The herd is on the move

June 27, 2010 in Journal with 5 Comments

So I’m in St. Louis for the next few days for the International Christian Retail Show. Interesting things, these trade shows. They’re great for getting the pulse of an industry. Actually, being here reminds me of those wildlife researchers who camp out on the Serengeti and observe a herd on the move. The herd gathers, grazes, and migrates together. It’s what the herd does. The same is true of cultures and industries.

Back to the convention, though. You can learn a lot just by hanging out in Starbucks just off the lobby. Great example happened to me this morning. I plop down in one of the leather chairs next to this guy and dig into my oatmeal. I watch him for a minute. I figure he’s in marketing.  Must be because he has an iPad and he’s caressing a new iPhone 4. I think I hear him muttering, “My precious,” but I may have imagined that. I strike up a conversation knowing that he probably doesn’t think I’m here for ICRS. After all, I’m wearing a black rock-n-roll festival t-shirt with a skull and crossbones sporting a cowboy hat on it.

We talk for a few minutes about the big topic of the weekend–the shift to digital publishing–and what his company, a well known publisher, is doing to stay ahead of the curve. He talks about how publishers must build their brands with consumers over the next few years and how important it is that they become the trusted providers of books. I drink my coffee and eat my oatmeal, smiling when I get the chance. And I wonder, does this guy really believe what he’s saying?

Finally, I tell him that I think he’s wrong. He stares at me for a second. I tell him that he should go out on the street right now and ask ten people to name the last good book that they read and who the author was. I’m sure they would all be able to name one, at least one. Then, I say, ask them who published that book. Which publishing house? He stares at me. I don’t think you’d find one who could do it, I say. He blinks. So, whose brand should we be concerned with?

I’ll have several conversations with people this week about the digital shift, I’m sure. I’m curious to know how open publishers, authors, and agents truly are to change and what their plans are to meet the challenge. I have a feeling I know the answer to my own question, but we’ll find out.

  • Sara

    Honestly, I think you’re right, Kevin. None of my friends know the publishers of whoever writes the books they read. Other than Ted’s publishers, I usually have no idea who publishes the books I read.

  • A Different Sara

    This is true. In Christian publishing I usually know the publisher, but that’s largely only because there’s not many of them. I know Thomas Nelson fairly well because I’m on the book review program there, but publishers really aren’t important to average readers. The author matters, the publisher really doesn’t.

  • http://www.bsnapzworld.com BSnapZ

    Unless a reader is really into a particular author, so much so that they follow the release of every book, spend time Googling and Wiki’ing them, and follow all the latest news, updates and movements of them, I highly doubt that people know which publisher they are with. In fact, I doubt many people who aren’t right into this kind of industry (only read books) could actually name more than, say, 5 publishing companies AT ALL.

    I read around a lot and spend a lot of time researching this kind of thing, but even I think that I’d struggle to name more than 10 off the top of my head.

  • http://jsearls.webs.com J.S. Earls

    I totally agree.

    Especially, with so many new little imprints and offshoots under the same publisher…it’s hard for readers to follow and, in the end, they don’t really care.

    The ONLY slight difference might be with authors/creators who work “in the name of another”. Like, if major-semi-major authors started publishing their own “lines”. If James Patterson did that w/ all his “co-writers” or like M. Night Shyamalan’s new “The Night Chronicles”.

    I’ve heard rumors of various things, but — even then — it all points back to a key figure, a key author or other creative-type…NOT a publisher per se.

  • http://www.jeremyrobinsononline.com Jeremy Robinson

    Moooooo.

    This is 100% accurate and I sometimes wonder if the big publishers really believe that people know who they are. There is a movement happening with some midlist authors wanting to keep their e-book rights even when an offer is on the table from a big publisher. Why? Because it’s easy to make an e-book look just as good as those published by the big guns. And the distribution is the same. If the layout, editing and cover design are all primo, know one will ever know its not from a big publisher (same with print self-publishing).

    I put my only unpublished novel, BENEATH, up for sale on the Kindle a few months ago. In that time I have sold more copies of the e-book than I did my first hardcover from a major publisher. And its still selling strong. With the 70% royalty rate kicking in today, I’ll soon have made more money, too. So the temptation to keep e-book rights is stronger than ever.

    And for a guy like Ted, 70% on e-book sales…well, you do the math. If I try to keep my e-book rights I run the risk of a publisher changing their mind, but not Ted. :) If you want to see a guy who is doing this right, and making much more money than he did in print, check out J.A. Konrath’s blog: http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/ Just look for posts with “Kindle” in the title.

    Hey Earls! Fancy meeting you here.

    – Jeremy