In e-tech, publishers look to be an obsolescent cog. They exist(ed?) with books in a legitimate role because someone needs to take on the cost of printing a physical book, shipping it to a store, etc., and your typical author can’t afford to do that. With an e-book, the costs – such as they are – are handled by the retailer (Apple, Amazon, smaller sellers – even the author.)
Speaking as someone somewhat familiar with the industry, publishers, long known for providing only minimal advances and the smallest possible royalty to the actual artist (the author(s) and illustrator(s)), appear to have no role in the e-book ecosphere.
There’s nothing to print; typesetting, such as it is, can be handled by the author(s); there’s almost zero cost to the delivery; the value created is in the work, which is the role of the author(s); and in its presentation to a market, which is the role of the retailer (or again, even the author(s)); and finally in its purchase by the consumer.
It seems to me that it may be just a matter of time before the authors – and the retailers – realize this, and publishers end up on the same sidewalk as manufacturers of buggy whips – and for the same reason. Right now, publishers get (I should say, typically they insist on taking) e-book rights when they print a traditional book. But one has to ask, how long will paper book publishing be the first and most important choice for an author? I don’t think it will be much longer. I haven’t bought a “real” book in a year, and I can’t really see doing it again. E-books simply have too many advantages, and more arrive with every wave of technology.
Unless, of course, the law steps in, as it has with copyrights and software patents, to create an artificial market. Then all bets are off. Publishers might continue to prosper in the authoring space just as lawyers do in the extended copyright and patent spaces.
![fyngyrz posted a photo: The map location here shows where I was when I took the photo, rather than the photo itself. I was looking west (obviously) from the north end of the church parking lot which itself is north of Bonnie Street, and south of Airport Road. I jockeyed around until I had the sun completely behind the radar housing, and then shot a few shots at different exposures, hoping that the 50D's dynamic range would catch the gradation in the sky; it did ok, but I still wish we had another couple of high quality bits of dynamic range. Maybe the next camera generation will go there. Canon EOS 50D [modified IR response in Hα range], hooded Sigma EF-S 30mm ƒ/1.4 EX DC HSM prime [ø62mm] w/B&W 62mm IR/UV cut filter #65-014691; RAW to JPEG conversion and editing in Aperture 3.](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4078/4912161604_6cd46bace2_m.jpg "fyngyrz posted a photo: The map location here shows where I was when I took the photo, rather than the photo itself. I was looking west (obviously) from the north end of the church parking lot which itself is north of Bonnie Street, and south of Airport Road. I jockeyed around until I had the sun completely behind the radar housing, and then shot a few shots at different exposures, hoping that the 50D's dynamic range would catch the gradation in the sky; it did ok, but I still wish we had another couple of high quality bits of dynamic range. Maybe the next camera generation will go there. Canon EOS 50D [modified IR response in Hα range], hooded Sigma EF-S 30mm ƒ/1.4 EX DC HSM prime [ø62mm] w/B&W 62mm IR/UV cut filter #65-014691; RAW to JPEG conversion and editing in Aperture 3.")
#1 by Max on May 1, 2010 - 1:12 pm
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Hello there,
Some interesting points. You are, essentially, correct about a number of things there. But you have, unfortunately, thrown the baby out with the bath water.
Much as they might disagree, authors’ works do not pop fully formed onto the page. You may be astounded (literally astounded) to find out the amount of editing work that goes on with even the most well-known of authors. Editing is not interfering and not just spell-checking, it’s a process of collaboration between author and editor trying to craft the best work.
As for the retailer promoting the authors work, do you realise that currently publishers pay to get the retailers to promote certain less-well-known authors? Book store giants and supermarkets won’t promote new, non-mainstream, works when they realise the costs (and losses) involved. A future which just sees the John Grishams of the world selling books is a grim one indeed.
Yes, the publishing industry needs to change, adapt and innovate. No, it can’t be tossed out onto the sidewalk like the buggy-whip.
And no, I’m not part of the publishing industry
#2 by admin on May 1, 2010 - 2:48 pm
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Have I? Let’s see.
Well, as it turns out, I run one of the longest-established science fiction oriented literary agencies in the country, and I not surprised by your statement. However, the “editor” you refer to is generally someone at the literary agency, and not the publisher. Editors at publishers rarely, and I mean really rarely, do real editing for any but the most exalted authors. What they do is say “yes” or “no”, and in the case of the latter, they send the work back, and it goes through further editing at the agency or is discarded. That’s the way it works today. I know this for certain, because it is we, the agency, that perform the lion’s share of the actual editing functions, back and forthing, etc. We do this before the publisher even sees the work, in fact.
Well, they used to. Years ago. Today, they only do that for authors that are so successful it’s a slam dunk. What they really do is expect the less well known authors to promote themselves. Today, they want to see websites, a speaking tour, web buzz, beta readers, a forum… (all paid for, money and time both, out of the author’s pocket.) In fact, if you can’t offer this, it’s almost a 100% percent certain route to rejection.
All the more reason to get the publishers out of the system. When the authors can go right to the bookstore, and they’re all on equal footing, then the quality of the work will be the defining metric — not the marketing. Which is much closer to “as it should be.”
You haven’t even come close to making that case; a lot of what you say is wrong, that is, not that way any longer, your perception of how things operate being out of date.
It still appears to me that we’re exactly in buggy whip territory for e-books. Not books. And that’s really the crux; when they buy the book to print, they want the e-book rights. But when authors begin to bypass the print stage, publishers will lose their hold entirely, for how will they get the rights?
Ah. But I am.