TalkingTalk, I've split your derail out of
the self publishing diary thread you started it in. Please keep on-topic in future, and if you want to talk about something which isn't already being discussed, start a new thread.
The role of the agent in every industry be it travel, property, retail and publishing is changing and eroding. I am not scared to predict that in not so many years. The only publishers will be Amazon,Google,Apple and one or two more yet to be invented. There is simply no need.
In the 1980s people predicted the paperless office, and look how well that's turned out.
People wax nostalgic for the feel of a paper book in their hands but those people will be fewer and fewer. They will die and become converted.
What will they be converted into after their death?
The element of mystery about what publishers do will become eroded.
Trade publishers publish books for the book trade. Magazine publishers publish magazines. Newspaper publishers publish newspapers. Where's the mystery?
They are no longer needed and they know it, or at least the clever ones do.
If this were true, the "clever" publishers would have all shut up shop and gone home. As they're still in business then either they're not clever or you're wrong; and as they continue to publish great books which sell well, I'm pretty sure which option is correct.
You published on Kindle, I published in IPad and any of the 7 Billion people in the world can buy our books in 2 seconds and for cheap.
Neither "quick" nor "cheap" signify that something has been published well, or that it's going to find its readership and sell in good quantity.
The one element where we still struggle is that marketing costs money and needs know how.
Marketing is not the only area in which self publishers struggle.
I've reviewed hundreds of self published books. Very few were published well; very few were even competently published. And very few have sold more than a handful of copies.
Unless we are supremely confident we are not going to mortgage the house for a billboard on Times Square. We probably will not get invited to Oprah to discuss our work.
Renting space on a billboard in Times Square isn't going to ensure that your book sells in good number. There are so many other things you have to take care of to achieve good sales.
There are ways of getting around it as you say Twitter and Facebook but it is not easy. We have to be clever and find a way. I know there is one just got to find it.
There's no secret to selling books, but using Twitter and Facebook isn't it.
I apologise to all the people I upset by predicting their demise or conversion to the dark side.
Oh, for goodness' sake.
You may have noticed how publishers claim that the cost of producing en ebook and a print book are basically the same. Yet before the advent of the ebook, they justified their high cut of sales by pointing to distribution, printing, storage. Now they allocate these costs to something different.
http://michaelhyatt.com/why-do-ebooks-cost-so-much.html
There are costs associated with publishing. Some of those costs are involved regardless of the format the book is published in, such as acquisition and editing; some are specific to the format.
The article you link to doesn't "allocate these costs to something different", it explains some of the costs involved in publishing digital editions. It doesn't cover the costs involved of storage (even digital files need to be housed somewhere), of file maintenance, of updating, or of piracy control, all of which have to be considered.
I did not think I would evoke such hostility
You posted an ill-informed, off-topic rant in the middle of one of our member's diary threads and are now surprised that you didn't get a good reaction?
I don't think anyone was upset because of the truth of what you wrote.
I agree that there are bigger quality issues in self publishing than in printed, but these barriers can be overcome. It just needs to reviewed by the right reviewers, or a stamp of quality, by an editing house. There are many solutions to the valid issues you have all raised.
Getting a book reviewed "by the right reviewers" would not help print editions of self published books improve in quality. All it would do is give readers some reviews to read.
I suggest you take some time to learn how book reviewers work.
As for books having "stamp of quality, by an editing house": I think I can see what you're getting at here, but the system that you're hinting at is so full of potential conflicts of interest, and would be so difficult to fund in a way which would remove those conflicts, that it would be impossible to run; and it would go against the desire of many self publishers to work on their own without such gatekeepers. I don't think it would work. But do feel free to expand on this theme if you have a workable plan.
I love a paper book also, and also have nostalgic memories from my youth, but they pile up in my house and take up room and gather dust. I can only fit so many in my bag when I travel. I never lose my page in an ebook. I loved my horse also, but eventually had to buy a car. My vinyl record collection ..... should I go on.
No, I don't think you should. There are all sorts of reasons print editions are useful and the analogies you've used in your attempt to discredit them are clumsy and misleading.
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TalkingTalk, you've got off to a really poor start here. I hope things get better for you as you become more at home at AW: but I strongly advise you to read the Newbie Guide; to keep on-topic when you join in with ongoing conversations; and to stop making vacuous claims which are so easily refuted. Thank you.
