Carolyn Haines is the 2010 recipient of the Harper Lee Award and lives on a farm with more animals than she can possibly keep track of. Her latest book, Bones of a Feather, will be released on June 21st. The book trailer can be viewed right here:
The Future of Publishing--Change
by Carolyn Haines
Another semester has ended—another batch of students have graduated and will move into a life that, I hope, will include writing. If not writing, then certainly reading. Reading is the ladder that leads to writing, and while not everyone will continue to write on a daily basis, all of us should read.
As any teacher will tell you, not every student in every class will end up being a published author. And the term “published” is changing before my eyes. What that will mean in five years—I don’t have a clue. It’s meant something very specific my entire writing life, but all of that is being turned upside down by the advent of e-publishing and print on demand (POD). A world I’ve known for 30 years is disintegrating as I write this. I wonder if this is what it felt like to be a monk who’d devoted his life to the beauty of illustrating manuscripts when the Guttenberg press came to town. Books went from being hand-crafted and owned only by the rich and wealthy to mass produced, which made them available to “everyman.”
A revolution with the same intensity is happening today.
Writers are walking away from half-million dollar contracts with traditional (or some call them legacy) publishing deals to “self-publish” in the Wild West of e-books. This is a landscape that reminds me of the old western movies—a young upstart can make a name for himself (or herself) if he’s fast enough on the draw and has nerves of steel.
For those of us who’ve been in the business for a while, this is a new and somewhat uncomfortable terrain. The gatekeeper--the publishing house--is losing control of what stories get to the reader. What happens now? Anything can be published (and trust me, it will be).
Spectacular stories of unknown e-book authors who were rejected by publishers but who made millions on their e-stories and who are now being courted by publishers are all over the Internet. Who are these 16-year-old geniuses who have written books that bring in multi-million dollar contracts? And while some big name, traditionally-published authors are jumping ship and going on the self-publish road, a few of the e-published people are snapping up big contracts with traditional publishers. It’s a topsy-turvy world and hard to keep score.
So what are the benefits of this e-publishing thing? From my standpoint, after some 60 books published the traditional way, it’s sometimes hard to sort fact from fiction. Without a doubt, the e-publishing of an author’s backlist is of tremendous benefit. This is a way to keep cherished books alive—and it allows the author to retain the rights to his books. This is vitally important to many authors I know.
I also believe books that might never be published in the “traditional” houses—not because they aren’t good stories but because they blur genre lines or include elements that aren’t part of the “traditional” configuration of a specific type of book—will find an audience. The traditional publisher doesn’t know how to promote these books, therefore they are rejected. But these books are exactly what the e-market is looking for.
One of the greatest weakness of publishing today is the failure to trust story.
Another semester has ended—another batch of students have graduated and will move into a life that, I hope, will include writing. If not writing, then certainly reading. Reading is the ladder that leads to writing, and while not everyone will continue to write on a daily basis, all of us should read.
As any teacher will tell you, not every student in every class will end up being a published author. And the term “published” is changing before my eyes. What that will mean in five years—I don’t have a clue. It’s meant something very specific my entire writing life, but all of that is being turned upside down by the advent of e-publishing and print on demand (POD). A world I’ve known for 30 years is disintegrating as I write this. I wonder if this is what it felt like to be a monk who’d devoted his life to the beauty of illustrating manuscripts when the Guttenberg press came to town. Books went from being hand-crafted and owned only by the rich and wealthy to mass produced, which made them available to “everyman.”
A revolution with the same intensity is happening today.
Writers are walking away from half-million dollar contracts with traditional (or some call them legacy) publishing deals to “self-publish” in the Wild West of e-books. This is a landscape that reminds me of the old western movies—a young upstart can make a name for himself (or herself) if he’s fast enough on the draw and has nerves of steel.
For those of us who’ve been in the business for a while, this is a new and somewhat uncomfortable terrain. The gatekeeper--the publishing house--is losing control of what stories get to the reader. What happens now? Anything can be published (and trust me, it will be).
Spectacular stories of unknown e-book authors who were rejected by publishers but who made millions on their e-stories and who are now being courted by publishers are all over the Internet. Who are these 16-year-old geniuses who have written books that bring in multi-million dollar contracts? And while some big name, traditionally-published authors are jumping ship and going on the self-publish road, a few of the e-published people are snapping up big contracts with traditional publishers. It’s a topsy-turvy world and hard to keep score.
So what are the benefits of this e-publishing thing? From my standpoint, after some 60 books published the traditional way, it’s sometimes hard to sort fact from fiction. Without a doubt, the e-publishing of an author’s backlist is of tremendous benefit. This is a way to keep cherished books alive—and it allows the author to retain the rights to his books. This is vitally important to many authors I know.
I also believe books that might never be published in the “traditional” houses—not because they aren’t good stories but because they blur genre lines or include elements that aren’t part of the “traditional” configuration of a specific type of book—will find an audience. The traditional publisher doesn’t know how to promote these books, therefore they are rejected. But these books are exactly what the e-market is looking for.
One of the greatest weakness of publishing today is the failure to trust story.
The same is true in movies, TV, even reality TV. New voices (or old voices with a new type of story) find it hard to get a chance if material can come only from “vetted” foreign markets. (SHADOW OF THE WIND and GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO are two fine examples of this. These books bend genre, and they were published in the states after they were bestsellers in a European market.)
Change is always unsettling, but I do see this change as an opportunity for amazing stories to come to the public. New industries will spring up to help these e-authors promote their stories. Editing, covers, marketing, and promotion are things big publishers have traditionally provided. E-authors will have to find these services if they want to stand out from a crowded field.
One drawback I see is that when the gatekeeper is away from his post, a whole lot of really bad writing will be published and the public is going to have to sift through the chaff to get to the wheat. This can be a tiresome process. Even if the books are only .99 cents, if they are dreadful, this is going to make a lot of readers mad. It isn’t the money for me, it’s my time. I’d rather spend $25 on a great book than .99 cents on something awful.
So here’s a word of advice to those who want to self-publish. Hire a book doctor/editor. Because I teach, I read a lot of stories. Most novels fail because of a flawed structure or plot. It isn’t enough to be able to write eloquently and with passion (though those are necessary elements), a writer must do due diligence with plot and structure.
This is what the great Maxwell Perkins did for Fitzgerald and others. This is what editors at publishing houses traditionally do for their writers. If a writer decides to self-publish, spend the money on a good edit. Even the most successful writers recognize the need for a second pair of trained eyes. (Your spouse or mother does not count.)
If I had a crystal ball, I’d be able to tell you what will happen. I don’t, so I can’t. This is just the beginning of a transition that will change publishing as we know it. Like any other change, it will be hard to manage. (I am not a person who loves change. I haven’t rearranged my furniture in 20 years.) But I am excited. I see loads of potential, lots of pitfalls, and a chance for writers to have more control of their books.
Welcome to the brand new world of publishing. It will be what we authors and readers make it.
