Disagreement Over Relevance of Traditional Publishing

Debate on Relevance
of Traditional Publishing

What the hell is really happening with TP's?

In this writer's humble opinion the TP's have been surrounded by the e-book nation and are fighting with their last round of ammunition: marketing (and that is definitely debatable) :)

Marketing is the big advantage to go with a TP according to Michael Pietsch, soon-to-be CEO of the traditional publisher Hachette Book Group.

BUT, Mark Coker, founder of the self-publish book distributor Smashwords, says "over the next few years, traditional publishers are going to become more and more irrelevant."

Hmmm --- can't really argue with that; especially from the point of view of newbie authors who never received any appreciable marketing from TP's any damn way --- They had to do there own marketing --- Talk about being left out on a half sawed-off limb! A really hit-n-miss career building model.

Anyway, tonight's post is an NPR interview/debate (and you can also listen to it) between Pietsch and Coker (with some great follow-on comments by readers/listeners) on:

Why Traditional Publishing Is Really In A 'Golden Age' (or not - added by John)

How healthy is the traditional publishing industry? Not very, says Mark Coker, founder of the self-published book distributor Smashwords. On Monday, Coker told NPR's Audie Cornish that "over the next few years, traditional publishers are going to become more and more irrelevant."

But Michael Pietsch, soon-to-be CEO of the traditional publisher Hachette Book Group, disagrees. "I think we're in a golden age for books — reading, writing and publishing," he tells Cornish. "And the ways that publishers can work to connect readers with writers now are the kinds of things that publishers have dreamt of doing since Gutenberg first put down a line of type."

Pietsch joins Cornish to discuss how marketing sets a publishing deal apart from the self-publishing model.

Interview Highlights

On why writers pick publishers over self-publishing

Read and/or listen and learn more

Upending the Book Business

Self-publishing success stories (both large and small) always uplifts my spirits! And I just came across another one that I know will do the same for you...in spades.

Yes indeed, Sir Self-Pub, attended and supported by his new hi-tech court, is the new Prince Charming come to save ignored authors and imbue them with magic publishing keys.

Elisa Lorello (pictured), a teacher at North Carolina State University, details her surprising journey to self-publishing awareness and stardom through an article in the Winston-Salem Journal:

Teacher is part of a self-publishing revolution

Elisa Lorello of Raleigh had no literary agent, no publisher and nothing to lose when she decided to self-publish her first novel, "Faking It," as an e-book for Amazon's Kindle.

At first, she got only a modest response, The Charlotte Observer reported. But when she dropped her price from $1.99 to 99 cents, sales began to soar. Early last year, "Faking It" hit No. 6 on Kindle's best-seller list, beating out big-name authors and giant publishing houses.

Today, digital sales of "Faking It" and its sequel, "Ordinary World," have topped 52,000, a figure many established authors would envy.

And Lorello, who teaches at N.C. State University, counts herself part of a self-publishing revolution that's upending the book business — giving authors more power and bigger profits while boosting the low-rent reputation of the self-published book. At stake? The future of the $24 billion publishing industry.

Until about a decade ago, authors usually needed traditional publishers to ensure wide distribution and a shot at significant sales. If publishers rejected a book, the most common way to get into print was to pay a vanity press. That process often ended with hundreds of copies stacked in the author's garage.

Now, digital books and print-on-demand technology let authors self-publish with little or no upfront costs. Self-publishing companies, such as Raleigh-based Lulu Enterprises, Smashwords and Amazon's CreateSpace and Kindle Direct Publishing, don't print the books or take a cut until they sell.

Read and learn more

More on Self-Publishing with Smashwords

I have mentioned Smashwords before. It is one of the first, if not the first, to offer indie authors a self-publishing portal with premium distribution deals to multi-eBook platforms such as Amazon Kindle, Apple iBookstore, Sony, Kobo, Diesel and others.

Well, Joanna Penn...a British author, blogger, writing and book-marketing mentor...based in Australia (and one to whom I've been subscribed and followed for some time now), met with Mark Coker, the creator of Smashwords, last week and shared an insightful post (with videos) about their meeting on her website The Creative Penn.

This is a must view. You will enjoy and learn...Rush over to The Creative Penn while it's fresh in your mind! You won't regret it, pilgrims...