La Bene Vita

The Future of the Publishing Industry

Of course I enjoyed this because I'm a musician, but I found it just as applicable (maybe even more so) to publishing:

The Oatmeal's Take on the Music Industry  

The Benefits of Self-Publishing to the Literary Industry
The Internet has finally given the publishing industry some level footing. Sales are a snap when merchant services like PayPal charge you service fees barely higher than traditional Visa swipe machines in brick-and-mortar bookstores. Social media has created a platform where marketing is completely free, costing only time and energy. Distribution is a breeze with Internet stores like Amazon, and even better, with the advent and booming popularity of e-readers, with which authors can electronically transmit their product to any customer in the world for free in seconds. Suddenly, small presses and even individual authors can compete with traditionally-published prices. This is great news for the consumer.

The Quality of Self-Published Works
On the flip side, traditional publishers claim that self-publishing is leading the industry down a literary toilet, and I do admit that cutting out the middle man also cuts out quality controls. While some quality and highly-acclaimed self-published works exist, it's all too easy to self-publish junk, so naturally, self-published junk exists as well. So many authors are self-publishing right now, we are bombarded with literally millions of reading choices. Whether or not you believe the majority of self-published works lack the quality of works traditionally published, The Guardian reports that most of those choices aren't earning their authors a living:

The Guardian: Self-Published Author Earnings  

As a consumer, my literary choices are more varied and cheaper than they've ever been. But they're also more questionable. I recently read halfway through a book that one of my author "friends" on Facebook offered free for Kindle at one point or another. The writing has clever and quirky moments, but the whole thing had an overall amateurish feel. I ended up giving up on the book because, frankly, I thought it was stupid. I was too distracted by thoughts like, "This guy needs a decent editor," and "Where the hell is this plot going?" to enjoy the book. I feel like the author has potential, but I'll never waste my time on another of his works again.

Traditional Publishers and the Supply Chain
In my opinion, the publishing industry is in a period of transitional chaos. While I see the benefits of self-publishing to consumer and author alike, I don't believe in cutting out the middle man entirely. Authors are good at writing, and not necessarily editing, marketing, distribution, or selling. Any author who wishes to be a successful author should recognize his weaknesses in the supply chain and delegate or contract those functions, and traditional publishers have always been the literary supply chain experts. But I do believe the traditional publishers are bulky, slow, and overly powerful. They're like WalMart to retail: the larger the corporate giant, the harder it is for everyone else to compete, because - let's face it - even tiny margins equate to enormous profits when you multiply them times the kind of volumes corporate giants see. WalMart can afford to sell at rock-bottom prices when pennies of profit per item multiplied by trillions of items sold still equals billions of dollars to the company's bottom line. The publishing giants have always had the advantage of volume over small presses and self-publishing venues, which gives them pricing power. The problem becomes too much control: higher prices for the consumer and lower revenues for the author.

The Future of the Industry
I believe that traditional publishers are going the way of the typewriter. But I don't believe that rampant unedited self-publishing marketed on Facebook is the future of literature. The industry is in transition, and as with any industry, the consumer ultimately controls the market. Consumers will not tolerate poor quality products. Amazon, currently one of the biggest self-publishing venues, will have to satisfy consumer demands. Whether that satisfaction comes in the form of improved product review processes and rankings, acceptance policies, competing online stores with better quality controls, or something completely innovative that changes the market as much as the e-book did, the consumer will get its way in the end. The trick for the author - or editor, publisher, marketer, agent, or other member of the literary supply chain - is to be there and ready when it happens.