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The New Model of Book Publishing
Starting in 2000 and evolving over the next
5 years. |
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Now that the Internet has "arrived",
Writers and Authors with good works to sell
no longer have to suffer the indignation
and humiliation of being told by Agents less
knowledgeable than they, that their works
are "not acceptable".
It has been proven time and time again, that
forward-thinking books ahead of their time
are never considered "acceptable"
by plodders with no vision, until it is obvious
to everyone else. There's no longer any reason
for good works to be blocked by intermediaries,
now Authors have other options open to them.
When Authors and Writers turn to more direct
means of selling their works, via the Internet
or other direct-to-buyer means, they find
that:
1. Their works are more widely and quickly
accepted by people;
2. They are free to express themselves unlimited
by myopic reviews;
3. They get more positive, satisfying feedback
directly from readers;
4. They have more control over quality and
appearance of the book;
5. They make a lot more profit than by conventional
book publishing.
Who wouldn't turn to direct publishing, with
these benefits?
So any Author who has experienced the hassle
of Literary Agent blockades, and then enjoyed
the freedom of direct publishing on the Internet,
will never go back to the old way. This realization
will totally change the way books are published
in the next 5 years, until the industry is
radically different than it is today. Book
publishers unprepared for these changes will
be devastated.
The New Model
Starting in the year 2000, the Internet has
finally become a viable medium for direct-to-consumer
marketing and selling of all kinds of books.
Prior to this, it was just an outlet for
booksellers like Amazon, Borders, and B&N,
to sell books that were already published
through conventional big-publisher channels.
Now we are seeing smaller publishing companies,
groups, consortiums, and even individual
Authors and Writers, putting books directly
up on the Internet for sale, which do not
exist in bookstores (or at least their primary
publishing outlet is the Internet, not book
stores). The selling of bound and printed
books directly on the Internet, is called
Internet Publishing.
Distinguish this Internet selling model from
a separate, but ultimately related concept
of "On-Line Publishing". This is
an even newer idea, where the author or publisher
sells the book only in electronic format (i.e. a file) to download and read
directly on a computer. This selling of electronic
books on the Internet, as directly downloadable
files, is called On-Line Publishing. For an example, see our news article on Stephen King.
Some major publishers are now quickly catching
on to the reality that if they don't also
explore On-Line Publishing options now, they
will be left in the dust. At least Simon
Schuster and Random House are forming On-Line divisions to be ready
next year, and others will follow.
But noe of this solves the problem of the Publisher's Paradox, where big Publishers stop authors from
reaching them with exceptional works that
have gone unrecognized or rejected by Agents.
Unless Publishers open up new avenues of
dialog with Authors of new and unique works,
they will miss even greater opportunities
in the future.
Predictions
The next 5 years will see a phenomenal growth
of Internet-based Publishing companies, who
print, bind and publish books directly for
sale on the Internet -- and who let other
distributors handle retail sales in book
stores. It will be so fast, efficient, so
satisfying to Authors, and also so lucrative,
that these Internet Publishing companies
won't even waste time marketing their books
in retail stores.
Why? Because Authors will absolutely flock to these Internet Publishing companies in
droves, abandoning the bigger conventional
book Publishers almost completely, except
for text-book type works.
Whereas major Publishing companies will experience
a zero-percent growth in the number of such
companies, the small Internet Publishers
will increase about 100 fold, once the economics,
speed and efficiency of the model catches
on. In time, all the urgent, timely, or current-events
type books will be published on or via the
Internet first, with conventional channels
only as an after thought, or for the more
"durable" textbooks and Bibles
that aren't quite so timely.
In addition, after some rough starts and
losses by major Publishers, a workable model
for direct On-Line publishing of electronic
books will become viable in the next 5 years
(it has already been viable for trade magazines
for 3 years now). But the On-Line method
will be no substitute for the publishing
of printed books, that are sold directly
over the Internet, at least for several years.
Authors already have their future clearly
defined -- find a new Internet Publishing
company who likes your works, and have them
sell the books directly via the Internet.
After they hit big there, conventional retail
sales will follow.
As for Publishing companies, they are missing
a tremendous opportunity right now in not
opening up avenues of direct dialog with
new and upcoming authors. They will miss
great opportunities by clinging to outmoded
selling models. See how this site can help
open up dialogs between publishers and authors,
by exploring the links on the top left, and
the databases throughout this site. |
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RELATED
LINKS:
On-Line Publishing
An example of the new model of direct On-Line
Publishing
Read it.
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Random House
starts an On-Line Publishing Division.
Read it. |
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