Is it an "ossified" old man's reaction to technological change?
One may well wonder. Recently author Barry Eisler raised a storm with his article in the Guardian tellingly titled: The Digital Truths Traditional Publishers Don't Want to Hear. Barry Eisler writes thrillers and is one of the new hugely successful "hybrid authors" (i.e. self-published but also published by Amazon and legacy publishers). His article was instantly picked up by the Passive Voice and it provoked some very interesting comments (to read click here).
As Eisler points out, before November 2007 when Amazon introduced the Kindle, "the only viable means of book distribution was paper... If a writer wanted distribution, she had to pay a publisher 85% of her revenues for the entire publishing package: editorial, copy-editing, proofreading, jacket design, printing, and marketing, all bundled with distribution." This worked wonders for some authors like JK Rowling who made millions, but not for others. With the digital revolution, book distribution became, as he puts it, "a push-button à la carte service offered by companies like Amazon, Apple, Barnes and Noble, Google, Kobo, and Smashwords".
The digital alternative had arrived and it was grabbed by an increasing numbers of writers: author David Gaughran convincingly argues that some 25% of the total $1.3 billion e-book sales in 2012 is attributable to self-published authors (read his comment on Nathan Bransford fascinating blog post about e-book sales - that are NOT slowing down! - and David's own post here).
Barry Eisler is so articulate that it's always worth reading him and I'm not surprised he's raised a storm among legacy publishers' supporters. In his Guardian article, he recounts how as he was talking about all this at a recent major writers' conference, many in the audience ostensibly walked out, others took to Twitter to urge boycotting him, yet others indulged in name calling - which is both silly and rude. A point that was picked up by the commentators on The Passive Voice who marveled - along with Passive Guy - at this futile desire to kill the messenger.
I would only add one thing: there's one aspect of the process of bringing a book to market that is NOT covered by Barry Eisler. It has to do with the book promotion role of legacy publishers: they are able to do something self-published authors cannot. They do this through their hold and control over major literary prizes (the Pulitzer, the Man Booker etc) which are, as we all know, still closed to indies. Furthermore, they are able to "place" the books they publish in major literary journals and get the attention of major literary critics as well as journalists in the main media like the New York Times, the Guardian and the Wall Street Journal, among others.
That's a powerful tool for book discovery and it is still in the hands of legacy publishers...Will they be able to play this card and regain the lost terrain? Or is Amazon going to pick it up and run with it, the way they've done with Goodreads?
What do you think?
Related articles
The digital truths traditional publishers don't want to hear(guardian.co.uk)
Lazy Literary Agents In Self-Publishing Money Grab via Argo Navis(davidgaughran.wordpress.com)
Stay up to Date: The Rapidly Changing World of Indie Publishing(vincentstrangecraft.wordpress.com)
So, How Clueless Are Traditional Publishers?(nfaa.wordpress.com)
Amazon Publishing shares some sales numbers in email to agents(nextlevelofnews.com)
Comments
Also, it's not just publishers who shut out indie authors, it's author organizations like Mystery Writers of America and many others who won't let your books be considered for contests and the like unless you are traditionally published. That needs to change as well.
Now it's a lot harder to emerge and stand out in that self-pubbed tsunami. The days when people filled their Kindles with anything free or cheap (99 cents) are over and I suspect that those who still do, well, I bet they don't even read the stuff they've got!
Which means that "book discovery" has become the number one challenge for any indie. A challenge where trad publishers have a decided advantage over everyone else, the indies most certainly, and even Amazon that is new to the publishing game...
And thanks for pointing out that author organizations like Mystery Writers of America and others don't let indie authors participate in contests. It's important to spread the word about this: it's a major injustice and it ought to be corrected!
My personal opinion? I think we are deluding ourselves in thinking that trad publishers and literary agents feel that their very existence is threatened: some might feel that way, but surely they know (or at least most of them do) that they have the means to react. They can go digital too and with more money power than an indie can. And above all, they have that winning card to play that makes all the difference in book discovery: access to all the media (and secondarily the contests) that really count!
I know new authors who have obtained what we all sought after: a REAL agent and a REAL publisher, only to find that they were on their own when it came to marketing their book. The money (and the clout) that the agents and publishers have is spent on the big name authors. Yes, it was always that way, but not like it is now. I haven't found a single article saying that a new author gets much help from their agents or publishers. And, like I said, I know terrific authors who have both, but are still struggling like the rest of us.
I would like to point to a recent New York Times article I stumbled across, which explains why David Mamet has decided to self publish and how his agency has opened up a special division to assist their authors in this. Why? Because if they don't get with the new technology, it will leave them behind - they will be worthless in the long run unless they embrace it and become a part of it. You can find this article at http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/17/business/media/david-mamet-and-other-big-authors-choose-to-self-publish.html?smid=tw-share
I'm not denying how difficult it is to get noticed in the vast internet world. I'm simply saying that having an agent and a publisher does not solve that problem for the new author.
And remember, others have been successful at this, which means each of us has the opportunity to be successful as well. I might very well come under the category of "Lord, give me patience, and give it to me RIGHT NOW!" But, patience, persistence and smarts will eventually win out - I believe that totally. You can't win unless you stay in the game. I for one, am staying.
Marsha Roberts, proud indie-pub author of Confessions of an Instinctively Mutinous Baby Boomer
That's very true - it was always like that and it is worse now because trad publishers feel pushed in a corner by the digital revolution and are fighting back with what they view as their best weapons: authors with big names. That's wrong of course. And in so doing, they're passing up on a lot of talented indie authors out there. Hopefully some big publisher or agent will stop and notice and take on the risk of pushing a talented newbie - but that, I have no doubt, is a pipe dream! So, let's go on with our self-publishing, it's hard, but as you say Marsha, we'll eventually all get there!