Sarah Weinman wrote a blog entry a while back that pops into my head every time I hit the book aisle at Wal-Mart: “There is no better tonic than hard numbers” (This entry was written July 26, 2005, but I doubt things have changed drastically since then, and this is the best breakdown I’ve seen.)
Over a three week period this summer, the following sales numbers were recorded for a NYT bestselling thriller writer’s most recent book:
B&N: 4,140
Waldenbooks: 4,888
Borders: 3,993
Anderson Merchandisers/Walmart: 47,671
Target: 16,341
Price/Costco: 17,291
Sam’s: 14,108
Amazon: 320
My first thought: That Amazon figure can’t be right, can it? I don’t know what NYT bestselling thriller writer she’s talking about, but I would have guessed pre-orders alone would total more than 320 copies.
My second thought: Those numbers seriously narrow the field if you want success, don’t they?
It didn’t surprise me to see Wal-Mart’s numbers higher than the others’. The discount and convenience are hard to beat. I was, however, surprised at how much higher. It seems to me that the discrepancy is large enough to allow a retailer known for censorship espousing conservative values to have a signifcant effect on the market.
As with many writers (I assume), there’s a little piece of my mind watching and reading and listening—absorbing market and industry news—and making and adjusting future plans. Now, if those numbers are factored in, they can also have a significant effect on a writer’s career plan.
For instance, I’ve always wanted to submit something to Kensington Brava. (Well, not always, but since Brava came about.) Why? I love steamy romance, and I’d love to work with Kate Duffy. But now, a little voice in the back of my head whispers “But you’ve never seen a Brava at your Wal-Mart…but they always stock HQN…” and such. (Though I have seen Bravas on walmart.com.) I can buy Harlequin Blazes at my Wal-Mart, but I heard a rumor a while back that they actually had to do less envelope-pushing or risk getting the boot from the retail giant. Writing a romance that doesn’t feature explicit sex and graphic language won’t guarantee you get a spot at Wal-Mart, but writing a book that does guarantees you won’t.
Are quality authors and/or publishers losing out—even being put at a financial disadvantage—for not meeting one retailer’s standards? Does the impact Wal-Mart real estate can have on sales factor into a writer’s plans? Should it?
No related posts.
The way that they have dominated so many markets and other companies frightens me.
I haven’t been in my local Walmart for over a year. We’d rather spend the extra money then support the bullshit that they pull.
This is one more reason to buy books from independents.
[...] …can be found at RTB! [...]
Is that true about Blaze? Seems odd, considering how they just launched Blaze Extreme and all…
I think more likely they pulled back on the *covers*. I remember hearing that the problem is always what happens on the covers of the books, and making the covers friendly enough so that no one from the corporation gets inspired to look inside.
Re: Brava, which has REALLY innocuous covers, I think the reason they aren’t in Walmart probably has more to do with the trade format than with the content. I rarely see trade size books of any kind in Walmart. Mass market fiction and hardcover politics and self-help and diet are what I see.
But I could totally have the wrong end of the stick here.
Okay. Being a hater of Walmart I had to do some research on Anderson Merchandising because I find it highly doubtful all those numbers are coming from just Walmart. They supply over 40,000 businesses with magazines and books and I’m pretty sure that’s the ultimate parent company that the grocery store I work at gets their books from. So I suspect not all those books listed there are coming from Walmart sales. My other question about this list is why is Sam’s separate? Aren’t they part of Walmart’s umbrella of businesses. Or maybe it’s a different Sam’s than I’m thinking of.
As far as the Amazon numbers. It doesn’t surprise me at all. The discount on bestsellers is always heavier in a store like Target or Walmart than on amazon. And money is a huge concern of most Americans.
As far as writing with Walmart’s censorship and possible loss of a big selling spot in mind.
Nope.
I’m not a fan of Walmarts. Besides you could consider that half of those numbers might very well be from other stores supplied by Anderson and not just Walmart.
