Lauri Shaw » novel

Writers Discuss the Future of Publishing – Round 7

Lauri — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 15:00:54 +0000

Publishing is in the throes of a revolution, and all the old rules are being put to the test. As CEOs, senior editors, agents and booksellers all scramble to guess at how they’ll participate in the future market, Lauri Shaw asks a panel of writers where they see this business going – and how they each expect to contribute to the wave of change that is, for the time being, the only certainty in sight.

LS: Several years ago, new technologies available to consumers made irreversible changes in the way music was bought, sold, and ultimately, created. What similarities do you see between that and the current state of publishing? What differences? Do you think there is anything we can learn from this?

Jason Pettus: The fabled “iPod for Books” is coming, and in fact is almost here. As the Kindle and Sony Reader prove, the technology itself is with us already. We need a series of small industry and mindset changes: a loosening of DRM obsession from the major presses and Amazon. A better way for basement presses and self-published authors to get their work on these devices too. A way for customers to add whatever customized content they want.

And especially important, a common technological standard for formatted electronic text that all interested parties can agree to. Even if this needs to be created from scratch by some government-sponsored inter-company committee, and all the publishing companies and tech groups start all over again from step 1 with all their existing books in this format.

In fact, I’d love to see the topic taken on by this supposed “Department of Technology” that President Obama will apparently be establishing.

One way or another, though, such a fabled device I just describe will be appearing in society within the next five to ten years. Then everything changes for the publishing industry, and changes for good, just as profoundly and swiftly as the MP3 combined with the iPod combined with podcasting changed the music industry. Anyone in the publishing industry would be a fool to ignore this. They should start making plans for it now.

Debbie Bennett: I think that e-readers will become more prevalent. Especially in places like the US, where many people live great distances from bookstores or libraries. There’ll be less of an impact in the UK. It will be interesting to see if books ultimately sell the same way as music – but how do you “showcase” a book online? It doesn’t have quite the same impact as a music video on Youtube. Clever marketing is the way forward. Perhaps writers need to get more web knowledge?

Max Dunbar: The whole Napster/MP3 thing changed music forever because people could download and exchange music for free. I can’t see a similar thing happening with books because the physical book is so well loved in literary culture. Have you tried to read a 100,000 word novel on a computer screen?

But as I’ve said the net does feed into new fiction, through weblogs, and online magazines, and new technologies available for writers to promote and showcase their fiction.

Alexander McNabb: People like the hardware of books. The generation behind us might not be quite so attached to books. The generation behind that probably won’t be.

I was involved in the first generation of digital music creation and recording, back in the early 1980’s. None of us even remotely foresaw what was to come. But we’re 28 years later and, honestly, remarkably little has changed compared to what change could have taken place. There are huge vested interests that embraced the agents of change and held them tightly to their corporate chests where they couldn’t get away and cause much trouble. I think authonomy might be a similar reaction to changes in publishing. But I don’t have a clear vision of what evolution awaits publishing.

Paul Fenton: I think it’s hard to draw parallels between music and publishing. Music is more of an aesthetic product – it appeals to the senses and the emotions, and can be judged in seconds. Books require an intellectual and time investment far greater than that of music. Readers are consequently more risk-averse than music listeners, and are less likely to take a chance on a book that hasn’t been “validated” by the industry.

Carl Thomas: New technology has paved the way for huge losses due to piracy. I’ve heard a few people complain that ebooks are still expensive. Books, like films and music are also available for download free of charge of Torrent sites. Takes a lot longer to read a book than it does to watch a film or listen to music, so I doubt it will have the same impact.

Simon Forward: Unfortunately the two art forms aren’t so easy to equate. It’s far easier to listen to a song on MySpace, for example, than it is to make yourself sit down and read a chapter or two of a book off the computer screen.

And you might pay 79 pence for a downloadable track, but are you going to pay 79 pence for a portion of a book? No, I don’t think so.

However, there are some lessons to be learned.

My motto – or mission statement, if you like, in life – is to involve, inspire and illuminate readers with my stories. None of us can do that if our books are left to gather dust on virtual bookshelves or in cupboards at home. All credit to Harper Collins for setting up a new platform, but something more needs to be done to launch books off that platform and into readers’ hands where they belong. Technology is all very well and good, but a PDF is definitely no substitute for the feel of a good book in your hands.

