A heads up: I’ll be in New York next week so blogging will be sporadic.
But this week!
People are still working their way through the week that shook publishing, with WalMart slashing prices and all kinds of e-readers debuting, and are digesting what it all means.
First up, some people have noted that with WalMart, Amazon and Target drastically slashing prices on some upcoming bestsellers and taking losses it may make sense for independent booksellers to just go ahead and stock their books by ordering direct from WalAmaTargEars, thus getting their books more cheaply than they would be able to from publishers and ensuring that WalAmaTargEars take as many losses as possible for this stunt. Smart, right?
Well… not so fast. First, WalAmaTargEars are onto you and are limiting how many discounted books you can buy. And at the WordHoarder blog, a bookseller cautions against the WalAmaTargEars end-around as a long term strategy. According to the post, sales reps for indie booksellers are already dwindling, and such a move hurts distributors, whom indies really need. (via Booksqure)
Meanwhile, Mike Shatzkin surveys the landscape and considers the implications of a gradual publishing transition to smaller print runs and greater electronic market share. This transition is already rocking the newspaper world, and publishers, bookstores, and the entire print distribution chain will all be challenged by this transition because they require a certain critical mass to be sustainable. The winners according to Shatzkin? Agents and the top 500 authors, who will be able to sell e-books directly because of their personal brands.
And how is all of the pressure on publishers trickling down to the editorial side? As Kristin Nelson says, agents and authors on submission are hearing these frustrating words a lot these days: “I just don’t see how I can break this out in a big way.“
Oh, and Philip Roth thinks novels are going to have only a cult following in 25 years. Who’s feeling the optimism???
Perhaps exhausted by the last couple weeks of news, Publishers Weekly decided to go ahead and just call it a year and released their top books of 2009. Sorry books published between now and the end of the year! (via Scribbly Jane)
But with all of this big and slightly unsettling news, let me just say it now: don’t panic. Things are changing, it’s going to be an interesting/challenging couple of years as we gradually succumb to our coming e-book overlords, but it doesn’t mean the novel is going to disappear or that we’re all going to hell in a handbasket. Things aren’t going to be worse (at least in the long term), they’re just going to be different. And in 50 years when we’re making the transition from reading e-books on screens to having them beamed directly into our heads we’ll wax nostalgic about the charming blink of electronic pages and the smell of plastic and people will get angry about the change and say that you can pry their e-books from their cold dead hands.
Also there’s more news! Martin Amis has taken aim at popular British author and model Katie Price/Jordan for, among other things, being, shall we say, cosmetically enhanced. He even memorized the poem she read at her ill-fated wedding. A case of hating the player instead of hating the game? Or is Amis himself such a high level player that he is playing the game and the press fell for his trap? (via Greg Peisert)
Over in the Huffington Post, Rob Asghar thinks self-publishing has an image problem and wants to rebrand it “indie publishing.” Interesting, but….. aren’t there already independent publishers, i.e. strong non “Big 6” houses like Soho and Kensington?
Reports of VS Naipaul’s death have been greatly exaggerated. Um. BY THE FBI.
My awesome client Natalie Whipple has written an instant classic post just in time for NaNoWriMo: advice on writing a first draft. First and most importantly: don’t worry about how others write, write how YOU write. SO TRUE.
Janet Reid passed along her outline on a class she gave on writing effective queries.
Almost finally, via Jeff Abbott, a patron of a library in Maury County, Tennesee has taken upon him/herself to black out the curse words in mystery novels. Because with so many problems in the world, if there’s anything worth spending your time on it’s surely blacking out naughty words. Way to save America! Anyway, I would say that the newscast on the incident is priceless, but that would be a complete understatement. It’s amazing.
And finally, this video is just…. I mean….. love love love:
Have a great weekend!
I over-think things.
Anon 11:44
I think you are a truly compassionate person, and it's wonderful that pointing out the suffering in the world. So, please understand I'm not negating that by disagreeing alittle….
I don't have much to add to what Nathan said, I thought he said it well…..but one thing I will say is that you can't measure progress only by looking at poverty levels. That's just one factor.
There are others. Human rights awareness; the number of people who live free lives, and can speak and think freely; the knowledge of the world around us, both within and without; the ability to address problems; the growing global community which attempts to heal global wounds; and so much more.
Please know that I am very personally aware that there is suffering in the world. I've been a social worker for a very long time, I see great depths of suffering on a daily basis. I am not naive or deluded.
But I feel as though making the world a better place is a chain of action that stems far into the past, and moves ahead of me into the future. I am just one link. I would like to add my contribution; I hope I will. But I acknowledge that those before me have made a difference, and those that live on after me (perhaps, you, for one) will continue to fight the good fight.
Mira,
Exactly. My point is that the world is 50/50, good and bad. My original point was simply that people who concentrate on serious problems in order to make the world a better place aren't necessarily pessimists or glass-half-full kind of people, and they aren't always from the older generation.
Well, I'd say we're 50/50 in agreement. 🙂
I don't think it's 50/50 good/bad. I think it's in flux, but headed toward improvement. That's my belief, and I'm sticking to it.
