No, not like that. I saw a Substack note that made me chuckle. I agree heartily with the part about a backlist being valuable, perhaps even more so than the initial launch velocity.
What amused me was my contrary mind looking at her last sentence, and thinking ‘well, some books do go bad!’ I can think of a few ways in which that would be the case.
Topical books, like I occasionally run across in used book stores, for instance. You know what I mean. “Cobol for Dummies” or “Introduction to Mechanical Drawing” which to the right person might indeed be useful. I own the latter book, because I was a decent draftswoman in high school and keep meaning to incorporate elements of that into my art. These books were going to do well until they became obsolete.
On the other hand, there is the more subtle spoilage you might not notice until you picked up the book and started to read. Fiction with highly topical viewpoints, one way or the other. I’ve read an ebook recently of a book originally published in the 1980s which had a disclaimer at the beginning of the book warning the reader, very seriously, that cigarette smoking was portrayed in the book and that did not reflect the publisher’s viewpoint (or something to that effect. A trigger warning, or perhaps a socially unacceptable warning). I myself have been reading aloud fairy tales for my sister recently from the Blue Fairy Book and opted not to read one, because it contains repugnant stereotypes I do not care to perpetuate. I’ve even bowlderized a Kipling story while I was reading it aloud and recording that, changing one word that would have gotten my Youtube channel in trouble.
It doesn’t necessarily even have to be a century-old book for it to contain elements that stink. I know we’ve all come across moderns that made us hold our nose and gingerly carry it to the nearest bin for disposal. Some books do go bad, very rapidly, if they are written for the trend of the moment.
There’s also the first book. I know my first book is out there, doesn’t sell, and I’m kind of okay with that. I keep thinking I should pull it. It could probably stand for a full rewrite. I don’t know that I have time to do that, and I really don’t know that it would be the same book when I finished with it. I’m not the same person I was when I wrote that, almost two decades ago now. I’m undecided so it sits there in the backlist, slowly dessicating.
Books do go bad! But not the backlist. The backlist is a fantastic way to let new-to-you readers find you through one book, then have a bunch of lovely books to munch through before they run out and then come to you with their bowl saying ‘please, might I have more?’ and let me tell you, that’s a great thing to hear as an author.
Mad Genius Club 
10 responses to “Spoiling Books”
I read a new semi-academic book about the court of Louis XIV and consumer culture, and crediting his practices and those of the French nobles for creating the idea of fashion seasons and consumer obsolescence (must have the latest in furnishings et al even if “old” ones are still very good). However, the author felt compelled to use a lot of early 2000s slang to make the book “hip” and “cool” and “on trend.” Even then, I knew it wasn’t going to age well or appeal to the market she (or her editor) were aiming at.
Venus Equilateral might be considered gone bad, and it was based on quite erroneous asssumptions of the Hooded Planet. But they are still good reads.
Science marches on, at that. For a simple one, in a Poul Anderson story where mankind has spread, for generations, over the galaxy — they still don’t know why the dinosaurs went extinct.
Because the dinosaurs invented plastic-shell packaging before they invented power tools, and died of frustration when they couldn’t get to what they had so carefully packed. 😉
Winces in agreement. The scar when I used The Wrong Knife to open a shell-pack has faded, though the lump where the hand surgeon fixed the damaged tendon will be with me for the rest of my life.
Protip: Avoid [stupid] trauma on summer weekends. I know that Lidocaine can be buffered so you don’t hit the ceiling when it’s applied. I also know that the on-call surgeon decided to pass on the buffer. I spoiled his day off. He got quiet revenge.
Never rewrite except on editorial direction.
I struggle to think of any books that were rewritten and came out better.
And removing editorial direction is not always wise, either.
There’s another way for books to… ah, heck, I think I just came up with tomorrow’s post.
[…] what if unlike the ones Cedar discussed, the book is spoiled before it’s even published, because the market […]
Digging through 42 years of accumulated stuff to get rid of with my forced move, I came across some of Sharon’s old Chemistry books. I’m hoping to give away Organic-metallo chemistry (1973) and a 1978 CRC (originally from the Chemical Rubber Company for non-chemists or non-physicists). Anybody know where I can give them away to whatever AI is swallowing old books whole and digitizing them?