The Independent Magazine will be on a short hiatus for about the next five days as we are currently in the process of relocating. We will hopefully resume normal service next Wednesday/Thursday.
Thursday 31 May 2012
The Independent Publishing Magazine | Short Hiatus
The Independent Magazine will be on a short hiatus for about the next five days as we are currently in the process of relocating. We will hopefully resume normal service next Wednesday/Thursday.
Sunday 27 May 2012
The Writers' Workshop UK Survey On Experiences of Professional Writers in The Industry
Following on from my last post; here is a survey from the perspective of authors you won't have to pay to see the results of. The survey was conducted by The Writers' Workshop (UK) for professional writers and presented under the banner title - Do You Love Your Publisher? You can find the full results of the survey here, and you can read The Writers' Workshop announcement here. Over the coming days I'll take a closer look and try to extract some conclusions.
Thursday 24 May 2012
Self-Publishing Report: The Taleist Survey - Not a Gold Rush
The Self-Publishing survey conducted by Taleist is now complete and available, though I won't pretend I'm not a little disappointed Taleist has chosen to release the details of the survey in a closed/purchase option via an ebook on Amazon. I appreciate the work Steven Lewis and Dave Cornford have invested in this. But after all, this was meant to be an independent and respected survey and not a vehicle to sell ebooks. However if you want to 'purchase' the results of the survey, the ebook is available on Amazon.
Here is Taleist contributor, Dave Cornford:
'via Blog this'
Wednesday 23 May 2012
John Oakes of Or Books on Disintermediation
I'm currently researching a piece at the moment on control, disruption and discoverability in the publishing world, so I was certainly interested to come upon this piece by John Oakes of Or Books on Amazon and disintermediation which appeared late last week on Publishers Weekly. I'm all for large publishers embracing the digital revolution – in-house as well as developing external partnerships – to deal with the evolving demand for content and connection, but I've long argued that community needs to be the fundamental driver of the revolution. Whether you are Random House, Graywolf Press or Buffalo Creek Press – that connection with community begins with your readers and authors. The process, platform and provider should not become your sole community. If it does, then you've missed the whole point of disintermediation. What we need is an industry that preserves the values of what a publisher should be; thereby bringing publisher closer to author, and publisher closer to reader.
Disintermediation should not be seen solely as a method of cost-cutting in the supply chain, but a way of reestablishing and acknowledging the customer within your community
For now, more from John Oakes of Or Books writing in Publishers Weekly:
"Yet Amazon, which has so neatly disintermediated physical bookstores and intimidated publishers, may carry within itself the formula for its own destruction. The one great service it provides is a comfortingly familiar Web site, a Web site that just a few years ago was unknown. And despite all its cash, its forays into publishing seem doomed, thanks to the hatred it engenders among rival stores and sites; it is likely that the fate of its publishing efforts will mirror that of Barnes & Noble’s. What is it selling? Its ability to sell. What if publishers were to sell e-books and print books direct, straight to consumers—and consumers were to get used to the idea of buying direct? Suddenly one can imagine Amazon becoming an anachronism, joining the lengthy list of publishing’s dying or extinct species."
"At OR Books, which specializes in nonreturnable, prepaid sales straight to the consumer, we’ve found that, with some effort and increasing success, it’s possible to persuade readers to sidestep the still-young tradition of heading straight to Amazon for purchases. Such a prospect needn’t spell disaster for physical stores, either. Counterintuitively, our growing experience with direct sales has led us to re-examine our bookstore connections."
Tuesday 22 May 2012
Finalists Announced For Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award 2012
The six finalists in the 2012 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award have been announced today. The three general fiction and three young adult fiction authors and listed below with the two overall winners in each category to be announced on June 16th.
Alan Averill, The Beautiful Land
Charles Kelly, Grace Humiston and the Vanishing
Brian Reeves, A Chant of Love and Lamentation
Cassandra Griffin, Dreamcatchers
Rebecca Phillips, Out of Nowhere
Regina Sirois, On Little Wings
ABOUT
The Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Contest brings together talented writers, reviewers, and publishing experts to find and develop new voices in fiction. The 2012 competition will award two grand prizes: one for General Fiction and one for Young Adult Fiction. Each winner will receive a publishing contract with Penguin, which includes a $15,000 advance.