But I'll agree that people who see and address problems, and shine a light on them, as you eloquently put it, can be visionaries: young, old and somewhere in between.
So we agree about that. 🙂
And I applaud the idealism and energy of the young. Go for it. We need you. 🙂
Also, I disagree that all writers are readers. Totally disagree. I wrote for 5 years without even touching a novel, and I doubt I'm the only one.
This baffles me. One of the reasons I write (probably the main reason) is because I love to read so much. And whenever I read a great book, I'm re-inspired to work that much harder on my own fiction.
I do know writers who can't read fiction while they're working on their novel, but will read non-fiction. But to go for years without picking up a book? I'd go crazy and start reading the backs of cereal boxes. (Actually, I already do that.)
Anonymous 2:57 (and any other writer out there who's either not a big reader, or who has stopped reading for an extended period of time): what caused you to pull away from books?
Anyone who thinks they can write without ever reading a book is either delusional or making others think they are so gifted, and clever they can write a book without reading one.
Not possible and arrogant. That's like a master chef who specializes in pastries saying he hasn't tasted or eaten a pastry in five years, yet continues to perfect his work?
If a writer hasn't picked up a book in even a year, I would bet their writing would reflect it and would think they are not published at all.
For those who love to read, check this out: the Library Hotel, as described on the Book Patrol blog. A rather unique, luxurious and relaxing place for bibliophiles!
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine–R.E.M
"Anyone who thinks they can write without ever reading a book is either delusional or making others think they are so gifted, and clever they can write a book without reading one."
This is so true. I know this might be different from the above stated quote, but I don't understand how you can love writing but not reading. Maybe you can love bad writing and hate reading, but if you're serious about writing, I don't see how you can dislike reading.
Also via Book Patrol, a fascinating interview with Sherman Alexie about writing, writers, storytelling, the publishing world and more: here.
I disagree that Kindle is going to completely take over novels, with novels only having a small cult following.
I'm going to compare this to photography. When the digital camera first came out, it was thought that it would take over the film camera. It hasn't. Despite how insanely advanced digital cameras have gotten, there are still loads of people out there who use film cameras–plus, photography minors like me have to use film before jumping to digital. And you have to wonder why as well, what with the convenience a digital camera offers and all. But I think the battle between digital and print is going to follow the same vein as digital versus film.
I could be wrong, but both sound very similar.
I just finished listening to the entire Sherman Alexie interview. He has a fascinating point of view regarding e-books and the Internet. He touches on many of the topics recently discussed here on Nathan's blog. He refers to e-books as "elitist" and explains why he feels that way. He also talks about where the large corporations will most likely take the Internet, the lack of real Internet "community", how current trends will most likely increase the divide between pop culture and literary writing, and how it will most likely eventually become nearly impossible for most first-time writers to ever get published. He expresses what I’ve been thinking for some time now. Whether you agree with him or not, he offers an intelligent, thoughtful analysis of the marketplace.
Marilyn,
Thanks for sharing the link to the Library Hotel. I might go to NY just to check out that hotel!
This is a little piece from a treatise called "On the Soul" supposedly written by Themistius way back there in ancient Greece.
It is on the process of Initiation of the soul. There's an uncanny resemblance to the process a writer goes through from trying to get an agent to being published :0 (Hmmm…just wanted to share):
"At first one wanders and wearily hurries to and fro, and journeys with suspicion through the dark as one uninitiated: then come all the terrors before the final initiation, shuddering, trembling, sweating, amazement: then one is struck with a marvelous light(i think this is the getting a great agent part), one is received into pure regions and meadows, with voices and dances and the majesty of holy sounds and shapes: among these he who has fulfilled initiation wanders free, and released and bearing his crown (getting published?)joins in the divine communion, and consorts with pure and holy men."
Lol. Sheesh.
Nathan: Thanks for all you do in compiling and discussing so much of what goes on in publishing these days. A vast terrain of change is before us.
Doctor Query
Had a chance meeting with an assistant working one of the lit desks at William Morris in LA. They don't measure the number of queries, but the pounds of queries. If the first sentence or two don't do the job, then the querie is tossed.
Ten Ring, by Joseph L Cooke, will be released as an audio book only; it won't be in print – or, that's the plan at present.
Here's my proposed solution: I believe that independent bookstores should become a publishing cooperative, and sign exclusive publishing contracts with "non 500" authors who are out of contract. Here's how it would work: The Indie-publisher would agree to exclusively sell, promote, and distribute an author's work through Indie bookstores for the duration of a contract. Those works would not be sold at Amazon, WalMart, or chain stores (except for used, private copies which can't be controlled). The Indie publisher and bookstore network would have to establish its own outlet for ebook downloads. So we'd wind up with an Indie publisher developing the "midlist" authors, leaving the established Big Boy/Girl Authors to the old publishers and WalMart. My thinking: eventually the "star" authors will burn out, and the Indie stores, with their exclusive distribution, will build new business at the edges of the market.