For many writers, getting a book in paperback is a measure of success. As writers we think of those books so common that you can find them in grocery stores and drug stores and airports. Books by Stephen King are everywhere. We tend to think of hardcover books as overpriced and out of reach for hoi polloi . Besides, who has room to store a bunch of hardback books? They take up valuable shelf space. If a book doesn’t come out in paperback we think of it as a failure. Publishers tend to look at it the other way around. Books are a luxury item. As much as I shudder to write this, you can live without them. Publishers know this and that’s why book prices often seem so high. I’m old enough to remember when a mass-market paperback could be purchased for just over a dollar. Mass market is almost impossible to hit. As I sit here waiting for six publishers to get back to me on my Medusa novel, I know that it won’t be mass m...
Blog of a struggling writer.