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!
Ink-
What? Really? What the hell?
If that's the case, then count me in as confused as well.
As to TWILIGHT- yes, the story dragged, but the writing itself did not. It was written very simplistically and was very easy to read. It took no effort and practically zero concentration. It was kind of a book for people who don't like books. And in any case, you weren't reading for the story; you were reading for Edward Cullen 😉
Compare to manga. Again, most of the plots drag on and on and on, but it's so easy to read (and instantly rewarding) that you don't really care.
Compare again to George RR Martin's A Game of Thrones. I would say that's pretty fast-paced, but holy crap there are a lot of words. It takes effort to slug through that, no matter how great the story is.
It is great, by the way. More than great. It's epic. If you haven't read it by now I recommend you sprint to your nearest bookstore RIGHT NOW and buy 10 copies. Or 20. Or 100.
Yeah, my daughter loves her animated shows, but she can sit and listen to my wife read Anne of Green Gables for 45 minutes. She's emotional and usually jumps from thing to thing quickly but she'll listen to that story even though she's only 4.
It's all about engagement, I think. As soon as kids find books that engage them, their attention spans are fine. If my four year old can listen to a pictureless story for 45 minutes I'm guessing there are millions more, too. I don't think attention spans are set in stone, but rather vary from task to task, mood to mood. Engagement leads to focus. And I think many people will crave that sort of engagement and focus in a culture of quick and throwaway entertainment. In a shallow world depth can be enticing.
My mom called me – she wants to get an e-reader, wants to know what kind I think is best. My mom.
She's not known for being a techie, but she reads a gazillion books a year. The game is over on that one, folks. Just sayin'.
And kids these days have just as much attention span as you could want for things they want. It just has to be original and relevant to them. They would play that Darth Vader vid about 20 times before tiring of it.
Ink-
That's a good point. I'd certainly like to hope so, anyway. I just look at all the people my age (18-25) and despair. Facebook and Twitter is all they care about. Even movies and TV seem to have become insignificant when put alongside "Photos of How Drunk Me & My Friends Got Yesterday Night."
But yeah, I suppose everything does go full-circle. Maybe the younger generation will get sick of all the shallowness and go the opposite way. Here's hoping 🙂
Ah, Ink! Once again, we are on the same wavelength.
This really is a scary time to be a debut author. The weeks that shook the (publishing) world, indeed… and the season of change.
I am worried sick about my first book … will it sell? Will it be remaindered? Will it be reviewed? All the usual stuff. But when you are trying to establish a name and a reputation, and to build an audience, how can a new author possibly compete? My paperback will retail for a bit more than the slashed prices of some Big Name Authors.
Oh dear, oh dear… and to think that in a generation, novels may only have a cult following? Oh dear again…
Jill
http://www.jilledmondson.blogspot.com
When the Personal Computer went mainstream in the mid-1980's it was heralded as the dawn of the paperless age.
When the Internet became an indispensable method of contact it was claimed hard currency would become extinct and society would contract, due to vast majority of people working at home. And, once again, the claim was made paper would cease to exist as the electronic highway became dominate.
When the next claim comes along stating that paper is dead I'll wager the Novel's rebuttal will be made via Post-it Note, with the ironic notation:
The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated. 😀
In the same interview Philip Roth said he lives an austere life which enables him to work, and he allows himself only one day a year for frivolity. He doesn't seem a character prone to over optimism and positive thinking.
The Humbling has had such a slating here that it seems is own life is blended too much with his protagonist, has he lost his magic?
Storytellers have had an important place in all societies since time began, we may need to adapt, but we will survive.
Thanks for sharing the Vader for the weekend. safe travels in NY.
anon-
Paper might not be extinct, but I use far, far less of it than I ever have at any point in my life. I hardly ever print anything out at work. I also use far, far less cash than I have at any point in my life now credit cards are taken practically everywhere.
I'm not saying paper books are going to disappear entirely, but they're going to be less ubiquitous than they are now.
That is one fantastic video.
I have a question not related to today's post: what is the difference between a query letter and a proposal? Thank you for your time.
