Abstract:
Book publication is in essence an industry of “small-group” commodity. Each year large quantities of new books crowd into market, but most books have only a limited target readership. However, restricted by the network of distribution, publication industry manages by pursuing bestsellers. That is to say that it invests limited resources into those transient “mass goods” so as to obtain the quickest possible circulation of goods on limited bookshelves. Under this mode of management, book distribution presents a curve of law of power, that is, the minority of bestsellers taking the greatest percentage of distribution. With the rise of internet and development of digital publishing technology, publishing industry is undertaking an evolution. And it is the long-tail theory that explicates this cultural change and its economic results and marketing opportunity. Under the circumstances of the long-tail theory, book publication will enjoy a “long-tail pattern” coexisting with the “bestseller pattern”.
