Spinning TPOs

Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer, novelist and Bookninja contributor, surveys agents, publicists, review editors, publishers, writers, booksellers, and customers “in a mad attempt to glean what is really behind … The Myth of Hardcover.”

There is a sense from the surveys answered that the consumer, given the choice, would prefer paperback. I do not think that the average book buyer is impulsive but rather that given the fact that frontlist large press books are well-hyped and, therefore, easily recollected at point of purchase, the desire for ownership, and entry into the particular mystery of that particular book, over-rides patience. At this point, the fact that hardcover fiction exists begins to feel coercive.

Create a social media strategy, launch your campaign, and track the results in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. The online event and workshop will feature speakers including The Onion‘s Baratunde Thurston (left), Facebook’s Morin Oluwole, and bitly’s Tim Devane. Register now.