Erik Hare: The most important lesson is to not fight it. New technology can and eventually will empower writers to take control of their own craft. We have to focus on making that happen. And getting paid – we have to get paid. For once.

This concludes the first series of Writers Discuss the Future of Publishing. You are welcome to add your thoughts – we’d love to hear from you.

Writers Discuss the Future of Publishing – Round 1

Lauri — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 11:00:56 +0000

Publishing is in the throes of a revolution, and the old rules are being put to the test. As CEOs, senior editors, agents and booksellers all scramble to guess at how they’ll participate in the future market, Lauri Shaw asks a panel of writers where they see this business going – and how they each expect to contribute to the wave of change that is, for the time being, the only certainty in sight.

LS: Would you say you are familiar with how the publishing industry works? Which industry resources do you use? Which industry publications do you read? Which blogs?

Debbie Bennett: I like to think I am. In the UK, anyway. I was a committee member of the British Fantasy Society for over 16 years. In the course of editing publications and organising conventions, I’ve met a fair few editors, marketing people and agents. I even spent several months working on an ms with a publisher, which sadly came to nothing as she left the organisation. They’re all great people. I know a lot of the UK small press people as well – especially in the genre fields – and I freelance for a small UK independent publisher. Industry resources: the good old Writers Handbook. Ralan online. SCBWI. Authonomy of course. Some of the agent and editor blogs.

Jason Pettus: I would say that I’m familiar with the mechanics of the publishing industry – how a manuscript gets from an author’s hands into the retail customer’s bag. However, I purposely try to avoid as much “industry news” as I can. I feel it interferes with my simple pleasure and excitement over finding great new books. As well as my ability to relate to these books as both administrator and critic, the way that my audience does. Between such resources now as Goodreads.com, Wowbrary.com, Amazon, and my own site’s readers, it’s fairly easy to keep up on all the newest releases without having to follow news from the actual industry anymore, or to read any industry publications.

Alexander McNabb: I’d certainly see myself as familiar with publishing. But I don’t really follow the industry, its publishing, or even its blogs. I took a number of smacks on the head with the 200-odd rejections I got back for my two books, and took a three year holiday from the whole writing aspiration. I had just got back on my feet again and started work on a second funny book when I ran into Harper Collins’ authonomy. That looked interesting and six weeks later I found Space was in the top five, and selected for a crit from an HC editor.

Max Dunbar: I’ve met and dealt with various agents, publishers, and editors from both mainstream and independent publishing. But I wouldn’t say I was familiar with the process – it’s too big and complicated. I read The Bookseller, and the fantastic Ready Steady Book site.

Paul Fenton: I’m as familiar with the industry as an un-agented, unpublished novelist can be. I used to read through Publisher’s Marketplace. But the industry is so inherently insular, I find blogs to be the most useful and/or current. Everyonewhosanyone.com is a great source for agent contact details, but many of those details are probably out of date by now. Miss Snark was always a good read, as is Nathan Bransford. Beyond that, I trawl agency and publisher websites for news/info. Plus favorite author sites, for info on their agents.

Elizabeth Jasper: I’d say I’m as familiar as an outsider can be with the way the industry works. I am a member of YouWriteOn – a UK-based writers’ website; Authonomy, the HarperCollins on-line slush-pile website; Firstwriter – an online resource with updated listings of agents and publishers throughout the UK, USA, Canada and Australia; and Absolutewrite. Blogs: Miss Snark; Nathan Bransford; and I trawl all the major agent/publisher web-sites regularly.

Hannah Davis: Because of my background I do feel I have inside knowledge of the industry. Particularly the submission process and how agents work. I use authonomy, subscribe to various writer’s newsletters, use Writers & Artist’s Yearbook for contacts.

Simon Forward: I’m not very au fait with the inner workings of the publishing industry. In fact, despite my experience in licensed fiction, I’d say the whole thing strikes me as mysterious and very closed shop. Courtesy of shows like The West Wing, I have more understanding of how US Government works than I do of the publishing industry. I’ve just recently been pointed to some useful blogs from industry professionals. Whereas previously, I’ve only kept in touch with other writers.

