I have worked as a writer and book publisher for more than twenty years and I am about to release my first novel. Because of all the new publishing opportunities I have decided to release my novel in every format possible. I will print it traditionally for my regular sales channels. I will also release it as a Print on Demand book for markets that are too expensive to ship to. I will release it as an eBook for the Kindle, iPad and other eBook readers. We are also recording it as an audiobook for radio, podcast, MP3 download and as a CD product. I have an agreement with a film director and I am crossing my fingers that a small film will be made. Basically I’m throwing it into every sales channel and format and crossing my fingers. I don’t think any publisher has the luxury of thinking of a book as any single thing anymore. After all does anyone really know where the book industry will be in five years much less eighteen months?
Many book publishers fear the example of the encyclopedia business. Twenty years ago North American annual sales of encyclopedias were in excess of $650 million (dominated by door to door sales of the Encyclopedia Britannica.) When I was a kid, parents were compelled to buy ten feet of these books if they hoped their kids would even finish high school. Then computers started being sold with encyclopedias pre-installed, most notably Encarta (owned by Microsoft and a digital edition of Funk & Wagnall’s Encyclopedia) and within short order the encyclopedia business had contracted to $10 million. Then Wikipedia went online as a non-profit with an operating budget of less than $1.5 million. Sure, there is a difference between the Encyclopedia Britannica and Wikipedia but for good or bad the business evaporated.
People often say that books are going to follow the trajectory of the music business. Stores were abandoned for iTunes, piracy is rampant, and the price of a CD’s worth of music has dropped by half. Many musicians now record music themselves and market it online using social media and iTunes. They also treat the revenue from their recordings as incidental to the money they make through concerts and selling merchandise.
Most literary writers take three to five years to write a book. This includes several rewrites, and a year of editing and marketing by a publishing team. eBooks simplify some of these processes, most notably the post-production design, lay-out, and marketing. However, the more major efforts of pre-production such as rewriting and editing remain. Recently I have seen Indie writers post first or second drafts of their books on their blogs. The rationale is that readers will post comments and help direct the development of the book. Perhaps I’m not open minded enough, but this practice makes the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. I come from the school of thought that all first drafts are embarrassing and require much attention and editing to become readable. I believe that professional editing is an important part of the creative writing process and is essential for all books to achieve their potential.
I follow Amanda Hockings and other Indie writers on their blogs and Twitterfeeds. I understand how they are able to attract the attention of book bloggers and build a huge community of loyal readers. Their success flies in the face of traditional publishers who have never understood how to build a community of readers or market directly to readers. For the Indie writer the seventy percent royalty is well deserved. Publishing a book traditionally or independently is a huge risk and nothing is going to change that. Amanda Hockings and her fellow Indie writers have my respect and I appreciate their courage and intelligence in their pursuit of a professional writing career.
I am comforted by the knowledge that because of iTunes and iPods people listen to much more music today than they did twenty years ago. We have access to a wider variety of types of music and a wider means of listening to it. We can subscribe to satellite radio, listen to web radio, pirate music, buy music etc. Unlike musicians, writers can’t treat their works as loss leaders as we don’t have concerts to promote. Few people would ever consider paying to attend a reading. Clearly books will have to evolve to preserve a prominent place in our culture. At their core, books are just ideas and these ideas can be expressed in a variety of forms. The flexibility of writing is one of its greatest assets and I do not feel doom and gloom. However, I think we have to all get busy producing books in many different formats and let the consumer choose how they want to explore our ideas.
