Monday, March 9, 2009

WORST OR BEST PUBLISHING MARKET?


Great post on BookMarketing Network on the current state of publishing. read the entire post and comments at:
http://bookmarket.ning.com/profiles/blogs/is-this-the-worst-publishing?xgs=1


"Yes, publishing is an industry in trouble, but as Reidy points out, it's been that way for a long time: "Ever since I have been in the publishing business it has been considered an industry in trouble … you could reliably mark your calendar that every few years the mainstream media would run a big thumb-sucking article signaling the end of our days." Reidy said publishers have met challenges in the past by "adapting to new realities, changing business practices and putting forth their best publishing efforts."

Reidy told PW that "now we have the chance to actually find the reader where they are spending their time-in front of a screen-and cement a relationship with them through e-mail newsletters, viral marketing, mobile delivery and other tools." Yes, yes, and yes!

Publishing as we knew it may be dying ... but if you look at it as simply a way of getting information out to people who want it, publishing will never die.

In fact, looked at this way, now may be the BEST time to publish and be an author.

You just may have to redefine what "publishing" and "being an author" mean. If publishing means only printing and distributing books ... well, that may be in big trouble. But if publishing means "getting information out to people who want it, in the ways they want to consume it, so that a profit can be made"--well, then the possibilities abound!

And if "being an author" means "being enough of an authority that you can garner a following, and serving your followers well by providing truly valuable content that they can consume when and how and where they desire ... then this truly is the best time to be an author."

The old publishing model is broken. But so what? As Reidy said, we can adapt to new realities, change business practices and put forth our best efforts, and we can reinvent what publishing means.

I call it the New Era of Publishing. And I for one am nothing but excited about what can come of it ... because I'm experiencing firsthand the many things that are working.

1 comment:

  1. One of my favorite publishers of new voices is Narrative Magazine, an online lit mag whose mission is to bring great literature to the world for free. They certainly are thriving, and and as a non-profit, all of their reading & contest fees go toward paying the authors they publish. Info at www.narrativemagazine.com.

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