And what else is new. When you run faster than you can walk, you usually end up crawling. These next two years will tell a lot. Thanks for the heads up. As for me I prefer a book in the hand. I don't like reading whole novels off the computer. It's too hard on my eyes. The hand held's are even worse. I like the good old fashioned method. I love the smell of a library and the smell of the pages of a new book fresh off the print. Give me a hardcover or paperback any day.
Okay on a better note, I Loved Darth Vader.
I think that "taking more than two weeks to read a book" means that you only read a page or two at a time, with large gaps in between. So there's not much continuity. You are just snatching little bits here and there. You don't really get the overall picture.
I do that quite a bit, unfortunately. The side effects of a busy life.
Nathan said, "and anon@2:57, if there's anything I've learned in twenty-nine years of life it's that everyone always thinks everything's going downhill and yet things actually always keep getting better and better."
We'll give you another ten years and ask you again. %^)
anon-
I know, right?
At 39 I'll be anxious about the future
At 49 I'll think everything was better when I was a kid
At 59 I'll hate my kids' music and think society is going to hell
annnnnnnnd so on.
I did some misspellings, so here we go again:
I happily volunteer to restore the texts of the vandalized books. I have a white ink pen, a feverish imagination, and a lot of free time. 😉
Nathan – I thought your 1:32 post was really well-spoken.
You're on a roll these last couple of days.
I love my I-phone. Love it, love it, love it. It was like I was living a half-life and didn't even know it. Now I am awake and alive and I-phoned! Life is good.
The only downside of the I-phone is the battery runs out. I have to think of some way around that.
And anon 8:19, I'm in my 4th decade, and I think things are definitely getting better if you look at the big picture. Without question.
My final comment for the night is about writing a book about the client/agent relationship. I plan to do this myself, although the book won't actually be about a client and an agent. It will be called "Chasing Nathan" (no resembelance to anyone living or dead, not even someone who can spell resambulance.) It will be a harrowing tale of drama, pathos and suspense, and that's just on the part of the agent. It will be an oddly one-sided relationship, in that the agent will never say anything. Ever. Through the whole darn book. But it will be very exciting, because the reader will always be thinking: okay, this time he'll say something. But nope, doesn't happen. But nonetheless, it will be a masterpiece of depth and meaning (in that it will be extremely difficult to find any). A feel-good book for the generations.
Hey, Nathan, I forgot to say Thank you. Thank you for showing respect. You ask the tough questions. Say the tough things.
You had some things to say and you came to our Face with it. In my book, that's a sign of respect. Thanks for giving us enough credit to handle it whether we liked it or not.
It's a strange world for a simple artist to be in. So many things about it are foreign. So I appreciate you being a straight shooter (must be the rice farming. keeps you close to what's real).
Anyway, good job.
Don't books get beamed into our brains already…wait…those are just the ones I write. You mean I'm supposed to read books other people write, too? What is this world coming to?
Darth Vadar is so hawt!
Whether or not a person feels social and economic trends are getting better and better or worse probably has much less to do with age than it does with life circumstances, or working in jobs directly helping people struggle through these kinds of circumstances. There are many young social workers and journalists who feel there are real problems today that need to be solved and would have great difficulty saying that things are getting "better and better". Also, people who are at the poorer end of the widening gap between richer and poorer as well as many people of all age groups who study these trends (including young college students!) may not feel that things are getting "better and better". Or maybe it just depends on how you define "better and better".
Forgot to add that, even though advancements in computer and electronic gadgets are making life better and better for some people, it's getting much worse for people like this. Again, people of all ages (including many college students!) are working on solutions for these problems and clearly see where things, at least temporarily, are worse and worse.
The appropriate term for self-publishing based on music biz parallels is not "indie" but "DIY".
-Steve
anon-
I didn't mean to suggest that things are getting better for all people, just that overall, for the average person, things tend to get better. There are fewer starving people in the world than ever before, life expectancy is higher than ever before, etc. etc. I realize that it's an uneven progression, but even poor people in today's world live better than the kings of 500 years ago.
I tried reading some e-books on my iTouch (same interface and roughly same size screen as the dreaded, overhyped iPhone).
