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June 21, 2010
The publishing industry that has been challenged by the rise of digital publishing and much criticized by new media pundits as out of touch. Publishing is no longer about the printing press since writers are now sharing their work online, while writing it, and writers and readers are begining to create an eco-system of give and take that could exist in print, online, and be served piece-by-piece. The publishing industry needs to quickly get up to speed with the changes occurring in the industry because of the digital revolution or get left behind.
Sam Cooney in New publishing models: a shifting of power at Meanland says that focus shouldn’t be on the fallacious expiration date of the industry, but rather on how publishing is being transformed through the birth of new publishing models that are popping up. He says:
The traditional commercial publishing model is stacked against the majority of writers. If you were fortunate enough to have a manuscript accepted by a publishing house and sign a contract, the whole process is then lengthy and complex. Editors, printers, shippers, wholesalers, distributors, marketers, booksellers – all take time and money to publish and flog your work, and then there is no way to find out who is reading your words. And the actual chances of an author making a living from the book are remote.
Some new movements, such as print-on-demand publishing, and ebooks have created a whole range of new models for the industry, give power back to the author --enabling writers to put forward their work into the public domain, and reclaim both the control and the rewards of book publishing. Writers can wrestle back control of their work.
An example is Cory Doctorow's new short story collection, With a Little Help. He writes about the process here at Publishers Weekly.
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