Evening star., 1948-12-05

- list. What you needed in the
house during this year of ris-
Sfng production costs and buyer re-
sistance to increased book prices
was something in the way of either
wealthy maiden aunt or a fairy
godmother. The maiden aunt would
be, of.course, am unglamorous but
steady-selling blacklist; the fairy
godmother would take the shape Of
subsidiary rights like book club se-
lection, movie sales and serializa-
ton.
A random survey of New York
publishing firms this fan discloses
that while book sales are we'll up
over prewar level, manufacturing ex-
penses have sent profits a-glimmer-
ing. At the same time, publishers
do not dare raise book prices be-
cause. as one editor put it, "a man
can stop buying books and still not
give up reading"
The recession in the book busi-
ness, as compared with the boom
ing war years, is hardly news any
more. 1t began at the end of 1946,
a sad season when bookstores were
stuffed with the over-hopeful pur-
chases of a lush year and publishers
We're dut1tully printing manuscripts
That had been contracted for dur
ing peak period when it seemed
That the American public couldn't
get enough to read.
But in 1948, when sales volume
for many houses dipped discourage
ingly, publishers faced the fact that
hnnPvnannf1 r,tf
reader was irretrievably over.
What has happened to these ON
nivorous legions who caused at least
SIX novels published in 1946 to pass
the 100000 sales mark?
They've gone back to the movies
or the golf links" said one publisher
dryly.
That is, in way, the situation.
The housebound reader of the war
years, who had no gas for travelling
and no gadgets to buy with his time
and-a-haf wages now finds that the
price OF beefsteak and of shoes for
Junior takes most of his pay. His
spare cash is hotly contested for by
any number Of luxury items which
are back on the counters.
We are putting out the most ex-
pendable product in a luxury mar
ket' any publisher will tell you.
The Customers Want
Their Moneys Worth
Publishers Weekly, that estimable
journal of the book trade, recently
pointed out that while booksellers
are feeling certain optimism over
the recently improved quality Of
fiction, they are finding that Gus
toners are demanding their moneys
worth in high-priced book.
Publishers counter with the claim
that while production costs are up
SO per cent, and are continuing to
climb, the price Of books has in
creased only by Is per cent, and
discount to booksellers has re-
manned the same.
The publishers dilemma, however,
promises to affect the general read
er little, if at all. Most houses are
resolved to hold the line on book
prices. There will be just about as
many books to choose FROM Few
have made notable cuts in their
lists. The author seems to be the
man nearest the middle in the sit
uation, since the huge advances of
yesteryear are pretty much for
gotten now.
The first novelist, usually the first
casualty in such a situation, will
probably not suffer. A promising
first still has chance to be pub
hshed because publishers never for
get that Steinbeck and Hemingway
were once young and not best-sell-
ers. One publisher suggested with
a smile that it might be a good idea
to pay potentially good writer's not
to publish their first three-not-so-
good novels. Thus the publisher
would have first claim on the sup
posed sure-fire fourth. She admit
ted that auctorial vanity would
probably make short work of such
a scheme, but made the obvious
point that 1t would certainly do
much to relieve q glutted book
market.
The author most likely to be hit
Is the one-type writer, the producer
OF belles-lettres. A man who writes
an excellent literary biography or a
mellif1uous political essay, but who
can never be counted on to catch the
eye of a book club, has very little