Oh, I adamantly refuse to tone down my work on the hopes that it’ll find a spot on the shelves at Wal-Mart. I’d rather not publish AT ALL than compromise my voice for a segment of the market currently repressed by “conservative values.”
It’s that head-in-the-sand approach to sex and sexuality that leads to bigotry, hatred, and intolerance. My own life’s work — as an author and in other areans — is to throw open those doors and let the light shine in.
I’ve never seen a Blaze at my Walmart, and I’ve looked at all four in my vicinity. Part of the reason I’ve not read many Blazes is just that. They aren’t shelved at Walmart. Every other Harlequin/Sil line is featured though, from Presents to the Inspies.
The breakdown of books in the Walmart in my town goes like this.
One entire aisle of Inspirational/spiritual/religious books, One aisle of the best sellers, top authors (Nora Roberts, Dean Kountz etc) One aisle that features AA romances and AA fiction, blends to romance, then to the Harlequin Sil releases. And then one aisle of “all the rest” paperbacks, YA, westerns, non fiction etc.
I used to buy all my Blazes at Walmarts.
That’s a huge number difference! Wow.
I will always check both Costco and Walmart before purchasing a new release at the local box bookstore. Just for the discount alone (like 40% at Costco and 25% here at Walmart).
I’ve never seen a trade paperback at my local Walmart but do see more of the premium sizes there now. And mine does carry Harlequin Blazes although I have noticed it’s usually the still life covers for the most part.
The two Wal-Marts near me, on the far West Side of Houston, stock all the Blazes. Usually six of each; the dh checks every month.
Re: Brava, which has REALLY innocuous covers, I think the reason they aren’t in Walmart probably has more to do with the trade format than with the content.
I think it’s trade, too, because I just saw the mass market reprint (same cover as trade) of Shannon McKenna’s last Brava on the shelves there last week.
Wow. That’s truly frightening. Because if those numbers really represent what’s happening, and assuming that Walmart does make up a healthy portion of that overall Andersons figure, it is true that Walmart exerts a huge amount of influence over the market. It’s also true that a writer who can’t get a foot in the door with the Walmarts or Costcos or Sams is really out of luck, regardless of how good her work is.
It makes you wonder if something like, say, the Harry Potter series, had contained something Walmart found objectionable, would the retail giant have capitulated and stocked the book because the dollars they would have lost by passing on it would have been significant. When does a writer’s clout and draw override Walmart’s ability to
censorfilter out what he or she has written?Kind of discouraging.
I personally hate Walmart.
Due to the BS they pull, due to the perpetual lack of decent customer service… due to many many many things.
I have a local indie store I love to buy from so I usually go there or hit the Borders across the river. My indie bookstore has a space on their shelf reserved for me…:???:
Eh. I might lose sales, but I don’t care if my books show up at Wal Mart or not. I’ll never compromise what I write to appear in their store. I don’t shop there anymore and I don’t believe in their policies…MANY of their policies.
But I’m pretty sure I’ve seen Blazes there…
Blazes are on the shelf at my WalMart. And, you know, I have to wonder if that is the reason why I haven’t bought a Blaze in over a year. (No offense meant at all to any author here or elsewhere, honest and true!) Blaze used to be an auto-buy for me. All 4, sight unseen. Release day, into my cart. But something happened about a year or so ago, and the entire line just doesn’t seem the same, even the Blazes written by my favorite authors. And I’m not the only one who has noticed this… several of my cohorts have also commented on it. Has Harlequin sold out to the Walmart conservative cash cow?
Shannon, this is a great post. Really makes you think.
I am, however, disappointed at the Wal-Mart bashing that’s coming out of it. I hate moralistic, overly conservative attempts to censor, however, this may not be entirely what Wal-Mart has done by making choices about what to stock on their shelves.
They only have so much room. They’ve had to make choices in what to display and what not to. Since it’s a largely “family” store, it makes more sense to stock more…mainstream stuff that probably sells better in their particular type of store.
