The low price of mass market paperbacks was cited as the principal reason why the segment posted a surprising 11.7% sales increase in 2002, interviews with five mass market paperback publishers found.
David Shanks, president of Penguin USA, said the increase in mass market paperback sales reflected the larger picture in retail, where customers abandoned higher-ticket items for less expensive products. "People didn't want to give up reading, but after they looked at their 401(k) statements, they were looking to save money," Shanks theorized. Michael Morrison, publisher of HarperCollins's Morrow/Avon division, expressed similar thoughts. "With more white-collar people out of work, the affordability of mass market paperbacks became a major attraction," he said. Gina Centrello, president and publisher of the Random House Ballantine Publishing Group, observed that paperbacks "let people buy brand names at affordable prices."
Ballantine, Penguin and Avon all had double-digit sales growth in the paperback segment last year. But perhaps the best year was turned in by St. Martin's, where Matthew Shear, publisher of mass market paperbacks, said paperback sales were up by nearly 20%. He cited not only the affordability factor, but solid sell-through in a number of different sales channels for the strong performance. "It's called mass market because it's still the best way to reach the masses," Shear observed. St. Martin's did very well at mass merchandisers, where Shear said buyers are "willing to try authors on the rise." St. Martin's also did better in 2002 at Borders and Barnes & Noble, which Shear attributed in part to several years of effort in improving St. Martin's hard/ soft publishing program. Shear said sales through the ID market were stable.
Morrison also said sales through mass merchandisers, price clubs and the chains increased in 2002 over 2001, while Shanks said sales at airport stores were up over a year ago. Simon & Schuster CEO Jack Romanos said sales at supermarkets improved in 2002 and added that, while sales through the chains "were better" in 2002, "it still is a hard market" to penetrate.
Movie Tie-in Hits
In addition to price points, publishers credited a number of successful movie tie-ins for improving sales. At the top of the list were paperbacks tied to The Lord of the Rings films. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, with 2.8 million copies sold, was the second bestselling mass market paperback in 2002, trailing only John Grisham's The Summons. The Fellowship of the Rings and The Hobbit both sold more than 1.7 million copies each of movie tie-in editions. "The entire Tolkien backlist did very well," Centrello said.
At Penguin, Shanks noted, "we sold a lot of [Tom] Clancy," led by the movie tie-in to The Sum of All Fears. And Shanks said—in a remark several other publishers could also make—"Thank God for Nora Roberts." The prolific Roberts penned three two-million—plus paperbacks for Penguin's Jove imprint as well as bestsellers for Harlequin and Bantam. New promotional efforts for Robert Ludlum's backlist and solid sales of Janet Evanovich titles helped drive sales at St. Martin's, Shear said. Morrison said that in addition to steady sales in the reliable paperback genres of romance and mystery, Avon did well with health and fitness, led by Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution, which sold more than 963,000 copies last year. Avon also benefited from a new dedicated mass market sales force. Pocket's paperback sales were led by Mary Higgins Clark, Jude Deveraux and Julie Garwood.
One of the most encouraging trends in 2002 was that the sales gains appeared to be driven by unit growth. "Our increase was pure units. We had no help from inflation," said Romanos, who added that the top price for a paperback, $7.99, will likely remain in place for at least another year, a prediction with which other publishers agreed. Ballantine is hoping to make price work in its favor this year by continuing a practice of offering selected titles from authors for a limited period at $3.99. The program worked well in the past with such authors as John Saul. Ballantine will offer two Kristin Hannah titles at $3.99 this April and two Suzanne Brockman titles at the same price in the summer. The publisher is considering a similar promotion for Anne Rice in the fall.
While the mass market paperback segment still faces challenges—more hardcovers being reprinted as trade paperbacks, the continuing battle for shelf space—most publishers feel the category is poised for another good year. 2002 "wasn't a fluke," Shear said, and Morrison concurred: "I don't see any reason why growth can't continue in 2003." Romanos, noting the long history of slow growth, said simply, "I hope 2002 wasn't a blip."
