In his article "The Progression of Digital Publishing: Innovation and the E-volution of
E-books" Warren states that “publishing of
the future will be less about finding hits and managing authors, and more about
managing digital assets and metadata for increased customization and find
ability” Is Warren correct? It is tempting for any author who receives numerous
rejection letters to self publish; this is how some of the internet
millionaires such as Amanda Hocking first started; however does this mean that
the internet will then become the new slush pile? If this is to be the future I
feel that it would be better for publishing houses to charge for self
publishing sites similar to that of China as discussed by Flood in the
Guardian. By publishing houses providing the arena for authors to self publish
then the reader will know that the story has at the least been edited and
approved by a recognised publishing house and the publishing house retains its
audience. Furthermore if a book on the site becomes a hit the publishing house could commission further work by that author but
this time with the intention of carrying out the necessary marketing so that
the book can reach a wider audience and make a profit.
Flood, A. (4 November 2011) “Has
China found the future of publishing”. The Guardian Book blogs. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2011/nov/04/china-future-publishing
There's a live webchat with Amanda Hocking today 1-2pm on The Guardian website: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2012/jan/23/live-webchat-amanda-hocking
ReplyDelete"Self-publishing star Amanda Hocking has said she turned down a higher advance from Amazon in order to strike her publishing deal with the 'legacy' publisher, St Martin's Press, because she was concerned about the giant internet company's ability to get the printed books into shops."
ReplyDeletehttp://futurebook.net/content/Why-Amanda-Hocking-Switched