Finding out from a bookseller
A title on your backlist picks up after a mention on the radio. Orders go up at the distributor. Nobody in the office looks at the stock report that week, because it is a PDF that arrives on Monday and gets opened when there is time. The first sign of trouble is a bookseller on the phone asking why the book is showing as reprinting at the wholesaler.
By then the printer's next slot is some weeks away, paper has to be ordered, and the orders coming in are turned into dues. Some convert to sales when stock arrives. Many do not. On the other side of the list, a novel that had a strong launch was reprinted in a large run on the strength of its first month, and most of the reprint is still in the warehouse two years later.
Why reprints are either late or too big
The information needed for a reprint decision exists, but it is in three or four places and nobody puts it together until there is a problem.
- Stock on hand comes from the distributor's stock report, often weekly.
- Sales come from a different report, by week or month, and need converting into a rate.
- Dues (orders waiting for stock) are shown separately, if at all.
- Printer lead times vary by format, binding and paper availability.
- Returns still to come back from bookshops are invisible until they arrive.
Without a single view, the decision is made on instinct: a nervous reprint too early, or a missed one too late.
What getting the timing wrong costs
| Mistake | Result |
|---|---|
| Reprint too late | The title is out of stock and orders turn into dues or are lost |
| Reprint too large | Cash tied up in stock and storage charges for years |
| Reprint during a returns wave | Stock arrives just as returns refill the warehouse |
| Wrong format reprinted | Paperback runs out while hardback sits unsold |
| Rushed reprint | Higher unit cost and less choice of printer slot |
For a small publisher, a single over-large reprint can tie up money you meant to spend on next season's list.
The reprint watchlist we build
- Automatic import of the distributor's stock and sales reports, by ISBN, whether they arrive as files by email or from a portal download.
- A rate of sale per title over the periods you choose, with the option to weight recent weeks more heavily.
- Dues and expected returns included, using your distributor's figures where they provide them.
- Lead time per format that you set, based on what your printers tell you.
- Weeks of cover per title, and a flag when cover falls below lead time plus a margin you choose.
- A weekly email listing titles that need a decision, with the figures behind each and a note field for what you decided and why.
We keep the run size decision with you. The watchlist can show a suggested range based on recent sales, but whether to print a cautious run or back a title is a publishing judgement.
A normal Monday with the watchlist
The stock report arrives and is read automatically. At nine o'clock the publisher has an email with three titles on it: one backlist title selling faster than usual with about as many weeks of cover as the printer's lead time, one paperback that will need a reprint within the season, and one hardback where expected returns mean no action is needed yet. Each has a short history of sales and stock.
The radio mention now shows up as a spike in the next week's figures, and the reprint is booked while there is still stock to sell. The novel with the strong launch shows its sales falling back week by week, and you can see before ordering that a smaller reprint would have lasted the year.
Every decision gets a note, so the next time the same title comes up the reasoning is there.
Checklist: reprint risk on your list
- You have learned a title was out of stock from a customer or bookseller.
- Stock reports are PDFs that someone opens when they have time.
- Reprint quantities are based on the launch month rather than recent sales.
- You have backlist stock that has not moved in a long time.
- Nobody can say which titles have less stock than the reprint lead time.