Lexi Revellian: Reasonably familiar. I read and participate on: You Write On, Authonomy, Mysterious Matters, The Internet Writing Journal, Holly Lisle, The Bookseller, Flogging the Quill, Me And My Big Mouth: Scott Pack from The Friday Project, Writer’s & Artist’s Yearbook, Journey of the Scribe, Editorial Ass, Editorial Anonymous, Vulpes Libris, Fifth Estate, Jasper Fforde, This Itch of Writing, Justine Larbalestier, A Place for Strangers and Beggars, Authonomy Blog.

Erik Hare: No, I’m not. I skim PW and read a number of agent blogs, but what I read so dismays me that I have no interest in continuing. I can see that the industry is desperately sick, so I am more interested in what comes next.

Carl Thomas: I’ve yet to submit anything for publication.

LS: What’s your biggest complaint about the current publishing climate?

Max: The fact that publishers are risk-averse. They are afraid of taking a chance on anything good and original, because they’re scared it won’t sell. But they throw millions at celebrity biographies, which don’t sell.

It’s not just mainstream publishing – independent publishers often delight in deliberate obscurantism and pretension. The mainstream and the underground share contradictions and stupidities. I’m more and more reminded of Robert Crumb’s rule that one should never be too involved with either the mainstream or the underground: you should remain on the fringes of both.

Jason: It’s too corporate, along every step of the process. In fact, this is what’s rapidly spelling the doom of the entire mainstream publishing industry.

Imagine: a multinational publishing corporation gives five million dollars to a crappy vampire author, to crank out a crappy vampire novel, of which ten million copies are printed and sold to a multinational bookselling corporation. Not because a single person in this entire chain actually likes the crappy vampire novel – but instead for all the perks and bonuses and salaries needed to be paid to the several hundred corporate executives who made the multi-million-dollar transaction possible.

Meanwhile, what do you end up with? Ten million frustrated customers being handed a crappy vampire novel. It’s a vicious cycle, and the mainstream publishing industry is falling apart as we watch because of it, just like the mainstream music and movie industries did last decade.

Debbie: There’s a blinkered approach, and an inability to take risks on unknown authors. Not easy, I know, especially in this economic climate. But there’s a merry-go-round of publishing only what “sells.” When it only sells because it’s on the shop shelves and the buyers have no other obvious choice.

Publishers pay obscene amounts of money to have a featured space in major UK chain stores, regardless of the quality or attraction of the book. Do we really need another ghost-written celebrity “novel”? They’re bought as presents, but will they really become the classics of tomorrow? I think not.

So where will tomorrow’s classics come from? I’ve seen some fantastic self-published books (amid some that should probably never have seen print, electronic or otherwise!). I’ve bought several off Amazon. And I’ve read some books on Authonomy that I believe could become new classics – if anyone’s brave enough to take a risk with them. Look what Bloomsbury did with J.K. Rowling – they took a chance, and it paid off.

Simon: Agents are my biggest complaint. It’s tough enough to break into the publishing world as it is. But agents are like the gatekeepers – guarding against you even getting your work seen by the actual gatekeepers (the editors).

I’ve had numerous agents now tell me how wonderful my work is. And yet how they don’t feel quite enthusiastic enough to represent it. At least with publishers, you know that they’re considering a hefty financial investment before they take you on. Agents are considering investing their time and their reputation, yes, but if they’re not willing to stake that on something they believe is, for example, “colourful, imaginative and well-written” or “a really strong piece of writing” then what purpose do they serve?

It seems to me that the best approach is to go direct to a publisher, secure a deal, and then perhaps seek out an agent to represent you on future deals. Maybe they’d be more willing if there was guaranteed money to be had. As it stands, I’d like to find just one with a degree of vision. The entire publishing industry is a gamble, but if you’re unwilling to gamble on something that’s good, what are you doing in the casino?

Hannah: Publishing is so genre specific, and sometimes reluctant to take a risk on something which does not conform. Publishers appear to me to be out of touch with public demands.