There are a lot of kids running around Wal-Mart, and it’s possible that they responded to that.
In any case, they have the right to stock their bookshelves in a way that works for them.
I didn’t like it, but I didn’t blame them. What really turned me into a Wal-Mart shopper, though, was their response to hurricane Katrina.
Immediately following Katrina, they sent food, water, and building supplies to our area. Our one Wal-Mart was demolished, and yet, employees propped open the doors and gave a lot of their goods to people who needed it. They got that store up and running, and when they finally were able to sell merchandise again, they did it at greatly reduced prices — and a lot of vital supplies were free.
Then, as I traveled from the devastated area to Washington state, every Wal-Mart I came across had signs on the doors saying “If you are a hurricane victim, come inside and we’ll give you a job on the spot.”
Besides the tons of money they spilled into relief efforts, they give hundreds of thousands of dollars to charities. My shopping dollars help them do these things.
They totally have my support. I can get past what they stock their shelves with because the good they’ve done for people like me and for people who are in even worse shape, has been incredible.
Okay, off the soapbox.
I like Walmart. I buy most of my books there. If I could buy ebooks for the same discount as Walmart I’d buy more ebooks. (simonsaysebooks.com has good prices, I’ll be buying more books there.) I’ve see many of the mass market Bravas at Walmart so I’m sure it’s a trade issue than a content issue. And all four Walmarts here carry Blaze.
If Walmart doesn’t have a book I want I go to Hastings or BN. I rarely go to used books stores. And the Anderson reps are much nicer than the other bookstore employees.
I will say I have a cover issue. I read in public alot. Sometimes I don’t buy a book from a non-auto buy author because of embarassing covers.
This is what happened a few years back with the music and movie sales, and still continues. Walmart began to edit some movies and refuse to sell certain music.
Here’s a blub on the topic with a link to the original article.
***
…it (Walmart) is a real power in the retailing biz. In some areas of the country, Wal-Mart is the only place to buy CDs or tapes. While it is well known that Wal-Mart doesn’t carry labeled CDs, the New York Times recently detailed in a front-page story how the chain and other big retailers are having an insidious effect on music and movie production. Like cancerous cells, adulterated censored CDs are proliferating in Wal-Mart’s bins, in many cases without being identified as such.
In some cases, CDs are altered to bleep out “bad” words. For instance, the cover of a White Zombie disc, Supersexy Swingin’ Sounds, was cleaned up by airbrushing a bikini onto a nude model reclining in a hammock (even though no naughty bits were visible). A song on the back of Primitive Radio Gods’ Rocket CD is identified as “Motherfker” in the aforementioned record store, but as “Mother” at Wal-Mart.
The New York Times also identified creepier instances of corporate power being used to suppress ideas. Wal-Mart won’t carry Sheryl Crow’s new record because she chides the company for allegedly selling guns to children. The figures of Jesus and the Devil flanking John Mellencamp on the cover of his new record, Mr. Happy-Go-Lucky, are airbrushed out of the copies available at Wal-Mart. Mellancamp reportedly OK’d the change in the interest of record sales.”
**
The rest of this is at this link.
America was founded on freedom of speech and expression. Slowly our rights are being dwindled away by big corporate America.
Larissa,
I can’t say too much lest I get too political in nature, but I agree wholeheartedly with you.
I’m a die hard Wal-mart shopper.
I have no strong feelings on the WalMart issue. I tend to buy my books at the local independent- but it is less political and more I think she’s amazing and often has free cookies on the counter. However- I wouldn’t write a book based on how I think it would/could/should be marketed. Writing is hard enough- at least make it easier on yourself by writing what you want. Write what interests you. The marketing can come later.
Here in the UK Walmart bought out the Asda store chain. I worked for them for several years. The M&B books were stocked from a seperate system than the best seller books. A lovely lady would come each month to stock the display. Shelf space was limited so they used the local store demographic to determine the stock. Our store carried Presents, tenders, medicals, historical, superromance and now modern extra. It also carried Mira and Blaze for a while but these didn’t sell so were pulled.
