Writers Discuss the Future of Publishing – Round 1
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!
Continue reading:
| Next: Superior Scribbler Award » |
Tags: author, future of publishing, novel
Subscribe via RSS
Subscribe via email
December 2nd, 2008 at 8:34 am
Very interesting, Lauri, and quite a lot of consensus here.
December 2nd, 2008 at 11:14 am
A very interesting collection of views and standpoints, put together quite neatly!
More of this stuff! More!
Surprised at Jason’s whippy view of vampire books and Lexi’s assiduous web-work already! And, yes, lots of consensus…
December 2nd, 2008 at 5:31 pm
Nicely done, Lauri. Yes, all men named Jason have aversions to vampire novels.
December 3rd, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Just to be clear, I was using vampire novels simply as a random example; I could’ve easily said “crappy lawyer novel” or “crappy murder mystery” instead. The main emphasis is definitely on “crappy,” and on how no one in mainstream publishing seems to ever ask anymore, “Gee, I wonder if ten million of our customers actually want to read this crappy book we’re about to publish?”
December 3rd, 2008 at 1:25 pm
I am soooo laughing out loud right now.
I did not for one second intend to label Jason as a vampire novel hater.
Although that genre spawns some terrible, terrible writing in my own, very humble opinion.
I’m sure Jason finds some great vampire novels in his pile of wonderful/acceptable/awful things.
If only we considered Bram Stoker to be John Cleese. When he decided to stop, we should have stopped too.
December 3rd, 2008 at 1:32 pm
But do the publishing companies believe that they are pushing out crap? I have to say, I think it’s unlikely they do.
I think the people working for corporate entertainment vessels probably fall into two camps.
In camp A, we have the folks who mean well, but are completely out of touch with public taste.
And in camp B, everyone else is wringing their hands watching the ship go down, but for whatever reason they feel powerless to rock the boat they are sitting in.
I saw this a lot when I worked in the music industry. These are people. They’re not evil – some of them are clueless, but they’re definitely not evil. Many of them have families to feed. Or other reasons to justify maintaining the status quo.
More people on the inside than you’d ever imagine are surely just as frustrated as the people on the outside by the way the system works. The big difference is, they have a lot more to lose when they gamble.
It’s the people on the outside of the current system who have an opportunity to spark the most change. The people with nothing to lose.
And by the way, the music industry crisis is still ongoing. So for anyone who is quietly waiting for corporate publishing to sort itself out… my feeling is that you’ll be waiting a very long time.
December 3rd, 2008 at 1:36 pm
I haven’t actually read many vampire novels since the reign of Anne Rice. I do remember how many people loved those, and how I felt mostly ambivalent about them.
December 9th, 2008 at 10:07 am
I think that the whole boat is in a transition between what has been and what will be. Between the instantaneous downloading of books, essentially as they are minted, and the increasing lean toward digital slush in various forms, not to mention all the start-up e, pod and even traditional presses, I think we see a creature that doesn’t quite know what it is at this precise moment.
I agree that it’s unlikely that most editors and most publishers believe ANY of the works they publish are bad (though some obviously must know Britney’s Mom is no writer) but they are having to contend with the advent of new technologies and delivery systems and it’s kicking a lot of people’s asses.
Personally I loathe the genre classifications for anything that isn’t dead center in the middle of the definition. I know it’s a marketing tool that, in theory, helps the consumer identify those books that they are likely to enjoy but I hope the artificial boundaries that separate most works will dissolve sooner rather than later.
I listen to a personal radio station designed by me on PANDORA.COM. I plug in the name of an artist I like or type of music and, by trial and error, the site and I carve out a buffet of NEW ARTISTS that I’m likely to enjoy based upon the tastes I’ve already expressed. The more I use the site, the more accurate its choices for me become. To the point where it becomes 100% predictive of stuff I’ll enjoy.I would like to see publishing towards a model like that, one that does away with genre classification in favor of style, period and subject among other things.
I know Amazon has something like that, based upon buying patterns, but it’s nowhere near as specific for obvious reasons.
(apologies for typos. it’s late)
January 20th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
Lauri, I just want to say your blog is such a treat – with fascinating & diverse topics everytime I get around to reading it. Well done and write on grrl!