Aaron Elkins (Old Bones, etc.) recently sent me this clipping. Interestingly enough, I spoke with Greg Bear a couple of years ago at Park Place Books’ anniversary bash and at that time he was quite keen on exploring new ways for author’s to publish. We spoke about the feasibility of the author doing books on tape himself. Here, Neal Stephenson says he’ll never make another deal with a traditional publisher. With print-on-demand making it cost-effective to print one book at a time instead of carrying a warehouse full of thousands of books, there should be small companies springing up everywhere to take care of this new author attitude. Or maybe the authors will be doing everything themselves? Marketing? It’s all done on the Internet now. For the most part, brick and mortar publishers have all gotten so large and unwieldy they don’t have a clue what’s going on in their own back yard.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-gatekeepers-20101226,0,7119214.story
Many authors are going the DIY route, but the problem for readers is sorting out the good from the not-so-good in the e-book market, something that traditional publishers were responsible for doing (however well they may or may not have accomplished that task). Some kind of reliable gatekeeping system is needed because everybody and his brother (and sister) are writers these days, now that e-publishing is so easy.
A group of writers have banded together to act as a kind of gatekeeping group. They call themselves “Top Suspense Group.” Here’s how they describe themselves on their website: “Finding well-written, professionally presented ebooks can be an overwhelming task. Top Suspense Group provides a beacon for readers searching for the very best in suspense fiction. Our writers are award winning and nominated authors, well reviewed, and have been named to prestigious best of the year lists from places like NPR and the Washington Post.”
You might want to have a look at their site and blog, see if joining that group is something that could benefit you as you start to produce your earlier work in ebook form?
http://topsuspensegroup.com/index.php
http://topsuspense.blogspot.com/
The gatekeeper argument is one that is being promoted by the traditional publishers. We’ve never needed gatekeepers. How do you find out about new authors? For me I hear about them from friends (exactly how I learned about Mr. Emerson, a friend loaned me a copy of Rainy City and I was hooked). Traditional publishers want to keep their authors under lock and key. A peer review group is a good idea, but I don’t think there is any problem finding good authors. And with prices on ebooks dropping it is much easier for readers to experiment with new authors.
Take a look at J.A. Konrath’s blog for more info on how to succeed without traditional publishers locking up all the profits from your work – http://www.jakonrath.com/
Add A Comment