Partners’ Corner is a place where the principals of Market Partners International can share their observations of the publishing industry for the month.
Publishing Trends attended the Publishers Weekly panel discussion entitled “Are Publishing Seasons Relevant?” (see PT’s PW Panel: Are Publishing Seasons Relevant? for details) and came away with some unanswered (and unanswerable?) questions and musings.
The short answer to the question is, yes, if you consider each new title to be the equivalent of a new product launch, then allowing 1 ½-2 years to position, plan a marketing campaign, and create the best product possible makes sense.
The excellent panelists (a retailer, a distributor, and a publisher) made a good case for the way business is done—i.e., much as it’s always been done—but might it be time to take a deeper look?
Realistically, is each book going to receive the sort of care and attention suggested by these seasonal schedules? And does the slow, methodical process that most all publishers employ help the average book find its market in a timely fashion?
Listening to the panelists, it was clear that the systems have evolved to incorporate “drop-ins” and “add-ons” but only so far; despite the considerable number, there are unresolved problems attached. Most notably, open-to-buy issues at accounts (not to mention the general chaos involved in making sure metadata and rationale are fully communicated) often result in these titles being skipped. So even if publishers adopt ways to create a more fluid publishing model, it will only work if retailers change as well.
Clearly, it’s daunting. So even though improved digital processes have dramatically decreased some of the original production reasons for the long time it takes to bring a book to market, and even though Edelweiss offers an efficient means of announcing titles instantly (goodbye print catalogs), the old ways prevail. Those of us who have spent our careers in book publishing understand why, while those on the outside with content they want to see in book form are shocked and dismayed at how long it takes. Maybe a little more dismay on our side might nudge the schedule, at least a bit?
