Book publishers see their role as gatekeepers shrink

[Barcey]

I think we'll be better served by more small publishers. If they build a brand from quality books in a specific genre then the "gatekeeper" role means something.

I can see more big name authors becoming small publishers. They can sell from their quality name brand and maintain an income when they retire.

I can see more celebrities becoming small publishers. I'm not an Oprah fan but I have read some of the books on her book club list and they are very good. I don't believe that her fans are sheep, they trust her opinion of what is worth reading.

Apple has celebrities play lists and I can see the same thing happening for books. If someone gets enough followers they'll try to sell it.

There was another thread about the Canadian Giller prize and four out of the five finalists were from indie publishers. What I would love to see is contests like this in countries all over the world and then I could pick a couple books from each of them. It's a much more credible "gatekeeper" of literary quality.

http://arts.nationalpost.com/2010/10...ler-shortlist/

http://www.scotiabankgillerprize.ca/...Shortlist.html

[Kali Yuga]

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

Big publishers, it seems, have abandoned much of their former role of filtering and development and are now just looking to pump out more of whatever was hot last year....

That's not entirely the case.

They are definitely filtering, in fact they are more stringent than ever. In the past a publisher might actually read something in the slush pile; nowadays, most publishers won't read anything unless it's submitted by an agent.

As to "development," one problem is that authors and their agents are demanding larger and larger advances, which makes it prohibitively expensive to develop the talent. I don't see a real problem for anyone with midlist publishers doing more author development, nor is it necessarily a disaster for the big publishers given that backlist titles offer lower revenues than new books.

And like it or not, it does appear that people are buying what the big pubs are selling. If people want to read about teenage vampires or crime thrillers, someone is going to supply it to them. You might as well insist that the big Hollywood studios are dead in the water because they are chasing fads, aren't aping the small indie studios, and aren't "developing talent."

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

That might be profitable in the short term, but in the long term, many customers will buy from indies, direct from authors, from people with good previews, etc.

That does not necessarily mean the larger publishers are causing problems for themselves. What's happening is that smaller publishers are supporting midlist authors. If an author has shown that he/she can sell decent numbers of books, and they happen to outgrow what their current small publisher can do for them, there's the option for the larger publisher to offer a larger advance, more resources, and (perhaps) ramp up sales significantly.

Kind of seems like a win for everyone, except the midlist author (and his/her agent) who wants a six-figure advance.

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

When the only difference between a book by Big Name Publisher, Inc., and Small Lil' House is the logo on the cover -- and when it's equally easy to buy either one, since the buyer is no longer dependent on what their local bookstore has room to stock -- people will, I think, depend more on recommendations and reviews.

The logo isn't the only difference.

Larger publishers will still have more financial resources (i.e. larger advances), better editors, more prestige, better connections in the industry, better international connections, more sway with retailers and so forth.

Nor has the playing field changed all that much. Distributors like B&T or Ingram, and retailers (particularly Amazon), have long carried books written by small publishers. The main advantage of digital is associated with the removal of paper (lower costs, faster distribution, nothing goes out of stock) are just as much of an advantage to larger publishers as to smaller ones.

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

What they need to do to survive is to compete on quality. We as buyers need to know that when we buy something from Big Name Publisher, Inc., it will be thoroughly edited, correctly formatted, and in other ways worth more than something Joe Average uploaded to Smashwords....

Most readers don't particularly care about the identity of the publisher, unless it's a genre (e.g. romance = Harlequin, tech manuals = O'Reilly etc). Most of the time it's the author that is the brand.

And I don't know about you, but the ebooks I'm reading lately have much better formatting and proofreading than when I started (~18 months ago iirc)

[abookreader]

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

Is it less gatekeeping we need, or more?

Big publishers, it seems, have abandoned much of their former role of filtering and development and are now just looking to pump out more of whatever was hot last year.

Absolutely. I'd also note that much of the traditional role of slogging through the slush piles of manuscripts to find the "gems" is now done by Agents and not Publishers. Very few publishers accept inquiries from authors anymore.

I actually see more Agents infiltrating into the role of "Publisher" over the next couple of years. Agents providing editing services and Agents providing eBook Production Services. Agents selling eBook directly via their own websites.

[elcreative]

Of course, you have to be a big name author first... you know, promoted, bought in large quantities etc. Wonder how that happens, I know we'll do it all on the net... slight snag, we're always being told that the internet generation don't read and have short attention spans

Originally Posted by Barcey

I can see more big name authors becoming small publishers. They can sell from their quality name brand and maintain an income when they retire.

[taming]

Originally Posted by Barcey

...There was another thread about the Canadian Giller prize and four out of the five finalists were from indie publishers. What I would love to see is contests like this in countries all over the world and then I could pick a couple books from each of them. It's a much more credible "gatekeeper" of literary quality...

The Canada Council for the Arts also has grants programs for both authors AND publishers that apparently work well.

[Andrew H.]

The premise of this thread as described by the OP is somewhat flawed. Konrath, Godin, etc. are only news because they developed a following when they were with traditional publishers, who have already served the gatekeeper function.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

The premise of this thread as described by the OP is somewhat flawed. Konrath, Godin, etc. are only news because they developed a following when they were with traditional publishers, who have already served the gatekeeper function.

True... we have not yet seen the breakthrough of authors into the Big Time of digital sales, who were not already traditionally published and relatively successful. So far, all that has happened is that established authors are abandoning the publishing "castle" to strike out on their own through digital sales. They far outshine those of us who never penetrated the castle and still struggle to be noticed.

[James_Wilde]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga;

They are definitely filtering, in fact they are more stringent than ever. In the past a publisher might actually read something in the slush pile; nowadays, most publishers won't read anything unless it's submitted by an agent.

