Strategy session I: breaking inAdvances can be important tools. Best not to let them rust from
lack of use.HARDCOVER VS. PAPERBACK
Which is the best\format for you, hardcover or original paperback?
Certain strategies are obvious. If you have written a mainstream
novel that is not a surefire blockbuster, then you will probably
depend on good reviews to make your novel fly. In that case, hard-
cover publication is your only really safe choice. It can be difficult to
get original paperbacks reviewed.
If, on the other hand, you are a category romance writer, or an
author of science fiction or fantasy novels, then original paperback
publication is a safe bet. Readers of such novels are used to dis-
covering new authors in paperback; indeed, they will probably recoil
at the price of a hardcover novel.
Come to think of it, a lot of consumers are resisting high-priced
hardcovers these days. At thirty dollars a shot, who can blame
them? For that kind of money, most people want to be sure they will
get a high-quality book—and one that they are certain to enjoy.
Thus, there is a loose sort of rule that one can apply to the hard-
cover-vs.-paperback question. If the book under discussion is
intended for consumers who demand high-quality writing, hardcov-
er can work; indeed, it can be essential to creating the cachet that
transforms a novel from a book into an event.
If, in contrast, the consumer for whom a novel is intended is
either price-sensitive or is primarily reading a novel for reasons
other than that novel's literary quality, then original paperback pub-
lication can be a useful choice.
There are quite a few exceptions to that rule of thumb. Take Star
Wars novels; as popular as they may be, you would not imagine that
consumers would pay hardcover prices for them. Yet such is the
demand that Star Wars hardcovers always hit the top of the best-
seller lists. Some people cannot get enough, I guess.
One format that has proven increasingly useful to novelists over
the last ten years is the trade paperback. Once the domain of
nonhction, trade paperbacks have become, probably for reasons of
price, the format of choice in many categories. Literary fiction has