Asda/Walmart regularly tops the chats here as being rated by its empliyees as being a great company to work for. I personally found them fantastic. Maybe its a little different in the US but they are very family orientated and support the family in most of their ethos here.
I work as a Hallmark vendor in a WalMart Supercenter. As many problems as I might have with them, I will say that different WalMarts can sell different things according to local sales. You’ve read about it even here in these comments. Sometimes, and this I know as a vendor, it can depend on the general manager’s decision for that one store. Things Hallmark has sent us to sell that have been sent to other WM’s and displayed, have been nixed by the manager due to limited shelf space, limited floor space (our manager HATES those stackbases in the middle of the aisle- not his, ours) and the store aesthetics he prefers. The decisions are not all made by a corporate giant in Arkansas.
All squeaky-clean family store issues aside, WM is no different than any other retailer. They want sales. If enough people petition the manager about a product, he or she will at least look into it. Just remember, WM is about image, first and foremost. You will never see big signs over sections of the book aisle that read “Self help…Mystery…Thrillers…Bibles…Erotica.”
Lori said:
I have to wonder if that is the reason why I haven’t bought a Blaze in over a year. (No offense meant at all to any author here or elsewhere, honest and true!) Blaze used to be an auto-buy for me. All 4, sight unseen. Release day, into my cart. But something happened about a year or so ago, and the entire line just doesn’t seem the same, even the Blazes written by my favorite authors. And I’m not the only one who has noticed this… several of my cohorts have also commented on it. Has Harlequin sold out to the Walmart conservative cash cow?
I don’t know how that could be the case when they JUST instituted “Extreme Blaze” which is even hotter than the normal kind.
The only change I’ve noticed is that a lot of my faovrite writers have either stopped writing int he line or taken a leave of absense,a nd I’m not as fond of some of the newer writers. But I don’t notice the book becoming more “tame” in any way shape or form.
I’m no friend or foe of Wal-Mart per se, but I will offer the info that trade PBs are carried in my local (Chicago-suburban) store. They limit themselves to three or four authors in my chosen market (inspirational). These are the same authors, month by month, year after year, yadda-yadda. Apparently the buyers for this area haven’t heard there are other writers out there–? or what? I don’t know.
But I’ve never seen Harlequin’s or anyone else’s trade size PBs on sale there.
Deb K
I’ve never been in a WalMart. I’m not even sure if we have them where I live (ok, I know they have them out in the burbs, but not in San Francisco).
I’ve heard various reports from fellow writers about being forced to remove certain words *cough* f*ck *cough* from their books because of WalMart, but I also know for a fact that some books with “that word” have been on the WalMart shelves.
That said, it’s in my book, and I don’t plan on taking it out.
Anna Genoese has done a P&L example at her blog, and gives the numbers each bookseller will take, ending with “Amazon takes 100″ – compared to B&N and the other retailers (including independents) taking a whole lot more.
Okay, can I just say the RUMOR that Walmart has dictated what is in the Blaze books is NOT TRUE. Please don’t bring that dead horse out again. It’s really annoying to those of us who write for the line. I just finished the galleys on my next Blaze, which will be the second Extreme Blaze (not necessarily hotter, but definitely envelope-pushing in other ways) and frankly, if Walmart had any idea what was between the covers, they’d never carry it. Let’s not get them looking, okay?
Walmart carries Blaze. They rarely carry trade. Blaze has never been asked to tone anything down except language in places…and that’s nothing new for Harlequin at all and really not directy related to Walmart, but to Harlequin’s own business practices.
And yes, those Amazon numbers are dead on. My Pocket editor constantly laments that writers put too much stock in their Amazon number when actual sales are barely a bleep on the radar screen.
I don’t generally shop at Walmart simply because I don’t like long lines. But what I really don’t like is rumors that keep coming around that aren’t true and that make the Blaze books suddenly some watered down version of what they used to be–and that’s simply not true. Okay, maybe some people don’t like the Blazes anymore. Fine. Tastes change. But all of us writing for the line are still working just as hard as before and we still believe in delivering a hot, sexy read that delivers on the perrenial Harlequin promise.
