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"Literary Novels Going Straight to Paperback," by Ed Wyatt, the Times, today:

Even critically acclaimed literary novels often have a short shelf life in hardcover, with one-half to three-quarters of the books shipped to stores often being returned to the publisher, unsold.

That has a growing number of publishing companies, from smaller houses like Grove/Atlantic to giants like Random House, adopting a different business model, offering books by lesser-known authors only as "paperback originals," forgoing the higher profits afforded by publishing a book in hardcover for a chance at attracting more buyers and a more sustained shelf life.

"Turmoil in the Racks: The Second Paperback Revolution," by Edwin McDowell, the Times, Sept. 29, 1985:

"Today it's a lot of mini-markets," said Carole Baron, publisher of Dell Publishing Company. "Every once in a while a book appeals to almost all segments of the reading public, a Danielle Steel or Stephen King, but not too many others do. Gone are the days when we would sell six million copies in six months."...

The result is that paperback publishing today is an abundant smorgasbord, with books for every conceivable taste....

It may be years, if ever, before mainstream books by big-name writers appear first in paperback, as they do in large parts of Europe and Latin America. But American publishers have taken tentative steps in this direction by issuing novels by such writers as Jerzy Kosinski and Tom Robbins in simultaneous hard-cover and trade paperback editions, the higher-priced paperbacks sold almost exclusively in bookstores. And they are publishing exclusively in paperback a good many titles that they might not otherwise not risk publishing at all — books about women's issues, books aimed at younger audiences and at minority readers.

Literary Novels Going Straight to Paperback [NYT]
Turmoil in the Racks: The Second Paperback Revolution [NYTS]