That sounds like a solid midlist series to me. Some series just don't sell well enough to release as hardcovers, but make enough money to keep being released as paperbacks. It's a great niche if you can get to it. There's a lot less midlist going on these days than there used to be, because publishers work on razor-thin margins. They have money to put out the paperback stuff mostly because of the liquidity given to them by the cash from the hardcover releases.
To wander into metaphorical comparisons for a moment: hardcover releases are the Munchkin for publishers. And having those out there is what lets them put out GURPS releases, which may turn a small profit, but are generally not enough to keep the company going on their own. Whether or not lower pricing would cut into the Munchkin profitability is sort of undefined at the moment, but I'm not about to blame them for being careful about it to start.
So saying "Why do you care about cannibalizing hardcover sales? You can make money just fine on paperbacks!" looks a lot to me like "Why is SJG putting out so many Munchkin releases? GURPS is so much more awesome!" Yeah, GURPS (and lower ebook prices--the metaphor is sort of shaky) is a fine, fine thing. But if you go kicking the big money-maker in the nuts, it's not going to mean More GURPS For Everyone! It's going to mean those less profitable things don't get made, because there's no cash free to pay the printer when you're not sure if GURPS Chicks On Ice is going to sell through.
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To wander into metaphorical comparisons for a moment: hardcover releases are the Munchkin for publishers. And having those out there is what lets them put out GURPS releases, which may turn a small profit, but are generally not enough to keep the company going on their own. Whether or not lower pricing would cut into the Munchkin profitability is sort of undefined at the moment, but I'm not about to blame them for being careful about it to start.
So saying "Why do you care about cannibalizing hardcover sales? You can make money just fine on paperbacks!" looks a lot to me like "Why is SJG putting out so many Munchkin releases? GURPS is so much more awesome!" Yeah, GURPS (and lower ebook prices--the metaphor is sort of shaky) is a fine, fine thing. But if you go kicking the big money-maker in the nuts, it's not going to mean More GURPS For Everyone! It's going to mean those less profitable things don't get made, because there's no cash free to pay the printer when you're not sure if GURPS Chicks On Ice is going to sell through.