I actually had a really interesting conversation with the sales rep for Harlequin who handles the Wal Mart account a couple of months ago. Very neat guy–he’s been in the business for a couple of decades and I have to assume he knows what he’s talking about.
We talked a lot about the company’s power in the industry and he swore up and down that Wal Mart absolutely does NOT CARE what’s between the covers of the book. As long as its cover or back cover copy aren’t outrageous enough to get some grandma to bring it up to the service manager and rant and rave about it, they simply do not care. But once someone does rant and rave…that’s it, it’s gone. No questions asked, they pull it.
That said, something they DO have a lot of power over (surprisingly) is cover art. He told me they have many times gone to “sell-in” a single title book to Wal Mart, had the buyer say, “Eh, don’t like the cover, we’ll cut our order,” and Harlequin will race back to re-do the entire cover just to get that sell-in number up.
Leslie
PS: I sure haven’t toned down my Blazes…and was a little worried with my December book having such a sweet, “nice-looking” cover because that thing was smoking. Didn’t want any grandmas ranting and raving at *me* either.
Leslie, it was smoking.
And ditto everything else you said.
The cover thing isn’t something to freak out over. They might nix covers for other reasons, too — not just because of sex. Sometimes they might think it’s ugly. And Walmarts is not the only chain that can make publishers go back to the drawing boards for new covers. Publishers are in the business of making money, so the opinion of anyone who has the power to make or break a book is listened to very carefully.
Publishers are in the business of making money, so the opinion of anyone who has the power to make or break a book is listened to very carefully.
See, the point I was going for—before it was decided I was implying Blaze is a watered-down version of itself because I recall hearing Wal-Mart called Harlequin on the carpet some time ago about language in the Blaze line—was that Walmart does have the potential to make or break a book, so wouldn’t a writer also listen very carefully?
Seeing the numbers simply makes me wonder if Wal-Mart real estate is something a writer should consider while forming a career plan.
Anyway, I’ll come back in a bit and respond to the earlier comments after my poor husband bears the brunt of my ranting.
Shannon, I never felt that you were saying Blazes had toned down…just that you were asking if perhaps the authors wondered if they *should* because of the perceived power Wal Mart has over the industry.
And I was just answering for myself. I, personally, have not. Heck, if I don’t give a crap about my 73 year old father reading the super steamy stuff, I’m not going to sweat some possible future Wal Mart reader.
So, no worries…I don’t think you were misconstrued!
Leslie
PS: You should read the essay my oldest daughter wrote for her AP English class last year. Modeled after “A Modest Proposal” she had to write a contemporary satire, and wrote about how every store and industry in the country should just be taken over by Wal Mart. It was hilarious and she used it for her college admissions!
Shannon, I was just dispelling the rumor. It’s made its way around the Internet one too many times, IMO. The first time it did, the Blaze authors themselves took the question to our senior editor and I was just repeating the truth. You didn’t imply anything–you just repeated an oft-repeated rumor and I took the chance at dispelling it. That’s it.
Shannon, I think your point totally came across as you intended it to. You weren’t bashing or calling rumors truths or calling Blaze watered down. I thought your post was really interesting, and I’m looking at the whole Wal-Mart thing in more of almost a “category” light, in that if you write for HQ, whether it’s Blaze or IM or Supers, you are probably going to sell there. If you write for almost any other publisher, it’s not guaranteed.
They have limited shelf space…I’ve seen a lot of really tame Pocket Books and Tor books on the shelves at B&N, but not at Wal-Mart, but you can ALWAYS find HQ books there.
So anyway, THAT’s what got me thinking, since I’d been trying to decide if I want to pursue category romance or not.
Loved your post because it hit home for me!
