ten shelves in the front of the store. So the publisher printed 20,000 copies, sold 12,000, but then had 3,600 returned. So in reality, the publisher only sold 8,400 copies, but ended up with an extra 11,600 books that weren't needed.
This is an oversimplification, but demonstrates the problem in a nutshell. While most of these books will either be sold off to discount chains or recycled, think about the thousands of tons of fossil fuels burned to produce, distribute, return, and scrap these books. Anyone with any knowledge of warehousing and traffic knows it costs $250 or more just for an LTL (less than load) truck to move a small shipment, and it can costs a couple of thousand dollars to move a trailer of product across the country.
The system as it exists kills thousands of trees, consumes thousands of gallons of fossil fuels, and costs millions of dollars. Who ultimately pays these costs? The book buyer, of course, by way of higher costs per book.
Now it would be easy to jump to the defense of the bookstore owners. The blame does not rest solely with them, after all. It is a co-dependent relationship between publishers and bookstores. The publishers enable the poor inventory control practices of bookstores, and the bookstores drive the artificial demand by placing larger orders than they should. The media, too, plays a role. Best-seller lists are calculated based off of sales to booksellers, not consumers. So the NYT Bestseller List is really a Biggest Orders List. Magazines and newspapers often won't even consider reviewing a book that does not have a "minimum run" of some magical number. The system feeds upon itself, but like any cannibalistic system it cannot survive indefinitely.
So book prices continue to climb as publishers try to remain solvent. Bookstores continue to over order, out of fear of losing customers to the bigger chains or the internet if they don't have the "next big book" in stock. And one in three books continue to get returned unsold.
So book lovers are left with a quandary: how to protect their passion for books, while also protecting the environment from this ridiculous cycle of destructive behavior? The solution is unpopular and politically incorrect, and yet there really isn't any other.
Stop shopping for books in bookstores that do business this way.
WHAT? Are you saying to give in to capitalism? Turn our backs on the corner bookstore? Abandon the independent bookseller and side with the evil corporate publishing conglomerates?
No, I'm saying to demonstrate some common sense.
I have no delusions about what a bookstore is. Whenever the subject comes up, people start waxing poetic about the importance of bookstores. And yes, there was a time when I was younger that I loved bookstores. I could spend hours in one flipping through books and discovering new authors. But then I discovered the internet, and with it discovered tens of thousands of books and authors and topics my local bookstore didn't carry. There is a myth that publishers only publish "bestsellers" or "brand name" authors. This is not true. The truth is that bookstores only stock the bestsellers and brand name authors. Titles by smaller presses and lesser known authors are generally buried on shelves in the middle or back of the store, while a rotating list of ten to twenty big books take up most of the front of the store.
In my old hometown, the local bookstore's political science section seemed pretty large and varied when I was a kid. But as I got older I realized it had an obvious Democratic leaning. Their horror selection was limited to Stephen King and "classic" collections. The religion section should have been renamed the Christian section, as that was the only religion in the world according to the bookshelf.
And the store chains are downright bullies. A friend recently pointed out that Waterstone's, one of the largest chains in the U.K. charges £45,000 For one book to appear in window and front-of-store displays, and in Waterstone's national press and TV advertisement campaign and £25,000 to feature in a bay at the front of store as a ‘gift book' in its genre.
In short, bookstores expect the publishers to subsidize their businesses. They want publishers to pay for premium shelf space. They want to see marketing plans to insure the publisher will drive traffic to the store. And they want the publisher to accept 100% responsibility for unsold books.
I can't say that bookstores are the place to go to discover new writers, because they aren't. The cashiers at bookstores don't know anything about most of the books in the store. Most of the cashiers are high school and college kids. What books are they going to recommend to me? Either stuff they read, or whatever is being plugged on the shelves at the front of the store. I can't say that bookstores have the most variety, because they don't. Bookstores have a finite amount of space, and half of it is full of either the ten to twenty books being pushed or non-value added displays for gift notebooks and calendars. I can't say bookstores are the most cost efficient, because they would rather return unsold books for a full refund than discount them on a short profit. I can't say they are environmentally friendly, because I still have to drive there, find a parking space, and drive home.
