If Tech Doesn't Change, Digital Market Won't Stand A Chance

I am going to spend the next couple of days taking a look at the current state of publishing and really trying examine what is REALLY happening. I started thinking about this after reading an article that came to me over social media about publishers deciding to cut their major money making writers and the reasons why this particular author thought it was happening. That will actually be for a later post. Today, however, I want to talk about tech.

When the e-publishing world took off about 10 years ago, publishers were screaming about how amazing this was going to be and proclaimed that everyone would have e-readers eventually. I always found that interesting because I remember hearing the same thing back in the 80's when people were proclaiming that everyone would have a computer in their home. Of course, today we can see that prediction is not true. Just go into any school and you will find that in some cases, only 50% of the students have computers in their home.

But what about the digital publishing. Didn't those numbers go through the roof? Sure they did. There was a huge rise in actual e-readers (computer devices designed strictly for e-reading) AND the traditional publishers were releasing their books BOTH as print and e-pubs. It was a hot new trend and everyone got on board with it.

In recent years, however, we have seen a plateau and even a decline in e-readers. Print sales were starting to outsell those in the digital market. So what happened?

I would argue three things. The first two are easy. The fascination over the digital book was just not there anymore. It is like the toys we give to kids at Christmas. Hot toys through January, and not so hot when the novelty runs out.

The second has to do with the price. When the digital books came out, these were less expensive options for the readers. Think of it: Buy a print book for $14.99 or a digital book for $5.99? No logic needed here. But then there was the push to not short change the authors so the prices leveled out and... again, no logic needed here.

It is the third point that I want to look at that I believe is really the big issue. I was at my local Target yesterday looking for a few things and, like usual, I like to make a quick trip through the book and tech departments. As I walked through, the sales clerks were hyping up all of the latest gadgets and telling people the great characteristics. This told me everything...

First of all, the hype was on the quality of the screen. This allowed the user better quality as they streamed Netflix and Hulu to binge watch the last season of their favorite shows. The hype was on the sound so they could better listen to their Spotify and Pandora. Nothing about the e-reader capability. In other words, we are not using this technology like we did with the e-readers.

The second thing they hyped was really the nail in the coffin for the e-reader industry. These phones were not as large or as "clunky" as their predecessors. We are living in a world where we want things compact. Not good for reading.

This, my friends, will be the death of the digital e-reader market. Look at the iPads and other tablets. These too are shrinking in size because people don't want to carry around large clunky devices. And for the e-reading population, this means that those novels will now be harder to read.

I don't know if you have ever tried to read a novel on your phone, but it is pretty damn difficult. No, this is not an issue of my eyesight going downhill in my old age. It is the simple truth that reading a story in  really tiny font is hard on the eyes. Why do you think we hype up using a 12 point font when we type documents? It is the ease on the eyes.

 (I re-typed this for you to show you what I mean) I don't know if you have ever tried to read a novel on your phone, but it is pretty damn difficult. No, this is not an issue of my eyesight going downhill in my old age. It is the simple truth that reading a story in  really tiny font is hard on the eyes. Why do you think we hype up using a 12 point font when we type documents? It is the ease on the eyes.

Look, don't get me wrong. I love tech, but it will be the tech that is going to destroy the digital world. Until we decide to create a product that will work for reading books in a relaxed setting, to really enjoy that summer read by the pool, then I am sorry, but that market is just not going to last. We also have to get away from using these as nothing more than portable televisions.

Technology Is Great But Don't Rely On It

There are really a lot of great things we can do with technology. We are certainly communicating faster with each other and producing documents that have a lot more flash to them. But, with that said, it is important that we remember, our brains are the things doing the critical thinking. The computer technology available to us is simply a tool we can use.

I honestly see far too many people relying heavily on technology to do tasks that could be better done on paper first. Even in the school systems, we are seeing teachers promoting the idea of taking notes on a computer instead of taking notes by hand. Unfortunately, the research out there says we retain the material better by not going straight to the computers.

As writers, we also have to remember that computer technology has it's limits. Take for example our spell checkers and grammar checkers. We have all had the experience of that auto-correct function making changes we don't want. But there is also the issue of typos that are spelled correctly.

When it comes to your grammar checker, unless you have personally adjusted the settings, your grammar checker is only casually looking for less than a third of the problems.

