September 29, 2003

Modern Book Doomed by Antique Industry

america247.jpg
Now how much would you pay?

Today's Wall Street Journal relates a fascinating tale about a book that should be, from all signs, a winner in U.S., Through Digital Lens

Rick Smolan and David Elliot Cohen, the creative team behind the best-selling coffee-table book "A Day in the Life of America," have rejoined forces for another book, ending a legal dispute with their former publisher and a decade of giving each other the cold shoulder.

Putting a digital spin on a publishing genre they helped define, Messrs. Smolan and Cohen are about to publish "America 24/7 ," a panoramic view of life in the U.S., as captured in more than 1,100 digital color photographs. The book, to be published next month by Pearson PLC's DK Publishing unit, is an enormously ambitious project. It distills more than 250,000 digital photographs taken during a week in May by an estimated 25,000 photographers, including 1,000 professionals outfitted with new digital cameras.

That means a "high concept" book by a team that has previously produced "a hit" coupled with a lot of grassroots' input and professional panache. It means a book produced to high values by DK, a house that knows how to make a book of pictures shine, that knows how to layout and produce a coffee table book at the top of that genre. What could possibly go wrong?

There's other good news about this book -- well, good news and bad news depending on how you look at it. First there's a digital gimmick that gives a nod to the rise of the Web in publishing: Consumers can upload a picture of their choice for the cover for only $5.99 at a web site and have a cover custom printed for their edition. Think of it, a book replete with images of America done by some of our best photographers with you picture of Aunt Nettie, Jimmy's new puppy, your sister's new baby, or your wife's great legs in brand new fishnet stockings on the cover. What's not to like about this? Second, Barnes and Noble has made this title their "lead Holiday book." Third, the publisher is claiming a print run of 400,000 copies against 320,000 orders. Fourth, a print and TV campaign is "being planned." Fifth, there will be the standard touring exhibit winding its way through the rocks and rills of middle America.

All in all, a stunning plan. What could possibly go wrong?

What could go wrong is that this is a book that is being published with a list price of $50.00. And, like so many others of its ilk, it can run aground on the shoals of instant remainderism due to the single fact that the entire trade book publishing industry simply cannot and will not look at in the clear light of day: the price of books fare exceeds their perceived value.

Perceived value is the key to the buying of books by ordinary people, and ordinary people not only think that books are overpriced, they are taught that they are overpriced by the publishing industry itself.

When a person decides whether or not to buy a book, the price is not the first thing they look at but the last. Other questions come first. Is it by an author I know? Is it about a subject that I am interested in? Is it beautiful to look at and handle? Does it promise me a great experience in reading or looking at it? If the answer is yes to those questions, the potential customer then looks for (sometimes with difficulty) the price of the book. When he finds it, the price goes into the balance not only against the level of attraction felt at that moment, but against an industry whose chief message to its customer over many decades is: "No matter what price you see here, you can get it cheaper somewhere else if you search hard enough or wait long enough." This is the magic moment in which the august industry of book publishing merges with the less august industry of the automobile sales industry. And the answer is often, "I think I'll look around a bit more" as the selected volume is slipped back on the shelf.

Book publishers know that their goods are vastly overpriced and will be more than happy to supply you with all the reasons, current and historic, for why this is so -- "it is a sale-or-return industry," "every book is a unique product," "shipping costs are out of control," paper or ink or printing or binding costs "simply cannot be contained," "magnesium futures have exploded," etc and so forth. And these things are all true. Also true are the unmentioned facts that many books are published that should never see the light of day; that many books have commanded advances that should never have been paid; and that, deep down, the book industry is saddled with a sales force and a sales machine that might have made sense when Eisenhower was President, but has absolutely nothing to do with how business is done in 21st Century America.

Nor do all these excuses alter the fact that many potential book-buyers are not at all attracted by the $25 hardcover novel, the $35.00 hardcover non-fiction release, or the $50.00 and going-up coffee table book even when you can put your own pan on the cover. When people look at most books with these asking prices they think, "Twenty-five dollars? Where?" and make a mental note to check the library or Amazon.com to see if they can get a deal. But mental notes are seldom worth the paper they are printed on and all too often they potential customer forgets the title and moves on to other items entirely. Everything the book industry has done to sell that book has come to naught through the final asking price.

America 24/7 for all the elements it has going for it will be easily rendered into another expensive failure this Holiday season through the very simple fact that it has simply priced itself out of the market. A fact that it shares with every other new book you can find on the shelves.

Posted by Vanderleun at September 29, 2003 8:58 AM
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"It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood." -- Karl Popper N.B.: Comments are moderated and may not appear immediately. Comments that exceed the obscenity or stupidity limits will be either edited or expunged.

Saw this article but didn't get to the part about the $50 list price. I liked the books's concept, and, yes, dangling that personalized digital cover was part of the appeal (thanks for the stockings idea, by the way). But you're absolutely right, the book plus the cover plus tax/shipping/handling, and pretty soon you're looking at close to $70. It will be interesting to see how it does.

Posted by: akaMonique at September 29, 2003 12:52 PM