Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2019 May 4

= May 4 =

recent past
What are books published in recent past? What does recent past mean? -- 110.151.145.17


 * Recent past means "not long ago". It is not a scientific term with a very specific meaning. 97.82.165.112 (talk) 12:47, 4 May 2019 (UTC)


 * I wonder if any of them were instant classics? Matt Deres (talk) 14:20, 4 May 2019 (UTC)
 * Doubtless some of them made their first first appearance with covers describing them as "bestsellers". I noticed this phenomenon when I was a professional bookseller in the 1970s/80s: the description would appear on dust jackets printed well before the books in question had gone on sale to the public, and probably before the publisher had received many advance orders from distributors and bookshops. I concluded that any book could be predictably made a best seller if the publisher committed enough publicity budget to it. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 2.122.2.132 (talk) 17:58, 6 May 2019 (UTC)
 * Undoubtedly, there are books that were published yesterday. They would count as "recent past".  → Michael J Ⓣ Ⓒ Ⓜ 00:13, 7 May 2019 (UTC)
 * I don't know what the lead time is between printing and publication, but even before the print run publishers send "pre-publication" copies which contain much hype designed to secure those advance orders. 2A00:23C0:7900:1C00:288D:50DD:7D26:46D6 (talk) 10:21, 7 May 2019 (UTC)
 * My experience in bookselling and subsequently book publishing was that the printed books could be sent to distributors and shops up to a month before the official publication date (to allow a co-ordinated release – most shops used to respect the embargo) and orders were generally taken about 3 months before it, so – despite the ponderousness of the overall printing/binding/jacketing/distribution process – there would in theory have been a window for modifying the covers' camera-ready copy. However I doubt that in practice "bestselling" cover claims were added only in response to actual pre-order numbers, and of course the books were sold on a sale-or-return basis, so there was no way to know in advance what the actual net sales would really be. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 2.122.2.132 (talk) 13:45, 7 May 2019 (UTC)
 * Unlike newspapers, books are not necessarily sold sale or return (I have worked in both bookshops and Fleet Street ).  Sale and return can be negotiated, but the product costs more.   In one bookshop I worked in, the publishers' reps came to us to get us to order their titles. 2A00:23C1:CD81:F01:446F:DA7C:85FA:669A (talk) 16:39, 10 May 2019 (UTC)
 * The latter was the case with us also (I was the Paperback Buyer [excepting Penguin Books] for our branch, a busy academic and general shop), but most of our stock was bought as sale or return. Hardbacks and larger format softcovers in good condition could be returned intact: with some standard paperbacks we could return the covers only for credit, disposing of the 'stripped books'. (To be honest, a few stripped books were 'disposed of' into staff members' own homes, but they were never sold.) The books we couldn't return, and instead sold off cheaply in the annual National Book Sale month, were those damaged while in our stock, and some individual volumes ordered by customers who then changed their minds. I am speaking of the 1970s and -80s: doubtless many practices have changed in more recent times. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 2.122.2.132 (talk) 17:37, 10 May 2019 (UTC)