Whew. First off…I apologize for my awol-edness. I got sucked into helping the husband with some plumbing, and let me just say Sudafed and PVC glue together in a confined area? I could write a book about it.
To touch very, very briefly on Wal-Mart itself, it breaks my small-town heart to see small businesses owned by generations of families closed down and I don’t care for many of their policies, but I’ve been a SAHM for ten years, more or less, and I’m too conscious of my husband’s dollar to drive into the city to find small, privately-owned retailers. (Yes, I totally loved doing those “In one sentence, describe…” exercises in school.
)
I was there late this afternoon, as a matter of fact, and I made a point to swing through the book aisle (you know, because I normally wouldn’t…*snort*) and I finally noticed that the racks and racks of trade paperbacks my store has are all inspirationals. I’d never really looked at them closely before. I only buy trades based on wanting a very specific book (SAHM-guilt, you know) and since the ones I’m looking for usually have distinctive covers, I’ve always skimmed those. I guess a Brava really would be out of place in that section, huh?
It was also pointed out to me by private email that they’re stocking LKH’s Micah. I haven’t read these, but I’ve heard a lot about this book, and I think that pretty much shoots down an argument based on content.
And mine just now put out the McKenna mass market reprint, as well. I’m trying to remember from spine-reading in Borders—doesn’t the name change when the format does? I seem to remember one I looked at saying Brava on the trade and Kensington something or other on the mass market version without the Brava logo. Not that it really matters since I rendered my entire entry a moot point by not having noticed the trade paperback issue.
Okay, but not really, though. Because that could still play into a writer’s decision making. Taking sex totally off the table, you could still ponder whether being published in trade paperback is where you want to be, considering that if it’s not inspirational, you still probably won’t have a shot at Wal-Mart.
I have a local indie store I love to buy from so I usually go there or hit the Borders across the river. My indie bookstore has a space on their shelf reserved for me…:???:
I’d love to have a local indie bookstore. We used to have one. Now we have a Wal-Mart and a Borders.
I’ve looked and looked, but I can’t come up with any other major retail chains Anderson Merchandisers supplies. Probably a bunch, but I do know everytime I saw their name, Wal-Mart was mentioned in the next breath. I do wish, it would list only Wal-Mart there, though, and I also thought Sam’s Club was part of Wal-Mart.
And I will definitely be more careful with using rumors to try to make a point (even though the person from whom I heard that rumor should have been in the know). My apologies, ladies, and I’m glad to know Blaze hasn’t changed itself to suit them.
Larissa, that’s really weird about the category thing, because I think this entry came about due to my pondering of category again. (Needless to say, these numbers are for a NYT-er, so not directly related, but it all makes sense in my head. Honest.) I’ve been feeling a strong category urge of late. I love it. Love reading it, love writing it. I think the format and the length and such suit my strengths and what I want to do. The only reason I stopped trying for them (besides the fact that everytime I got close they closed the line or my editor fled) was that I didn’t want to wait 2 years between every bit of communication. After listening to me talk about this post for a while today my husband said “You’re just trying to make what you want to do into a wise business decision instead of just doing it because you want to.”
I might have nodded my head, but you have to remember I was under the influence of PVC glue.
So thank you all for spending some of your time with a writer who, once again, finds her logic flawed.
I like that actually—feeling differently on a subject coming out of a conversation than when I went in. So thanks, y’all for sharing your thoughts.
And remember: We care about your children’s safety. Please have your children sit in the carts and not stand in them. Thank you.
Sam’s Club and Wal-Mart are both owned by the same corporation, but their merchandising decisions are very different, hence they’re still considered different entities (different buyers, etc.). The book sections are NOTHING alike (”my” SuperWalmart and Sam’s are in the same strip mall dealie), except for a handful of mega-bestsellers.
FWIW, I’ve befriended the Andersen rep who stocks my Wal-Mart, and asked her if she handled the other Wal-Marts in the city (Albuquerque). Nope, just the one (that’s both books and music). We’ve had lots of chats about what moves and doesn’t, and who buys what. It’s only one store, so one can’t extrapolate too much from that single example, but it’s been very enlightening.
