A Publisher's Conversation with Authors: Why Do Publishers Backlist Books and What Does That Mean for Authors?

 

It is Tuesday. Time to tall turkey. Monday's madness is over, and Wednesday will take us over the hump, so Tuesday it is--for some serious discussion with authors. Tuesday talks mean to address authors in waiting and self-published authors who would like to go a more traditional route or who would at least like to take their steps with a publisher by their side.

Today's topic addresses backlists. What are they? Why do publishers use them? What do they mean for authors?

What is a backlist?

• Publishers have a front list of books that they are actively selling.
• Among these are books that "earn their keep" at the very least (i.e., costs of printing, advertising, promotion, distribution, royalties, warehousing, share of overhead, legal requirements such as copyright and permissions, etc., do not exceed the revenue they produce. 
• Of course, publishers would prefer that books do more than "earn their keep;" they would like them to make a profit.
• Working against books "earning their keep" even when they seem to be selling well is the right of return policy that is generally offered and generally expected.
• Also among these are the newly released books. 
• Big publishing houses will put out a first printing, and depending upon how quickly that sells out, they will print again and keep the book in print, or they will backlist the book for slow or low sales. They know that only a small percentage of their new books will earn their keep, and they plan that way.
• Smaller publishing houses will usually give new releases a longer period of time to prove themeslves. We usually give them two years.
• When backlisting occurs, books generally are published through a print-on-demand process. 
• Some publishers use POD for all their books. 
• POD books are always available for purchase through the publisher but not generally through online retailers like Amazon since they would need to be in a distributor's catalogue. 
• Some bookstores will purchase direct from a publisher; others will not, which means that these other bookstores (often, the majority of stores) will not carry the books at the store or order them for customers; customers will need to order from the publisher or buy them from the author.

Why do publishers backlist books?

• Because the cost of keeping a book front-listed cannot be justified by sales revenue.
• Because a publisher does not want to put the book out of print if backlisting can bring in some sales that may eventually offset initial losses.  

What does that mean for authors?    

• Authors will need to be more creative in helping readers access their books since the traditional route of online and retail stores is generally closed to backlisted books.
• Authors can buy from publishers at author discounts and sell direct to readers.
• Authors can ask local stores (not bookstores) to take their books on consignment. 
• Authors should talk to publishers about options. 
• They can ask for rights reversion and see if they can find another publisher (difficult when a book is not selling well enough for the original publisher) or self-publish a second edition (will need to make a few substantive changes).
• They might be able to negotiate with the publisher to pay the expenses of keeping the book front-listed; those expenses might be as low as the distributor's catalogue listing fee (approx. $50/year, depending upon the distributor).
• Authors can work hard to get their book to sell; backlisted books do sell, and if they sell enough, the publisher may be willing to move them to the front list.

The bottom line is that publishers are not charities. Books have to earn their keep. When they don't, publishers have only two alternatives: backlist or out of print.  

Lesson for today's Tuesday talk: Work with your publisher to set up solid promotional activities that you actively are involved with to sell adequate copies of your book. If your book does get backlisted, see what options you can negotiate to keep your book in front of potential readers.

Read more posts about publishing HERE.

The Tuesday talks reflect real discussions between the management of MSI Press LLC and our own authors or those would-be authors who come through our doors but don't make the cut--yet. If you have a topic you would like addressed, leave the question in the comment section. Chances are, in our 18 years of publishing first-time and experiences authors, we have had a conversation with one of our authors that we can share with you.

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