Why ePub Won’t Kill Print

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If you haven’t noticed yet, I’ve been pretty focused on the ePublishing industry over the last few months, partly because my company is investing heavily into ePub (see the Number One Book System).

And there’s no way to talk about ePub without talking about the health of traditional print publishing. Contrary to popular belief, I’m not one of those guys who thinks that paper publishing is obsolete… and I definitely don’t want it to disappear.

In fact, there’s lots of data to suggest that the publishing model that will emerge from the digital publishing revolution will include physical books, especially hardcover titles. Why? Authors like Ken Follet and Nora Roberts are actually seeing growth in their first week print sales year over year.

JK Rowling’s first “grown up” novel, Casual Vacancy sold over 156k print copies in its first week, while No Easy Day sold a whopping 248K in its debut week. So there’s no doubt that print book sales are still big business.

The major difference between print now versus print 10 years ago is the purpose.

These days, hardcover titles serve a function that has a lot more to do with positioning that with turning a profit. Don’t get me wrong, they’re still profitable… it’s just that they’re no longer the mother lode.

The marketing value of hardcover books, novels, and guides in today’s market is all about reputation and respectability. For Rowling, best known for her outrageously popular Harry Potter series, pushing her new novel in hardcover form is all about staking her claim as a legitimate author of record — not just “the lady who wrote the stories about the wizard boy.”

Think about it. When a reality show star wants to be viewed as legitimate, what’s the first thing they do? They write a book (or have it ghostwritten, usually).

For Rowling’s next release, her publisher may not emphasize hardcover sales as dramatically, because she’s already got the legitimacy that she needs in her market. The publisher was leveraging print sales to build Rowling’s reputation.

For more established authors, print copies can serve as advertising. You could even think of hardcovers as in-store reminders that the new book is available and that avid readers should go buy it. Basically, physical copies can be leveraged to sell digital copies, which have higher profit margins.

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One Comment

1. 

   roberto

   December 26, 2012 at 7:34 pm

   its so true. i love hardcover titles

   Reply