Related articles
Thursday 17 May 2012
Amazon launches CreateSpace in Europe | The Bookseller
"Amazon has launched its CreateSpace today (17th May) in Europe, which means that authors who self-publish in the UK can have their books accessed in European countries and the US.
Amazon’s CreateSpace platform, which has been running in the US since 2007, will now allow self-published authors to distribute their work though Amazon sites in the UK, Germany, France, Italy and America."
Wednesday 16 May 2012
The Future of Publishing 2020: The Push And The Pull
This is the first of a series of articles on The Future of Publishing 2020.
I've been preparing this article for a while on the future of self-publishing 2020. One thing I have learned is that predicting the future based on current practices and trends is a precarious business. The publishing industry – as a community and business – is undergoing an utter sea change in methodology and ideology not seen since Gutenberg’s first print press. When I speak of the publishing industry as a community – I include publishers, agents, authors, printers, guilds and associations, as well as readers in this community.
I've been preparing this article for a while on the future of self-publishing 2020. One thing I have learned is that predicting the future based on current practices and trends is a precarious business. The publishing industry – as a community and business – is undergoing an utter sea change in methodology and ideology not seen since Gutenberg’s first print press. When I speak of the publishing industry as a community – I include publishers, agents, authors, printers, guilds and associations, as well as readers in this community.
I’ve heard so many people in the industry, mainstream media
and publishing analysts try to explain and define the explosion and impact of
self-publishing, together with the entirely separate dimension of digitalization
and democratization of the industry. Too often I see these two dimensions of
change dreadfully confused. Certainly
self-publishing has now moved into mainstream online channels through the
growth of ebooks and the surge of independent digital publishing platforms
developed and supported by retailers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble (Kindle
and Nook), and the entry into publishing by Apple and Google (iPad/iBookstore
and Google Books). The jury is still out on whether self-publishing will hold
its own within the greater publishing industry in any significant way, and,
more likely, high street bookstores will continue to decline with the shift
from print to digital formats. By 2020, e-sales will dwarf what is generated
from foot traffic sales.
The real spark that led to the rejuvenation and explosion in
self-publishing began around 2000/1 with the emergence of POD (print on demand)
as a new print technology to address the increased costs in print production
and distribution logistics. Fundamentally, it allowed early adopters like academic
presses to publish new texts and republish older texts which otherwise may
never have seen the light of day. I suspect, even in 2020, history may somewhat
muddle what happened in retrospect during the first decade of the 21st
century because of the acute speed of change and volatility in the publishing
industry and the pressure of high street discounting among booksellers.
Authors have been ‘publishing’ their work online as long as
they have had access to the Internet, but the real game changer came with the
emergence of social networking (quickly utilized as a marketing tool by
individuals) and the ability for authors to monetize their written content through a user-friendly retail platform. Much
is made of POD technology within the self-publishing community, but, in
reality, it simply removed the gatekeepers from the established path to
publication and brought self-publishing within the pockets of hundreds of
thousands more authors. Examine carefully the authors who have become runaway
successes by self-publishing and you will discover a very different landscape
and reality than the one often painted by companies offering publishing
services and analysts professing less than objective views of the terrain.
As whole, self-published books solely utilising POD may
provide a gentle entry for new authors into the stark commercial world of
publishing, but this print-to-logistic technology is entirely flawed as a
business strategy to sustain an author brand and book, attain widespread
distribution to retailers and compete on pricing. During the early part of the
last decade, the self-published authors who gained the most success achieved it
by using traditional print methods (digital short run/lithographic) and
crucially made the breakthrough into brick and mortar stores. Frankly, any
publishing service in existence now and offering only POD as a viable method of
publication to its authors is on an ever decreasing path to doom. At their worst,
they are treading dangerously close to offering nothing more than an ‘old style’
vanity arrangement for authors with shallow promises and a combination of
either greed or sheer ignorance. In today’s new world of publishing order, I’m
not sure which sin is more reprehensible. One thing I am sure of – so-called POD
publishers alone have less than three years left to run their course, and,
ironically, have benefited somewhat from the perceived confusing between the
rise of self-publishing and the greater development of digitalization and democratization
within the publishing industry.
