Best-selling author Douglas Rushkoff moves to Independent POD publisher, OR Books, and explains why in this self-written article in Arthur Magazine. Contrary to some blog post I’ve seen on the Internet, Rushkoff is not ‘self-publishing’, but has simply chosen an alternative publishing model to the tradition path.
I broadly agree with where Rushkoff is coming from in his presented argument for going this route, but I have to say, I found some dubious conclusions and a few inaccuracies regarding where most books are sold. (see below quotes)
“Until it utterly reworks its method, gets rid of a majority of its corporate dead weight, releases its publishing houses from the conglomerates that own them, and embraces direct selling models, the publishing industry will remain rather useless to readers and writers alike.”
Yes, traditional publishing is broken and badly needs to evolve its models, but it is far from the lost cause so many make it out to be.
“Will people still be able to find a book that’s not in stores, and will they want to? Well, most books sell more electronic versions than print ones anyway, and Amazon already sells more of most books than all real-world retailers combined.”
I like to know where Rushkoff is getting the market and sales information to back this up.