Not a fan of the e-reader at all. It just felt wrong, to me. I'll be one of those lame-o's still reading paper books when everyone else is reading digital!
Ah…best video I've seen this week. Fantastic.
I've decided that I am going to just ignore all the "doom and gloom" news regarding the publishing industry. I'm a writer; I gotta write. That's what I do. The End.
(re: my last comment: I mean at least from the perspective of life expectancy/diet/access to technology/etc., obv. not comfort/leisure/justice)
Nathan, by chance are you going to be attending the Backspace Writers Conference in NYC next week?
Pam-
I thought about going, but I'm going to be too busy with meetings.
Darn. I was hoping to meet you. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to query you the old-fashioned way.
Short attention spans? Nah. I don't think it's short attention spans as much as the upcoming generations gather and process information far quicker than we do.
Their minds are so fast now and we basically approach them with a "dial-up" kind of mentality/teaching efforts. They get the point already. Everything else is beating a dead horse. Eyes glaze over and they wonder if you think they're stupid.
Nothing is wrong with their attention spans. It just doesn't take as long for them to process the info. as it did for us.
In addition, that guy in TN blacking out the curse words…Arrgghh! But then you have a community (I believe in a suburb of Chicago) that wants to get rid of the public library altogether. They don't want to pay taxes for the upkeep of the local library. Why, they say, when there's the internet?
That mentality is deeply disturbing to me on so many levels…I can't begin…
Funny thing is, I was driving my daughter to school and the thought struck me (she's 13 now). I asked her why her school hasn't had her read Lord of the Flies, yet?
She turned to me and let me know it had been banned.
Mom is Agog!
They felt it was too violent. Along with another book Call of the Wild that she wanted to read.
I've got to go and buy them for her now. I don't recall Call of the Wild, but I remember reading Lord of the Flies. It had a profound impact on my young mind in a deep, enriching, positive way. Talk about Themes! Whoa.
Banned. I didn't know people still did that sort of thing.
There are alot of disturbing things going on.
As far as the library..well, in my view a civilization without public libraries is a dead one.
If that kind of thinking catches on, imagine how many great minds born into poor circumstances would fall by the wayside. We wouldn't have anymore Richard Wright's, that's for sure.
Okay, enough of this…I've got work to do….
Natalie – that was a really good article! Helpful – thanks.
Jen – no, no, no. Not over-hyped. No. I didn't understand before I got one, but the I-phone…it's amazing. You carry around a back-lit computer in your pocket all day, anywhere, everywhere. Not to mention the camera, GPS, voice recorder, I-pod, I-tunes, oh, and cell phone. And e-reader!!!! And more apps. – I haven't even looked.
I understand other companies are about to copy it, but kudos to Apple for making it. It's amazing.
Anon. 11:04 – I'm a social worker too, and absolutely – of course there is still massive poverty and injustice in the world. People starve to death, have no homes, are persecuted to the point of genocide, are in virtual slavery, are abused, tortured, and so much more.
That doesn't mean that if you take a larger picture, things aren't getting better. I completely agree with Nathan here.
But there is still so much to be done. Viva the college student who sees that!!! But it's also good to that those who have fought in the past, including college students, have made some in-roads and made a difference.
mira-
I agree – if people get complacent about the work still to be done in the world it wouldn't keep getting better. It's good that we're always worried about the way things are going – attentiveness and action are the way things get better.
Nathan, I agree, cuddling up to my itouch (the less technologicaly advanced twin to your phone) is better than Kindle but only slightly. I do miss looking at the cover of a book. I'm simple that way. But alas no paper books for me unless its an unusual circumstance. And in reference to Twilight being 'languorously paced' I concur, plus I'm in awe of the the fact the word 'languorously' actually exists. Well done word master. 😉 I shall eat a bag of peanut M&M's in your honor (fun size of course).
Is anyone else suspicious about the fact that Nathan's posts are going to get sporadic just as NaNoWriMo is getting started?
So you won't be attending Backspace, eh? Bunch of meetings, eh?
Methinks a sequel is in the works. Jacob Wonderbar II.
Mira,
I'm an Apple girl from way back, and I worked in telecommunications for a few years. So it is with more than your typical layman authority that I say I wish everyone would stop going on about them.
