Sara Ann Freed, executive editor of the Mysterious Press, owned by Warner Books, says promising mystery writers these days get a lot less time to find their audience. When I started out, an author could have eight books that were so-so. Take the case of Catherine Aird, a writer of traditional British detective novels, a type of mystery that consistently sells well but seldom produces blockbusters. Aird's backlist is out of print in the United States. The controversy over killing off authors' backlists is particularly important in crime fiction, since many novels feature characters that readers follow from book to book.
Booksellers know that if all titles in a detective series are available, every title sells better.
As a result, the job of keeping a backlist in print for a good but not bestselling writer will increasingly fall to regional and smaller presses. Barbara Peters, owner of Poisoned Pen, a mystery bookstore in Scottsdale, Ariz., decided that if the big publishers weren't going to keep Dorothy Simpson, another traditional British detective writer, in print, she would. Too Often, a new Simpson novel based on her series detective, Luke Thanet. She Died, an older title with the same character. The work of small publishers like Peters is being closely watched by the large publishing houses.