We asked students last weekend to share every worst case scenario and fear they’d heard or thought about the way digital options seems to be consuming traditional publishing. What are the rumors? How bad do you think it’s going to get. What are you chances now of ever getting a book contract and seeing your stories in a reader’s hand?
My agent (Michelle Grajkowski) and I had been fielding industry questions and trying to get folks to open up for about an hour. It was the get to know you beginning of the conference. Folks were understandably guarded at first, talking with someone they thought might one day be an asset to their career (Michelle, not me, though I’m always good for an entertaining hour or two of conversation ;o). I’d tried to get them to ask digital publishing questions a few times, but no takers. Then Michelle helped me open the floor for comments.
“What have you heard?” we asked. “What do you know? Don’t worry about how bad it sounds. No holds barred.”
Ah. We’d struck upon the thing to ask a room full of people who’re starting to accept you into your group. More, “Let’s get the the big ugly monster out of the closet.” Less, “Let us know what you’re afraid of.”
Michelle and I had talked about this approach on the drive over from the town we flew in on to the on where we’d be teaching all weekend. We were pretty sure what we’d hear.
And we weren’t disappointed:
- Digital publishing is helping finish off the Mass Market segment of printed book sales.
- Bricks and mortar stores are disappearing from the landscape.
- Book store chains are closing, filing for bankruptcy or up for sale.
- Racks/slots for books in the remaining discount stores are dwindling.
- Online printed book sales are lagging behind digital sales.
- Self publishing digitally may be the only way non-branded authors can make money publishing in the near future.
- It’s becoming difficult to distinguish a “publisher” from a self published digital book, at least on sight.
- Badly written and produced digital books are flooding the market.
- 99 cent digital book prices devalue books in general and make it impossible for newer writers to make any money at all.
- It takes so long to find a publisher traditionally, print advances are shrinking along with sales and royalties, publishers are struggling and going under, and an agent gets to take a bite out of whatever you do make–why not skip all the middle men and go it alone like everyone you see all over social media making a fortune self-publishing.
- Publishers opening digital-only imprints aren’t offering authors advances, are offering little or no promotion that the author doesn’t have to take the lead in, and are making no promises of income from royalties. Therefore months/years of work could result in little or no profit for the author whatsoever.
The list goes on… Like I said, nothing new.
Except, the point we made later that night after everyone had pretty much agreed that we’d all heard the above list and more and didn’t know what to think about it, is that IT’S NOTHING NEW.
Michelle and I called this the Reality Check portion of the evening program. Here’s what we shared with the group, and believe it or not it made everyone a little more comfortable and contemplative and thinking a little more big picture about all the above stuff that, let’s be honest, makes all of us want to hind our heads in the sand until the dust settles…
When the mass market publishing model began to dominate the scene, we used as an example, it was seen by many as a threatening wave that would spell the end of the more valuable but pricey hard cover novel, and the independent book store that didn’t want to shelve endless cheaper-to-produce-and-stock paperbacks. And, well, it pretty much was. (more…)
