Comments on: Writers Discuss the Future of Publishing – Round 5 http://www.laurishaw.com/writers-discuss-the-future-of-publishing-%e2%80%93-round-5/ Servicing the Pole and other writings Fri, 23 Sep 2011 04:46:27 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 By: Garalt Canton http://www.laurishaw.com/writers-discuss-the-future-of-publishing-%e2%80%93-round-5/#comment-345 Garalt Canton Fri, 23 Jan 2009 13:33:30 +0000 http://www.laurishaw.com/?p=584#comment-345 PS Lauri, Thanks for kicking this off. PS Lauri, Thanks for kicking this off.

]]> By: Garalt Canton http://www.laurishaw.com/writers-discuss-the-future-of-publishing-%e2%80%93-round-5/#comment-344 Garalt Canton Fri, 23 Jan 2009 13:32:32 +0000 http://www.laurishaw.com/?p=584#comment-344 I think, as music and video have pretty much been completely exploited by new technology, we are at the cusp of a mass market for specialised literature. Think about it. Waterstones and Amazon can only get you the book you want if there is a big enough group of you demanding it. Otherwise, it is taking up expensive shelf space. The moment has indeed arrived where anybody connected to the web is capable of downloading large files. MP3 files must be at least 1000 times bigger than even the most cumbersome MS Word document, even PDF! I can download a five minute song in what is approaching real time and it only costs me $99c or a paypal tick. So how about people browsing all the books available online and real time downloading so they can print it up at home? Is that beyond our ken? Absolutely not! Dickens & Co.uk will be built this year. Think of it as iTunes for publishing. Anybody who wants to discuss this further with me at garaltcanton@gmail.com I think, as music and video have pretty much been completely exploited by new technology, we are at the cusp of a mass market for specialised literature. Think about it. Waterstones and Amazon can only get you the book you want if there is a big enough group of you demanding it. Otherwise, it is taking up expensive shelf space.

The moment has indeed arrived where anybody connected to the web is capable of downloading large files. MP3 files must be at least 1000 times bigger than even the most cumbersome MS Word document, even PDF! I can download a five minute song in what is approaching real time and it only costs me $99c or a paypal tick.

So how about people browsing all the books available online and real time downloading so they can print it up at home? Is that beyond our ken?

Absolutely not! Dickens & Co.uk will be built this year. Think of it as iTunes for publishing. Anybody who wants to discuss this further with me at
garaltcanton@gmail.com

]]> By: Larry Harrison http://www.laurishaw.com/writers-discuss-the-future-of-publishing-%e2%80%93-round-5/#comment-338 Larry Harrison Mon, 19 Jan 2009 21:31:09 +0000 http://www.laurishaw.com/?p=584#comment-338 As supermarkets squeeze profit margins and begin to dictate the commissioning practices of the larger publishers, small presses and writers coops will step into the gap, and provide innovative, edgy, contemporary fiction. Literature is following music and film - the exciting stuff will be provided by indie labels. As supermarkets squeeze profit margins and begin to dictate the commissioning practices of the larger publishers, small presses and writers coops will step into the gap, and provide innovative, edgy, contemporary fiction. Literature is following music and film – the exciting stuff will be provided by indie labels.

]]> By: Dan Holloway http://www.laurishaw.com/writers-discuss-the-future-of-publishing-%e2%80%93-round-5/#comment-337 Dan Holloway Mon, 19 Jan 2009 10:18:18 +0000 http://www.laurishaw.com/?p=584#comment-337 Of course writers can take on the publishing houses. The big, adaptive houses won’t go out of business, but there’s a slot in the market for writers working together. If history teaches us anything, it’s that the key to success is positioning yourself correctly in the land grab – and 2009 is POD’s land grab year. The problem with writers is when they’re not writing they’re a reactionary bunch who like to think firmly inside the box. There’s also a huge reluctance to see their manuscripts as the assets on a balance sheet – but if we’re writing for publication as well as pleasure that’s what they are. We must be passionate about our writing, but we can’t get so attached that we miss an opportunity because we won’t let go our darling. I figure if I’m going to make a living as a writer I need to produce a book a year, so what have I really got to lose by “sacrificing” a book to the POD experiment? Downside: I wait till 2010 to hawk a ‘script the traditional way. Upside: be a part of industry history – it’s the easiest kind of no-brainer. What writers’ cooperatives have, like Mocky says, is leanness – by focusing on very specific imprints with a known market, they can reach their readers with little or no collateral waste. Obviously this suits some genres more than others. I write about contemporary culture – music, art, online chatrooms are all in my books – which is very amenable to this kind of approach. Then again, when I started my last book I CHOSE that genre because it’s got that potential. We writers have got to start thinking about ourselves as businesses, and we’ve got to stop thinking we’re in competition with each other. Do that and of course we can succeed. It’s about positioning rather than marketing – that’s the other real mistake writers make. POD is not about “getting to print” then working out how to get readers. It’s about a philosophy, about providing a market that already exists with a service they can’t get anywhere else (thinking like business people again). We’re creative – surely we can manage to do that! Come and join the discussion on the Facebook Group The Man Who Painted Agnieszka’s Shoes Of course writers can take on the publishing houses. The big, adaptive houses won’t go out of business, but there’s a slot in the market for writers working together. If history teaches us anything, it’s that the key to success is positioning yourself correctly in the land grab – and 2009 is POD’s land grab year.

The problem with writers is when they’re not writing they’re a reactionary bunch who like to think firmly inside the box. There’s also a huge reluctance to see their manuscripts as the assets on a balance sheet – but if we’re writing for publication as well as pleasure that’s what they are. We must be passionate about our writing, but we can’t get so attached that we miss an opportunity because we won’t let go our darling. I figure if I’m going to make a living as a writer I need to produce a book a year, so what have I really got to lose by “sacrificing” a book to the POD experiment? Downside: I wait till 2010 to hawk a ‘script the traditional way. Upside: be a part of industry history – it’s the easiest kind of no-brainer.
What writers’ cooperatives have, like Mocky says, is leanness – by focusing on very specific imprints with a known market, they can reach their readers with little or no collateral waste. Obviously this suits some genres more than others. I write about contemporary culture – music, art, online chatrooms are all in my books – which is very amenable to this kind of approach. Then again, when I started my last book I CHOSE that genre because it’s got that potential.
We writers have got to start thinking about ourselves as businesses, and we’ve got to stop thinking we’re in competition with each other. Do that and of course we can succeed. It’s about positioning rather than marketing – that’s the other real mistake writers make. POD is not about “getting to print” then working out how to get readers. It’s about a philosophy, about providing a market that already exists with a service they can’t get anywhere else (thinking like business people again). We’re creative – surely we can manage to do that!
Come and join the discussion on the Facebook Group The Man Who Painted Agnieszka’s Shoes

]]> By: Mockingbird http://www.laurishaw.com/writers-discuss-the-future-of-publishing-%e2%80%93-round-5/#comment-336 Mockingbird Fri, 16 Jan 2009 15:07:19 +0000 http://www.laurishaw.com/?p=584#comment-336 I believe that it is possible for a bunch of authors to get together and create something. Co-operatives work... they've been working for centuries. It's a question of inspired cunning as much as the skills each person brings to the table. Early adoption may be the art of the large publishing house with the big budget, but it is possible to be small and nimble and get in there for a slice of pie too. I believe that it is possible for a bunch of authors to get together and create something. Co-operatives work… they’ve been working for centuries. It’s a question of inspired cunning as much as the skills each person brings to the table. Early adoption may be the art of the large publishing house with the big budget, but it is possible to be small and nimble and get in there for a slice of pie too.

]]>