Nuts & Bolts

WSJ.com - Quest for Best Seller Creates a Pileup Of Returned Books: "This kind of retailing has led to an ever-shortening shelf life for bestsellers. Most stores promote new books for only one or two weeks. Authors who might have remained on the best-seller list 10 to 12 weeks a decade ago now often stay only six to eight weeks. This phenomenon has been exacerbated by publishers themselves, who are publishing ever more books each year in search of hits. That pushes other titles off the shelves more quickly.
Because potential bestsellers have only a short time to get established, publishers say they need towering stacks at the front of stores to ensure their titles get noticed and to make sure they don't miss any sales. The principle is similar to movie studios wanting to get their films in as many theaters as possible on opening weekend. 'You build authors by the weight of copies,' says Laurence Kirshbaum, CEO of Time Warner's book group."