Doom, Gloom, and the Future of Publishing by MaryChris Bradley

There has been a lot of discussion lately about the evolution of publishing and the rise of the ebook. Everyone seems to have his/her own idea of what doom, gloom, or ‘open road’ lies ahead. For every person decrying the death of the print book, there are two more proclaiming it will outlive us all. For every startup concentrating on just ebooks, apps, and digital enhancements, there are two or more traditional publishers who are swearing to remain steadfast and stick to the status quo.

Well, no one asked, but here’s this small publisher’s perspective on the subject…ACK ACK ACK! Oh, sorry, was that my outside voice?

The reality is, as scary as it may seem, we are all in this together folks, and it’s going to be a while before we find out exactly where the book industry is headed. No matter what mold we try to force it into, it will ultimately be the marketplace that decides how this all plays out. Of course, that won’t stop the parade of prognosticators proclaiming ‘the truth as they see it’. (Sorry, I get carried away by allure of alliteration sometimes.

I can share with you what we’ve experienced as a company in the last two years and that is: sales of the print book plummet once the ebook comes out. Do with it what you will, my own viewpoint is, the ebook is where the real sales growth is and will be for the foreseeable future. It looks and feels like those who absolutely MUST have the book in print are buying the book immediately on release, and those who hear about the book through the web, friends, reviews, crystal balls, or book recommendation method of choice, are opting for the less expensive, but oh so portable, electronic version

I can also share my own experience as a reader and bibliophile of long standing. I have a house FULL of books. They are literally in every room of my house (yes, including the bathrooms). Sometime in early 2011, I finally broke down and bought a kindle. After letting it sit in the box for months, loathe to actually begin using it, convinced that I would never betray my beloved piles o’print books, one day I let temptation get the best of me. I opened the box, charged the battery, and fell under the spell of e-ink. A mere year later, I find I have over 600 books loaded on my kindle! When will I get to read them all? I don’t know, but I know these things to be true: 1) I can pick up over 600 books with two fingers! 2) I will never have to spend days taking those ebooks off the shelf, dusting them, dusting the shelf where they sat, and then returning them to their place. 3) I actually have NO pangs of conscious when I hit the delete book button after I finish reading an ebook!

Yes, you heard me, I suffer no qualms at all when I toss a finished ebook into the electronic wastebasket! Unlike their print versions which practically DEMAND that I make room for them on my already crowded shelves. Read it and lose it – POOF! Perhaps that’s what really bothers me about the shift to the ebook, its lack of permanence?

As a publisher I think this lack of permanence is also one of the reasons why readers feel ebooks are worth so much less than their print counterpart. Regardless of the fact that as a publisher, we put as much time and money into editing, copyediting, designing, proofreading, advertising, promoting, and marketing an ebook as we do a print one, readers want it for a price that makes it nearly impossible to make a profit, let alone pay our authors their royalties. It’s the intangible nature of that e-ink that seems to “devalue” the hard work of author and publisher that went into its creation. You can pick up a print book, feel it, touch it, smell it, turn the pages, and even lick it if you want. It has weight, heft, and presence. And all that grants it some level of greater inherent value it seems.

How do we overcome this as publishers? How do we find a way to make the ‘work’ of writing and creating an ebook pay the bills? Well, like I said earlier, that remains to be seen. For now, I’ll continue to listen with one ear to those who are casting their predictions. Meanwhile, I’ll have the other ear firmly planted to the ground, listening, watching, and waiting for that next book to come my way that I just can’t wait to publish—regardless of the format!