King's catalog

[Rrty]

As I posted in the Skeleton Crew section, I recently picked up a paperback edition of that anthology (a new copy, so King benefitted).

The reason I picked it up now is because I was in the mood to read some of those stories since it is the month of October (I had to replace a hardcover I no longer have).

This got me thinking -- does King's catalog, maybe the earlier anthologies in particular, receive a bump in sales during October? Does each month have a particular set of titles that sell more copies than other months? Perhaps October is the month for Night Shift, as an example, while June may favor Different Seasons because of "The Body" (which is certainly a story for summer). Perhaps July is a Thinner month since that is great beach reading?

And generally speaking, what are the top ten catalog books written by King? Anyone know, or have a source?

 

[Moderator]

I doubt there would be a source with this information. There have been too many different publishers over the years to do an apples to apples comparison.

 

[carrie's younger brother]

As I posted in the Skeleton Crew section, I recently picked up a paperback edition of that anthology (a new copy, so King benefitted).

The reason I picked it up now is because I was in the mood to read some of those stories since it is the month of October (I had to replace a hardcover I no longer have).

This got me thinking -- does King's catalog, maybe the earlier anthologies in particular, receive a bump in sales during October? Does each month have a particular set of titles that sell more copies than other months? Perhaps October is the month for Night Shift, as an example, while June may favor Different Seasons because of "The Body" (which is certainly a story for summer). Perhaps July is a Thinner month since that is great beach reading?

And generally speaking, what are the top ten catalog books written by King? Anyone know, or have a source?

To answer your question in general, publishers do reissue and promote back catalog of authors at certain times of the year to help boost sales, etc. Horror at Halloween; romances at Valentine's Day; certain presidential biographies at election time; biographies of celebs when they pass away; and the like. I would assume that SK's publishers promote certain back catalog books of his at Halloween time.

 

[jchanic]

And at Christmas time. His new works make GREAT Christmas presents!

John

 

[GNTLGNT]

 

[Rrty]

Thanks for the replies. I forgot about the Christmas-present aspect...must be a bump there, indeed.

Carrie's younger brother, it's funny you say that, because maybe you are onto something. To the best of my knowledge, I had not seen a copy of Skeleton Crew at my local bookstore for a very long time; I would walk in, hoping to see it, but never would. Just the other day, there it was. Maybe because of Halloween-time? I have read that Wal-Mart sells more of certain items at different times -- the legendary example now is an increase in sales of Pop Tarts during bad weather. Who knows if Crew was on the shelf because of that reason. It was only a single copy, but I think retailers do that sometimes -- just order one copy of an item from their warehouse. (Then again...did it magically materialize on the shelf? Maybe that's a short story concept.)

I had meant to mention something else in my post but forgot. I assume something like this has been done before, but I was thinking about that paperback Stephen King Goes to the Movies (think I have the title correct). Not sure if it sold much, but I thought it was a useful idea from a business standpoint -- put several previously-published works together to create a new title out of thin air. I hope it made some money.

I wondered: could King's publisher put out a book of extracts -- as well as some complete works -- to promote his catalog? I was thinking that, to entice readers to buy his earlier works, there could be a book that has excerpts from the novels, especially passages that work as short stories/novellas on their own. For instance, the section in It that reveals the monster's italicized musings could be excerpted. The opening chapter to Thinner would be a nice introduction to that work. The Stand could be promoted by reprinting the chapter describing Flagg. The part in 'Salem's Lot about the town could be condensed into a promo for that book. Louis and Jud's walk to the pet cemetery could also be highlighted. One of the sections describing how Haven is becoming and making outsiders ill would work (The Tommyknockers). For The Body, maybe the part about the kids getting ready to go on their journey to see the corpse. Of course, some complete works could also be included. Reprinting the complete text of "Gray Matter" might help sell readers on Night Shift. Complete, or shortened, prologues could also be considered (the Needful Things prologue is a fine piece of work, certainly).

I could envision this as something entitled Stephen King: Extracts: Volume One. The cover art could be of a mad surgeon removing organs from a fully-awake, screaming person, with other people on tables awaiting their turn. Maybe every few years there could be a new volume. And to entice constant readers who have everything in such a hypothetical tome, there could be a brand new short story. Like I say, there must have been some authors who have done this, and certainly King has promoted novels with excerpts before. But maybe this could be a specifically new thing to try.

 

[kingricefan]

Don't most publishers of paperbacks do paperback re-prints whenever a new hardcover is released by their authors that are under contract with them? That's how I always thought it worked anyway- if a new reader was going to buy the new hardcover and they take it home, read it, love it, then they can go back to the bookstore and buy reprints of the authors older works.

 

[carrie's younger brother]

Don't most publishers of paperbacks do paperback re-prints whenever a new hardcover is released by their authors that are under contract with them? That's how I always thought it worked anyway- if a new reader was going to buy the new hardcover and they take it home, read it, love it, then they can go back to the bookstore and buy reprints of the authors older works.

Not necessarily brand new reprints, but they do heavily promote the back catalog. They do reprint with new covers when they want to rebrand/update an author and create interest around the release of a new hardcover.

 

[Kurben]

In my bookstore they have almost all of kings catalog in the shelves all the time. If you are King you are.... A few i havent seen, as Blockade Billy, Storm of the Century and they only had one copy of Cycle of the werewolf.

 

[AchtungBaby]

The only King paperbacks I never see in Books-A-Million (don't have many Barnes and Noble stores around here) are Dolores Claiborne and Dreamcatcher. I NEVER see those in there. Every BAM I've been to has every other King novel but those (and yes, I've checked - lol). Any reason why? Anyone else noticed this?

Sorry, guess this doesn't really pertain to the conversation at hand... But it popped in my head.

 

[Kurben]

The only King paperbacks I never see in Books-A-Million (don't have many Barnes and Noble stores around here) are Dolores Claiborne and Dreamcatcher. I NEVER see those in there. Every BAM I've been to has every other King novel but those (and yes, I've checked - lol). Any reason why? Anyone else noticed this?

Sorry, guess this doesn't really pertain to the conversation at hand... But it popped in my head.

To answer your question... They are very much on the shelves here at least. Sounds strange... Have you asked the bookstore for a reason?

 

[AchtungBaby]

To answer your question... They are very much on the shelves here at least. Sounds strange... Have you asked the bookstore for a reason?

I haven't because I own those books already and don't want to start a big thing *shrug* I noticed it one day and decided to see if they're absent in every BAM I visit. So far that's been the case.