Book Publishing Is a Whole ‘nother Business

The book business is more granular than other businesses. Books are sold one copy at a time.

Hook someone on your brand of toothpaste or a certain wine and you’ll get sale after sale. Hook someone on your book and the best you can hope for is that he buys copies for gifts—and that he has lots of friends—or that he talks it up so others will be prompted to buy a copy.

Here is a quote I stole from a recent edition of Shelf Awareness, a great daily newsletter for those interested in bookselling:

Margaret Atwood (Image from Wikipedia.)

“When people say publishing is a business—actually it’s not quite a business. It’s part gambling and part arts and crafts, with a business component. It’s not like any other business, and that’s why when standard businessmen go into publishing and think, ‘Right, I’m going to clean this up, rationalize it and make it work like a real business,’ two years later you find they’re bald because they’ve torn out all their hair. And then you say to them, ‘It’s not like selling beer. It’s not like selling a case of this and a case of that and doing a campaign that works for all of the beer.’ You’re selling one book–not even one author any more. Those days are gone, when you sold, let’s say, ‘Graham Greene’ almost like a brand. You’re selling one book, and each copy of that book has to be bought by one reader and each reading of that book is by one unique individual. It’s very specific.”

                          —Margaret Atwood in an interview with the Globe & Mail

Canadian Margaret Atwood is a poet, novelist, and short story writer. She has been described as a “scintillating wordsmith.”

As challanging as we find the book biz, many publishers—and authors—manage to thrive. My guess is, excellent writing is the best place to start.

Just a write thought.