OP
It means "out of print."
Though I'm not an expert on this issue, my understanding is that adult books have always gone in and out of print fairly quickly. Yet children's books
were usually known for staying in print for years and years. At one time publishers maintained large backlists of children's titles which continuously needed to be replaced in bookstores and on library shelves as each new generation of kids came along. I first became aware that things were changing when I read a Publishers Weekly opinion piece by Barbara Corcoran, who wrote nearly seventy-five children's books between the late 1960s and the early 1990s. Corcoran was the epitome of a great midlist author. She never won any major awards, never had a big breakthrough book or huge bestseller, yet year after year she consistently published rock-solid novels under her own name (SASHA, MY FRIEND, 1969; A DANCE TO STILL MUSIC, 1974) as well as several pseudonyms; her best-known novel is probably the 1975 teen-facing-death novel MAY I CROSS YOUR GOLDEN RIVER? written under the pen name "Paige Dixon." Yet in her PW essay, the author bemoaned that her books were suddenly going out of print at an alarming rate. Not only was this impacting her income, but she felt bad that young readers were losing access to her work. Now, just a few years after her death, every single Barbara Corcoran book appears to be OP, and that's a shame because she created the kind of sympathetic characters and realistic plots that never really get dated. Next time you're at a bookstore, pick one up and see what I mean. Oh...you won't be able to. They're all out of print. In the years since Corcoran wrote that article, children's books have begun to go out of print faster than ever. Some blame it on the "Thor Power Tool Company v. Commissioner" Supreme Court ruling of 1979 which, according to the Wikipedia, "changed the way companies are allowed to depreciate their unsold inventory." The Wikipedia continues: "An unforeseen side effect of this decision was that it became less profitable for publishers to keep slowly but regularly selling books in print (their backlist). Some argue that this has made it harder for midlist authors to make a living because books tend to be remaindered or pulped and go out of print more quickly."
This site:
http://www.sfwa.org/bulletin/articles/thor.htm
explains how the ruling impacted the publishing industry but, since I'm a letter-guy instead of a numbers-person, I can't follow all the mathematical equations and charts in the piece. So I will leave that article to brighter minds and just spend my time here complaining about children's books that are released and, almost before they reach library shelves and start to find their audience, are declared OP and pulped. Pulped. It sounds like the name of a horror movie. And it is rather horrible, isn't it?
As for older books, only the classics seem to remain. Even some of the award winners of the past are no longer available. Newbery winners TALES FROM SILVER LANDS, WATERLESS MOUNTAIN, and one of my favorites, DOBRY -- OP! Caldecott winners MEI LI, SONG OF THE SWALLOWS, and NINE DAYS TO CHRISTMAS -- OP! Many of the others are available in paperback only. I haven't checked specific titles, but I think I can state with some certainty that MOST Newbery and Caldecott Honors of the past are now OP.
I've always heard that change is a good thing. I know that it's inevitable. And who am I to demand -- especially in these rough economic times -- that a publishing house keep a book in print if it's somehow losing money for the company? But it still makes me sad when books from the past -- even the very recent past -- are not available for kids to read today. I hate that a kid might be deprived of the one book that could change his or her life because the title is out of print. I feel like the dialogue between the past and the future is broken every time a book goes out of print. And it makes me realize once again why collecting books...preserving those connections between past, present, and future...is a worthy endeavor.
7 comments:
Not only authors hate to hear it lol. Good books are so hard to find once they become out of print! I have several copies of books that are OP that I've held onto over the years and many more that I wish I still had :(
That is unfortunate, May I Cross Your Golden River was one of those books that I've never forgotten—probably because it's pretty frightening to read about a young person's death in the first person (as I remember). The other book in this vein is charmingly called A Summer to Die. I've got to confess that I had no idea, until this very moment, checking Amazon, that the book is by Lois Lowry—which probably accounts for its still being in print.
I've given your blog an award!
Thanks so much for writing such interesting stuff. Yours is the first blog I read every day.
http://charlotteslibrary.blogspot.com/2008/09/gee-shucks.html
As a seller of books both new and used but mostly the latter, I am often asked why so many good books are already out of print. I'll have to follow the link you gave to educate myself.
On a more general note, I have to say it amuses me to hear people say in hesitant, dubious tones, "Change is good," as if they are trying to convince themselves of something they recognize as a generally acknowledged truth. Change is change, period! (Or exclamation mark.) Some change is good, some bad, and most is bad for some people and good for others or good in some ways for all of us and bad in other ways. Yes, much change is inevitable, but not all proposed changes must be uncritically accepted, in the book world or any other corner of human endeavor.
(Stepping down from the soapbox now....)
Until recently, I'd been under the mistaken impression that any Newbery or Caldecott winner would be granted in-print status until the Kingdom Come. When I weeding my library's picture book section recently, I pulled out Nine Days to Christmas because it hadn't circulated in several years. Its inside was in good shape, but the outside was totally grody. "I bet if we had a fresh copy, people would check it out," I thought... but you already know how this story ends. I put Nine Days to Christmas back on the shelf. My library, at least, will not pulp it, not yet.
Catching up on your blog on a quiet day at work.......
OP books is a subject near and dear to my heart. As a librarian there's nothing I hate more than trying to replace treasured, ratty copies when there are simply no replacements available. I've blogged about it myself (sorry! blatent SP!) and keep a running list of books that I'd love to see someone reissue. My current hobby horse is The Church Mice books. It was a mortal sin to let those got out of print!
Love the blog! You make me smile.
I had a copy of Corcoran's novel Sam when I was in middle school. I loved it. Still remember that orange and blue cover.
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