Links of the week April 15 2013 (16)
Our new feature links to interesting blogs or articles posted online, which will help keep you up to date with what's going on in the book world:
22 April 2013
For both of them, it was the lack of creative control and the mismatch between their vision of their work, and that of their respective publishers, that caused them to walk. 'I got a deal with Penguin after 54 rejections,' Ross told the standing-room only session full of new writers and small presses. 'I thought - great, this is it, the golden ticket'. But where I saw my novel as an Irish family story set against the Easter uprising, they saw pink and chic lit.'
Courtney's erience with HarperCollins was similar. 'I tried traditional publishers with my novel Golden Handcuffs in 2004, but they turned it down. So I decided to publish it myself - successfully - which led to an approach from HarperCollins. But their packaging for my second book was completely wrong, so I walked out.'
Rebecca Smart, CEO of Osprey Group: 'The start-up is rapidly becoming the business model of our times. From Silicon Valley to Silicon Roundabout, it seems that everyone wants to emulate the way of working that transformed Google from a bright idea based out of a garage into a verb in less than a decade. The world of publishing is no different. Trade publishers have a long tradition of innovation and of independence - there are many companies which have forged their own destinies in very challenging economic conditions. What we are seeing emerge today, however, is a new breed of start-up publishers who are taking the best practices and principles from the publishing and technology sectors and using them to create companies that could provide the future model for the sector as a whole. 'If the future of publishing lies in more publishers behaving like the start-ups which have shown that a good idea, well executed and with a clear idea of its audience, can conquer the world, then here are five ways they can do it.
15 April 2013
Scott Turow, president of the US Authors Guild, on a vital change: 'LAST month, the Supreme Court decided to allow the importation and resale of foreign editions of American works, which are often cheaper than domestic editions. Until now, courts have forbidden such activity as a violation of copyright. Not only does this ruling open the gates to a surge in cheap imports, but since they will be sold in a secondary market, authors won't get royalties...'
Authors practice one of the few professions directly protected in the Constitution, which instructs Congress 'to promote the progress of Science and the useful Arts by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries'. The idea is that a diverse literary culture, created by authors whose livelihoods, and thus independence, can't be threatened, is essential to democracy. That culture is now at risk. The value of copyrights is being quickly depreciated, a crisis that hits hardest not best-selling authors like me, who have benefited from most of the recent changes in bookselling, but new and so-called midlist writers.
As the DIY approach gains more and more writers and readers, traditional publishers must reinvent themselves, but writers also need to be aware of the changing landscape.
After a boom year in self-publishing the headlines are getting a little predictable. Most feature a doughty author who quickly builds demand for her work and is rewarded with a large contract from the traditional industry. But in our rush to admire, there's a risk we overlook the wider cultural significance of what is going on. As publishers from all over the world prepare for next week's London book fair, here are 10 changes that they ignore at their peril: