Publication dates: why they move, how we set them, and what they mean...
All about the day your book hits the shelves and the decisions publishers make around it!
Hi everyone,
Happy Friday! Hope you have all been having lovely weeks. I went to Milan last week, so there’s been a little gap in this Substack, but today I am back and here to talk about publication dates.
Publication dates are weird for many reasons. They move around, they can feel anti-climactic, they can be nerve-wracking, they can be exciting. For me, my first book publishing was momentous because it was the day I became a published author and no matter what happens in the future, that will always be very special to me and it will always have fulfilled a dream I had. That was Sept 14th 2017 (I had to look up the actual date; now I feel old!). However, many pub dates pass without much impact. Especially in the pandemic! I know many writers can find them strange and really, they are not something to place too much stock on because what matters (to my mind) is more longevity - does your book continue to reach readers long after it publishes? Is it something you will be proud of for your whole life? Those sorts of questions are the ones to ask and pay attention to, I think.
Of course, sometimes pub days can be lovely. I’ve had really nice lunches as an author and as an editor on publication days, I love launch parties (throwing them and attending them!) and if it’s what you want you should absolutely celebrate. Finishing a book and publishing a book is a big achievement. You should be proud! It can be scary on pub day seeing your first reader reviews come in - especially if the first is a one-star from someone who thought they had ordered a toothbrush (we’ve all been there). But again, what matters, I think, is the cumulative effect. You’re never going to please every reader; hopefully, the majority enjoy. Books are supposed to be subjective, and that’s all part of the fun!
I also thought it would be useful to talk about some of the factors that go into us as publishers setting your publication dates. When a book comes in on submission, and an editor enjoys it, one of the first things they will think about is: do we have room for this on our list? And if so, when would we publish? Publishing works quite far ahead, so at the moment, I’m buying books for 2028. Occasionally, we will ‘drop a book in’ to the current year, but this means that our art, production, finance and contracts teams have to work very quickly to make this happen, so it can be quite stressful. Examples of why a publisher might drop a book into the year: to help make their budget; to tap into a very current trend; if it’s a self-published book that we can take on (therefore a quicker process); if it is a film or TV tie-in; if we are buying files to the cover and text from a sister company in the US or Australia (or another territory). Drop-ins happen more in Non-Fiction than in Fiction, but they do happen.
Outside of drop-ins, we think about the following factors when it comes to publication dates: what the competition looks like from other publishers, what sales patterns we have seen in the past, seasonal factors (e.g. Christmas sales now begin in August!), what format the book will be and whether all formats need to come out on the same day or if actually, it might be better to publish the ebook first, gather strong sales, and then publish the physical edition. We think about things such as Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Christmas, Halloween, summer holidays - we’re trying all the time to interpret reader behaviour and make smart, strategic, data-focused decisions.
In every publisher I’ve worked at (all big 5), we have had regular ‘scheduling meetings’ where we review our schedule and move publication dates around accordingly. Often, pub dates move due to authors delivering their manuscripts later than planned, new books coming in and other books perhaps needing to shift accordingly, other publishers announcing big new books that will suck up a lot of oxygen in the market and which we want to avoid, or delays with the book cover that mean we’re not in a strong enough position to make the original date. We also have to factor in other territories - the US is a big one to consider, and our foreign rights team will also feed in with their thoughts if it is a book where we as the publisher hold World All Languages (this means we hold translation rights).
We also move books to try to get better retailer slots. Most supermarkets change their charts every fortnight on a Thursday, so if it’s a book that needs to go into the supers (and this is by no means every book) then it needs to publish on a range change date. There are also certain promotions e.g. Waterstones Book of the Month which might lead to pub date moves (that promotion begins on the first of each month). We move books to fit with subscription box schedules for SFF titles. We move books to increase chances of hitting the charts. We take all of this into account and therefore, the schedule is usually a pretty moveable feast!
If we make a decision to change a pub date, the editor needs to let the author know. This can affect payment - e.g. if you are getting a third of your advance on publication, this can be an issue so it is always worth raising that with your publisher or agent if it’s a significant delay and will lead to cash-flow issues, as sometimes you can reach a compromise. Usually, the date changes are not extreme enough to warrant this (e.g. a date is changing by days, weeks, or months rather than moving back by a whole year) but longer delays do happen too. Always ask your agent or editor for more information if you are worried or unsure - we really don’t mind!
Our amazing production teams work really hard to keep the books on schedule in order to meet pub dates (this is often referred to as ‘the critical path’) and there is a lot to think about on that side too: the sending to press, the printing and binding, the shipping, the sending stock to the warehouse or to retailers, etc.) It genuinely takes an army to get a traditionally published book onto a shelf! But one of the things I love about the industry is that it really does feel like a team effort.
I hope this helps explain a bit more about publication dates, what they are and why they move, and if you have any questions, of course pop them below! Thank you again to everyone who filled out my survey last month about what more you would like to see The Honest Editor cover (you can still do it if you would like to), and special thanks to Frances Quinn (my brilliant author) who suggested pub dates as a topic.
Enjoy the long weekend if you’re taking it!
Phoebe x