What concerns you about book publishing?
My inquiring mind wants to know.
Hi there. I apologize for the sporadic newsletters, but I’m in the midst of exciting work stuff (thanks to incredible clients), and getting through my final MBA project before graduation on May 4. Whew.
As I prepare for a hectic three weeks, I’d love to hear from you. What concerns you about book publishing? I don’t mean problems specific to your book. Tell me your concerns about the industry as a whole: big/small publishers & the way they do business, bookstores, media landscape, marketing, publicity, sales, etc. What can I help you understand better?
I have some ideas for upcoming newsletters, but hearing from you in the comments will help me shape those ideas.
I look forward to reading your comments!
Kathleen
I would love to know how you would disrupt the publishing industry. If you could wave a magic wand and fix three current fundamental flaws, what would they be? And how would you fix them? From what I see, everyone in publishing — authors, agents, PR reps & marketing folks, editors, even the CEOs — no one seems satisfied or particularly happy with how things are being run. You are one of the smartest people in this industry that I have come across, and your ability to break down some of these complex issues is so helpful! So… how do you think we fix it?
I have two concerns about publishing. (I'm coming at this from the perspective of a writer and former management consultant.)
First, the big five publishers appear to be growing more risk averse, despite having more resources from their parent companies to take risks. Big publishing is evolving like the big movie studios - dependent on blockbuster books, brand authors, and story franchises to support the overhead expense of the parent company. (For example, I'm quite sure that somewhere on the financial statement of PRH there is a line item for a Bertelsmann corporate charge.) This results in publishing 'same but different books' rather truly original work. Meanwhile, small presses and hybrids struggle to stay afloat while publishing great books that don't get the visibility they deserve because the big five crowd them out of a duopoly distribution system.
Second, on the creative side, it seems editorial work is getting pushed further and further away from publishers, and mid-list or new authors must pay for editorial work or find a robust writers group. One hundred years ago editors like Max Perkins at Scribners (now part of S&S) worked directly with authors to refine their work. Even as recently as fifty years ago this occurred (Look-up how Cormac McCarthy's career evolved - a path that people in publishing readily admit could not happen today). Then along came the literary agent. Most publishers will not consider unrepresented work or work from authors without an MFA. For the last few decades agents became editors and worked with authors on refining their material, turning acquiring editors at the publishers into book production project managers who dabble in classic prose editing. Now, literary agents are becoming loath to edit an author's work. Enter the manuscript consultant. My concern is - where does this stop? How many non-value add middlemen will this process tolerate?