NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #20/NN_1992_20.iso/spool/misc/writing/2835

Text File | 1992-09-10 | 3.4 KB | 72 lines

Newsgroups: misc.writing
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From: [e-mail] (Fred Welden)
Subject: Re: Publisher production times
Originator: [e-mail]
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Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 14:17:49 GMT
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In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (charles stross) writes:
|
|I heard from my editor last Friday to the effect that my first
|novel, which I was made an offer for in March this year, will not
|now be published until March-April 1994. Aside from the obvious
|(why does it TAKE so LONG?), this leads me to ask; is it my
|imagination, or is the lead time on the midlist growing longer
|for everyone? I'm not the only author I know who this has happened
|to. It used to be twelve months from contract to publication, but
|now it's stretching to two, two-and-a-half years.
|
|Does anyone have any insight on this?

I have some guesses, and if I can get hold of any of my old publishing
contacts I'll see if I can confirm them.

When I worked in publishing (1981-1988) one of the largest variable-
cost items (that is, items that cost more when you print more copies,
versus fixed-cost items, that cost the same no matter how many copies
you print) was the paper.  You could significantly reduce the overall
cost of a book by waiting for favorable prices in the paper market,
which rose and fell dramatically.  Profit margins on books are narrower
now than ever, and are always narrower on short-run books than on
long-run books.

Thus, it is possible that publishers are extending the lead time on
shorter-run books (i.e., not the Stephen King novels) in hopes of
catching a favorable paper price that will allow them to make a profit.

Another possibility is that publishers are cutting the length of their
lists.  Blockbuster bestsellers used to carry quite a few mid-list books
along with them.  If the number of mid-list books being published per
year is being reduced, and the number of saleable manuscripts coming in
is not, then the backlog is growing.  Perhaps you should take the
increased lead time as one of Len Olszewski's judo compliments--they
liked your book so much they just had to have it, even though they're
already committed up to March-April 1994.

Consider: if I had only a single manuscript to produce, I didn't care
about catching cheap paper prices or printer slack time for a discount,
and the author was cooperative about checking page proofs, to turn a
clean manuscript into a book would take me 2 to 3 months.  If I wanted
to throw some serious money at the problem I could do it even faster.

In a real-world situation, with a full workload, figure more like 9
months.  So if the publisher is saying 2 years, they're sitting on the
book for some reason.  Why don't you call your publisher, ask to speak
to the head of the Production Department, and ask him or her why the
lead time has increased?  If you sound curious rather than well-peeved,
you might get a civil answer.  Mention how much you like the way their
books look and you almost certainly will.  You would have from me, when
I was in the business.


--
--Fred, or another blind 8th-century BC  |  [e-mail]
        Hellenic poet of the same name.  |