The realitystill largely located in New York, but thanks to computers the locus
of power is the superstore bookshelf. Hard/soft giants have all but
wiped out independent hardcover houses. Despite that, the paper-
back business is in crisis. Paper and cover prices are rising, and so is
consumer resistance. A net sale of a million units is now rare. ID con-
solidation and superstore dominance have also hurt mass-market
paperbacks. The second paperback revolution is over, except in cer-
tain genres.
Today, fewer editors are editing more books. (One editor I know
at St. Martin's Press is responsible for more than one hundred titles
per year.) Not surprisingly, editors are changing jobs as often as
ever, leaving behind "orphaned" authors. Happily, a given book's
shelf life is rising, but authors have less time overall in which to
prove their worth. They also have to prove themselves mostly on
their own, since advertising and promotion money is as scarce as it
has ever been.
On top of all that, lists are tight. Although some five thousand
fiction titles are published each year, that number is down roughly
15 percent since 1991. Authors face increased competition, both
from newcomers and from established authors who have been jetti-
soned by their publishers. Complete manuscripts are plentiful.
Selling on partial and outline is increasingly difficult, unless one is
already under option.
Ready for more bad news? Advances are down, too. So are roy-
alty rates. In fact, some paperback houses are paying 2 and 4 per-
cent to new authors. (The norm used to be 6, 8, and 10 percent.) On
the back end, publishers are demanding more. Why not? It is a buy-
ers' market. "We must have world rights" is a frequently heard
demand. Publishers are also seeking all electronic rights. On that
issue, publishers and agents are currently at war. (A fuller report is
in Chapter 17.)
What about backlist, one's prior novels? Backlist sales are grow-
ing more important, but accumulating a backlist is hellishly hard.
Rigid categorization in bookstores has also made it difficult to sell
cross-genre or out-of-category novels. Worse, book companies are
increasingly looking to other media for authors and content. Today's
best-seller is as likely to be Tim Allen as Saul Bellow.