Battered by the rise of Internet
retailing, skewered by deep-discount bookselling chains
and wounded by waves of sweepstakes scandals, the mail-order
book publishing business has been hit hard, as customers
have become increasingly cynical about their responsibility
to pay up, return promptly and -- above all -- remain
loyal to the companies that drop those familiar rectangular
boxes on to their doorsteps.
Though many direct-mail houses
insist that they're adroitly shifting gears as customers
dump unopened mailings straight into the trash, industry
prognosticators are in agreement on one thing: the numbers
aren't looking good.
Indeed, the industry-wide statistics
for mail-order publishers have been dismal, according
to the Book Industry Study Group. Despite an uptick
last year, sales have slid from $521 million in 1997
to $431 million in 2000. That's a compound annual rate
of contraction of 6.1 percent, says Al Greco,
associate professor at Fordham University's graduate
business school and the guardian of the BISG's book
data. ''Looking at a 5 or 10-year period, of all the
categories this one looks to be the weakest,'' he says.
''This market segment has really suffered and it will
continue to suffer. It's a question of how fast it will
be absorbed into other channels of distribution. It
probably doesn't have a long life span.''
Is that why traditional mail-order
publishers like Rodale, National Geographic
and Harlequin are running to bookstores with
their latest offerings? All three publishers have beefed
up their trade lists in recent years, and Rodale has
just announced the appointment of trade sales veteran
Amy Rhodes as publisher of its trade division.
Meanwhile, Harlequin announced earlier in April that
it would start a trade paperback line, Red Dress
Ink, primarily for the bookstore market -- a channel
that is resistant to the usual Harlequin packaging.
And, following the introduction of several trade lines
in the last three years, National Geographic is launching
National Geographic Directions this Fall, with authors
such as Joyce Carol Oates and Larry McMurtry
on board.
Sally Wood, president
of Prentice Hall Direct, agrees that ''the economics
are getting more difficult, in particular with the postage
increase of January 2001.'' A division of Pearson Education,
Prentice Hall Direct mails up to 80 million pieces per
year and publishes under the Prentice Hall Press imprint,
among others. While the company has sold to the trade
for a long time -- now through sister company Penguin
Putnam -- Wood says ''the retail side is growing,''
with titles on the mysteries of leadership including
Cigars, Whiskey & Winning (leadership lessons
from Ulysses S. Grant), and Business Week bestsellers
Elizabeth I, CEO, and Patton on Leadership
breaking loose from the pack. The company also sells
over 1,000 titles via its web site.
Several direct-mail publishers
are quick to point out that aggressive trade sales are
simply part of the evolving marketplace. ''I can't deny
that there is a slowdown in direct mail,'' says Nina
Hoffman, president of books and school publishing
for the National Geographic Society. ''But National
Geographic entered the trade market in 1993. It was
not a reaction to an industry slowdown in direct mail.
It was an ardent wish to make available to a greater
populace the material which the society was developing.''
While trade sales have been
integral to the company for years, Hoffman says, one
significant difference is that publishing a book now
comes with the recognition that while it may be offered
to members first, it will ultimately be available in
all channels (distribution is now via Simon & Schuster).
Also important for National Geographic is the role trade
serves as a conduit for new membership. Indeed, Hoffman
says the impetus for the nonprofit organization to be
in the trade was an acknowledgment that its future members
will be in those channels. ''Channels of distribution
have in many ways blurred,'' she adds. ''If you are
going to be successful, you are going to have to distribute
in multiple channels.''
Neal Goff, a publishing veteran
who comes out of direct response, thinks there is a
''grass is always greener'' element at work: it is rare
to have a runaway success in direct response and ''even
then the process of hitting the accelerator is a slow,
deliberate process.'' In trade publishing, on the other
hand, ''once the book is on the shelf, consumer demand
can take over,'' providing handsome profits. At the
moment, everyone is looking for those elusive profits,
and ironically, trade looks like a surer path to them.
