(no subject)

[nolly]

Dear Publishers:

What's with this hardcover debut for new authors trend? Hardcover pricing is a lot to risk on an unknown quantity. More than once, the pre-release publicity for a new author's first book has intrigued me, but when I find that the book is a hardcover, I pass. If you're lucky, by the time the softcover comes out, I remember and I'm still inteerested, but you've lost a year or so of potential buzz generation by then.

Comments

[nolly.livejournal.com]

Well, you would certainly have a more accurate view of the field than I do. I've been under the perhaps-mistaken belief that even when the retail market got a PB, there was often a library-market HB available through specialty distributors.

What it comes down to is that I would have bought Spellwright yesterday if it were a PB, but I'm not willing to commit to the HB for an unknown author.

[allaboutm-e.livejournal.com]

I suspect it may just be a number of authors of interest to you have been released in hardcover lately? You know, like when you get a new car and all at once the road seems to be filled with the same cars?

Also, some publishers, including Tor, are also debuting some authors in simultaneous trade paperback and hardcover. But not for Blake's debut.