| Fantasy is a genre where most books are | | | | paperback, and even less for mass market |
| produced by a very few (big) publishing houses in | | | | format. |
| the UK and USA. These are the houses that can | | | | Print on Demand too costly |
| afford to take the risk on large print runs | | | | So you can get your book all made up via Print |
| because they have many other titles too. They | | | | On Demand services like Lightning Source or Lulu, |
| produce a few fantasy titles (bad luck, authors) in | | | | and still be out on the bench with a product that |
| big volume. Big volume is necessary for most | | | | is 4 times the price of the competitors. I don't |
| kinds of book printing, but fantasy is the most | | | | care how good your writing is, unless you can |
| critical, certainly within fiction. | | | | make me levitate in my chair I'm not going to |
| Let's see why. I'm a fantasy fan. I won't buy a | | | | buy your one sparkly title instead of FOUR of the |
| fantasy title unless it is (a) thicker than a doorstop | | | | top fantasy authors' new releases. |
| (b) reasonably priced. I don't buy hardcovers or | | | | Low volume doesn't work |
| large format (expensive) paperbacks - I look for | | | | So I've just printed 5 000 copies of my fantasy |
| that small fat little book which opens up to a | | | | novel (in the small South African market the mark |
| world where I can get lost for days and days. | | | | of a 'Best Seller' is around 4 000 copies). Will they |
| The fatter the better. | | | | sell? Yes, I hope so, but that's not why I've |
| Mass-produced magic | | | | printed so many. I've printed that volume because |
| So to sell, the fantasy book needs to be long, | | | | if I print less than that, then the books you buy |
| most often double or triple the length of the | | | | through the bookstore, priced at current market |
| common novel. That means it costs almost three | | | | values make me nothing. (Retail price minus |
| times the amount to produce. And yet, the | | | | bookshop markup, minus the markup of the |
| average selling price for these books is very close | | | | distributor, delivery costs, development costs, |
| to that of your mainstream fiction titles. So | | | | printing costs, advertising, office, tax). Truly. I |
| you've got a product which has a low selling price | | | | could print 2000 copies of the book, market my |
| and a high cost price. The only way to get your | | | | heart out, sell all of them through the bookstores |
| cost per book down is to drive the size of the | | | | and not even get my money back. I have to go |
| print run up. Short runs or on-demand printing just | | | | big, or go home. |
| don't work when you've got a 650+ page book. | | | | Would you bet your money on magic? |
| Mass markets mean lower prices | | | | When faced with this kind of gamble, many |
| In a niche market (like non-fiction - Paragliding in | | | | publishing companies will decide to go for another |
| South Africa) you could sell a book that thick for | | | | kind of book. It may not be the quality of the |
| R350 ($50 or £24) because there is limited | | | | writing they are rejecting, it's the risk in entering |
| competition and the information has high value to | | | | the market given the minimum efficient print run |
| a small number of people. In a mass market such | | | | costs and the small unit returns. Unless they can |
| as 'fiction', even 'fantasy fiction', there are so | | | | see it selling by the tens of thousands, it just isn't |
| many wonderful books out there which your title | | | | worth it. |
| will compete with, and they dictate the price - as | | | | Thankfully there are a few publishers who are |
| set by the mass market paperback produced in | | | | prepared to take a long shot, and you can bet |
| masses. That's $15.99 or £7.99 thanks to | | | | most of them are fantasy fans. You have to |
| Harper Collins, Penguin, et al. for the trade | | | | believe in magic to make magic happen. |