THE CAREER NOVELIST
A vicious competition for shelf space did not help. Soon, over-
printing became the norm. A 50 percent return rate was the indus-
try average, meaning that in most cases two books had to be print-
ed in order to sell one. Sound like a dumb waste of paper? It is, and
despite publishers complaints a 50 percent return rate is still the
norm today.
To be fair, publishers do not like returns. Booksellers do not,
either. Since every company's policy is different, returns are an
administrative and paperwork nightmare for stores.
Some publishers have always sold on a nonreturnable basis
(Dover Publications is one). But that policy works best with stores
accustomed to buying nonreturnable wares: gift shops, toy stores,
stationers, craft stores, art supply places, and the like. For book-
stores, returns are still a helpful way to do business, though most
booksellers say that nonreturnable orders—at the right discount—
can be okay for certain books. Backlist, for instance, is not usually
time sensitive and can be ordered on a nonreturnable basis. The
category least appropriate for nonreturnable ordering? First novels.
Returns are understandably a big concern. In fact, by the mid-
eighties, when I presented an author to a potential new publisher,
the first question I was usually asked by the wary editor was
inevitably, "What were the returns on his last book?"
But that, too, has changed. In the late eighties another figure
began to overtake returns as the number of the moment. This one
is a ratio.
SELL-THROUGH
This is the ratio of books actually sold to books shipped to stores,
expressed as a percentage. (Returns can also be expressed as a per-
centage; sell-through is thus the inverse of returns.)
Take the case of Writer A, with whom I started this chapter. His
publisher shipped 32,000 copies of his novel and of those sold
23,000. That puts his sell-through at 71 percent, which is excellent.
If reorders warrant, his publisher will go back to press.
Writer B, on the other hand, sold 4,000 of 8,000 hardcover copies
shipped. A 50 percent sell-through. Not especially good—and
downright disappointing for a book that cost the publisher $45,000