That store carries the entire H/S list, but she said the Love Inspireds sell so well she double stocks them. The other line that sells like hotcakes? Presents. To, as she puts it, the old ladies in the motorized chairs who buy the entire line in one fell swoop.
As a former Wal-Mart employee *g* I know that the content of the book section varies from store to store because WM stocks their products based upon demand. If a certain line or genre(or any other item) is not selling well, they won’t stock it–nothing to do with the content in the long run.
For those who aren’t WM fans, it is a hard fact to swallow about the selling power of WM, but for me personally as a reader, I realized that I tended to shop at WM b/c the covers all faced outward allowing a quick scan of everything. When I go into Borders or B&N, there are way too many books sitting on the shelves for me to get to what I want to see–especially if I don’t have as much time to browse as I’d like.
And that’s what book sales boil down to in the long run: time and convenience. Customers are already in WM and if they don’t have enough time to browse, they know that they can have a quick look at the book racks at WM and be able to grab everything they want in one swoop.
Okay, but not really, though. Because that could still play into a writer’s decision making. Taking sex totally off the table, you could still ponder whether being published in trade paperback is where you want to be, considering that if it’s not inspirational, you still probably won’t have a shot at Wal-Mart.
If you write inspriational fiction you would.
Though I was in Books-A-Million today, and I noticed that the inspriational fiction section was ALL trade paperbacks. No mass markets at all and hardly any hardcovers. So what may be going on there is that because hte inspirational demand at Walmarts is so high, and the format is trade, then they carry those.
Demographics is also somethign tot hink about. A lot of the people buying the books that most often appear in trade paperback form (chick lit and erotica and erotic romance) are NOT shopping at Walmart. Sophie Kinsella hits the NYT just fine without ever being at Walmart, because her readership of fashion-savvy young women live in densely urban places where there AREN’T Walmarts, namely, the barnes & Noble ridden isle of Manhattan.
One of the things I hear about trade paperback romances is that it gets people who DON’T usually read romances, who would never be caught dead in the romance section of a bookstore, reading romances they find on the “new releases” fron tables. From the beginning, the “Bad Boy” books in Brava were marketed WITHOUT the trademark clutch covers and with kicky, young-woman-centric covers (sexy legs sticking out of a convertible, a cutesy tank top) in order to appeal to the “Sex and the City” audience — those willing to pay 13 or 14 bucks for a book.
So maybe being in trade doesn’t help you in the Walmart dept, but is a HUGE help in getting interest from a reader demographic that would never find you if you were in mass market.
Perhaps a NYT bestselling mystery novelist in Mass Market paperback counts Walmart as one of her big bookselling outlets, but a trade apperback chick lit author or erotica author counts another bookseller as her big market — not only because Walmart doesn’t stock her books, but because her reader demographics fit a different profile of shopper. If you’re more likely to buy erotica online (as the success of Ellora’s Cave has proved) then maybe you’re more likely to buy your print erotica from Amazon.
There are a lot of ocmplicated issues that go into the format discussion, not just “am I at Walmart?” The readerships of the different formats are completely different, not only between Trade and MM, but even MORE between any paperback and hardcover. furthermore, most publishers rerelease their TP in MMP later, so regardless of that, you will eventually be in a format that’s walmart friendly, However, first you get a chance to shine on that B&N new release table…
could still ponder whether being published in trade paperback is where you want to be, considering that if it’s not inspirational, you still probably won’t have a shot at Wal-Mart.
Just thought I’d point out that in a lot of cases, the author doesn’t really have a choice about their format. That is a publisher’s decision. When my first trade came out, I knew it would never make it to Walmart because all their trade is mostly inspirational. When the decision was made to move me to mass market for my next book, while I supported that decision, it wasn’t mine to make. Anyway, I thought I’d mention that.
Shannon, your husband is a wise, wise man…
Really interesting post and comment-run.