What is the result of that? Those "typos" and those "small errors" may be leading you down the path to a rejection letter. Editors and agents can be pretty forgiving, but we have to draw a line when the mistakes get to be too annoying.

Just something to think about. 

Why Snail Mail Queries Might Be A Thing Of The Past: Hint...Get a computer!

I find it interesting that I am writing this post to people who will never see it due to their lack of technology. Therefore, I am calling on all of you readers to, wait for it...

• Print off this post.
• Put it in an envelope
• Mail it to your friend who will likely never get published

Although I know most agencies still accept snail mail submissions, when I get one, I always know that this person is likely not going to have a project that I am going to want to see. Why? Because they have not gotten online to read the submission guidelines. In fact, my wife and I often play the game of "guess what the submission is" based on the package/envelope the author used and a handwriting analysis. Sure enough, time and time again, the project is not right.

But here is the real reason why you need to get your author friends into the current century. The world has gone digital!

I know? Shocking isn't it!.

But here is the thing. Let's say you are going to have a great project. Publishers don't have on staff people to typeset you stories for you. They aren't paying some young intern to type your story into their computers.

Along the same lines, your revisions will come to you digitally, either in a MSWord Document or a PDF file. You won't get a pencil revision and then you sit down at your electric typewriter and re-do it, just to mail it off again.

I guess what I always find amazing are the number of authors out there who clearly do have a computer to type their manuscripts and their query letters, but still A) send it via snail mail; and B) have no email to respond.

So please, I beg of you! Help your friend out of the dark ages and show them the light of the Internet, and yes, something beyond that manual typewriter they are using. Let's see if we can get them some help to be at least closer to being published.

Being Computer Literate In A Digital Age Is A Must

Back in the old days (O.K. the 80's and 90's) K-12 education made a big push to make students more computer literate. We moved from typing classes where we went through drill after drill of learning the keyboards, to computer classes. By the 90's, schools started having students work with programs and platforms such as Microsoft Office. The goal was to insure they understood how to use these programs effectively and efficiently. And yet, in recent years, many of these programs have been eliminated because, as many educators feel, "kids are very computer savvy with all of their iPads, Smartphones and so forth.

But, the reality is that the computers and technology have gotten smarter and the general population has not maintained pace with the technology. There are all of these great technological tools out there and people with no idea how to use the programs. Let me give you a few examples.

I frequently work as an adjunct instructor teaching writing at the local community colleges. I am finding that my time in class, that I would normally have devoted to really enhancing their writing skills has gone to teaching computer technology. Students think they are using their spell checkers and grammar checkers, but in reality, they are simply waiting for the "wiggly line" to appear in their documents. Many don't know how to even double space documents. The scary part is that I have had several students think they are on a word processing program, when in reality they are using Notepad. They get their double spacing by simply hitting enter twice at the end of each line. And this is just the tip of the iceberg.

I bring this up because of the huge shift in publishing to a more digital climate. Submissions are mostly digital now. These submissions even require unique formatting to insure the editors and agents can read the material. We now market our books using social media such as Twitter, Facebook and blogs. And, if you are in self-publishing, you now have to understand the unique platforms and formats necessary to make the projects digitally ready for the publisher you are using.

There is an expectation now that if you move into "professional publishing", whether it is traditional, independent or self-publishing, that you are technologically "up-to-date."Agents and publishers are simply not in a position to spend all of their time teaching you how to format your manuscripts and to do the things you should already know how to do.

I do have to say, I am always amazed at how many people will contact me with submissions totally unclear as to what they are doing. For example:

• Email submissions asking for my email address because they want to submit to me.
• Not knowing how to attach a document to an email
• Not knowing how to format a manuscript in double spacing
• Not knowing how to format a manuscript in .RTF format

and probably the worst case...

• Not being able to fill out the submission form on the website.

Look, we aren't asking you to be able to code your own programs. We aren't asking you to be a full blown computer engineer. The basics are not that hard to learn. Community colleges offer continuing education courses in the basics of MSWord and other similar programs. If anything, there is that little box at the top of your computer programs that looks something like this -------------------------------------------->

Take the time this week to do a little exploring of what your technology can do for you. You might be surprised as to how easy your life can get.

On the Brick and Morter Book Closures - Who Is To Blame?

