Writers Discuss the Future of Publishing – Round 3
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: What changes do you see arriving for this business in the next five years?
Paul Fenton: Large houses using POD to supplement traditional wholesale publishing methods (perhaps bulk print runs supplemented by smaller POD runs to keep stocks levels up). E-books, maybe a little, but when you sell something digital it loses its tangible appeal. A physical book is an easier sell.
Max Dunbar: I think and hope that independent publishers like Tindal Street and Canongate will continue to do well and gain recognition and awards. In some ways they are picking up the slack left by complacent mainstream publishers. I hope that the explosion in new fiction and poetry magazines will continue.
I think there will be more books developed from blogs – I’ve seen that up in Manchester with Maria Roberts and Chris Killen. But I don’t think, contrary to some of the wilder predictions, that people will give up the physical book and just read off the Kindle or the Sony Reader or whatever.
Also bear in mind that most of the big changes will not be top down and that they will be fiercely resisted.
Hannah Davis: I see spirituality in fiction becoming more popular, the mind, body, spirit sector in non-fiction took off, and I think there is a growing market for books with more depth – which have a message to say, like The Alchemist, but which is woven into a narrative.
I see more online activity, sites like authonomy, the growth of POD and online publishing.
Debbie Bennett: I think that self-publishing will lose its stigma and that conventional publishers will be all about the marketing and distribution, rather than the editing and printing. Self publishers will compete in a more open market.
Lexi Revellian: Someone is going to find a way to make POD work.
Simon Forward: The simple answer to this is that if we don’t see changes, then we’ll see a steady deterioration. Basically the market needs a refresh. Technology and, I hope, sites like Authonomy will help as a platform – maybe to let people see the reads that they’re missing out on. POD may help, but it has to be done at a level that will allow for competitive prices and the books have to be marketed and presented to the same degree as any book out there in the real world.
LS: Will these changes help writers participate and shape the industry? If so, how?
Jason Pettus: Oh, I’d take it even farther than that. I’d argue that the writers are going to become the industry because of these changes. That the “industry” as we know it is going to become a profoundly different thing altogether.
In a world where artists can actually produce, engineer, edit and release their work right from home, there’s less a need for the technical side of the industry. With the rise of direct distribution and websites, there’s much less a need for the severely bloated executive and marketing side of the industry. And with places like Amazon, Goodreads, Shelfari and LibraryThing, there’s less need of these industry professionals to be our “cultural gatekeepers” anymore either. What we know as the “industry” will in fact fragment over the coming decade, so that in reality it rests a little with each and every artist out there.
What presses like mine will be, then, are simply more like administrators or federations, helping bring resources like editors, proofreaders, and designers to artists who can’t usually afford them on their own. Helping them get attention for the book as well, but for a much lower cut of the revenue than traditional publishers (50% at CCLaP, for example, versus 85 to 90% at a place like Random House). Publishers will become more like advisors and partners than “golden tickets” – as the historical notion has been for so long now of landing a book contract with a major press.
Hannah: Online communities can create power.
Lexi: With any luck, the smug gatekeepers will be out of a job. Good writers will be able to find their market.
Carl Thomas: I think it will all come down to writers in the end, as they will be forced to find their own books to market.
Erik Hare: Before every revolution, there is a moment of quiet. The peasants are manning the barricades prepared to die with the first flash of gunpowder. Instead, something remarkable happens – nothing.
That’s when the peasants understand that the ancient regime has already fallen and it’s up to them to cross their own barricades and take control. I believe that this moment is approaching very quickly in the industry, and our ability to shape what happens is nothing more nor less than our desire to charge into that chilling silence.
LS: How do these changes have the potential to be negative for writers?
Erik: If the industry simply dies or become moribund, there could be nothing for us at all. Since we have yet to figure out how to make money with the internet, there could be a general collapse.
Lexi: Too many people writing instead of reading?
Hannah: Too many writers out there, a sea of voices, individuals might get lost, online publishing might/does lead to less editorial quality control.
Jason: Writers can longer rely on getting paid just for being writers. If a writer wants to actually make money in this fabled decentralized future I’m talking about, the writer needs to become a pretty good editor as well, and a designer, and a printer, and a distributor, and a sales professional, and a tour organizer, and half a dozen other roles.
This in general gets into the changing moment in human development we’re seeing these days. Creativity is become more and more just an amateur part of everyone’s leisure time now. The mere act of being creative is no longer worth the kind of money it once was.
When all your readers are writing blogs and short stories, when all your film’s audience members are shooting videos, the question of why they should pay you to do it becomes tricky. Instead of the old answer, “Because I’m the only one doing it,” the new answer will be more along the lines of, “Because that writer was the one to get off his butt and go the extra step. He was the one to get his book out on paper, into bookstores, to organize a tour, and to drag himself and his books to this cafe I go to all the time. I’m going to pay this artist ten dollars tonight, not merely because he wrote a book and somehow deserves ten dollars just for the act of doing that.”
A lot of artists aren’t going to like this new reality; but that’s the trade-off you make for living in a world where artists can take their careers into their own hands in such a profound way.
Alexander McNabb: I think all change is positive. It brings opportunity.
What’s your take?
I’m also interested in hearing from you. What’s your take on the changes that publishing is undergoing? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.
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December 22nd, 2008 at 12:24 pm
my novel wasn’t ‘developed’ from my blog. i wrote a separate short novel on my blog, but The Bird Room has nothing to do with my blog. Canongate only found out about my blog after i got the deal.
(i don’t have any problem with books being developed from blogs or anything, BTW. just wanted to ‘straighten the facts’ or something.)
April 13th, 2010 at 11:30 am
What do you all think about publishing cooperatives, writers helping writers to get published, help with getting book in best shape possible and with start up on a print on demand? norah
April 14th, 2010 at 8:38 am
Hi Norah,
My opinion? It depends on what your objectives are, and how business savvy the members of your collective really are.
I think the idea is a great one, in theory.
In reality, on the other hand, I think most people tend to do their best work when money changes hands. And frankly, I don’t think writers always make good book editors.
That said, there’s absolutely no reason not to try.
L
April 14th, 2010 at 10:50 am
I agree with your comments Lauri, and do think it’s time for pub coops to start cropping up as an alternative. I have wondered if we should charge something for the start up from the Author or Authors of the book. How business savvy – that’s the rub. I agree with book editing so would have the print on demand provide that service for us most likely, though I did find someone here in Columbus who worked as an editor for English text books here in our local (Columbus, Ohio) MacGraw Hill office and paid her the price she requested. My worry is how willing are the board members of our pub coop if we go ahead with this idea how willing are they to conquer the learnign curve for becoming marketing savy. Most have busy lives, some very busy, and so I am carefully considering the matter.
Another question I have: do you know if there are any grants that would help with start up of a pub coop? thanks so much for being there to talk to, Lauri. norah
April 14th, 2010 at 3:01 pm
Norah, thank you for bringing this conversation to my page.
I’m not sure I understand your business model. You’re thinking of getting the authors to pay the collective? For which services? What’s to stop your writers from just going to the POD company directly?
In short, what are you providing so that it makes sense for your writers to work with you instead of simply going it alone? Either way, the work is self-published, which means a lot of stores won’t carry the product, and most media outlets won’t help hawk it.
Concerning grants: I have absolutely no idea. Perhaps spending a few hours with Google might turn something up.