There is a tendency to blame readers for the loss of bookstores. I blame the bookstores. They have failed to provide their customer base with the services they need. We've all heard the old "Support Your Local Store" mantra. Why am I obligated to "support" someone in business to make money if that person is not going to demonstrate basic business acumen? Nobody is obligated to drive to the mall, pay full price for a book, and drive home. There is no reason to artificially support a system that refuses to evolve.
Many of the online retailers have stepped up to filling the void that bookstores have left by their refusal to change. I can go to Amazon and browse books, even looking inside with their "search inside" program. The program is free to publishers, and we can even upload the files instead of having to provide a physical copy. Many online retailers have set up virtual book clubs, author interviews, book blogs, book chats, and more to let readers share their views about books.
Moreover, the nature of the internet allows publishers to take advantage of print on demand technology. As I've discussed previously, POD titles are generally non-returnable for various reasons. Of course, this means most bookstores will not stock these titles, but online vendors love them because they require little or no storage. Many publishers are now using POD to revive their backlists and out-of-print books. Why print 10,000 copies of a book for a third printing when you can use POD and print the books only as they are ordered? Whereas books in the brick and mortar world have a shelf life of about six months, books on the internet can have shelf lives of years.
And while I still prefer a nice print book for longer books, ebooks are perfect for shorter works. I can store over 20 ebooks on certain flash drives. That saves a lot of trees! And many of the bigger ebook vendors store your purchase information, so that if your files become corrupted or you lose your backup, you can retrieve it from your purchase history. And some smaller, independent ebook vendors (particularly in the RPG industry) allow publishers to update their files and make revisions available, for free, to customers. In this way, customers can always have the latest version of a book.
I believe that those of us who possess a real love of reading are obligated to abandon a system that does not meet our needs and contributes to the destruction of the environment. The digital age has placed tens of thousands of books at our fingertips, and made it possible to prolong the life of many books that would have been killed off after 6 months due to slow sales. Readers now have access to thousands of authors and ideas they may never have heard of, and have more options than ever to share their own ideas and comments on their favorite books.
Great Sites for Book Lovers (so you can research your books before you shop!)
http://www.compulsivereader.com/
http://www.curledup.com/index.htm
I realize my comments are rather general. I also know there are, in fact, some bookstores out there that are doing their part by controlling their inventory, supporting their local literary communities by hosting events, and supporting new and emerging writers without requiring publishers to cough up money first. These are the types of bookstores we SHOULD support, because they are demonstrating a positive commitment to the industry.
But the point is that we must all start thinking about these things critically. The next time you go to a bookstore, ask the manager "What percentage of your inventory do you return to publishers?" Make them answer the question. The publishers are often too scared to rock the boat, but consumers have the power to force change. Educated consumers can force businesses to abandon archaic practices by being vocal.
If you own or know someone who owns a bookstore that effectively controls its inventory and is willing to stock POD titles, let us know and we will list them on our "Happy Tree" page and mention them in our newsletter.
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Julie Ann Dawson is the owner of Bards and Sages, a small press that publishes speculative fiction and roleplaying games.
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Comments: 41
I get most of my books from the library. The authors' books I really enjoy, such as Goodkind or Martin, are purchased online from the Sci Fi Book Club. I never shop at the big bookstores.
I love ebooks and have more of them than actual books. I still love the first cracking sound of the spine and the dog ears that remind me to re-read a page, but unless it's a "classic" or "bestseller" it's almost impossible to find something new, a fresh writer, fresh view on actual pages.
Thank goodness for e-books.
My publishers Samhain Publishing and Champagne Books both print POD, *and* both are orderable by bookstores. How did they do this? They went through Lightning Source, which is Ingram's POD service, and Ingrams is one of the end-all-be-all book distributors. LS *does* offer the return service book stores demand, but the beauty is, they only print what the bookstores order.