I was talking to my father-in-law a couple of days ago and the conversation of the Borders shut downs came up. He asked an interesting question that, as we started to talk about it further, we were really looking at the reason for the closures. Sure, we all know there was the bankruptcy issue and yada yada. But one twist that we started talking about is something that I think a lot of writers may not want to hear.

No, the issue was not a move to digital books. Sure there are a lot of sales in digitial books and sure there are a lot of people buying digitial readers, but I do think there is something more to it. We're talking about the online purchasing practices of so many Americans. In simple terms, due to technology, we have gotten lazy. It was so much easier to sit at our computer, or click an App on our phone/tablet, and order the book to have it sent directly to our home. Again, I am not talking about ordering it as a digital book, we're talking the real book here.

Authors too have had a huge hand in this (and yes, I as an agent am also to blame for this). How do we market our books? Our websites have links going directly to those online retailers. Our signature lines on all of our emails have those links. In our effort to make the sales go so much quicker, we have, in our own little way, assisted with the closure of these book stores.

Let's face it, one of the biggest things keeping the Barnes and Nobel Company alive was the sales of the Nook. What keeps Amazon alive? The answer is the Kindle sales (not the digitial books so much but the reader) and the other things they sell online.

I don't even want to get into the issue of used book stores (I've mentioned it here before) but those too have added to the closures.

What I am concerned with here is the lack of browsing and impulse buying most of us do that love to read. I know I have a hard time going into my Borders (which was on the chopping block) and buy just one book. I go in with a specific thing to buy and walk away with others that "just caught my attention." These authors just made a sale that if I had been buying things online, I would never have gotten.

I have really seen this with my 12 year old son. He got an e-reader this year for his birthday but he too can't browse for books. When he wants a new book, he has to specifically think of an author (no just stumbling on something good) and then hope the author has gone to a digitial format.

Although all of this tech is great and certainly fun to play with. There will be bigger prices to pay in the long run. Maybe it is a time to really consider what we are doing marketing our own books and make sure that we aren't running ourselves right over that cliff.

Scott

Writers - Don't Become Technologically Weakened

I was thinking about this yesterday as I was fighting with one more element of technology to supposedly "make my life easier." Hrummph! There was no making things easier. The technology simply was slowing me down. In any case, I was thinking about this when it comes to writing. Modern day authors are always spending countless hours, not to mention unbelieveable amounts of money on technology, just to make their writing better. In the end, in my honest opinion, the writing really hasn't gotten better, and, dare I say it, maybe it has gone down hill.

Take grammar checkers. We all seem to think that we don't really need to learn grammar because our grammar checkers will fix it all. The funny part is that the majority of you writers out there have no idea that your grammar checkers are not doing all that you think. When I was in Fresno at the Yosemite RWA writers chapter, we were talking about this. The majority of the writers didn't know that they were missing over 80% of the items in their writing because their grammar checker wasn't looking for the items. And for all these years, they relied on that grammar.

You don't need the lastest iPad, the newest software, or word recognition software. No, you don't need to be on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and all of the other social network sites. And no, you don't need to spend hours and money creating a video book trailer to improve as a writer. It takes intelligence. It takes creativity and yes, it takes a lot of hardwork. There are no technological shortcuts.

For a week, just as a practice, make a conscious effort to return to the writing basics. I dare you. Pull out a legal pad and a pen. No pencils because if you make a mistake, I don't want you to erase. I want to see a real rough draft. You might be amazed at the quality of the writing.

Scott

The Effect of Technology on the Quality of Writing

I was just reading an article this morning and found some writers addressing a concern that I have had floating around in the back of my head. Could all of this new technology affect the quality of writing that we see out there? I am, unfortunately inclined to say I think it will, but it doesn't have to. I am always hopeful that those of us in the publishing industry have the power to prevent this, the question is, will people make that effort?

What I found interesting, was that most of the articles I read never once addressed the real issue of the quality. All of the articles tended to focus on simply the money issue and the effect on the writers. We've all see those articles... decrease the money for a book and the author suffers.

As I see this though, there is a bigger issue at play here. As the accessibility to publishing opens up more and more, there will be opportunities for a lot of people, who really did have books that were below quality to be published. Since it doesn't cost as much to produce books that sit on a hard drive some place in the world until someone wants to buy it, many companies can just acquire anyone.

