Surprising Facts About Publishing

From the time I was young I knew I was destined to be a writer. I wasn’t certain what kind of writer, and in fact I explored a variety of genres before settling on writing historical novels. But because I knew what I wanted for my career, I began researching the publishing industry from an early age. I read dozens of books by editors, agents and professional writers, but it wasn’t until I came face to face with my own novel’s publication process that I began learning some surprising facts about the publishing industry.

Cover art
Readers often assume that an author has a significant amount of say in what their cover art looks like. It would seem only reasonable that after toiling for years on a six hundred page manuscript that an author would get to choose what face it will present to the world. Just as you wouldn’t take your child to be photographed at a professional studio with their hair standing on end and their trousers dirty, it is only logical to assume that a writer would get to “dress up” their child for presentation, choosing the colors and appearance of their cover art with care. The truth of the matter is, however, that writers are only minimally consulted about cover art. At the beginning of the publication process, an author might be requested to submit a few words about what they envision the cover art to be. If it’s historical fiction and the subject was an historical personage, they might be requested to provide a photograph and asked what accessories and clothes the person might have worn. But besides this, there is very little control that an author has over their cover. Once the author sees the colors, layout and image of their cover three to five months into the publication process, they may be asked their opinion about it, but ultimately it is the bookstores that have the trump card. If a Barnes and Nobles representative dislikes the art, for example, it may be back to the drawing board. But if an author dislikes their cover art because the protagonist has the wrong hair color or is wearing an historically inaccurate piece, the chances of a cover being changed might only be determined by the author’s clout.

Co-op space
Before a novel is released, several important decisions will be made ahead of time that will significantly affect an author’s chance of having their book picked up by a customer in a bookstore. One of these decisions is whether or not the publisher will be purchasing co-op space on behalf of the book. Co-op means cooperative advertising space that publishers pay for. These are places in bookstores that see high traffic such as end caps, new release tables in the front of the shop and store windows. It’s a widespread misconception that bookstore employees select the titles they want to feature in the store window or on the aisle tables based on the selections they personally prefer. However, co-op placement is very selective and is also based on how the store projects a particular book will sell. All of this is decided up to six months before publication, so that before a book even hits the shelves its visibility to customers is already predetermined. This doesn’t mean that books without co-op space are doomed, or that books with co-op space are launched into sudden bestseller status. It simply means that when a customer walks into a bookstore, just like when a shopper goes into a grocery store, product placement is never a haphazard decision.

Spine out
Not only do retailers sell the placements on aisles and at the front of the store, they also sell the privilege of having a book face out. This means that a book’s cover is facing out to the consumer rather than spine out. In a market where everything is judged by its cover, face-out can be exceptionally important. Publishing representatives negotiate face-out, end-cap and aisle space with bookstore buyers for what is often periods of two to four weeks. Like real estate, it’s all about location, and a savvy author will try to time their book tour or publicity-blitz to coincide with this two to four week placement.

Time until release
When publishers talk about release dates, they may mean one of four things. Publication date, on-sale date, laydown date, shipping date. The publication date is when the book is going to be produced and released to the media. It is generally after ARCs have been printed and sent out to reviewers. The on-sale date is when your book is expected to be in the retail stores. This usually occurs a few days after the shipping date. The lay-down date is similar to the on-sale date, except that it is coordinated. For example, with major releases like Harry Potter, publishers want to make sure that the book is not released until a specific day, and the publisher may actually require retailers to sign an agreement to not sell a book before this specified day.

Tours
Little known fact of book tours: unless you are a bestseller, the average midlist author sells approximately eight books per store. Eight! More on this to come!