I just read an article on Publisher's Weekly about the future of publishing and how e-books will effect this. The article asked various publishers what they think will happen if e-book sales get to 50% of their revenue. There were many common threads throughout the article that stuck out to me.
Most publishers chose to keep a positive and upbeat attitude by talking about how anything that gets more readers will be a good thing for publishing. They reinforced that publishing's job is still foremost to find good authors and connect them to a reader audience.
Many publishers talked about getting better connected to readers and promoting their books and authors in different ways. They need to utilize social media and focus on their digital market campaigns. I think this will be very important for the future and will be responsible for making or breaking a book. How will readers hear about a new book if they are not browsing bookstores or reading book reviews? Going along with this, many publishers mentioned how the only jobs that may increase in publishing companies are the advertisement and public relations jobs.
Publishers seem excited to be able to cut costs by not using as much warehouse space leading to more efficient printing. But because of this, they will need to hire more stuff to digitally man and housekeep their digital database of e-books.
A plus of e-books is that publishers are digitizing their backlist and out-of-print books so they are more available.
One thing that really struck me was how one publisher said the turn over time of books being published will greatly increase. To me, this looks like having a different best seller every week. This may lead publishing companies to select their authors from a smaller and smaller pool. They will choose authors who will guarantee a best seller by already having an audience or a particular genre. I think the e-book lends itself to be more easily disposable than a printed book. People may go through book quicker-- which is great, but they may also just be looking for the next "blockbuster" of books. This could lead publishers to not publish for quality but the quantity of customers purchasing.
Here is the article-
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/50017-looking-for-the-50-solution.html
I think publishers should continue to be positive and look for ways to continue to be profitable in the evolving market. I do think that they should broaden their view in regards to publishable authors, as the small focus leads increasing numbers of authors to consider e-publishing and self-publishing in the first place.
ReplyDeleteThis is such an interesting post, because I thought more publishers would be scared of losing their jobs. The article you found seems to have a more positive outlook on the future of eBooks than I expected. We all know that if eBooks rise to 50% of revenue, the field will change, but it's nice to hear about publishers adapting and embracing the change. To me, publishers seem like the ultimate sentimentalists who wouldn't think of decreasing the number of printed books they create. Your thoughts on the article, however, helped me see a different side of the publishing business and the way publishers will survive.
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