Start the e-revolution without me!

Last week the New York Times looked at the deal that the popular self-published author Amanda Hocking signed to have some of her books produced the old-fashioned way. It’s a good piece, but perhaps even more interesting is the blog post by Amanda Hocking herself, explaining why she signed the deal given that she is making so much money out of selling her books herself. The bottom line is that she is paying the publisher to do the things that take her an enormous amount of time (marketing, editing, cover art, formatting, etc) so that she can do what she wants to do most, which is writing. It’s a maturely argued post and well worth a read. Many of her previous blog entries attest to the amount of time and effort Ms Hocking has spent on being her own publisher, on functions that she has now (in large part) outsourced. (Mysterious Matters has recently posted on the value of “traditional” publishing, a lot more than 99 cents per book.)
On the same theme, but a different author and approach, Lee Harris of Angry Robot books describes on Future ebook blog how he came to publish a novel by Adam Christopher, essentially via a Twitter relationship. Again, it’s a great post and well worth reading as an example of how an author can constructively use social media to become published. Even though the “Twitter” headlines are appealing, note that this deal did not come about overnight! Rather, it seems, the author acted in effect as his own agent, and the rest of the story is quite traditional.
Not the end.
Neither of these two examples signals the “end” of book publishing. Both these authors have struck deals because they are writing good books, and have convinced a publisher of that fact. Very many people are publishing their books themselves, over the past few years as print on demand or e-books on sites such as Lulu, and more recently via Smashwords in a range of e-formats for platforms such as Amazon’s Kindle, allowing them access to a potentially huge ready-made universe of people searching for books to read. If you enjoy reading science fiction, “erotica”, horror, about the paranormal, fantasy, or non-fiction along the lines of self-help or business success, your range of choice has never been better!
For any discerning reader who has a necessarily limited number of hours a week in which to read, the idea that “more is better” is simply not true. Book publishers provide a filter for what they see as the “best” books. I choose what to read based on a mixture of factors, such as having liked an author’s previous novel, coming across an interesting debut via one of the book websites I regularly visit, trusting a publisher’s output, reading reviews, and so on. I would be very unlikely to read a book because it is on the “top 100” list of books available in Kindle format for 70 pence (or 99 cents), however many people have awarded a particular example 5 stars. Of course, in today’s economic climate there are many good authors who are unfairly not published, particularly if their first couple of books have sold modestly, and this is a pity. But it also has to be said that from the readers’ perspective, there are more than enough books being published to last anyone several lifetimes.
Peaceful coexistence.
For authors, I do not think it is right to suggest there is a war between “indie” (self-published) authors and those who have been published by an “external” publisher. This post at Kindle review sets out the terms of the publishing revolution as it sees it – that there is an unfair monarchy of publishers which is ripe for the French revolution to hack it down. I disagree. I am pleased that anyone who has written a book can now not only publish it him or herself but also promote it via hugely powerful sites such as Amazon. I am pleased also that some of them can make good money at it (though many others will be lucky to sell half a dozen copies). But I would not be pleased if I had no way of telling (other than by enthusiasts’ 5 star reviews) who, other than the author, had judged that the book is objectively interesting, or whether I’d be reading something that has been professionally edited. The publishing industry is not perfect; publishers annoy me intensely by practices for e-books that hamper the reader, such as agency pricing and nonsensical geographical rights restrictions. But publishers offer us readers a great service, producing engrossing books at a price that is usually very reasonable (compare the cost of a book with that of a cinema, theatre or concert ticket).