Yes, there is still the chance of returned books, but not near the scale of what you talked about in the article. :)
It's a win/win situation. :P Now, we just need to get more of my publishers' books on the shelves!
~~Becka
Print-on-demand may be a good system for out-of-print books that have proven themselves, but frankly most print-on-demand publishing isn't worthy to be in bookstores.
About 10 years ago, I attended a reading given by Stephen King. He was doing readings and lecturing across the country to raise awareness of the local bookseller versus the mega stores. I still prefer to buy my books, as, like you said, read in bed, in the bath etc... With the exceptions of using Borders certificates obtained here, I go to a little shop, owned by a PERSON, not a corporation.
Keep in mind that when I talk about POD, I mean POD technology. I am not talking about self-publishing. Many micro-presses and even a lot of university presses use POD now, because it is not cost effective to use offset printing for short runs. I'm one of the first people to discourage most self-publishing ventures.
And the fact that fewer people are reading is a bit of a myth. There are still more books sold each year now than there was twenty years ago. Add into that ebooks, audiobooks, and ezines, and more people than ever read. Now you may not AGREE or like what they are reading, but they are reading nonetheless.
Donna: it is a myth that there are fewer good books being printed. You just aren't seeing them in your bookstore, because your bookstore is determining your reading material for you. Visit any of the sites I noted above, and I guarantee you will find books that will interest you...and most of them will not be stocked in your local bookstore. Either because the publisher doesn't offer a big enough discount (some stores expect up to 60% discounts) or because the publisher doesn't accept returns or because the store didn't think the publisher had a "big enough" marketing plan.
It might also be of interest to some that larger POD publishers are now giving bookstores the "buy-back" option.
I would like to give a plug to the used book store. (Full disclosure here--I'm a used bookseller). It's a cost-effective way to enjoy books that are often like new. You are supporting the small business owner, who normally runs the store and DOES know about books. You are also recycling perfectly good items and keeping them out of landfills.
End of speech.
It may be a little harder to find a certain title, because they have such a huge variety, but it is a great way to spend an evening, browsing through all the cool stuff and finding things I know I wouldn't find in a large (new) bookstore!
I also agree with Kelly Jo Anderson about not wanting to sit in front of a computer when I want to relax with a book. If I have a lot of stuff to read on my computer, I tend to print it out and go get comfortable. This doesn't end up saving trees! In my defense, though, I always use both sides of the paper unless it is something important I have to sign and send away.
Great thought provoking article, though! A lot of stuff I didn't know, and am glad I do now!
Please keep in mind that my questions may seem naive but I know nothing about publishing or book retailing.
Why blame the bookstores for something offered by publishers? If I were a retailer and this was offered to me I would take them up on it. The retailer is only trying to turn a profit which is exactly what a publisher does, I assume.
Is it really so wasteful? Do the books just sit in warehouses forever after or are they sent to recyclers when not sold at discount prices. If so I presume the recycled paper is used elsewhere, thereby saving trees which would be used for that purpose otherwise.
Almost every time money is spent for something another person is earning it. If production is cut down, not just in the publishing industry but elsewhere, people are going to be out of work. What is going to happen to them all?
I don't know what's happening in the big cities, nor do I care, but in rural and small town America the small, independent bookstores are alive and well and meeting the needs of the readers (please, not consumers, we don't eat books, we read them) in their areas. Ours has real authors, real booksignings, and a real, espresso bar in the back. It's also survived a leaky roof and at least one theft. Long may it remain solvant.
morning! :-)
Larry Portzline may have tapped into something with his new concept and book on Bookstore Tourism. You can read about it here on gather.
If there weren't extra books, there would be no remaindered books.
