Publishers’ Weekly subscription: romance writers

I recently with reluctance canceled my subscription to Publishers Marketplace and replaced it with Publishers Weekly (I used to subscribe in the 90s but had let it lapse). I love the recent deal info in Publishers Marketplace but I only have a small “info services” budget and thought I’d get more for my money with PW.

I just received my first printed copy of the magazine and so far I am underwhelmed. It is thinner than I remembered — a lightweight 56 pounds. There were a couple of interesting reviews but as usual the presentation of book reviews is “flat” without hierarchical context — not much of a sense that certain subjects are much more important than others. That is, of course, consistent with PW’s mission of serving publishers and booksellers, but it grates on this book-lover’s critical sensibility.

The theme of the current issue is romance writers. The basic message is that they are the single biggest genre in the industry, accounting for 30% of fiction sales according to one chart. (Tragically, science fiction only accounted for 6.4% in the same view, and of that, you can drop out at least 50% for the Star Wars and Star Trek markets, meaning that my favorite genre, intelligent SF, surely accounts for less than 3% of all sales.)

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• George Lucas Books Launches Inaugural Title - 4/20/2006 - Publishers Weekly
• Morris Rosenthal on Writers’ Actual Priorities
• Lit Agents Back Google Lawsuits - 10/21/2005 - Publishers Weekly