Midlist is a term in the publishing industry which refers to books which are not bestsellers but are strong enough to economically justify their publication (and likely, further purchases of future books from the same author). The vast majority of total titles published are midlist titles, though they represent a much smaller fraction of total book sales, which are dominated by bestsellers and other very popular titles.
Authors who consistently publish profitable but not bestselling books are referred to as Midlist authors.
United Statesedit
In the US, midlist and backlist publications were negatively affected by the US Supreme Court decision in the 1979 case Thor Power Tool Company v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue. This decision reinterpreted rules for inventory depreciation, changing how book publishers had to account for unsold inventory each year, and their ability to depreciate it. Because stocks of unsold books could no longer be written down without proof of value, it became more efficient tax-wise for companies to simply destroy inventory.
The Thor decision caused publishers and booksellers to be much quicker to destroy stocks of poorly-selling books in order to realize a taxable loss. These books would previously have been kept in stock but written down to reflect the fact that not all of them were expected to sell.[1] This has been somewhat mitigated by the development of online bookselling, which makes less popular titles more accessible to average readers. (For more on this phenomenon, see The Long Tail.)
Because this book is out of print, the publisher has an opening on its list, more cash to invest, and a serious need to replace the steady (if small) income stream that book would have generated. So the publisher must release not only the new title it would have published anyway, but a second new one, to make up for its lack of a backlist... This results in title proliferation, which itself promotes both lower advance orders on the part of major buyers, and a higher return rate. That means writers must write more, and sell more often, in order to survive.[2]
Referencesedit
^"How Thor Power Hammered Publishing". 5 January 2005.
^"How Thor Power Hammered Publishing". 5 January 2005.
January 01, 1970
midlist, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, sources, news, newspapers, books, scholar, jstor, august, 2014, lear. This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Midlist news newspapers books scholar JSTOR August 2014 Learn how and when to remove this message Midlist is a term in the publishing industry which refers to books which are not bestsellers but are strong enough to economically justify their publication and likely further purchases of future books from the same author The vast majority of total titles published are midlist titles though they represent a much smaller fraction of total book sales which are dominated by bestsellers and other very popular titles Authors who consistently publish profitable but not bestselling books are referred to as Midlist authors United States editIn the US midlist and backlist publications were negatively affected by the US Supreme Court decision in the 1979 case Thor Power Tool Company v Commissioner of Internal Revenue This decision reinterpreted rules for inventory depreciation changing how book publishers had to account for unsold inventory each year and their ability to depreciate it Because stocks of unsold books could no longer be written down without proof of value it became more efficient tax wise for companies to simply destroy inventory The Thor decision caused publishers and booksellers to be much quicker to destroy stocks of poorly selling books in order to realize a taxable loss These books would previously have been kept in stock but written down to reflect the fact that not all of them were expected to sell 1 This has been somewhat mitigated by the development of online bookselling which makes less popular titles more accessible to average readers For more on this phenomenon see The Long Tail Because this book is out of print the publisher has an opening on its list more cash to invest and a serious need to replace the steady if small income stream that book would have generated So the publisher must release not only the new title it would have published anyway but a second new one to make up for its lack of a backlist This results in title proliferation which itself promotes both lower advance orders on the part of major buyers and a higher return rate That means writers must write more and sell more often in order to survive 2 References edit How Thor Power Hammered Publishing 5 January 2005 How Thor Power Hammered Publishing 5 January 2005 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Midlist amp oldid 1184555524, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
