On the Business of Books
Reading in an Age of Abundance
I was thinking about how much has changed with the disruption of the publishing industry and how much my reading habits have changed because of it. Much of it I quite like: the ability to have a book arrive on my Kindle Fire with a tap of the screen is truly amazing; the fact that I can receive a book from the library on my Kindle is equally amazing; I listen to more books on my iPod because of Audible.com. The change in delivery systems for books was overdue.
What has been more difficult to corral is my attention. I'm a reader. I've spent days lost in books; given up sleep to story. With a Kindle Fire I get waylaid. Like a bee in a field of flowers, I flit. In the flitting the immersion is fleeting. It is that, specifically, that I miss the most and have had the greatest difficulty recapturing. There is the urgency of now in the air, along with the never ending flow of desirable goods...reading material. Seems I've been in constant acquisition mode.
I've decided to stop for a time; then to consciously slow it down; to bring the flow to a trickle. I think of how many bookstores I've walked into, how many library hours I've clocked. It was never about gathering as many books as possible, it was always about finding the one, two, or three books that I was deeply interested in reading and thinking about, something worthy of my time. I'm easing back into time off-line and untethered, where I deliberately watch the stream flow by me instead of being drawn into the skimming light of it all. I need to bring a desired balance back into my life. I want to really read again.
How do you handle reading in an age of abundance?
Jane Friedman Interviewed by Anne Hill: Authors Go Public
Jane Friedman - writing, reading, and publishing in the digital age
Shrinking Shelves and Growing Space - Barnes & Noble to close stores
Barnes and Noble announced that it will be closing 30% of its bookstores within the next decade.
Barnes & Noble plans to cut stores by about 30% in decade - Chicago Tribune
B&N Aims to Whittle Stores for Years - WSJ
More and more of us are reading on devices. I live in the city in a small apartment. I have a storage space with 44 banker boxes filled with books! I wish I had the square footage to accommodate all of the shelves that I once had, but I don't. The Kindle Fire I purchased allows me to have shelf depth in a small space. It's where we're headed. For me, it's perfect.
Now, if Amazon will do something comparable with book purchases that it is doing with past CD purchases -- AutoRip -- I will be set!
On the business of books: On E-Book Prices, Indie Authors, and Libraries
Little Sign of Predicted E-Book Price War - NYTimes
21 Book Publishing Predictions for 2013: Indie EBook Authors Take Charge - Mark Coker, Founder Smashwords
The Wrong War Over eBooks: Publishers Vs. Libraries - Forbes
The Decline and Fall of the Library Empire - Steve Coffman, VP, Library Support Services, LSSI
Libraries See Opening as Bookstores Close - NYTimes
Do We Still Need Libraries? - NYTimes
On the business of books: A.P. Watt acquired by United Agents
Simon & Schuster Steps into Self-Publishing
Merger Talks between HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster
On the business of books -- Creative Destruction: Elegy for a Bookstore and a Book Culture
Creative Destruction* is now a business term meant to convey the necessity of clearing the way for the new -- capitalism's periodic way of preparing the foundation by leveling existing structures, if necessary, all in the goal of new efficiencies, progress, etc., etc. The book business is in the midst of one such leveling. Like all situations where euphemisms are attached, the term is often in jarring dissonance with what is witnessed on the ground, where real lives and livelihoods are impacted directly.
It's common news now for bookstores, long in business, to be closing their doors. Village Voice Bookshop in Paris is closing after a thirty year run. It's also common to say, of course...this is the way of life, as we all turn toward our laptop screens and tablets for more minutes and hours of the day. Most in the book business were never in it for the money; surely, not the independent booksellers, those that provided a physical space where it was never solely about the purchase of a book. In business terms, judging by marketplace efficiencies, the move to e-books has been a no-brainer. What we're losing with this predominately economic mindset is worth noting.
Independent bookstores have long provided their communities with an intellectual space where like minds -- book lovers -- could gather. Each bookstore expressed the quirkiness of the owner and said something about the local community, too. The pleasure of browsing, the potential for chance meeting with an author, usually in the form of a book, sometimes at a reading, or bumping into another patron with similar taste, was always in the air. The business of a bookstore was always socially minded. The pure arrangement of aisles and bookcases reminded you how much the world offered and how little one lifetime allowed.