Elizabeth: My first complaint is that some agents/publishers still don’t accept electronic submissions. And almost all of them take far too long to respond to submissions.

My second is the fixation with celebrity, to the detriment of good, original writing by talented authors.

Third, that a very few well-known authors suck up most of the available cash whether their books merit the investment or not. Often these writers are well past their best work, but the money follows them regardless, often to the disappointment of the book-buying public. In turn, this puts readers off buying more books.

Carl: I’ve no real complaints. But the current climate makes growth and new acquisitions difficult. What I would say is that most large publishers should commit to maybe one new writer per year and for at least three years.

Bookshops, too, ought to broker some deal so that fresh talent has a chance within a climate of risk avoidance and celebrity (ghost written books).

Paul: Demand appears to be heavily controlled by the large chain booksellers. Their system of allocating shelf “slots” for certain types of books feeds directly into a publisher’s author list. Which results in publishers only being interested in a handful of very particular subjects.

This system doesn’t allow much room for new or different styles of fiction to get into print, as the openings are based on existing books. Variety dies on the vine, and style and subject gravitates to the middle ground.

To make matters worse for writers, the available “slots” are more or less invisible. Writers can toil away for a year or more on a book – without having any clue as to whether there’s a potential shelf space available for it.

Lexi: There is an appalling timidity, linked with complacency. I see excellent books on Authonomy and Youwriteon that cannot get published.

Alexander: It’s demoralizing. Authonomy makes me angry when I see the quality of work that’s out there and unpublished, while there’s so much dross being pushed into print. I just don’t get it.

Erik: Literature is critical for a culture, and the industry has allowed literature to die without even having a decent funeral for it. They have made themselves largely irrelevant as they stand up against more visceral entertainment. I believe their demise will be ruled a suicide.

Next post, the panel answers the question, “What do you like best about publishing as it stands today?” Stay tuned!

Writers discuss the future of publishing – Biographies

Lauri — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 15:57:05 +0000

Erik Hare

Erik Hare is the Internet Marketing Consultant for Scarletta Press, a small publisher in Minneapolis. He’s also a grant writer and a consultant for non-profit companies. He previously worked as a research engineer for ChemE.

Erik is currently working on his first novel, Authenticity, about “the middle class fantasy life falling desperately in love with the reality it can never have.” He says that writing is a hobby, and he does not plan to quit his day job. He keeps a blog, Barataria, where he posts essays about culture, politics, art and more. You can find some of Erik’s work at erikhare.wordpress.com.

Jason Pettus

Jason Pettus owns and operates the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography. He has been involved with self-publishing and basement presses for 25 years, since he was a teenager in the early 80’s, Midwestern punk/zine scene. He spent ten years writing, publishing, and marketing his own novels, creative nonfiction, and slam poetry.

CCLaP released its first original book in November 2008, a story cycle called Repetition Patterns by local author Ben Tanzer (www.cclapcenter.com/patterns). This is an electronic book, released on a “pay what you want system” inspired by Radiohead, and Tanzer will be touring after the holidays to promote it.

CCLaP plans to put out another book this year, then four more in 2009, when Jason will also publish CCLaP’s first book on paper. More information is available at www.cclapcenter.com.

Max Dunbar

Max Dunbar is the Manchester Regional Editor for Succour, a new UK journal of fiction, poetry, and art (www.succour.org) that is now looking at submissions for its 2009 edition.

Though he has a background in policy and regen, Max has also done bar work, warehouse work, call centre work and other “drifting-writer type” jobs.

Max’s short fiction has appeared in print and web journals including Open Wide, Straight from the Fridge and Lamport Court. He’s written articles on politics and religion for Butterflies and Wheels. Max is currently seeking representation for his novel, Professionals, “a tale of chaos and corruption in local government.” He blogs at maxdunbar.wordpress.com.

Debbie Bennett

Debbie Bennett has been involved in the UK small press scene for many years. She has edited and published magazines, newsletters, and anthologies on behalf of the British Fantasy Society. She freelances for a small UK independent publisher, doing order-processing, occasional slushpile reading, and editorial work.