With the advent of social networking, self-published authors
embraced the idea of the ‘book’ as a project of content management and brand
awareness long before the sacred gatekeepers of publishing thought beyond the
next best seller list. It’s only now that self-publishing as a community and
the independent authors who believe in its basic ideology appreciate what they
have, and, for the time being, still choose to hold on to. That’s quickly
changing, and the general publishing industry is right and quick to point out
that the self-publishing fraternity remain – for the most part – disorganised,
unaware of their creative wealth and the importance on holding rights, but
still dogged by poor editing, product controls, and distribution and marketing
reach with core physical booksellers. It’s no surprise that we are witnessing
the Amanda Hocking era – authors who build their brand independently, but
ultimately succumb to the lure of a big house looking after the business end of
publishing while authors revert back to what they passionately do best – write.
Before we even start to understand where publishing will be
in 2020, we have to consider where publishing is and where it has been. I’m not
going to spend too much time on the consideration of where the industry is as a
whole at the moment – The Independent Publishing Magazine does this day in, day
out, here and there. I will say that publishers over the past 30 years have
slowly given up control of ‘their’ industry to retailers, and in more recent
times we have seen the big six publishers try to wrestle back some of that control
using the Agency Model with retailers and the development of digital
partnerships and an extension of their online presence from dull static pages
to places of reader engagement and resource. It’s working, but not without a
great deal of headache, and I remain unconvinced the big six publishers – as
designated by the slowly decreasing hold of New York publishing offices allied
to media conglomerates – will survive beyond Penguin, MacMillan and
HarperCollins. I’m less convinced that Hachette and Random House will remain
operating as large publishers before being picked off by Google, Amazon, Apple
or some new or existing conglomerate. If anything, we may be approaching a
period where large publishers, or their brand parts, will be slowly picked off
by established media companies more adept at content integration and have the
ability to deliver that content through integration with film, written word and
the rising online game communities established by Sony and Microsoft.
The rise and strength of independent publishers like
Canongate and Faber should not be discounted in 2020. I’m convinced strong
independent publishers will still be around in eight years time, and both the
above houses will become part of an alternative ‘big six’ globally. That’s the
difference – this new independent six will be global and not an extension of
what happens in one big commercial city. Sure, the current big six will mutate –
it could be Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Apple, Kobo, and A N Other. Time will
tell.
I said earlier that the past often tells us more about where
we will be in the future once we put it in perspective. There is nothing newabout self-publishing. It’s as old as the Gutenberg press. In fact,
self-publishing – in a way – is the very origin of publishing itself. Long
before printed presses we had ‘publishing houses’ in the guise of the first
learning academies, monasteries and communities hand writing books for record
and preservation. Once mankind grasped how to record the written word, the
value of patronage, support and championing a work became the first true social
network. With the new landscape of publishing – via the Internet – we are
seeing some of the old values of a long forgotten tradition re-emerge. Literature is full of champions and supporters
like Gertrude Stein. The latest movement in self-publishing is crowdsource or
crowdfund publishing. The practice is becoming more widespread with independent
authors. An author rallies either the funds or resources of an already inbuilt
small community to financially support and aid the promotion of the book before
it is produced and published rather than promote the book after it has been
published.
Around 1993 I stopped wearing a wrist watch. I didn’t have
to. I didn’t need it. A wrist watch became a piece of jewellery – something I
wore when I went to a party. By the end of the 1990’s I didn’t have a
calculator in my house either. Today, the mobile phone, also has resulted in
people not having a walkman while they jog, even an iPod, a calculator,
camcorder, a TV, a satnav…whatever you can think of now that is a necessity for
a trip may not be needed in 2020. One thing I am certain of is when I attend the
London Book Fair 2020; I won’t have to bring a mobile phone, laptop or any
other device. More likely, I won’t have to bring any form of electronic device,
and the immediate content I need to access will be with me through a pair of
sunglasses! Whatever the case, I know access will be simpler, and in spite of
the changes, the world will be a lot less complicated.