When I thought about this, one of the first things that popped into my head was the deregulation of the phone industry back in the 70's. While the initial idea of breaking up "Ma-Bell" sounded like a good idea, and for a while, things looked pretty good, in the end, we did see decreases in quality. Suddenly, we all saw companies sprouting up all of the place proclaiming they were the new face in the phone industry. Were they inexpensive? Yes. Quality? In many cases, the quality simply wasn't there. Again, just because I can create a phone company, it doesn't mean I have the knowledge or the infrastructure to produce a quality product.

Now please understand, I am not of the opinion that there is an exclusive place in the world for writers and unless you are published by a mega-publisher, you are nothing. I am simply saying, that if we want to insure the quality level remains high, there is a need for some quality control.

It is fine by me if companies want to open up publishing for more people. I have no problem with this. But please people, if you are doing this, maintain standards that demonstrate you have a quality project. Don't lower the bar just because you want to make more money.

I have always been of the opinion that writing is open to everyone. This is a craft that writers can really have the chance of self-expression. With that said, just because the technology is there for writers to "publish" it does not mean that they should.

As an agent, I am all for finding new avenues for authors to promote their books. If e-publishing is the new wave, then so be it. But please, watch the quality. As for me, I am going to continue to look for quality writing.

I Want A Phone to Simply Call Someone

First off, let me say I am not a person who lives in, or wants to remain in the Dark Ages. I believe in technology advances and we need to look forward. However, with that said, I have to admit I am finally sick of technology, especially after all of they hype of the the I-Pad.

I have to admit, the early "hints" and "released secrets" of the I-Pad sounded great! I was really seeing a way to blend a lot of different technologies together and maybe make something a bit more compact. I saw this as very similar to the move from the desktop computer to the laptop computer. However, I was far from impressed. Now granted, I was not there to play with the new toy, but I couldn't avoid hearing about it on the radio (yes, I do listen to that thing in the car), or reading about it in the newspaper (yes, that paper thing), seeing it on the TV (no I don't own a HD-Plasma/Espresso machine) and seeing it on line. But still, it didn't impress me. It was doing what technology was already doing and then, charging me a ton of cash.

All I heard people hyping was the abiltiy to play nifty games and watch movies. I ask you, are your friends around you so boring that you can't just talk to them? Do you have to play games in all of your spare moments? Seems to me, anyway, that everyone rushed out and got the latest "cell phone" (and I use that term sparingly) this Christmas that did just the same thing.

"Oh, but Scott, the I-Pad will let me read books," you sigh in my misguided direction.
"Ahh, yes, and so does your Kindle, Nook, and Sony, as well as your laptop, your netbook and that weird thing in your had with pages called a REAL BOOK!" I finally scream.

I saw the same thing with a phone. When I go in to get a cell phone, I am constantly screaming at the sales clerk that I don't want something that will do my laundry for me remotely, I want something that calls people. They always look amazed. "What do you mean call someone, you can text them?" NO! I want to hear them!

Look people. I am all for advances, but giving us a new toy is not an advance. Playing a computer game faster is not an advance.

I have to say, my prediction is that devices such as the I-Pad are not going to increase literacy in the world. The e-readers might have since all they allowed you to do was read, but if we are again faced with all of these other distractions on the I-Pad, we will end up feeling more like playing some stupid racing game on the techology than opening a book.

There.... A Rant.

Now, I am off to read a book and then talk to someone on my ANALOG phone.

Scott

Blogging, Twittering and the like

O.K. I love technology. Well, maybe not as much as a lot of people do out there but I love the stuff. There is a big problem with all of this technology though when it comes to the life of the writer. It takes away the time you spend on your craft.

I talk to writers all of the time that Blog and in some cases have multiple blogs, they Twitter, they are on Facebook, Myspace and any other place they can be, they subscribe to multiple chat groups with their own genres, and on top of all that, are members of every organization they can think of.

Their rationale - "I want web presence."

Sure this is great, but the time you are taking to do all of these activities is really using the wrong muscles in your brain to create the stories that really sell. The time you are taking is also very repetitive. I don't know how many times I have seen someone with the identical posts on each of their blogs. What is the point?

I know what they will say though... I have people who follow me from different loops and they use different modes of technolgy. Sure, that is true, but if you are really good at what you do, you can filter all of the writers through one site.

Pick one and stick to it. Make that good and build that web presence through that site. Pick and choose the memberships you have. It's kind of like cleaning house. If you haven't used it for 3 months, the odds are you won't again - get rid of it.