Cutting out the middleman in publishing
Cutting out the middleman in publishing
Ian Vince, writing in an article titled “It’s little surprise Amazon and authors are cutting out the middleman” in the Guardian, says that the world of publishing has been thrown into disarray.
In the middle of 2011, Amazon announced that its New York imprint has bought print and digital rights to bestselling self-help author Timothy Ferriss’s next book.
He says that Amazon’s acquisition of a potential print bestseller that could mark a decisive point in publishing and asks whether authors will begin to deal not with agents and commissioning editors, but with the companies that sell their work direct to the public.
He also points out that it is not just Amazon that could cut publishers out of the equation: JK Rowling’s new Pottermore website has become the only outlet for the ebook versions of the boy wizard’s adventures and the Ed Victor agency has opened an ebook and print-on-demand house – Bedford Square Books – to offer out-of-print titles penned by its clients, although they haven’t ruled out publishing new books which they haven’t been able to place with a traditional publisher.
Meanwhile, Unbound, is essentially subscription publishing of the kind used by Milton for Paradise Lost, reborn in the digital age as “crowd-funding”.
All of which raises the question: just what is the role of traditional publishing?
Publishers have had to give in to demands for ever-greater discounts from supermarkets, the high-street chains and Amazon in order to get stock moving and push the unit price down. And while the publishers themselves have been giving away their margins, the majority of authors have suffered directly as a result: not only reduced advances and royalties, but lower marketing and publicity spends and the knowledge that their fortunes are in the hands of just a few buyers. So who can blame them for wanting to get closer to the retail end?
Publishers perform many great services to both authors and the reading public: they select titles to commission (and most hone and polish them relentlessly), marketing and publicity. However, if they can’t get the right book in front of the right reader, their days are numbered.
Wednesday, 11 January 2012 11:46