Royalties

And yes, I agree that a hardcover debut is problematical. The sales loses the people who buy the book because they already know they love the author’s work.
Good luck on getting enough copies sold to warrant a larger paperback publication. Your book does sound interesting.

I don’t get the claim about advertising the backlist, though. Instead of hoping someone will see the hardcover, decide it sounds interesting but too expensive, and go check for paparbacks by the same author, why not… Make the new book on the shelf a paperback to begin with, so the person seeing it could just buy it straight? And then maybe go for more if they liked it.

Authors on my buy on publication (whether us or uk, whichever publication comes first)list as of now are:

established (3+ books)- D. Weber, P. Hamilton, R. Morgan, N. Asher, J.Ringo, A. Reynolds, J. Robson, J. Wright, A. Roberts, S. Williams, R. Levy, P. Watts, J. Meaney, IM Banks, K. McLeod, J. McDevitt, S. Bakker, WJ Williams, W. Barton, RC Wilson, JC Grimwood, MJ Harrison, J. Lovegrove, H. Hendrix + G. Turner of which this applied when living (I own pretty much all the original sf&f novels written by these authors, mostly in first editions)

new (1-2 sf&f bks)- S. Swainston, KJ Bishop, DL Edelman, R. Buettner, J. Abercrombie, S. Lynch, Th. Judson, J. Grimsley, T. Ballantyne, Gary Gibson, Alan Campbell

I am also always happy to try a new author, usually if an excerpt is available it is enough to decide me, if not, I look at reviews, read a little at B&N or Borders, if available, or just on a guess for uk books. I was rarely dissapointed doing this and I discovered almost all the uk authors mentioned above this way, taking a chance and ordering from there.

Liviu

Mass market: 6% to 150,000, 8% thereafter.

Hardcover: 10% on the first 5,000, 12.5% on the next 5,000, and 15% thereafter.

Trade Paperback: 6% on the first 25,000, 7% on the next 25,000, and 8 % thereafter.

There is a lot of other math involved to determine 10% of what exactly, but ignoring all that you can figure $2.50 a pop for the hardbacks and 60 cents for the paperbacks.

None of which figures into your reading enjoyment. It’s the same book no matter the size or rigidity of the package. Well, you know what I mean. When you buy a hardcover you get to read it sooner and the book will last long enough for you to pass it along to your grandkids.

The reason they make hardcovers is at least partly to advertise the author’s backlist. You see the latest hardcover on the shelf, big as life, and you read the cover copy and say “Sounds good, but 25 bucks? I wonder if she’s got any paperbacks.” Then you scan down the shelf and there they are.

RADIO FREEFALL is my first novel, so there will be no paperbacks down the shelf. What makes someone decide to shell out $25 to read a novel by an author they’ve never heard of? I wish I knew. Not only do I want to get my grubby hands on that $2.50, but if the hardcover doesn’t sell there will be no mass market paperback. And then we’ll both be screwed. Me more so than you, of course.

If you consider an average trade price $14 or $15 and the average hardback price $25, that’s a difference for the author of a couple bucks a book. Someone who’s actually in the publishing field could back me up here.

Of course, I think there are differing levels of support one can offer a favorite author. There are a lot more authors who I buy in trade paperback than hardback, simply because my bank account only has so much moolah in it.

The other thing one has to think about in terms of support is that buying an author in hardback boosts that author’s numbers earlier — which can translate into a better paperback reprint deal, more attention, more foreign rights sales, a better deal on the next book, fame, fortune, chicks, etc.

But hey, listen… I can’t imagine any author would complain about someone buying their book in a cheaper format. You’re not a second class fan if you’ve got a bunch of used mass markets instead of pristine hardcovers. Just buy ‘em, that’s what I (and I assume, most authors) say.

(Oh, and for the record… Infoquake debuted in trade paper.)

Add to that the fact that hardcovers are indeed much more cumbersome, and take a lot more of shelf space (I’ve a medium-small library, and a small and growing four-digit number of books. Hardcovers would have filled the entire room), and they’re even less worth it as long as you don’t enjoy the feel, or like to see them standing straight in the library.

Since I mostly want books for the content (that’s the part the author is responsible for, BTW) buying a hardcover means to me paying a lot more, to get a an inferior product. I don’t mind showing my support, but as most of it is not going to the author anyway…

Now, if the good writers (i.e. those I personally really like) would provide some “Think you would have paid even more for my recent book you read? Donate here!” option, that may be a more valid option to show direct support. But that’s a whole other can of worms.

Other than that, though, when buying a book I’m buying a book, not a vote of support, so I should pay for what I get from the book, not other things. If I can buy another book, or two, for the same price, well, IMNSHO there’s no competition.

Re: Hardbacks – I always buy the hc if there’s one available, but am aware that’s not everyone’s choice.