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For authors and editors, the call is a bit direr. As more and more books go digital and the sales of regular books are shrinking, authors may find themselves in an increasingly limited industry. Editors must report to editorial boards, which are more driven by bottom-line productivity, thus editors spend less time developing authors’ niche talent. And as book publishers scramble to make ends meet, authors will have an even smaller pool of capital to count on for up-front costs. This means the only people who will be authoring books are the same people who already have enough money to survive on an artist’s salary. The good news is that there is still a wide range of opportunities to write, and to publish, without necessarily becoming an author.

One example which recently came to my attention is ghostwriting. With ghostwriting, you don’t end up with any of the critical acclaim or public accreditation of your work; however, “Ghostwriting is one of the more likely ways to get to write for large and important audiences” (Nemko). http://money.usnews.com/money/ Blogs are another example of an excellent opportunity to write. And surprisingly, these different options appear to pay very well.

Apart from the production of books, there is another important and less understood aspect of this whole industry: the reader. Regular people who read an occasional book or magazine are the forgotten and unknown variable in all of this. The times continue to change because of – or in spite of – the regular people, sustaining the status quo, or railing against it. But in the land of change, what becomes of the status quo? Or, for that matter, regular people? Well, they must change too. And in fact, people are finding new ways to adapt, downloading free content online, accessing content on the go with mobile devices, and still picking up the occasional book or magazine from the discount wrack. As the regular person becomes more technology savvy, they must keep in mind that books are still just another form of technology. We may consider books as this great vestige of the old world knowledge gatherers, and simply expect them to be a permanent fixture in our culture. But the blatant truth is that technology changes, and with it people develop all new career expectations and cultural icons.

For now, books and book publishing are safe. But what are they really doing for the world? Is there such a thing as a sustainable book publisher? Is there a model for knowledge acquisition that doesn’t involve destroying life and the planet? Is it possible to know all about something without destroying that thing? Or is knowledge limited by the very limits of one’s destructiveness?

To learn how a book was made, I destroyed the book. I used a razor and cut it apart at the seams and peeled back the inside cover to see all the different parts. So it would appear that my knowledge about that book is directly proportional to my destruction of it. Our only way to know things is by taking them apart, but this could change. People could develop a new way to acquire knowledge by putting things together. Instead of thinking about publishers, marketers, authors, editors, and their audience as all separate entities with their own isolated conditions and fragmented problems, perhaps we could discover something new about all of these groups by putting them together as one. Ultimately, we are all regular people, trying to adapt and hack out a living. In that way, our motivations are all the same.

What does all this mean for the young upstart, trying to become a writer/editor? The author/editor relationship is apparently changing; and furthermore, there is no “how to” guide on writing the next great American novel, and much less on finding the perfect niche, or the perfect author/editor relationship. But, the best advice I’ve gotten so far is to just keep writing. And reading. There’s still work to be done.

After going to the “From Print to Pixels” event at the Ashland Public Library, I’m convinced of one thing: e-books are just allowing us to continue the legacy of paranoia. The speaker pointed out that people have been saying the same things about every new technology since before the printing press. He even cited Socrates in a discussion of how the alphabet and writing in general weren’t always widely accepted concepts when people started shifting from spoken to written traditions.

As the youngest person in the room, I enjoyed hearing everyone around me talk about the digital shift since I typically only hear from people my own age. Most of them had some level of concern over how the digital shift in the publication world would affect the reading experience. I, however, seemed to be the only one who didn’t own an e-reader. For fearing a future with technology, they’ve certainly embraced it on various levels.  None of them said they exclusively read on their readers (except one who had to due to sight issues) but they’re still supporting the shift by using them.

That’s not to say I’m against people accepting what seems inevitable at this point. It’s just interesting to hear people speak against the digital age when they’ve embraced it, to whatever extent.

On a slightly different note, one person mentioned that, through the technologies available, he’s been able to make friends around the world. Many people discover this opportunity, though not necessarily thanks to reading alone. With the countless forums and sites for all interests (books included), the world has shrunk thanks to the internet, reminding me of a quote by Marshall McLuhan cited early in the presentation: “Print technology created the public.” While print technology may have created the public, but the digital shift has expanded it beyond city limits–for good or bad, I’m still not 100% sure.

