Can publishers learn from movie studios?

Before the actual post, we have some exciting news today: rock star/ninja/literary agent Nathan Bransford landed a book deal (for his own book, not a client’s). I am excited to meet Jacob Wonderbar in a couple years.

Also, this is a must read post. I have been asked many times why I write young adult (and even a couple times when  I was going to write a “real book”). Someday I will address why I personally write YA. Until then, I am going to just say “what she said” to Mary Pearson’s thoughts on writing YA.

Now, finally, my intended post:

I have been reading a lot lately about the publishing industry facing impending doom (haven’t they been facing impending doom for, I don’t know, forever?). Well, if you have been paying attention to the movie business (and I will forgive you if you haven’t-it is not everyone’s job to stay on top of it), you know movies are still doing well. Movies just had their biggest summer of all time.

What do movies have that books don’t? They are both escapist, so that isn’t it. Movies do have the beautiful stars, but with a book you can imagine anyone you want in the roll. Books may be more expensive (if you don’t live in a big city), but they also last much longer. So maybe it isn’t a matter of what movies have that books don’t as much as it is a matter of what books have that movies don’t.

Returns. The publishing industry allows returns. This means if a bookstore WAY over-orders on a title, whatever they don’t sell to the public can be sent back to the publisher for a refund. I don’t know of any other industry that allows this. I think the publishing industry can learn a lot from the movie business.

***Disclaimer: I admit to knowing relatively little about the inner workings of publishing and returns. I don’t claim I can fix the system. These are just my rambling thoughts.***

What publishers can learn from movie studios

Let me break down for you how a movie is placed in a theatre (this is general-things are different in different situations, but this is basically it):

1. Theatre decides what film it wants to play.
2. Theatre orders the film from Studio.
3. Studio charges Theatre a guarantee-this money must be paid before the film is shipped to Theatre.
4. Studio presents the terms (percentage of Theatre’s revenue to be paid back to the studio).
5. Theatre grumbles about the terms being unfair.
6. Negotiations ensue.
7. Terms are finalized-generally they are exactly what Studio originally offered.
8. The film is shipped to Theatre. Theatre plays it for the adoring public and makes their money.
9. Theater sends Studio their percentage of the sales.
10. Everyone is happy.

So, let’s put this all in perspective:

Fabulous Cinemas in Fabulousville, Maine wants to play The Time Traveler’s Wife. Their booker calls up the Warner Brothers salesperson and says, “we need to date Time Traveler in Fabulousville for next Friday”.

“Great, I’ll put you in,” says the salesperson, “terms will be 51.5% with a $1500 guarantee.”

“Not a chance! That is not a 50% film.”

They argue. In the end, terms are finalized at 51.5% (this is a trend-Studio rarely budges).

The fabulous people at Fabulous Cinemas send Warner Brothers $1500, and in return Warner Brothers sends them the movie.

Fabulous Cinemas plays The Time Traveler’s Wife for all the fabulous citizens of Fabulousville. They rake in the dough.

At the end of the movie’s run, Fabulous Cinemas send 51.5% of all their profits to Warner Brothers. If they didn’t sell many tickets, well bummer, the studio is not going to cover that!

So, how does this apply to publishing?

Well, for all I know, it can’t. But, just for fun, let’s pretend it can. Here’s how that would look:

1. Awesome Bookstore in Awesometown, Illinois wants to sell Paranormalcy.
2. Awesome Bookstore orders their copies of Paranormalcy from HarperTeen.
3. HarperTeen charges Awesome Bookstore a guarantee-this is the cheapest level they can sell them to the store.
4. HarperTeen presents the terms (the percentage of each sale Awesome Bookstore has to give to HarperTeen)
5. Awesome Bookstore grumbles about the terms being unfair.
6. Negotiations ensue.
7. Terms are finalized-they are exactly what HarperTeen originally offered.
8. HarperTeen ships the copies of Paranormalcy to Awesome Bookstore. The citizens of Awesometown, Illinois rush to get their books and Awesome Bookstore makes their money.
9. Awesome Bookstore sends HarperTeen their percentage of the money.
10. Everyone is happy.

Notice how there is no #11 saying “Awesome Bookstore” sends any copies that didn’t sell back to HarperTeen. HarperTeen eats the cost of unsold copies.” That is because returning the books to the publisher is not an option! Awesome Bookstore is now held accountable for their rampant over-ordering.

Will this model work for publishing. Who knows? I certainly don’t.

And I have officially rambled for way to long. Anyone still reading this?

Bueller…Bueller…Bueller?