I’ve been thinking about the much bemoaning going on regarding the state of the publishing business. In fact, there is so much gloom on some agent’s blogs that I don’t bother following them anymore. I don’t know all the ins and outs of their complaints, but in a nutshell, there is concern over the future of the business. There’s concern about what eBooks and free books will do. They want everyone to buy hardcopy books and that’s it. And they want to keep charging the same prices as always, featuring the same authors as always. Or, if they do sell eBooks, they want to charge the same price as hardcopies.
The market is changing, and some want to hang onto the way things are. The story of Blockbuster illustrates the downfall to this stick-in-the-mud business model. Blockbuster comes in and drives almost all the small video shops out of business. They were the king, the 900 lb. gorilla. Now they’re just a chimp. What happened? For one, they didn't embrace the changing market. They fought hard to hang onto the existing business models. They squeezed every penny possible out of the customer. Along comes Netflix, and what did Blockbuster do? They laughed, ridiculed, and continued on with the business of charging way too much for a movie, and hitting us with late fees. Netflix, on the other hand, grew until Blockbuster grew scared. They tried some lame, half-hearted attempt to compete, but were finally forced, kicking and screaming, to adopt the Netflix model... a little too late. Now all the gadgets are steaming ahead with Netflix streaming, not Blockbuster movie rentals. This story plays out over and over again-- such as your local mega phone company losing customers to cell phones, Skype, Google voice, Ooma, Magic Jack, etc. And what do the phone companies do? Business as usual. You can see my Ooma post for more about the phone companies. Big video and big phone had the market. They could have developed these innovative solutions themselves and retained market share; but instead, they hung onto the norm.
From my perspective, there are many interesting similarities between the movie business and the publishing business. Corner bookstores gave way to large chains, large chains are now challenged by online retailers, online retailers are seeing the beginning challenges in free books from Google and the likes. Small publishers gave way to large ones; large ones, although still kings, are seeing the seeds of another challenger: self publishing and, again, Google.
For the record, I, for one, welcome our Google overlords and the great, free products they’ve addicted me to. Off the record, I get a bit nervous about Google: their lack of privacy, how much information they have access to, and control of the information we see.
Back on topic... So what does all this change mean? Well, it means I’m excited. I see opportunity in change, even if that change is scary. I think there are golden opportunities for forward thinkers in the industry. I don’t know how all this will shake out and who will win; but as a consumer, I have some ideas about what I’d like to see. People want more for less, or if they pay full retail, then they want something more thrown in. Maybe do like some movie studios are doing with the DVD, where you can just purchase the basic, cheap DVD or, for a little more, you can get the DVD, Blue ray, and a digital copy for your mobile movie player. For books, why not do the same? Use basic eBooks for low cost, or even give away free eBooks with supported advertising embedded. With the full priced book, you could give the interactive eBook with interviews from the writers. How about links in the text, where you click and it takes you to what the author was thinking when he wrote that section, or what inspired him to write that. Perhaps even photographs, or links to Google street view, where the reader can see the locations written about. For a few bucks more, give them the audio book too. Yes, I know these things cost money to produce, but figure out a way to develop them cheaply. Quit paying for high priced actors for the audio book, and get some talented college theater students to read the book. Some of them would probably do the whole project, including production, for a few thousand dollars and name recognition. And for heaven sake, quit getting one reader for all the parts! Men do not read in convincing women’s voices and vice versa. At the very least, it should be a man to read the male parts, and a woman to read the female parts.
Here’s another idea. Self publishing is growing whether you like it or not. It’s too easy for anyone to do in this technological age; and you’re leaving money and a valuable service on the table. I see opportunity for a reputable publisher, or agent house, to be innovative. You don’t have to completely sell your soul and publish any crap thing that comes across your desk. But why not create a product line where you accept things that are relatively well written, with solid plots, regardless if they tickle your fancy or not? Offer them a pay service where it will be professionally polished, packaged, and distributed through online resources. You could do different levels of that service, from basic to advanced. For promising books, where you may not pick them up for normal publishing, you could offer a discounted service (and thereby limit out-of-pocket expenses) and, in turn, take a small percentage of sales.
Some of these ideas may or may not be worth much. My point isn’t necessarily to sell these particular ideas, but for agents and publishers to stop whining and get creative. Business is tough…period. The dynamic innovators will take the gold, the ho-hums will stay in business, and the lethargic will dwindle into irrelevance. One last note. Why isn’t the publishing industry advertising its products as a whole more? Reading has to be one of the best values in the dollar per hour of entertainment equation. A movie for me and my wife, in admission alone, is the price of a book, and all I get is about an hour and a half of entertainment. A book will cost the same price, but gives us roughly six to eight hours of entertainment. Four hours of skiing with my daughter will cost me about $175 for lift tickets, equipment rental, transportation, etc. Do you get my point? In a recession, people are trying to get the best value for their money. What better value is there than a book? Why not drive the market for it?
