Yeah, you all know what I think of that. I have never been a fan of it and I think that all things considered, the ebook and self-publishing development has been the worst thing that has happened to literature since...well, since ever.
But, I find that traditional markets are vanishing at a faster pace than in the past. Yes, TV helped kill off the pulps beginning in the 1950s. Video games almost strangled the comics industry in the late 1990s. And here the ebook/self-publishing market has a fatal choke-hold on traditional publishing.
One self-publisher who has done well at the game is really celebrating the apparent death of
But, there it is.
The markets for submission of fiction has shrunk to pathetic levels. The few large publishers who have so far survived don't have much in the way of budgets for acquisitions. To me, it looks as if the end is looming for traditional publishing, as much as I hate to admit it.
I have some things to say about traditional publishing that I will withhold for the time being. I'm
The bad thing is, I find myself having to look at self-publishing as a more and more attractive alternative to flailing around trying to find markets that are drying up, that are choking to death, that are nearing the point of extinction.
Yes, there are the micro-publishers. But why bother? If the paying markets are all dead, why give away a piece of the action for no good reason and for no possibility of a decent advance?
Self-publishing, I thought you were indeed a dark and horrible creature.
But now that I'm getting desperate...maybe you're really a gorgeous doll.
"Self-publishing, I thought you were indeed a dark and horrible creature.
ReplyDelete"But now that I'm getting desperate...maybe you're really a gorgeous doll."
It is neither. It is what it is. If Severed hadn't picked up BLEEDING KANSAS I would have self-pubbed. Hell, it was my plan -- you saved me from that, and I thank you. I'd rather have a publisher behind me, and the thought of a real, dead-tree book in my hands with my name in big letters on the front delights me no end.
But the big publishers, like the big bookstores, did it to themselves. They gave zillion dollar advances to celebrities for their piece-of-shit nothing books (I still wonder how much Snooki got paid for her "novel"), and the acquisitions people looked towards richie assholes from richie programs (e.g., Iowa Writers, Pikes Peak Writers) for novels about middle-aged rich people suffering their mid-life "crises" ("Alas, for I have fallen in love with one of my Ivy League college students! Pity me, while you sweat the brake job on your ten year old car, peasant!") for books even fellow richies can't bring themselves to pretend to like.
On top of that we have a culture which promotes and celebrates anti-intellectualism so much that even being see reading a zombie novel (or any other adventure/escapism) makes you something of an egghead, and therefore Not Exactly Cool.
Shit, I reckon I should write my own blog post about this. In case I don't, let it be said for the record that the two Barnes & Nobles in Colorado Springs are staffed by some of the most comically rude assholes I've met in any establishment and I refuse to patronize them -- I could forgive the right-wing leanings of the owners if it wasn't so painfully obvious everyone working in both locations clearly hate their jobs and the customers they deal with. And I mourn the fuck out of Borders. Two years down the line I miss going in and getting that heady whiff of book paper and coffee.
Yeah, drink enough first, and it'll be a beauteous book release. :/
ReplyDeleteRoy: Yes, I don't like the idea of it, at all. Just look at my previous posts about it. I keep hoping the fad will burn itself out like a serious illness. Who knows?
ReplyDeleteThere is this bit of good news: Create a website
My gut feeling is that it's best to have a publisher behind you--even a small one who has built up a certain reputation. But sometimes the work doesn't match the publisher's rep.
I, too, mourn the passing of BORDERS. One of the most depressing things I ever witnessed was walking into the stores when they were selling out their stocks. I was so horrified that I couldn't even bring myself to buy anything.
The Barnes & Noble stores here aren't bad. Their clerks are nice enough. The bad thing about Charlotte is that there are only a couple of decent independent bookstores. They have nice staff, but I worry for their futures, of course.
Mark: I don't know if I could ever drink that heavily.
ReplyDeleteI have to disagree with Roy's putdown of celebrity books.
ReplyDeleteMost of those books are written by very talented ghost writers. They are real professionals. I think they are some of the best writers in the publishing business.
Case in point is Ozzie Osbourne's autobiography. Ozzie Osbourne is practically illiterate because he has a learning disability. Moreover, it's hard to understand him when he talks. Yet, his autobiography is outstanding thanks to an excellent ghost writer who was able to turn Ozzie's confused garble into a great book that captures the man's personality.
For most people who buy those celebrity books it's more a matter of an item of merchandise. They don't read them--they put them away the same way they would a pinup or a lunchbox or an autographed photo. It's a "thing" they can own, and not something that they'd actually read.
ReplyDeleteBut, yeah, I see what you mean. People probably actually wanted to read what Ozzy had to say.