Well, that's it - the Bitch is unlikely to have a book published in hardback now, that dream she first conceived in the libraries of all those small towns she lived in as a child, which was all she could conceive, because that's all the libraries had then - stacks of hardbacks and nothing else. (Hardback fiction is on the way out according to Picador, who are to begin putting literary fiction straight into paperback.)
Up to now the only hardbacks I've ever been in have been anthologies; my books have come from publishers who have published in paperback from the start, setting the trend which Picador is now to follow - along with other mainstream publishers, it's predicted.
'A moribund market' is what Picador calls hardback fiction, and some shockingly dire hardback sales figures for one of our top authors, Graham Swift, have been revealed. Well, the writing has been on the wall for some time. From Richard and Judy to my reading group, people no longer consider books not yet in paperback, and retailer discounts have impacted on the format.
There are some dissenting voices. The Guardian quotes Weidenfeld and Nicholson's Kirsty Dunseath: 'Coming out in hardback is a statement of confidence in a novel and gets the reviews. It doesn't say much for your confidence coming out in paperback.' Well, that's certainly always been the assumption: hardback good, paperback first imprint bad; and the pioneering independent publishers haven't found it easy to get press coverage for their first imprint paperbacks. (The same prejudice could work the other way too: once, when I was starting out, I was invited to send stories to a prestigious showcase anthology for new writers, but was then told not to send them after all as my work had already appeared - in a different anthology - 'between hard covers': a simplistic hierarchy which categorized me as more established than in fact I was.)
Scott Pack, ever pithy, gets it right, telling the Guardian: 'They should be reviewing on the basis of content rather than the binding', which made the Partner of the Bitch practically fall out of bed laughing when he read it this morning at the thought that it needed to be said.
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7 comments:
Hi FB
Just to prove what a total chav I am, I never buy hardback books. At a pinch, I'll borrow one from the library if the paperback takes too long to come out. Hardbacks are too heavy to carry around and hold up for hours on end in bed. And then there's the not insignificant matter of them costing twice as much as paperbacks. To paraphrase Scott Pack and, hopefully, give the Partner of the Bitch another laugh, there is no other product for which one would pay twice as much for slightly superior packaging.
Ha!
It seems even Tolstoy had to wait. Richard and Judy chose Anna Karenina in paperback! Thanks so much for linking to my blog Elizabeth.
I'm afraid I have NEVER bought hardbacks if I can help it as they are way too expensive and take up way too much room on my already bulging shelves. In addition they are seldom user-friendly for taking on journeys or trying to read in bed and many books are just not good enough/timeless enough to warrant it (present company excepted of course!)
Not about dumbing-down, just practicality with me.
It looks as though my very own Little Monsters will be the last novel to be published by Picador first in hardback and, then, one hopes, in paperback. Will this increase its collectability? I hope so but it would have been a lot more fun - and newsworthy - to be first in the new format rather than last in the old one, if only to save my loyal and discerning friends a few quid or a long wait.
PS Personally, I only read hardbacks when they're free or remaindered, so I shouldn't complain.
The only time I ever buy hardbacks is when I'm at my friends' readings and they're trying to sell 'em! And that's only cos I'm so soft-hearted.
hey elizabeth, ms pants directed me here after commenting on my own short post on hardbacks (i am way behind with my guardian reading, as usual!). i would only ever buy hardbacks at a reading, and only then if it was really special. i don't even buy them as gifts anymore. i get most of my books from the library, and i have more than once been horrified at the weight of the brick i had reserved.
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