Yes, my TBR is out of control and I don’t have enough time to read everything I pick up. But there’s a reason I can’t stop.
As some of you may know, in addition to writing I work in publishing as an editor at a Big 5. I sit in lots of meetings about sales, marketing, etc., as we figure out publishing strategies and next steps for our list. The more I learn about commercial publishing programs, the more I realize one big thing: I need to buy more books.
You may be thinking, surely you must get tired of books when they’re literally your job. I probably read upwards of a couple thousand pages a month, more when I’m trying to catch up on submissions (which is often). There is no shortage of books in my house and on my e-reader. (There are currently 26 books within arm’s reach in my living room.)
But I’m not tired of books. And, in fact, I want to make sure I can keep reading. So I think part of my responsibility as a reader (a reader with some disposable income and access to bookstores) is to keep buying them. Buying them when they come out even if I have several other books already on deck. Here’s why it’s important for me to purchase books right away (other than the fact that I’ll forget once I stop seeing people post about it online).
We often hear in publishing that “it’s a marathon, not a sprint” and that books can continue to sell and find new readers months or even years after release. This is true! Sometimes all it takes is one social media post, sometimes it’s tv or film interest, sometimes it’s weird publishing alchemy. But books can absolutely find readers long after they leave the new release shelf.
However.
When buyers (retail buyers, not in-store customers) think about which books to bring into their stores, they can look up author track. What many people may not realize, though, is that (particularly at larger retailers), the buyer doesn’t look at the entire life cycle of a book. They want to know how many copies of a book sells close to publication. Often they’re looking at the first 12 weeks of sales. Sometimes it’s an even smaller window of 6 or 8 weeks.
Two hypothetical books: Both released 12 months ago. Both have sold around 20,000 copies in those 12 months. Book A had decent preorders (1,000) and sold another 3,000 in the first week. But sales dropped off pretty steeply, and weekly sales averaged around 300 copies per week. Book B had fewer preorders (500) and sold 2,500 copies in the first week. But for the next 11 weeks, Book B sold around 1,200 copies a week before tapering off to just a handful every few weeks for the rest of the year. A retail buyer looks at the upcoming catalogue and sees new books from the authors of Books A and B. When they consider track, what looks better to them: Book A’s 7,300 sales in the first 12 weeks? Or Book B’s 16,200?
Obviously, this is very simplified, and there are many factors at play when it comes to which books publishers acquire and which books retailers pick up. But what’s one small thing that I can do as a book buyer to help ensure that retailers and publishers continue with books and authors I love? Buy more books. I preorder as many books as I can, and I also buy books as close to release as possible, so my purchase counts toward that first window of sales track. This is a privilege, I know! I didn’t always have the income or the opportunity to purchase as many books as I wanted. Since I do, I’m going to keep stacking paperbacks and hardcovers around my house and hope they don’t fall on me before I get the chance to read them all.