paperback format subsequently morphed into three separate formats with different dimensions and properties. The A format, 110 mm × 178 mm, commonly called the mass-market paperback, is typically used for books aimed at a wide readership; they are printed on cheap paper, sold at low prices and distributed through a wide range of retail outlets, including supermarkets and drug stores as well as bookstores. The B format, slightly larger in size at 130 mm × 198 mm, is used for more literary authors, while the C format, at 135 mm × 216 mm, is the same size as many hardbacks. Both B- and C-format paperbacks are typically printed on a higher-quality paper and sold at higher price points than the mass-market paperbacks; both are commonly referred to as trade paperbacks, to distinguish them from the mass-market paperbacks in the A format.
When there is more than one format available for delivering the same content to consumers and the pricing of the formats varies significantly, then the timing or phasing of the formats becomes important – in the business, this is known as ‘windowing’. In Anglo-American trade publishing, a book could potentially move through three phases or windows: it would typically start life as a trade hardback, with a list price in the region of $25–$35, depending on the size and the kind of book it is. Around 12–18 months later, it might be released as a trade paperback in a B or C format, depending again on the type of book, and priced in the region of $14–$17. And then, depending again on what kind of book it is, it could subsequently be released as a mass-market paperback in A format and priced under $10. But not all books follow this pattern: a book could go from a trade hardback to trade paperback and never be released as a mass-market paperback; or it could go from trade hardback directly into mass-market paperback; or it could be published initially as a trade paperback (a ‘paperback original’, as it’s sometimes called), without being published in hardback at all – there are many possible permutations. The publisher can use these different formats to maximize revenues and margins, target the book at different readerships and prolong the selling life of the book.
In the period from 2008 to 2012, when ebooks were taking off in Anglo-American trade publishing, it wasn’t clear whether ebooks would eclipse print books altogether, at least in some categories, and, if they did, what implications that would have for the form of the book – whether it would open the way for books to be reconfigured in some fundamental way. As it turned out, however, ebooks remained tied to print books – ebook files were just another output of the production process, along with the print-ready files that were produced for the printer. The content was essentially the same; what differed was the packaging, the delivery mechanism and the price. Many publishers experimented with creating ebooks in which the content was modified in some way – we’ll examine some of these experiments in the next chapter – but for the most part these experiments proved unsuccessful and the kind of ebook that came to prevail was the ebook that replicated the content of the print book but made it available as a digital file to be read on a screen, rather than as a print-on-paper book. In other words, the ebook became another format.
If indeed it is the case that ebooks are another format rather than a new form of the book, then the implications of this for the publishing industry are significant. Publishers know how to work with formats: there is nothing new, as we have seen, about the invention of new formats, and, despite initial resistance and anxieties that may run high, they are generally adept at integrating new formats into the array of options that are available to them to package and deliver their content to consumers. Ebooks simply become another revenue stream into which publishers can tap, in precisely the same way that, in previous decades, they tapped into the new revenue streams created by cheap paperback editions, whether these were mass-market paperbacks or trade paperbacks.
But if ebooks are best understood as another format, as I believe they are, then it is also important to see that this is a new format that comes with an array of special features, some of which have real advantages for publishers. First and foremost, the cost of sales is much lower than for printed books because nothing has to be printed and stored in a warehouse and there are no shipping costs (although there are real distribution costs, a fact often overlooked by those outside the industry). Just as importantly, there are no returns – that wasteful aspect of the traditional trade publishing supply chain simply doesn’t exist in the ebook world. Prices are typically lower and royalties are typically higher on ebooks, but the savings more than compensate for the lower prices and higher royalties, with the result that publishers’ profitability improves. Moreover, the shopping experience is now 24/7 and readers can get books virtually instantaneously if they’re happy to read them on a screen – no need to wait for a bookstore to open or wait for a book to be delivered by post.
We find some support for the idea that ebooks are a new format (rather than a new form) if we look at the sales patterns of ebooks in relation to print formats at Olympic. Table 1.7 and figures 1.11a and 1.11b show sales by book format at Olympic in the period between 2006 and 2016, first by units and then by dollars, as a percentage of total sales. What these figures show is that the steep rise of ebooks in the period between 2008 and 2012 was accompanied by a substantial decline in the sales of mass-market paperbacks, both by units and by dollars: mass-market paperbacks declined from 24% of units and 15% of revenue in 2006 and 2007 to a mere 10% of units and 6% of revenue in 2016. By contrast, neither the hardback nor the trade paperback formats experienced such severe decline. Hardcover units remained fairly stable at around 25%; they dipped in 2012 to as low as 18% but then recovered, returning to 25% in 2015 and rising to 32% in 2016 – higher than it had been at any time in the previous decade. Hardcover revenue was accounting for 40% of overall revenue in 2006; this fell to 25% in 2012 but then rebounded to 32% in 2015 and 43% in 2016 – again, higher than it had been at any time in the previous decade. Trade paperback unit sales declined from 40% in 2008 to 33% in 2013 but then rebounded, climbing back up to 38% by 2016. Similarly, trade paperback dollar sales declined from 37% in 2008 to 27% in 2013, rising back to 31% in 2016.
Table 1.7 Sales in percentages by format, units and dollars at Olympic, 2006–2016
| Ebooksunits | Ebooks$ | Hardcoverunits | Hardcover$ | Trade paperbackunits | Trade paperback$ | Mass marketunits | Mass market$ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 40 | 38 | 35 | 24 | 15 |
| 2007 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 36 | 38 | 37 | 24 | 15 |
| 2008 | 0 | 1 | 24 | 38 | 40 | 37 | 23 | 15 |
| 2009 | 2 | 3 | 26 | 41 | 39 | 35 | 20 | 13 |