That's interesting, Kali. When I started peddling my masterpiece I decided to send it to agents rather than publishers for the simple reason that an agent should know which publisher(s) to send it to, and not waste time sending it to the wrong people. That's what I needed, since I don't know anything about the publishing business.

I'm still peddling it, btw, side by side with self-publishing. Why? Because of what the doorkeepers do: they've tons of money and contacts, they can get a book out to every branch of B&N and the other big stores, get it on that table that stares you in the face when you enter the store, and get it in front of the paying public; quite apart from the fact that a big name publisher has taken one on is a de facto "Good Housekeeping" Seal of Approval for buyers.

Self-publishing? A poor second. I saw a report on MR that there were over 200000 books published in the US alone last year, which means that mine is competing with 199999 other books, and that's probably not going to give me a large share of the cake unless I can get my book on that same table. And who can do that?

Originally Posted by Barcey

I think we'll be better served by more small publishers. If they build a brand from quality books in a specific genre then the "gatekeeper" role means something.

This would be a great development, Barcey, and I hope you're right, and suspect you will be. Small niche publishers who really work at it and get themselves a reputation, will be a godsend to indie authors.

Originally Posted by Barcey

I can see more big name authors becoming small publishers. They can sell from their quality name brand and maintain an income when they retire.

I can see more celebrities becoming small publishers. I'm not an Oprah fan but I have read some of the books on her book club list and they are very good. I don't believe that her fans are sheep, they trust her opinion of what is worth reading.

Two items pretty much the same. Do you mean that big name authors might turn "publisher" in the sense of sponsoring indie authors they think are good? And I suppose celebrities - you mention Oprah - can do the same with their "book clubs"

An interesting development. Once again, I think I agree that this is something we'll see in the future.

Thanks for these points of view.

[K-Thom]

Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan

True... we have not yet seen the breakthrough of authors into the Big Time of digital sales, who were not already traditionally published and relatively successful.

Well, I don't know how you exactly define "successful", but this indie author seems to be doing fine.

Sure, he is but one, and maybe the first, but there will eventually be a second, a third, etc.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by taming

The Canada Council for the Arts also has grants programs for both authors AND publishers that apparently work well.

The Canada Council has that program for a simple reason: the Canadian market is too small to support writers (or publishers) entirely on sales within Canada. To encourage Canadians writing and publishing, the government is offering subsidies to help make it pay.

Some Canadian writers, like Margaret Atwood and Robert J. Sawyer, have gained a following outside of Canada and can make a respectable living on book royalties, but most rely on government grants for any real income from writing.
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Dennis

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by K-Thom

Well, I don't know how you exactly define "successful", but this indie author seems to be doing fine.

Sure, he is but one, and maybe the first, but there will eventually be a second, a third, etc.

Ah, yes. The chap the Smashwords founder is holding up as a success story.

Well, no surprise he should do so: Smashwords makes its living off of the hopes of similar writers. But we'd need a lot more info about exactly Brian Pratt achieved that level of success to make any real judgment.

Meanwhile, the best advice for anyone else is they they won't achieve that level of success, and shouldn't expect to going in.
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Dennis

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by abookreader

Absolutely. I'd also note that much of the traditional role of slogging through the slush piles of manuscripts to find the "gems" is now done by Agents and not Publishers. Very few publishers accept inquiries from authors anymore.

A few do, but for the most part, they only accept submissions from recognized agents. People who do accept unsolicited manuscripts get deluged with enormous amounts of slush, the vast majority of which should never have been submitted.

Nobody likes reading slush, and with the economics getting steadily rougher for publishers, nobody wants to pay anybody to read slush.

I actually see more Agents infiltrating into the role of "Publisher" over the next couple of years. Agents providing editing services and Agents providing eBook Production Services. Agents selling eBook directly via their own websites.

It's happening already, witness Oddysey Editions,, a project by literary agent Andrew Wylie, to sell ebook editions via the Kindle store of backlist titles by his clients. Wylie claimed dissatisfaction with royalty rates paid on ebooks, and also claimed the publishers did not have the electronic rights.

In another instance, former HarperCollins CEO Jane Friedman formed Open Road Integrated Media to re-issue work in electronic format.

But note the common factor: the works being handled by these ventures are backlist titles by authors who already established an audience through traditional publishing.

Agents who do this will be doing so for proven sellers who proved it through traditional publishing, and already have a track record and an audience. I think it will be some time, if at all, before we see a venture like this handling a new author peddling a first novel.
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Dennis

[Andrew H.]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

A few do, but for the most part, they only accept submissions from recognized agents. People who do accept unsolicited manuscripts get deluged with enormous amounts of slush, the vast majority of which should never have been submitted.
Dennis

I blame word processors and cheap computers for the enormous amounts of slush: they have made it far easier to produce crap, but haven't come up with any better way of wading through it.

[JackNolte]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

I blame word processors and cheap computers for the enormous amounts of slush: they have made it far easier to produce crap, but haven't come up with any better way of wading through it.

That's very true. However, it's also true that word processors and cheap computers have made it easier for serious writers to more easily create more and better fiction. So there's a flip side to everything.

It's like television. Right now, because there's a million channels, there's more crap than ever before. There's also a lot more good stuff. Personally, I think the crap just sinks -- nobody notices it. It just fades away. So the worry about all the slush is really not an issue.

[nashira]

Honestly as long as I can read samples and the prices are decent? I'm quite happy to decide what I like, for myself. I don't really care what big publishing houses do with themselves

It's not like they've never rejected anything that later became ridiculously popular and loved - Harry Potter, for one. I think it was rejected like ten times, off the top of my head?