Sandy: If you have bookstores in your area stocking POD titles, that is wonderful. Also keep in mind,however, that most bookstores WILL stock local authors, regardless of printing process, because local authors sell. They know your friends and family will come out to the store, and that locals will come out to her a fellow local. If I came out to your neck of the woods as an outsider, I don't know if your store would be so receptive. There are a couple of stores that stock our game books, for example, soley because they know me personally. But they would not normally stock a POD title.
Why blame bookstores? The original set-up was a security blanket created during the great Depression. The problem is that the few publishers who have tried to break the system have had their hands bitten. (read the first article about where the writer discusses what happened Hardcourt tried to break the system). Generally, a publisher that doesn't offer returns won't get their books in bookstores.
Is it really so wasteful? Yes. Because the very act of transporting all these books to distribution centers, to bookstores, back to distribution centers, then off to recycling centers consumes an enormous amount of fossil fuels. I have first hand knowledge of how much effort goes into warehousing. Warehouse space is a premium commodity. You don't just drop the books on a rack and forget about them. And even recycling is not a catch-all excuse. Recycling material that never should have been created to begin with is a mute point. You still wasted paper originally that could have been used for something else. Nor is 100% of the paper recyclable. It's like giving someone $10 and having them only return $8.
As far as people going out of work: Now you sound like the big oil companies! The railroads used the same logic. First, being more efficient won't drive people out of work. It may cause their jobs to evolve, but it doesn't mean they will be unemployable. New technologies create new jobs faster than they destroy old ones. Also, these publishers are ALREADY laying people off because they can't turn a profit. By working to reduce waste, publishers can make more money. And when publishers make more money, they are more likely (not less likely) to take chances on new authors or experimental books. it's the difference between publishing a million copies of one book that will actually sell 700,000 due to returns, or publishing a hundred smaller books that total a million copies an actually sell a million copies.
Interesting article, although I don't agree with all of your conclusions. In the last few years I hav lived in two small (one bookstore) towns. Where I am now, the bookshop carries almost nothing that I like and shows many signs of trying to be 'Amazon in 250 sq. ft' (big names have most of the shelf space); the last town, however, had a store with owners who went out of their way to keep a HUGE selection of books on the shelf, buy their regular customers favorite author's new books, suggest new writers, and so on. I drive by the first of these stores at least once a week and almost never stop, but after three years I miss the latter.
The cost to the author is also a critical factor here. Leslie's remaindered purchases are better for the environment, but the author made no money from them. That can't work.
I've got one book that has been out long enough that sales are s-l-o-w but there is still a chunk of cash being held back for reserves against returns. Books that were bought two years ago would have to be returned for the reserves to be needed, but the money is untouchable.
One random data point: signed books can't be returned to the publisher. Authors should keep this in mind when the opportunity to do book signings arises.
As an avid reader, I like to hold a book in my hands and to own it. I don't like to read a book on a screen. Books will always remain books.
If you publish with a small press ePublisher, you get MORE royalties, not less. Your eBook royalties from small presses are between the 35% - 50% range, and this is because you don't have to pay printers, distributors, or give bookstores a fat discount. So in the long run, you're doing well if you're a popular ePublished author.
Sure, it's a niche market and a book will always be a BOOK. But with the new fangled gadgets floating around, the iPod, the iPhone, the Blackberry, the eReader, the PDA, etc., it's safe to say eBooks aren't just a flash in the pan. They're not for everyone, but I think the younger generation is more apt to try them out.
~~Becka
I've wanted to try e-books. I love reading books in their printed form or listening to audio-books. If it would save trees, oil & money then it's a great idea.
POD is another great idea, something I'm going to look into when I'm ready to publish my own books.
Solutions to this could be putting machines that can print off high-quality books for those who wish to own them or on a "just in time" basis per author/publisher specification.
It is about time to have some progress in this area really.
I’ll spend the day on gather, trying to see it all.
There’s quite a few discussions and lots of pictures too.
I’m looking at the videos adding comments galore for you.
So here on dear ole’ St Paddy’s Day, with all the Irish Luck.
Here’s hoping you get enough points today to make at least a buck!
Happy Gathering!
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