At the same time that bookstores are folding from economic pressures, library funding is being questioned in many communities. The recession has had a great impact on budgets, and library hours and staffing are being cut back. The library has always been the primary landscape and provider of the common good, where no one was ever turned away for the lack of money.
As books become something only read on devices, we will all be locked into the culture and cultural limitations of the device providers and their shareholders. The grand hope of the democratization of publishing, with the fall of the gatekeepers, will exclude those not able to pay the initial device fee and the ongoing per item cost. Libraries matter, if community matters, and if the common good matters.
Community can be made online, though it is difficult -- not impossible -- to do from behind a screen. With time and thought maybe real communities will form. Matthew Stadler is trying to do so with Publication Studio. I've learned much from him.
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the history of Creative Destruction on wikipedia
Update on 2012-08-01 17:27 by Therese Flanagan
I agree that businesses are being shaped and reshaped by technology and consumer dollars; the publishing business is not immune to these changes. It's pretty clear that e-books are here to stay, and that books will be around, right beside them. I happen to like the e-book format, but I have shelves of books that I will not be giving up any time soon.
My concern is for the entire book ecosystem. It's always hard to make an argument about something that largely goes unseen, but to risk losing the institutional knowledge of the agents; editors; publishing houses; booksellers; and librarians -- those whose livelihoods have been spent nurturing books into being -- would represent a true loss to the world of ideas. The disruption in the chain is utter, so bookstores and libraries feel the impact, and ultimately every individual will be affected by bookstore closings, and by the libraries reduced hours and staffing. As always, the impact will be greater on those communities and individuals with fewer resources.
These aren't surgical cuts to an industry; this is the wrecking ball applied swiftly, with little regard for any view beyond the immediate economic terrain. No doubt, there are opportunities, but a vibrant marketplace, especially the marketplace of ideas, shouldn't be reduced to a very few moneyed vendors whose primary business interests extend far beyond books. If publishers lose the DOJ lawsuit, it's reasonable to expect a further contraction of competition. It's the concentration of power and market share that poses the greatest danger to those interested in books as culture, and not books as low price point commodities. Steve Windwalker, on Kindle Nation Daily, makes this prediction:
"Amazon is positioning itself to capture something very close to an unprecedented 50% retail market share across all formats in the U.S. book trades by the end of 2013."
This is why Stadler's ideas about fostering communities of writers and readers remain so powerful for me.
The responder's point about creating niche markets is one path to take. I do think that would have an atomizing effect, exacerbating the echo chambers that have become too much a part of our daily fare. What was always so good about a book store was the proximity to other fields under one small roof, reminiscent of a University. We need to find more bridges, more ways to talk to one another.
I say all of this as someone who owns a Kindle Fire, belongs to Amazon Prime, and is satisfied with the customer experience that Amazon has provided. I am also interested in their direct to market publishing program for some projects; I've always been in business for myself and I don't mind being entrepreneurial. Amazon has done so many things right. Their emphasis on customer service is exemplary. I do fear their concentration of power; I wish there was a greater balance out there.
I know that efficiencies come at a price. Cutting the fat is one thing, and knowing where the heart is matters. We owe ourselves our full humanity, something that has little to do with business cycles.
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(I welcome your responses.)
On the business of books...in the current New Yorker - The Paper Trail by Ken Auletta
The New Yorker (June 25, 2012 - page 36) has an article, The Paper Trail, written by Ken Auletta, on the current struggles facing the publishing industry in the wake of the suit filed by the Justice Department. The suit alleges price fixing on the part of five publishers and Apple in their attempt to maintain market share of e-books in their dealings with Amazon. Three of the five publishers have already settled, admitting no wrongdoing, leaving Apple and two publishers to battle it out. What's at stake, as the publishers see it, is their very existence as cultural providers. The argument goes that without the ability to establish and maintain base prices on books, the established order will crumble. Publishers will not be able to afford to offer advances to authors and certain books will not be written. We will all suffer in ways not yet fully understood. Discoverability, a term applied to a new author's chances of being seen and heard in the din of onrushing texts, is also at stake without a thriving bookstore environment. They do have a point.
