Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The portion of a publisher's list of new or current titles made up of books expected to have less popular appeal than the frontlist.
Wiktionary
- adj. publishing, of a book or author Unlikely to be more than modestly successful
Etymologies
- mid- + list (Wiktionary)
Examples
“And the point is: everyone does say the midlist is dying.”
msagara: On agents, writers, and yes, this is about that post.
“For that reason, presumably, and not just because she's black, one of the most accessibly challenging contemporary authors I've encountered will remain midlist at best.”
“Exceptions abound -- bestsellers, titles where publishers paid for placement, &c. -- but the jump to back - or midlist is now a six week cycle.”
“(link) And the point is: everyone does say the midlist is dying.”
msagara: On agents, writers, and yes, this is about that post.
“The most obvious thing is that the so-called midlist book, the book that isn't going to be a bestseller, isn't being published to the degree that it was, say, in the 1960s, where there was a conscious effort to represent diverse views, races and so forth.”
“These are, after all, the same features from which we construct interest -- at a level deeper than the uninvested intellectualism of the middle-class, middle-brow, contemporary realism midlist, that is.”
“I don't know if there's a big market for books like this anymore, which used to be called midlist, but I do know that they're the sort that an agent might fall in love with, if it stirred the right chords in her or him.”
“Debut fiction and so-called midlist titles - books that are not large commercial successes - are particularly tough sells in digital form, said Peter”
“He said that "midlist" authors those who are successful but not best sellers who receive minimal marketing support from their publishers may be tempted to follow Mr. Godin's lead.”
The Wall Street Journal: Author to Bypass Publisher for Fans
“I found it telling when I was looking for some acclaimed authors who have won awards and hit the bestseller lists but are still "midlist" as opposed to perennial bestsellers like John Updike.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘midlist’.
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Lists
I'm sure someone's done this before. If so, please leave the name of the list as an item on the list. Thank you.
grocery list, santa's list, A list, backlist, frontlist, midlist, Franz Liszt, baronage, bibliography, index, list, listing and 66 more...
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Independent Bookselling in the 21st C...
"Bookselling was and is for me a cultural and political expression, an expression of progressive change, of challenge to oppressive authority, of a search for a community of values that can act as ...
handsell, cross-appeal, inventory, shelving, remainders, target audience, bisac code, display, tie-in, impulse buy, category ghetto, face-out and 27 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for midlist.
reesetee In bookselling, a list of books that have had reliable sales but are not the key titles on the publisher's or bookseller's list. See frontlist and backlist. Oct 23, 2007