I have bought 2 hardback books lately, chosen from the round display tables in Waterstones. I’m pleased with my purchases but they pose several questions. Both books were first published in 2025 and here they are already, vastly reduced, indeed literally half the original price. Do publishers almost plan for this eventuality? I would not have bought them at full price, so is there a group of readers like me, a sort of niche market? How do writers feel about this situation I wonder. Is there a feeling of failure that the print run of their book cannot be sold at full price? Maybe authors are and need to be thicker skinned. This is just the way things are.
I do like the way those tables, well curated by the Waterstones staff, tempt me to reading I might otherwise not encounter.
… Sometimes it’s very hard to wait for the paperback!