We live in a volatile time. The world is changing. People are changing their minds about what’s important. Culture is changing. Social media is changing the way people interact. Even the local medium is changing from print & paper to digital & electronic. This massive flux has broad implications across the spectrum for publishers, marketers, authors, editors, and just regular individuals. But it also carries a set of specific challenges separate and isolated from each other. It’s anyone’s guess where the industry will end up, but for now, book sellers and publishers are focused on adapting in this volatile time. It will be really exciting to watch this modern day tech-mystery unfold.

In the past, book publishers, were the primary gatekeepers. They decided what got published. And to some extent, perhaps they still do. It’s all boiled down to six major publishers in the world: HarperCollins, Random House, Hachette, Simon & Schuster, Penguin and Macmillan. These six publishers, who publish most books distributed throughout the world, have recently been forced to take a back seat to Amazon in our new digital age of e-books and web-based promotions and sales. In a likely effort to conspire against online book retailers, five of the “Big Six” along with Apple attempted to raise prices on e-books and were subsequently sued by the U.S. Justice Department on anti-trust disputes. The big changes in our world mean these Big Six Publishers need to change too, but Journalist Jesse Aizenstat claims this last incident indicates that these publishing giants are not ready for change: “It reflects their pathetic victim mentality of ‘cannot do.’ These big publishers would rather close the doors and slash their staff than innovate in a changing market” (Aizenstat).

If Mr. Aizenstat is correct, perhaps this is a window of opportunity for small local publishers, like White Cloud Press, to get back in the game, producing books with an innovative “new publishing model – partnering with authors to share production costs and help sell their books” (Darling). For people already in the book industry, it may sound strange for a book publisher to talk about helping to sell books – that’s a book store’s job – but this is the land of change. As stated in class, some publishing houses have halted acquisitions altogether; mainstream publishing is frozen. Despite “too-big-to-fail” perceptions, there is an intrinsic danger in six corporations being the primary gatekeepers for information distribution in the world. Especially when it is taken under consideration that the gatekeepers don’t have the inside dope on what makes a good novel, film, comic book, etc; it makes sense that the “money men in love with book-like objects” don’t want to take risks in times of economic crisis. Now it’s every author and bookstore for himself in a dog-eat-dog, e-book economy.

Bookstores are changing too, and this time it’s different. NPR has a story on The End of Days for Bookstores, which adequately describes some peoples’ impression of the foremost book stores Barnes & Noble and Borders: “predators eager to destroy local booksellers” (Neary). And I remember back to the small local bookseller that used to be a mainstay in the neighborhood where I grew up. I did some research and even found a Publishers Weekly article about it online.

Although these two big bookstores out-competed the small local guys a decade or two ago, all of that is about to change. NPR’s Lynn Neary says “Now, the tables have turned. In the era of online buying and the e-book, both currently dominated by Amazon, the big chains are in trouble — and new technologies may provide independent bookstores with a lifeline.” For up-and-comers in the book industry, this is really great news because it means that the book industry may not have crystallized into some kind of impenetrable fascist establishment by the time we get there.

In fact, if we are careful with purchases now, and take time to cultivate understanding of complex new technologies over time, we may find ourselves in position to not just succeed, but not even be effected by the so-called dinosaurs of book sales Barnes & Noble and Borders. Illustrating this point, Neary writes, “Borders reported a third-quarter loss of more than $74 million, and confirmed that it is closing 16 stores. Despite its precarious state, one of Borders’ biggest stockholders has offered to finance the purchase of Barnes & Noble, which put itself up for sale last summer” (Neary). Now that the tables have turned on the two major book chains, the smaller independent guys have an opportunity to come back with something new in store. Introducing the new economic structures of the internet and new e-reader devices into the book industry has created a lot of challenges for everyone, but it’s also an opportunity to get creative and forge ahead. “All bookstore owners know that the digital future is now. It’s up to them to work it in a way that keeps their doors open and their shelves filled with actual books.” If they can perfect the combination of digital and print, they just might have staying power.

Works Cited

Aizestat, Jesse. The Big Six Publishers Need to Innovate Like the Good Americans That They Are.” huffingtonpost.com. Huffington Post, May 11, 2012. Web. 11 May 2012.

Browning, Sinclair. “The Haunted Bookshop Closes In Tucson.”
Publishers Weekly 244.11 (1997): 28. Academic Search Complete. Web. 7 May 2012.

Darling, John. “Environment Publishing People.” dailytidings.com. Daily Tidings Newspaper, January 07, 2011. Web. 11 May 2012.

Neary, Lynn. “End of Days for Bookstores? Not If They Can Help It..” npr.org. National Public Radio, December 14, 2010. Web. 11 May 2012.