Really interesting post and comment-run.

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.

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…

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.

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.

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.

(My youngest always says “How do they KNOW?)

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!

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!

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.