Artisanal editions. Special subscriptions. For a few years, these have been the growth areas creators have cited when asked about exciting and underutilized opportunities. This week sees two stories that epitomize what a mature landscape looks like. One speaks of breakout success. The other asks whether we've had too much already!
ALLi News Editor Dan Holloway
Let's start with the success. Recent UK bestseller charts, per the Bookseller and with figures from Nielsen, demonstrate the influence that subscription packages for print books are now having. Fairyloot is the subscription service that delivered chart-topping status for the overall bestselling title at the end of April, Kelly Andrew's The Gravewood.
Indie Success Stories
But it's not just big deals between publishers and such services that are delivering. The latest chart topper in the newly created indie bookstore charts also comes thanks to a subscription box. Amy Coombe's Stay for a Spell reached that position thanks in large part to its inclusion in the GSFF subscription box. GSFF is run by Goldsboro Books, a fabulous independent bookstore on the legendary alley off Charing Cross Road, Cecil Court, where I have spent many an afternoon and evening.
The SFF in GSFF stands for exactly what you would imagine (science fiction and fantasy), and Fairyloot likewise wears its genre focus on its sleeve. Subscription boxes are being devoured by exactly the readers one would imagine, which for authors in those genres makes them an obvious place to turn to as a desired outlet.
Market Saturation Concerns
Which brings us to the “enough already?” post. Publishers Weekly has taken a look at the growth of such subscription boxes, noting among other things exactly what we have just seen: the prevalence of many such services with a distinct fantasy/romantasy focus.
In particular it notes that many of these services double down on the deluxe and artisanal-appearing editions that I associate with the Folio Society (still going, still appearing constantly in my YouTube feed) of my youth and that of late have led to the breakout successes of crowdsourced editions on Kickstarter and BackerKit.
The problem, as stated, is that special editions are proliferating to the extent that many of them don't really feel special anymore. They just feel like a different format. A more expensive one. What isn't mentioned is that this is not a new phenomenon. “Collectible editions” have been the downfall of promising special edition markets before. I was first aware of it in the 1980s and 1990s with vinyl singles issued in multiple covers to create “must have” appeal and boost chart positions. Comics also went from valuable investment to saturation a short while later.
If this is what's happening with deluxe editions and subscriptions, that will have an impact on us as writers. It will become harder to stand out. The appeal of going that route will diminish. More campaigns will fail to find backing. Already popular authors will continue to do well, while those looking to break out will need to find the next way to do so.
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