The Hare, the Tortoise, and Publishing

In Aesop’s fable of The Hare and the Tortoise, these two animals agree to a race.  Everyone knows that a hare is fast while a tortoise is slow.  However, during the race, the hare decides to take a rest part way through and falls asleep.  As a result the tortoise wins the race.  Aesop’s moral in this story is “slow and steady wins the race.”  Aesop could have written this fable for small publishers.  Small publishers should model their business plan after the tortoise in this tale; slow and steady. 

Large publishing houses publish multiple books each year.  Then at the end of the year, they retire the books that did not meet their sales expectations and continue to keep the books that sold very well in circulation.  The next year they repeat this process again.  The books that sell well for the large publishing houses become their “backlist” titles.  These are the books that continue to sell year after year.  Many publishing houses make almost half of their profit off of their backlist titles.   Their remaining profits come from their new “bestsellers.” 

When small publishers follow this type of publishing plan, they inevitably fail.  Many small publishers attempt to compete with large publishing houses and end up giving up too soon on new books when the do not sell as well they hoped the first year.  Large publishing houses have the financial ability to place substantial marketing dollars behind every title they produce and to continue to publish multiple titles each year.  Most small publishers do not have the financial wherewithal to compete with the large publishers. 

For most small publishers, time, not money, is on your side.  Most of the titles small publishers produce can be sold year after year as long as the subject matter is still relevant.  Research shows that it generally takes a minimum of seven to twelve exposures to a new product before consumers will purchase.  As a small publisher, you can take advantage of the time you have to continually market your titles to build up this required exposure over time.  You do not have to have it accomplished in a year as the big publishers strive for.  Your titles may never reach bestseller status, but steady sales add up over time.

Aim for continual steady sales.  Don’t give up if your new books don’t sell as well as you expect the first year.  Continue to market, market, market.  Believe that you published the book for a purpose and that purpose is still being fulfilled.  Hang in there like the tortoise.  Slow and steady will win you the race.

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Sarah Bolme, is the author of Your Guide to Marketing Books in the Christian Marketplace (www.marketingchristianbooks.com) and the director of Christian Small Publishers Association (www.christianpublishers.net). ©2007