One of the clients I work with as a publishing consultant is
TAUS, an innovation think tank and interoperability watchdog for the
translation industry based in the Netherlands. This is a quote from one of the
recent articles the company founder Jaap van der Meer posted after a conference
in Japan. He was speaking about the growth in automated translation in Asia.
“It is driven by what we refer to as the democratization of globalization. The business world is moving from a ‘push’ (traditional publishing) to a ‘pull’ model of information consumption. This means that everyone everywhere in the world has in principle access to the necessary information and pulls it when needed.”
Publishing – Push or
Pull?
For me, this encapsulates everything about the publishing
industry and where self-publishers – and more importantly, readers – find themselves
in today’s world. Publishing in 2020 will be about discovery before profit and disruption
before integration. Profit will only follow discovery because the retail
landscape will be about access, identification, and maintaining longevity
there. In reality, ‘publishing’ will be for the vast majority of authors – as a
way of expression and not profit. For most, the challenges of disruption and democratisation
will prove too much. In 2020, most authors will never consider self-publishing
as a path to profit. Profit will be an exception rather than a rule and
‘publishing’ like ‘self-publishing’ will simply become an accessible and
universal form of communication, rather than a prescribed career path through
publishing. Indeed, I suspect the reality,
speed and immediacy of a network like Twitter, or whatever succeeds it, will
become the medium we first hear news of a global nature. How we interpret, valuate and disseminate that
material will say a lot about who we are.
The whole concept of traditional publishing was built on
‘PUSH’ to retailers/readers. Publishers got used to celebrating authors and
pushing the books they published out to sales reps and retailers, and eventually
on to the end reader. It’s been like this too long. Publishers now don’t sell
books to readers – they sell books to buyers in bookstores. As long as
publishers hold that ground – they’re fucked – awash in an industry universe a million
miles away from both author and reader. And in a strange way, publishers implementation
of strategies and buzz words like ‘disruption’, ‘disintermediation’ and an
imposed ‘democratisation’ brought on by circumnavigation of the industry by
authors is only emphasising the clear ‘PUSH’ of authors to reach their readers,
and the inevitable wish of the consumer/reader to demand discoverability and ‘PULL’
as hard as they can with the technology at their disposal. The centre is being
squeezed as authors try to reach readers, and readers try to reach authors.
Agents and publishers are at the centre of this new digitally enabled
maelstrom, and something has to give.
Publishers in 2020 may inherit what they deserve – a liaison
with a select few large agents delivering sure-fire manuscripts based on the
latest trends, guaranteed to deliver profit over risk. We may see little future for midlist authors or
debut authors who can't provide a brand that can deliver over several years. I’m less convinced about agents in 2020. With
the move of self-published authors to ebook publication with platforms like
Amazon and Apple, I see less of a place for agents in this less complicated
world of publishing. Sure, Picoult, Patterson and the large legion of
successful New York Times authors will never have the time the self-published
authors have to sacrifice to these matters, but there will be a place for large
agencies. The rest will submerge into the media and conglomerate entertainment edifices,
and the sole agents will exercise an existence as scrappy as the authors they
once represented. Of course, just as in the past year or two, we will see
crossovers and reinventions. I predicted five years ago that major publishers
would develop self-publishing imprints, and that has happened. Agents will try
their hand at setting up digital imprints for out of print and new titles –
that’s happening. Established authors will crossover and take control of their
empire – whether in print or ebook – hi, Paulo and JK, hope is all well with
you both. Agents will even throw in the towel and dive into the waters
themselves – hi, Nathan, hope all is well with you too!
In 2020, there won’t be a ‘self’ in publishing. It’s
meaningless. Come to think of it, in 2020, there probably won’t be a ‘publishing’
in publishing anymore! It’s all becoming meaningless.
But one thing is certain. Writers will be writing in 2020.
Whatever you do, whatever you write, do what you have to do and believe and
enjoy it. Just maybe, someone else will also agree.
The second article in this series of articles on The Future of Publishing 2020 will look at Control, Disruption and Discoverability.
The second article in this series of articles on The Future of Publishing 2020 will look at Control, Disruption and Discoverability.
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