The Changing Face of Publishing

As we all know, the publishing industry is always changing. We see shifts in style and voice all of the time. But in recent years, I have seen significant other changes that make it a frustrating business for any author out there. I do believe this is also a huge reason why so many authors have "left traditional publishing" hoping to find success in the "self-publishing" arena. It is unfortunate, but many of these authors probably will not find that success.

So, what is happening?

I have to say, the underlying problem is not in the publishing community, but in the consumers that the publishing world needs to survive. In simple terms, people are not reading any more. This is not something that we need quantitative data to demonstrate. Just look around you. Just watch the advertising for the latest technology. We talk about binge watching shows. We talk about the latest "series" we watched on Hulu, Netflix and so forth.

When the e-publishing industry really kicked in, the industry launched all of these great devices to allow readers to "take their books with them." Kindles, Kobo's Sony E-Readers were all there to change the face of the industry. But publishers realized that people were not buying "their" e-reader so they had to amp up the device. They started adding the movie apps. They added the music apps. They added the wi-fi technology and access to the internet. The funny part here is that everyone was struggling to sell their devices. I would argue that it was not the issue of the competition, but the simple fact that people were just not reading.

So, when books don't sell, the publishers had to make changes. This is a business and they had to find a way to make adjustments to compensate for losses. Lines were cut. The number of new authors declined. They reduced where their books were available to people. But one of the biggest was a shift to reduce the number of books they had in warehouses. Remember that when we did everything with "real books" we published huge numbers and then had to find the readers. A lot of these books ended up sitting and not being sold. Many were simply returned to the publishers unsold. Going digital reduces that surplus.

While this sounds great approach, we are still missing a key component. People are not using those devices to "read" but to watch movies and to just talk to one another around the world.

Even the US school system is doing the same thing. Many schools are moving toward one-to-one technology models giving all of these kids technology to improve their education. The unfortunate things is that people are not reading.

If this is all happening, how is this changing the face of publishing? Publishers are sticking with the authors they know will sell. I saw recently at a local store their book shelf and it was startling. On the 5 shelves I looked at, there were only 6 authors with their books. The diversity was not there. They were simply promoting those authors who, in the past,m have proven successful. Had that author really written 5 different books in the recent months? No. they were re-releasing titles.

And now we are left with all of these authors who are trying desperately to " make it" and finding nothing but roadblocks. Publishers have raised the bar too high. They want the "best seller" immediately. It is simply not going to be there.

What can be done? The first thing is to get people reading again. This holiday season, quit buying the tech just to watch a new show. Buy a book. If you have connections to schools, get them to buy books. Get those kids reading again.

And publishers too can take some risks. Acquire new authors. You don't have to do huge print runs like you did in the past. Keep it smaller. But produce books.

I know this might seem pretty simple, but it will work. It just takes someone to take that chance.