Debbie’s short fiction has been published in the small press, in women’s magazine, and has won several competitions. She is now shopping two novels. Hamelin’s Child, “a thriller set in the seedy world of London’s drug rings,” was long-listed for the Crime Writers’ Association Debut Dagger Award. The other book, Edge of Dreams, is a young adult contemporary fantasy.

Debbie’s past and colorful day jobs include tax inspector, debt collector, drugs investigator, and brewery controller for UK beer duty. She now works in IT for the Police. You can find her on the web at www.debbiebennett.co.uk or www.debbie-bennett.blogspot.com.

Alexander McNabb

Alexander McNabb is the group account director at Spot On Public Relations, working in the Middle East markets, particularly in telecoms, media and entertainment. He’s been in PR for twelve years, and has spent over twenty years writing as a journalist, editor, and publishing director of a Middle East magazine publisher. He lives in Dubai, having moved there “to escape the rain, the dole, and the tea” in England.

Alexander’s body of work includes news stories, features, white papers, and other research work on computing and telecommunications, as well as features and columns for newspapers and lifestyle magazines. He has worked with pop stars, celebrities, and ICT industry leaders, including Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, and King Abdulla II of Jordan.

Alexander is shopping two novels. Space, “Innocent man pitched into desperate race across Europe against unfeasible odds to save world from shadowy cabal. Except this is darkly, wickedly, scabrously, relentlessly funny.” And Olives, “Paul Stokes must decide whether the woman he loves is a killer or an innocent. But he must betray her, regardless.” He blogs at fakeplasticsouks.blogspot.com.

Simon A. Forward

Simon A. Forward is a professional writer living in Cornwall. He is the author of two Doctor Who novels, Drift and Emotional Chemistry for BBC Books, plus a Telos Novella Shell Shock and a number of other Doctor Who works, as well as (under a pseudonym) the first two books of Puffin’s Fright Night series. Before this, he worked as a computer programmer and a part-time lecturer.

Simon is currently shopping two novels: Evil UnLtd, a sci-fi comedy, and Kip Doodle, a kids’ fantasy adventure series. You can find him on the web at www.simonforward.co.uk, or blogging at prefectjournal.blogspot.com.

Lexi Revellian

Lexi Revellian is a writer and a self-employed jeweller/silversmith living in England. She received her Masters from the Royal College of Art, and has previously held a job organizing the distribution of a free magazine.

Lexi is currently working on a novel, Catch a Falling Star, a romantic thriller. You can find her on the web at lexirevellian.squarespace.com/welcome/ or blogging at lexirevellian.blogspot.com.

Paul Fenton

Paul Fenton is a “corporate hooker” in the UK – in other words, he’s in banking.
Paul has previously published a few short stories in zines. He is now shopping a novel called Punchline, “a black comedy about plagiarism, paranoia, and the sticky mess that results when the protagonist tries to solve the mystery on his own.”

Elizabeth Jasper

Elizabeth Jasper lives in Spain. Her professional background is with UK university administration, as well as UK National Health Service (NHS) administration.

Elizabeth is shopping a novel called Lying in Wait: “1974. The decisions made by a naïve young Irishman in Dublin devastate the lives of a womanising Northumbrian dairy farmer and his family.” You can find details and some of her other work at www.elizabethjasper.com.

Carl Thomas

Carl Thomas lives in the UK and works in IT/Sales. He’s published one copy of a small press magazine, which published horror fiction and book reviews; most of which were from Harper Collins. He’s a voracious reader. You can find some of his work at www.goodreads.com/story/show/28909.Dark_Dreams?chapter=1.

Hannah Davis

Hannah Davis is a British ex-pat living in Spain, and a former English teacher in Central America and Madrid. She has worked as PA in a top UK literary agency, Casarotto Ramsay (repping film/tv writers & directors), and a freelance reader for Robert Fox & the Almeida Theatre. Her job was at ICM, London office, as a PA.

Nowadays, Hannah is a freelance offering manuscript critiques, and she co-owns an ex-pat magazine in Spain. Her first novel, The Voices of Angels, is YA supernatural story: “Lizzie Fisher is an ordinary girl with an extraordinary gift. She can see when people are about to die.” Hannah blogs at streamwriting.com/blog.