This morning, I received an email from a young author I know. Yes, she is an author and she is also a college student. She is working on a project for one of her professors on changes in the publishing industry. She asked me for my insights with regard to the changes I’ve seen in the publishing industry during just the last 5 years. I’m afraid that her question sent me on a bit of a rant. I thought you’d be interested in some of my comments. Here’s the basis of what I told her:
I became involved in publishing when A.S. Barnes, with offices in New York and London, published my first book, Hints for the Backyard Rider. That was back in 1978. I established my own publishing company in 1983, before it was fashionable or even convenient. I have since published a total of 28 books, so my roots go deep in this industry and I can tell you that I have seen many changes.
I’m preparing a speech for a writers’ conference in Phoenix in a few weeks and I’m going to tell my audience that one of the biggest changes I’ve seen over this time is the increase in competition. There’s a long-standing statistic that says, “81 percent of the adult American public believe that they have a book in them.” Well, in 1978, when I landed a publisher on my first try, most of those wannabe authors kept their books inside. They weren’t sitting down at their manual typewriters like I was, pounding out the books of their dreams. Now, on the other hand—in 2008—everyone is writing a book.
RR Bowker reports that in 2007, there were 411,422 new books and reprints produced. That’s 3 times the number published 15 years earlier.
Unfortunately, another change I see is an increase in sharks swimming the publishing waters. Unqualified people with nothing more than a desire to make money are coming out of the woodwork and creating businesses and offering services to hopeful authors. They’re promising things that, in many cases, are impossible.
Some say, in so many words, “Pay us to publish your book, we’ll make it available to bookstores nationwide.” Hopeful authors sign up and then wonder why their book is not in their neighborhood bookstores. The company did not say that their book would be in bookstores, but only that they would make it available to booksellers. If a bookseller comes along and asks about a book of this type, they will certainly tell them about your book. And this is NOT going to happen.
A mega bookstore can only carry about 8 percent of all titles in print. And they are going to carry those that are selling.
Just recently, an author told me that she found someone to edit her 200 page manuscript (sight unseen) at a rate of $65/hour and the “editor” said it would take him only 4-6 hours. That’s 33 to 50 pages per hour. Who can even read that many pages in an hour let alone edit them?
Despite my strong warning to the author, she decided to go with this “editor.” She feels that she can afford the $260 to $390. But, realistically, what is she going to get for this money? A run through spellcheck?
I meet authors practically every week who have gambled with publishing and lost. The thing is, most authors enter into the publishing field from the perspective of a writer. They think that publishing is an extension of their writing—that they can just shift easily from writing to publishing. What they don’t take the time to learn or understand is that writing is a creative activity and publishing is a business. My main message to hopeful authors is, “Even before you write your book, study the publishing industry. Understand something about this business. Know what your options are and the possible consequences of your choices. Understand what your responsibilities as a published author are and then commit to them.”
I believe that it is, in large part, the authors and hopeful authors who have caused the publishing industry to change as much as it has. Traditional publishing businesses are attempting to adjust to the changes, which include increased competition at all levels AND a decrease in readers. New publishing-related businesses and services are cropping up. And authors are allowing themselves to be thrown to the wolves. In some cases, they’re jumping right on in with the pack.
My mission, as I think you know, is to educate hopeful and struggling authors so that they have a greater understanding of the industry and their role within it. Authors must become knowledgeable and proactive, not ignorant and passive.
There’s a lot of failure in publishing today. In 2006, 76 percent of all titles sold fewer than 100 copies. I think it was another 16 percent that sold somewhere between 100 and 1,000 copies. The only one making money on many of these failed books is the fee-based POD “self-publishing” company who produces books indiscriminately for a fee. But also traditional publishing companies are failing. Authors are having to work MUCH harder to sell books. Freelance writers are also feeling the competition crunch and the failing magazine crunch. More and more magazines are NOT paying for freelance work.
Changes—oh yes, I have certainly seen a lot of changes as I’ve journeyed through the publishing industry. And they aren’t all negative. You notice that I’m still involved and I’m still supporting myself through my writing, book sales and consulting. There is a place in this industry for those who will work for it—who will become educated about the publishing industry and creatively carve out a niche for their publishing projects. And authors today must be promoters or have the money to hire one.
In a nutshell, it used to be that all you had to do was present a publisher or agent with a well-written book that was needed/wanted by a particular audience. Once it was published, you could go back to your writing. Today, authors must compete with hundreds of others who are writing excellent (and not so excellent) books. Today, we must jump through hoops to get noticed and then we have to keep jumping to sell our published books. Everything is harder, yet, unfortunately, the quality standards have not, on average, been raised. We’re actually producing more inferior products. But that’s another rant.
There are many ways to gain that publishing knowledge that I deem so important. The
one way that I don’t recommend is by trial and error. This can be costly and disheartening. Read my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book
http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html
Visit my website and study the articles and resources:
http://www.matilijapress.com
Join SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network)
http://www.spawn.org.
And participate—read the newsletters, join in on the discussions, study the website and so forth. Yes, there are many additional methods and resources for learning about the publishing industry and these two methods will open the windows to all of them.
Question? Contact me at PLFry620@yahoo.com
Excellent post.
I’ve been writing (and being published) for 20 years but only directly involved in publishing for the past five years. I’ve been a board member of the Upper Peninsula Publishers & Authors Association for the past three years.
One thing I constantly advise self-publishers is never to invest more in their publishing endeavor than they can afford to lose. The odds are very good that they will lose some or all of that investment. They might be the exception, but they should not gamble their mortgage or financial future on beating the odds.
Which is why I usually recommend they use real print-on-demand printers (not the ubiquitous “self-publishing” or “POD” companies that are really just subsidy publishers) as a way to test the waters and see whether they have a viable product that they can market. I have coached many through setting up with Lightning Source Inc. for that test.
Those who have been successful can easily shift to larger offset runs. The others haven’t lost a lot of money with the experiment and just might do better the next time around.