Writers Discuss the Future of Publishing – Round 7
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.
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| « Previous: Writers Discuss the Future of Publishing – Round 6 | Next: Vineet Bhalla (Klazart) Interviewed About Authonomy » |
Tags: biography, CCLaP, Debbie Bennett, Jason Pettus, Max Dunbar, novel, Paul Fenton, publishing, writer
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January 29th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
I’m a little surprised no one mentioned podcasting. I’ve listened to a number of excellent novels on Podiobooks.com, mostly from unpublished authors. A lot of these authors are now getting publishing deals largely based on the sheer number of subscribers to the podcast feed. Scott Sigler for instance has not only signed with Crown but has also been able to insist on continuing to podcast his novels which are available to download for free. This and directly communicating with his audience has built up a massive fanbase and as I said, got the publishers interested.
February 1st, 2009 at 3:54 am
Darren’s got an interesting point – there are, in fact, now a number of different ways that authors can use different formats to establish popularity and therefore interest publishers. But that’s not the future of an industry, just an expansion of an author’s (and publisher’s publicist’s) ability to reach readers.
As far as the central question goes, I think I’ve had a chance, since Lauri and I first spoke about this, to crystallize my views. If anyone’s interested, they’re posted up on Eoin Purcell’s blog: here.
February 14th, 2009 at 5:14 am
Just came across your blog on Google. Interesting post, you bring up a few good things to think about. Good luck with the blog.