I know it's a nice little gadget but seriously, it's not the be all and end all of phones. I won't impart what we (the non iPhone conforming Apple people) have started calling the phone, because I like you too much!!!
Eyeswide,
I totally, totally agree with your view on short attention spans and the modern delivery of information. I've often thought that school education takes the wrong format, considering people learn in different ways (I'm a visual, so sitting in a room listening to someone talk does absolutely nothing for me).
But now it seems like things will have to change even more to keep up with the currently accelerating evolution of information and our digestion of it.
Nathan – Thank you. I completely agree.
Jen C – I like you too much in return to tell you that you are wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong about the I-phone (did I mention wrong), but please don't call my I-phone a phone. It is so not a phone. 🙂
I'm reading all the comments while deciding which e-reader I want. Or, if I should just get an iphone. I like knowing I can read anywhere, and the iphone seems best for me.
All I've got to say is….HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!! P.S. Loved the video too. Thanks for the laugh.
The big guys fighting over prices. It doesn't seem that serious until you understand that indie stores that bring us such variety of things to read will be hurt and authors just won't get paid for their work. Everything is free, seems to the attitude of many. So why pay an author? The person who made the book? Edited it?
The biggest concern is exactly what you are getting with digital everything. You can't save it in a museum or archive. It's not real and every few years the technology to read changes. Only a few will control the written word.
I work at a museum and already the impact is being felt. What to save? I can read a 150 year old book but the digital picture scanned last week will have a shelf life of a couple of years.
@historywriter — I used to work in a library that has a lot of archival materials and a lot of great old stuff – and it amazed me sometimes the number of people who would ask, "Why don't you just scan everything and get rid of all that stuff?" You try to explain that first, we don't have the staff or budget to scan "everything," and even though it does make sense to scan some things, getting rid of the originals is almost always a bad idea. Digital technology changes so quickly; no one knows what the life-span of any particular platform is.
But I used to take out a lovely book on Russian costume that was published in 1804 and marvel at the quality of the paper and the beauty of the images.
Trying to re-brand self-publishing as "indie publishing" isn't going to work, mainly because most self-published authors have a difficult time understanding their desperate need for an editor.
Nathan and Mira,
I don't think anyone can accurately say that the world is getting "better and better" or "worse and worse". The world just is what it is, and now is one of those times in history when things could go either way. Worldwide poverty has decreased if you look at the world overall. However, if you look at individual countries, many (including the United States) have a widening gap between wealthy and poor with a shrinking or non-existent middle class. Check out this map of Global Wealth Distribution. If you live in or do volunteer work for any extended period of time within the slums of the third world or the tent cities in the United States, it is impossible to say that things are definitely getting "better and better".
One more post. I feel this is strongly related to writing because many literary writers tackle these topics, and many of those books become best-sellers. If you look at this article, The Threat of Global Poverty, you can see that half of the world's population lives in poverty. Definitely, the world isn't clearly getting "better and better" or "worse and worse". It's about 50/50.
Anon-
I have done volunteer work in third world countries. Look – I agree. It's important to remember the work still to be done. No one living in a poverty-stricken or wartorn region thinks things are getting better. And maybe it's overly reductive to then look at the numbers and say hey, less of the world is in poverty than ever before. Still, overall people are living longer and better lives if you average across the globe. That's progress, even if there are pockets where things are getting worse.
Nathan,
Agreed. And I think an important job of writers is – and has always been – to shine a light on the dark places in the world. Not all writers want to take on the hard work of serious writing, but those who do take it on and do it well should be applauded. 🙂
"I just don't see how I can break this out in a big way." Yes, this is exactly what my agent has been told about my two novels. Editors love the voice, characters, great polished novel submitted…..but…but….but — it's not big enough, etc. etc. So we agonize over writing the best book we can to get an agent. We get a good agent and she faces this baffling conflict.
Does every single book have to be a blockbuster? Note to editors: Blockbusters are far and few between and some of them are just not good.
But where, where?!
"…I used to take out a lovely book on Russian costume that was published in 1804 and marvel at the quality of the paper and the beauty of the images."
What's the name of this book, and where is it?