{"id":3389,"date":"2008-09-15T20:28:32","date_gmt":"2008-09-15T20:28:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/geekcurmudgeon\/2008\/09\/15\/the-end-2\/"},"modified":"2008-09-15T20:28:32","modified_gmt":"2008-09-15T20:28:32","slug":"the-end-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/geekcurmudgeon\/2008\/09\/15\/the-end-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The End?"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s sad when what you know-to-be-true is painfully documented in an lengthy, well-written article<\/a> from a prestigious magazine.<\/p>\n

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Quote:<\/b><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The demise of publishing has been predicted since the days of Gutenberg. But for most of the past century\u2014through wars and depressions\u2014the business of books has jogged along at a steady pace. It\u2019s one of the main (some would say only) advantages of working in a \u201cmature\u201d industry: no unsustainable highs, no devastating lows. A stoic calm, peppered with a bit of gallows humor, prevailed in the industry.<\/p>\n

Survey New York\u2019s oldest culture industry this season, however, and you won\u2019t find many stoics. What you will find are prophets of doom, Cassandras in blazers and black dresses arguing at elegant lunches over What Is to Be Done. Even best-selling publishers and agents fresh from seven-figure deals worry about what\u2019s coming next. Two, five years from now\u2014who knows? Life moves fast in the waning era of print; publishing doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

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<\/p>\n

Since my Mojo Press<\/a> days in the mid-1990s, I\u2019ve argued that the entire dinosaur-like publishing industry needed to change or be eaten alive by the newer mammalian media. I\u2019m not saying that books will disappear, just the major publishers with their archaic methods.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve long been concerned that Amazon will simultaneously save the industry and destroy it. Now others agree\u2026<\/p>\n

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Quote:<\/b><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The ultimate fear is that the Kindle could be a Trojan horse. Right now, Amazon is making little or nothing on Kindle books. Lay down your $359 and you can get most books for $9.99. Publishers list that same Kindle version for about $17.99, though, and\u2014as with all retailers\u2014charge Amazon roughly half that price for it. Which means that Amazon keeps only a dollar on each book, while the publishers make $9.<\/p>\n

But Amazon may be offering a sweet deal now in order to undercut publishers later. If their low, low prices succeed in making e-books the dominant medium, they can pay publishers whatever they want. \u201cThe concern is they want to corner the market,\u201d explains one books executive, and then force publishers to accept a genuine 50 percent discount. \u201cIf they took over as little as 10 to 20 percent of the market,\u201d says an agent, \u201cpublishers simply would not be able to exist.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

This anonymous quote near the end of the article sums up my long-running feelings over publisher reactions to the changing world.<\/p>\n

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Quote:<\/b><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re an industry more willing to watch the boat sink than rock it a wee bit.\u201d \u2014ONE FRUSTRATED PUBLISHER<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

It does seem to be an industry bent on suicide. Possible solutions exist out there, but will only happen if the authors, publishers, and booksellers work together and stop pointing fingers of blame. I\u2019m tired of hearing how things use to be and how bad they are now. The “good old days” of publishing are gone and ain\u2019t coming back. It\u2019s time to re-invent the wheel, to figure the new publishing dynamic.<\/p>\n

With “The End,”<\/a> New York<\/span> writer Boris Kachka produced an excellent eulogy to the way things use to be.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

(Thanks to Mark London Williams<\/a> for the link.)<\/p>\n

The End?<\/a> was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s sad when what you know-to-be-true is painfully documented in an lengthy, well-written article from a prestigious magazine. Quote: The demise of publishing has been predicted since the days of Gutenberg. But for most of the past century\u2014through wars and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n