Frankly I'm tired of hearing people moan about publishers. I have been in the
book business for most of my life and have done my fair share of grizzling, but
one thing is for sure, as long as there are authors trying to earn a crust with
their art, publishers will always be with us. And so they should be, because
publishers fill a valuable, indispensible role in the business of books.
They:
identify talent,
foster talent and
market the book
(Notice that I didn't say anything about printing or distribution.)
It is certainly true -- and they'll be the first to admit this -- that
publishers do all three in a very haphazard way. But, for the lack of anyone
else, they're the experts.
Think what it means to an author when they get a letter from Random House
saying Random would like to publish their book. When that happens for the first
time, it's often the greatest moment in an author's life. This is because Random
has endorsed the book. The author feels great because a firm that should know
what it's doing has decided to put some cash behind their created work. That
same endorsement works the other way in influencing a reader's decision to read.
In the print world, there are significant costs in getting a book printed and
distributed. That's why vanity publishing is such a small part of the overall
industry. But, with the advent of the Internet and the promise of
disintermediation, hundreds of thousands of appallingly bad ebooks got out
there. Several companies raised mountains of cash, set up websites devoted to
self-publishers. When they opened the floodgates and posted the awful slush that
in a sane publishing environment would never see the light of day, nobody
came. The cash burned away and the sites shut down.
Why didn't anyone come? Because there was no filter. No way of knowing if
any of this stuff was any good.
A Simon and Schuster logo on an ebook doesn't guarantee that you'll enjoy
it, but it does ensure a certain minimum quality control. Like, someone ran it
through a spellchecker; it has an ending; there are more than 50 pages; and so
on. Publishers foster talent by providing editorial guidance. And heaven knows,
guidance is necessary even for the most accomplished author.
As for marketing, publishers do indeed advertise books across the media
spectrum. But the returns from publishing a single book are not as
grand as those from releasing a single movie, so it's unreasonable to expect to
see a media blitz except for the most hotly anticipated titles. There's a huge
amount of effort required from publishers to get their author's books
reviewed. And they carry a massive payrol for reps to be out there visiting
every bookstore and outlet on the country.
Complaining about publishers is like complaining about hospitals.You
could argue that hospitals just get in the way between the patient and the
doctor. But that would trivialize the massive infrastructure required to enable
the important interface between patient and doctor to take place. Likewise with
publishers, who are the people that bring the reader and author together.
Long after the last print book has crumbled to dust, someone will have to be
there identifying and fostering talent and making us aware of good new
books.
Slashdot Mirror
Frankly I'm tired of hearing people moan about publishers. I have been in the book business for most of my life and have done my fair share of grizzling, but one thing is for sure, as long as there are authors trying to earn a crust with their art, publishers will always be with us. And so they should be, because publishers fill a valuable, indispensible role in the business of books. They:
(Notice that I didn't say anything about printing or distribution.)
It is certainly true -- and they'll be the first to admit this -- that publishers do all three in a very haphazard way. But, for the lack of anyone else, they're the experts.
Think what it means to an author when they get a letter from Random House saying Random would like to publish their book. When that happens for the first time, it's often the greatest moment in an author's life. This is because Random has endorsed the book. The author feels great because a firm that should know what it's doing has decided to put some cash behind their created work. That same endorsement works the other way in influencing a reader's decision to read.
In the print world, there are significant costs in getting a book printed and distributed. That's why vanity publishing is such a small part of the overall industry. But, with the advent of the Internet and the promise of disintermediation, hundreds of thousands of appallingly bad ebooks got out there. Several companies raised mountains of cash, set up websites devoted to self-publishers. When they opened the floodgates and posted the awful slush that in a sane publishing environment would never see the light of day, nobody came. The cash burned away and the sites shut down.
Why didn't anyone come? Because there was no filter. No way of knowing if any of this stuff was any good.
A Simon and Schuster logo on an ebook doesn't guarantee that you'll enjoy it, but it does ensure a certain minimum quality control. Like, someone ran it through a spellchecker; it has an ending; there are more than 50 pages; and so on. Publishers foster talent by providing editorial guidance. And heaven knows, guidance is necessary even for the most accomplished author.
As for marketing, publishers do indeed advertise books across the media spectrum. But the returns from publishing a single book are not as grand as those from releasing a single movie, so it's unreasonable to expect to see a media blitz except for the most hotly anticipated titles. There's a huge amount of effort required from publishers to get their author's books reviewed. And they carry a massive payrol for reps to be out there visiting every bookstore and outlet on the country.
Complaining about publishers is like complaining about hospitals.You could argue that hospitals just get in the way between the patient and the doctor. But that would trivialize the massive infrastructure required to enable the important interface between patient and doctor to take place. Likewise with publishers, who are the people that bring the reader and author together.
Long after the last print book has crumbled to dust, someone will have to be there identifying and fostering talent and making us aware of good new books.