Friday, September 13, 2013

An insight or two

Okay, I have to warn you.  This could be a depressing post, although I don't mean for it to be that way. You know me.  I like to scatter sunshine everywhere I go.

Anyway, a couple of things happened this week that have helped me understand what's happening in the world of publishing.  The first is that I heard a report on NPR saying that only 10% of the American population owns 90% of the wealth.  It's another Gilded Age, yo.   The disparity hasn't been this big in over 100 years.

My second "ah-ha" moment happened at TKE this week where I realized that the world of publishing is becoming a little like our economy.  It feels like instead of developing a group of mid-list authors who write good stand-alone books--a farm team if you will--publishers want to sign a few wunderkinds straight of high school (metaphorically speaking here) who will score big and score fast.  Right now a lot of the money is going into series for young readers.  Which I don't write.

The downside?  I wonder if I'll ever publish another book again.

The upside?  It won't be because I'm not a good writer.  After feeling a lot of frustration over the past few years, I am comforted by this realization.

Those of you who are writing and/or publishing, feel free to offer your two bits here.  I could be wrong about the current publishing model.  Would love to hear what you think.

3 comments:

Michelle Renee Stimpson said...

Sigh. (That's all I've got.)

Louise Plummer said...

E-books. Not quite as satisfying for a writer. Imagine not getting that first copy of your book in the mail.

Lisa B. said...

I think there are a whole bunch of publishing models, but one thing I know is that the "developing a group of mid-list authors" is the casualty of ALL of them.

So if you're a writer, you have to know that it might not be you...and it probably IS the changing model.

And it's good if you can take some comfort in that, and not be shaking your fist at the universe all the time. Which kind of sucks, because I have a whole shaking-my-fist-at-the-universe routine that I've gotten so good at. Like, be on Jimmy Fallon good.