Tag Archive - Publishing

In which I slaughter a sacred cow

January 20, 2011 in Journal with 4 Comments

We have many secrets, those of us who sell stories (specifically the printed variety) for a living. I will share one (only one this time) with you, but if I disappear tomorrow you’ll know “they” found me and I had to assume a new identity and move to Cleveland.

So here it is:

Many aspiring authors elevate agents, managers, and publishers to oracle status, but the truth is we’re all guessing. It’s true. The emperor has no clothes. The ivory tower of publishing is constructed entirely of legos–the classic kind not the fancy themed ones you see nowadays.

That’s the truth. It’s out there now.

We don’t really know how any of this works–not really anyway. Marketing plans are an educated guess, human beings are fickle and unpredictable, and we fail ten times for every success that we have. Don’t let marketers and publishers fool you (especially marketers). We miss the boat…a lot. We just play up our successes so no one is any the wiser.

And bestsellers…some books are bestsellers because they somehow manage to sell well. It might actually be truer to call them bettersellers. A good many people pretend to know why one book sells a kajillion copies while another is forgotten altogether. We call those people liars…or publicists. The truth is that no one knows why some books work and others don’t any more than they know what an appendix is for. So don’t waste your money on those “engineer a bestseller” kits.

No, we’re all just trying to do our best to be in the right place at the right time when the right thing comes along. Chances are we won’t recognize it until it’s too late, but maybe we will unless it ended up in the slush pile. We take risks, we win some, we lose a lot. We’re like the venture capitalists of literature, but that’s a post for another day.

Until then, I’ll think about what secrets to divulge next. That is, if I’m still around.

Digital Publishing’s Tipping Point

July 6, 2010 in Journal with 4 Comments

The music industry changed forever on October 23, 2001. That’s the day the little company in Cupertino, California unveiled a new way for music lovers to carry “1,000 songs in [their] pocket.” The name:  iPod.

Now, the iPod wasn’t really a new idea. Understand that Apple was actually late to the MP3 dance. Three years earlier, Eiger Labs released the MPMan F10, an MP3 player created by a South Korean company. It held a whopping 32MB of audio and promised to revolutionize music. Well, it did and it didn’t. The MPMan was a bust, as was the slew of players that followed it, but the iPod was not. The iPod was a tipping point.

We all know how the music story unfolds, how few people buy CD’s anymore, how piracy and file sharing turned the music industry on its head and forced artists and labels to carve up albums into $.99 singles, and how the music industry will never be the same again. Ever.

There’s a cautionary tale in here for those of us in the publishing biz and those who want to be. Digital book publishing likely won’t be a parallel event entirely, but I think the same market forces that tossed the music industry’s tectonic plates around like will move ours as well. Forces of nature (and demographics) are impossible to stop, after all. And this time I don’t think the changes will take as long to happen. That’s a controversial position to take in my business, but I’m going to take that bet even if I’m proven wrong, which I don’t think I am. And here’s why… Continue Reading…

It’s Not About the Tablet

January 27, 2010 in Journal with 1 Comment

Apple Invite

Today’s the day. The music industry had theirs’ when Apple unveiled iTunes; now the publishing industry’s turn is up and there’s LOTS of debate about what the Apple tablet means for authors, publishers, and consumers. For all of the buzz and debate I can’t help but think that most of the naysayers are getting it wrong. They remind us that tablets have been tried before…and failed. They remind us how Bill Gates tried to revolutionize personal computing with a switch to tablets…and failed. But all of that misses the point in my opinion. Why?

Because the introduction of an Apple tablet isn’t about revolutionizing hardware (though I think it will certainly fuel innovation and do that just like the iPod did); it’s about revolutionizing content. I, too, love the feel and smell of paper. I like having books on a shelf in my office. We like book covers as much as we do the words they wrap around. They’re iconic and evoke a sort of nostalgia. Just last night my writer’s group talked about our favorite stories, some of which were published in the 1800′s. We like stuff we can touch. Continue Reading…

When the Unicorn Appears

January 25, 2010 in Journal with 3 Comments

apple-tablet

From Geekdom to Wall Street, all eyes will focus on Cupertino, CA on Wednesday when Steve Jobs steps on stage to, presumably, unveil the long rumored Mac tablet (aka “The iUnicorn” because many have said it doesn’t exist). Whether or not you believe the digital publishing shake-up is imminent doesn’t matter. At all. It’s already underway and if you’re an author, either professional or aspiring, you need to pay attention.

The way we engage story has evolved over time and we’re on the cusp of the next cycle. And that cycle can be described with one word: convergence. CSI creator Anthony Zuiker tried it with his digi-novel, the over the top Level 26. Others have tried producing vooks, digital books with bonus video elements (most have which are…meh). Sooner rather than later we will have to figure out how to inventively tell stories by layering all of the techno-capabilities that devices like Apple’s tablet supposedly provide. Soon, writing the manuscript of a novel won’t even be the bare minimum. The new baseline will include interactivity, which you’ll have to plan for before you type the first word.

What will that look like? Who knows. But I do know we’ve got to start experimenting now. True, the publishing industry can learn from the mistakes the music industry made. In fact, I’ve heard that for awhile as well as something to the effect of “The good news is we still have time to figure it out.” My response is “maybe.” My opinion is that the speed of the shift will catch most authors and publishers off-guard. It’s the nature of things.

So, my advice…use your imagination to dream new ways to tell your story. The limits are being removed so take advantage of the time we live in.

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