There have already been changes in publishing due to the economy.
Longtime writers have been told they won't be offered new contracts. Writers with good sales records are being asked to take a cut in advances. And new writers coming on board are being asked to consider "alternative" payment arrangements, such as little to no advance but a royalty rate that may be a point or two higher.
Instead of addressing wasteful practices common in publishing, they as usual lean toward the belief that the writers should be asked to bear the brunt of downsizing and cost-cutting. (Because we're not supposed to be making a living at this anyway. Right?)
And by "wasteful practices," by the way, I don't just mean printing hundreds of thousands of copies when they know they won't sell half of them, but truly stupid things like using express shipping services unnecessarily. I received a cover proof yesterday, and it came via overnight shipping.
There was absolutely no reason why it should have. Nor did some foreign copies I recieved the other day need to be shipped Priority. But they were. (Royalties, on the other hand, they send First Class. Go figure.) I know it sounds like a little thing, but when you multiply it by the number of cover proofs sent out to authors every week ...
Make no mistake, publishing is being hit by the economy. How much trickles down to the authors depends on many factors, including which house(s) you write for and which cost-cutting measures they've chosen to implement.
