At 1:42 AM -0400 30/10/2000, Tarr, Kevin wrote:
>Just for fun: when a movie is bad sometimes it goes 'straight to video' or
>worse 'straight to Cinemax' instead of theaters. Do books ever go 'straight
>to paperback?'
Yup. I know ths happens, but I'm not completely clear on when, nowadays...
I know that for very new authors, they sometimes do this (when the risk of
putting out a hardcover doesn't seem warranted) and I think sometimes even
with more established but medium-selling authors it sometimes happens.
Another trend that's increasing is the release of books in all 3 formats,
instead of just two. It used to be that novels often jumped from hardcover
to pocket paperback. Now, especially with some authors (such as Wally Lamb,
thanks to Auntie Oprah), it stays in hardback a LONG time, then goes to
trade paper, and then eventually goes to pocket paperback (if ever). Trade
paper, they seem to be realizing, is a really strong moneymaking format for
books that aren't available in paperback, because people seem more willing
to just buy it and pay the extra (often double or more) just to *get* the
damned book.
Also, I've seen some books come out directly in trade paper first, skipping
hardcover. I guess these would be the in-between authors, where hardcover
is unwarranted but direct to paperback is a little insulting or a miss-out
on the eager fans of the minor author. (The books about _Newton's Cannon_
and _A Calculus of Angels_ by someone named Keynes ring a bell, I remember
only ever seeing those in trade paper -- though I could be off on that).
Finally, some books are now being rereleased in trade paper format, such as
Bear's _Blood Music_, Poul Anderson's _The Time Patrol_ (with all the Time
Patrol stuff, both short and long, in one book) or Sterling's _Schismatrix
Plus_ (has the novel and the short stories in one trade paper volume). This
must be an older practice that is regaining popularity (if it ever lost it)
though, as I have in my to-read pile a 1972 rerelease of two Stapledon
novels in one trade paper volume.
