Starting with Shaun Hutson

[Jojo Lapin X]

Sept 23, 2015 17:08:15 GMT andydecker said:

Sept 23, 2015 4:38:24 GMT pulphack said:

The problem is that his mass market days were already over in terms of larger publishers as they seem driven to big sales or nothing, with no inbetween point, whereas writers like Hutson are now in their niche market with the faithful but not really likely to pick up many new fans. That's just how it goes, and often absolutely no reflection on the writer and their work.

Is this just an unfounded impression or is horror in the mass market again on the decline? Not necessarily in Hutson's case, but when things like Best New Horror apparently doesn't sell enough any longer to merit a tradepaperback.

  

Short story anthologies (i.e., books that collect stories from many different authors) have always been problematic from a marketing point of view. An anthology ideally should have a story by Stephen King in it to be profitable.

[pulphack]

Andy - I wasn't thinking specifically of horror writers per se - you can see that a lot of once middling famous and midlist staple crime writers have also made similar moves. Big publishers need big profit as big machines; smaller publishers have smaller margins, but also they don't have shareholders breathing down their necks. I've always looked at it as the bigger the engine of dissemination, the more it will cost to operate, and so the greater the need for maximising profit margins.

Jojo - completely agree. Anthologies are not natural best-sellers unless they have a mega name to connect with the mass audience. They might be slow-burners, but the problem with slow-burners is that they don't always earn quickly enough for the big machines.

[andydecker]

Sept 23, 2015 19:00:34 GMT pulphack said:

Andy - I wasn't thinking specifically of horror writers per se - you can see that a lot of once middling famous and midlist staple crime writers have also made similar moves. Big publishers need big profit as big machines; smaller publishers have smaller margins, but also they don't have shareholders breathing down their necks. I've always looked at it as the bigger the engine of dissemination, the more it will cost to operate, and so the greater the need for maximising profit margins.

We have similar developments, especially in crime novels. A long time ago crime novels used to be published in special imprints only by the mass market publishers and mainly in paperback. Hardcover crime was reserved for the really big names only. Nowadays crime novels are published only in the mainstream, both in paperback and hc, gone are the days of numbering and the good old crime cover. And the supply is seemingly getting bigger every year. (Which seems the be the same in the UK and the US. J Kingston Pierce listed over 300 new releases for fall/winter 2015 in The Rap Sheet. Who buy this?)

But there are a few newish small publishers doing only crime novels. The problem is that the customer has to look for them and they mainly serve the niche.   

[gjkendall]

Not read a Sean Hutson book in years...I do recall he seems to love including sphincter release somewhat frequently.

[dem bones]

.... and 'sputum.' Sputum was absolutely massive with Mr. Slug circa The Skull.

[franklinmarsh]

'Mucoid' was my fave.