Q&A: What percentage of sales are lost to the used book market over the life of an edition?

Q: “Does anyone know a “rule of thumb” about what percentage of sales are lost to the used book market over the life of an edition? In other words, if the adoption rate remains basically static, how do royalty returns typically decline after the edition has been on the market for one year/two years/three years?”

A: Robert Christopherson, author of Geosystems:

“Quick response on used-book impact. With my 3-year revision cycle we do not stay ahead of the used-book sales erosion. Fortunately in my field there is so much dynamic change that such a revision cycle is warranted.

Q&A: How to penetrate the university textbook adoption process

Q: “I am a new author of a textbook on managing a construction firm. I have several adoptions by professors teaching construction courses at the college level, but I would like to penetrate the university market more. I have been making quiet contact through email to them. Is there a better way? I have attended an educators’ conference in construction and that has been a very good introduction to several people and plan to go back to their summer meeting.”

A: Myrna Bell Rochester:

“I am guessing that your book is with McGraw-Hill ‘Professional’ or ‘Trade’ (based in Chicago), and not with McGraw-Hill Higher Ed. (I write for both of them in a different field.) You are doing the right thing to make your book known, with your personal marketing and making contacts in your own area. Whereas the McGraw Higher Ed division has a very well developed marketing system, McGraw Professional doesn’t (to my knowledge) go to schools and universities to market individual titles.

Q&A: How to efficiently blend multiple writing drafts

Q: “I find that I am forever writing different versions of the same thing, leaving me with the problem of collating them, or blending them together. It also wastes time, of course, to duplicate effort like that. Can you share some ideas for a more efficient process?”

A: Andrew P. Johnson, Ph.D., Professor of Holistic Education, Department of Special Education, Minnesota State University, Mankato: