Value in volumes: Books, midlists and retail
23 March 2018
There are signs of hollowing-out in the book trade: a lack of disruption at the top line obscures the fact that mid-selling breakthrough titles are becoming rarer, debuting authors is becoming more difficult and loyalty is declining
Publisher tools to overcome these trends are weakening, while self-publishing has introduced fierce competition in price, if not yet quality
To fight the tide, publishers will need to concentrate on the remaining points of differentiation, as well as preserving dedicated retail channels and changing conceptions around reader relations