Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Hardcover Vs. Paperback

I was going through my favorite editor and agent blogs today, and found an old post of Moonrat's that got me thinking.
She had a delimma: should her debut novelist's book come out in hardcover or as a trade paperback?


It was fascinating, because I'd never really sat down and thought before about the pros and cons of either--I just figured when the time came, my Awesome Future Editor would tell me what the house was thinking of going with and I'd say "Hooray!" no matter what.

However, Moonrat laid out that for some authors, coming out only in paperback makes them Sad Pandas because they feel that their book is being slighted and won't be reviewed as widely.

BUT in this economy, are people really buying hardcovers? I know I don't unless it's something I've read in paperback and want to collect and preserve for all time. Those things are expensive!

Yet their expensive-ness is what makes them three times as profitable... WHAT TO DO??

Sell more paperbacks, but run the risk of not creating good review buzz? Or sell fewer hardcovers, and run the risk of their never being a paperback run because your publishing house is saddened by your awful, tiny, puny, microscopic sales numbers?

What do you guys think? Which would you go with if you had the choice?

Cloth or paper?

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