Elisabeth Sifton dilineates the multi-layered problems facing the book world with her insightful essay in The Nation, back in June of 2009. It's even more relevant today:
The Long Goodbye? The Book Business and its Woes
Amazon, and now the Justice Department, see things differently. I've heard many business terms applied here: creative destruction; market efficiencies; the publishing world as late adopters...the publishing world had been operating on a century old model and Amazon has, in short order, tossed that model overboard. More importantly, the consumers are trending toward e-books and e-readers. The Justice Department's concern is for the consumer. Amazon is willing to take a loss on a book for its own reasons, but the consumer wins with the lower price point. Any attempt by other players to collude to fix prices is illegal.
These are interesting times. It looks to be an uphill battle for Apple and the publishers.
Paper Trail - Did publishers and Apple collude against Amazon? by Ken Auletta, The New Yorker
The New Yorker Out Loud - podcast - the discussion on e-books starts at the 7:00 minute mark - "Are cheap e-books bad for readers?: Ken Auletta and Leo Carey talk to Sasha Weiss about the dramatic effect of e-books on book publishers."
Update on 2012-07-14 15:08 by Therese Flanagan
Mike Shatskin, writer of The Shatzkin Files, created this slideshow:
How the DoJ's misunderstandings could destroy publishing, and why it's worth saving
View more PowerPoint from idealogical
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On the business of books...
It's impossible to know the impact the DOJ's decision to bring a lawsuit against Apple and five publishers for price fixing will have on the book business, but this is, no doubt, the precursor of great changes. Three of the publishing houses have settled:
Justice Dept. sues Apple and Publishers Over E-Book Pricing
Cut in E-Book Pricing by Amazon is Set to Shake Rivals
This is a rather convincing argument as to why the DOJ was correct in bringing this anti-trust lawsuit:
http://www.litigationandtrial.com/2012/04/articles/business-lawsuits/apple-ebo oks-antitrust/
John Sargent, from MacMillan, responds on The Authors Guild website:
http://www.authorsguild.org/advocacy/articles/a-message-from-john-sargent-of.h tml
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On a personal note, I have decided to continue honing American Gothic Chicago, while I finish writing Under the Picasso. I'll have both books ready to launch at the same time. There is so much chaos in the marketplace right now that it is difficult to know whether it is smarter to go the traditional route and find an agent -- I had a great one, but now I will need another -- or is it best to strike out on my own and indie publish? When I come closer to finishing the novel, I will make a decision.
Are any of you grappling with these questions?
Update on 2012-04-17 02:00 by Therese Flanagan
Barry C. Lynn, director of the Markets, Enterprise, and Resiliency Project at the New America Foundation, weighs in, pointing the finger at Amazon as the heavy in this battle, with an article in Slate. The comments following his article give you an idea of how varied the opinions are in this case:
The Real Bad Guy in the E-Book Price Fixing Case
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The Wall Street Journal - Apple: E-book collusion claims 'not true'
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Mike Shatzkin, of The Shatzkin Files, gives his considered opinion of recent events:
After the DoJ action, where do we stand?
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Amazon's E-Book Pricing a Constant Thorn for Publishers
Daring to Cut Off Amazon - NYT
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On the business of books
I just finished reading an article in The Nation, by Elisabeth Sifton, which appeared in the June 8, 2009 edition:
The Long Goodbye? The Book Business and its Woes
Sifton's essay is a must read for all book lovers -- readers and writers alike. Her essay details the current state of the publishing world from an insider's perspective; Sifton is the senior vice president of Farrar, Straus & Giroux. She is also an author: The Serenity Prayer: Faith and Politics in Times of Peace and War (Norton). She packs a lot of information in the essay, providing a radiant light on the writer as krill in the book's disrupted publishing chain.
Highly recommended.