Weekly Writers: The Long Tail

And why it is important

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

Here’s the Weekly Writers Monday post. This post is for paid subscribers only.

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What Is The Long Tail?

For some creative products, when they are new, they sell because of that novelty. It applies to music, films, and also books. In the first weeks, a book is more likely to be placed near the front of a bookshop or even in the coveted window display. But before long it is ousted by other new books, and is placed on the shelves further in the shop, perhaps “cover out” (which means you can see the full front cover as an inducement to pick it up). Then it gets relegated to “spine out” (all the books next to each other so you can only see the spines – shelf space is at a premium, and this orientation lets you fit more books onto the shelves). Then it may disappear completely from some shops and only get ordered in when a customer requests a copy (known as a special order).