Overread
Searching for a flower
So one thing that is surprising that I've only come to appreciate in more recent months is that many authors are famous for a very tiny amount of actual publications. Even those authors that put out huge volumes of varied work can often only be famous and expect big sales on one or maybe two series. Even a huge name like Terry Pratchett is famous just for his Discworld novels and you can ask many a die-hard Pratchett fan who might have no idea of his other works (especially earlier works).
And there's few authors famous for so little as Tolkien; indeed he's famous for just 4 books. The Hobbit and the Trilogy of Lord of the Rings (which is in truth one book broken into 3 segments). Although one could count the Silmarillion as many a fan will have a copy even if its just to own it and it sits upon the shelf only part read as Dorin Son of Dalin Son of Davin turned them away from going further.
And yet his estate is still strong today, his legacy is still mighty. Now there's more to it than just his books; there's his whole mythology he built; but it still serves to remind that the vast bulk of sales of books are likely still those same core books resold over and over. Indeed it almost feels like every year there's a new edition of the core books released with a new artist having drawn a new cover and a few new insert bits of artwork within the pages.
So I wonder if modern authors and publishers are not missing a trick here. That there is not a market to be tapped into by re-releasing the core works not just with a new cover art but with new content in the form of artwork or other supporting content within the novel itself.
We've seen a few try having artbooks and supplemental publications (GRRM has a few already for his Game of Thrones); but in an age where there are more artists than ever and where the internet makes communication much easier I wonder why its only the biggest of names that get or even seem to try for this kind of attention.
With selfpublishing and with many readers having colour screens (basically all your non-eink at this point in time) and with even vanity or self published paperbacks/hardbacks and with services such as kickstarter which can be used to generate pre-order sales to help produce one-off releases ; with all this in the mix I wonder why are not seeing a bigger drive toward this kind of marketing.
Granted this requires more investment; but the way I see it its a way to tap into new sales and also to tap into existing customers keen to support their favoured authors and also keen to own quality products that go beyond just text typed upon pages.
And there's few authors famous for so little as Tolkien; indeed he's famous for just 4 books. The Hobbit and the Trilogy of Lord of the Rings (which is in truth one book broken into 3 segments). Although one could count the Silmarillion as many a fan will have a copy even if its just to own it and it sits upon the shelf only part read as Dorin Son of Dalin Son of Davin turned them away from going further.
And yet his estate is still strong today, his legacy is still mighty. Now there's more to it than just his books; there's his whole mythology he built; but it still serves to remind that the vast bulk of sales of books are likely still those same core books resold over and over. Indeed it almost feels like every year there's a new edition of the core books released with a new artist having drawn a new cover and a few new insert bits of artwork within the pages.
So I wonder if modern authors and publishers are not missing a trick here. That there is not a market to be tapped into by re-releasing the core works not just with a new cover art but with new content in the form of artwork or other supporting content within the novel itself.
We've seen a few try having artbooks and supplemental publications (GRRM has a few already for his Game of Thrones); but in an age where there are more artists than ever and where the internet makes communication much easier I wonder why its only the biggest of names that get or even seem to try for this kind of attention.
With selfpublishing and with many readers having colour screens (basically all your non-eink at this point in time) and with even vanity or self published paperbacks/hardbacks and with services such as kickstarter which can be used to generate pre-order sales to help produce one-off releases ; with all this in the mix I wonder why are not seeing a bigger drive toward this kind of marketing.
Granted this requires more investment; but the way I see it its a way to tap into new sales and also to tap into existing customers keen to support their favoured authors and also keen to own quality products that go beyond just text typed upon pages.
