As more and more authors move away from traditional publishing, to publish themselves (selfpub) on ebook, many have predicted the total collapse of the agent & publisher system, at least for fiction. Selfpub is compelling to authors, allowing them total control over the process, and nearly all of the profit too. So what role is there for publishers and agents?
Many pundits propose that publishers will suffer the same fate as brick-and-mortar bookstores, namely being relegated to a niche role for specialists and purists, in the same way that record stores exist and boutique record labels produce limited supply runs of vinyl albums. People aren't quite ready to give up on the delight of a physical book in their hands.
The big publishing are staring down the same turmoil that the music companies faced with the might of iTunes and digital downloads. They managed to carve a role for themselves, in that most music today still comes from a music company than an artist “self-pubbing” to iTunes. I'd like to see the stats for independent vs. music company. Maybe book publishers can do a similar thing, and I believe the secret is value-added-services.
The author's argument goes like this: I dedicate years of my life to a book, and then I have to spend a ton of time querying to find an agent, who then has to spend time attracting a publisher. The author has to do his own marketing and promotion, pay for his own editing, and gets a tiny fraction of the profits when the book hits the shelves 1-2 years later. That used to work in the old days, when publishers did provide editorial services and marketing (some still do, but rarely on midlist or below).
It's a different world now. Perhaps the publisher should mutate their role toward publicist. Authors like to write. I'm sure most of us don't really want to spend so much time promoting, arranging book tours, blog tours, merchandising, etc. Those things are fun, but a lot of work. If the publisher did all that, we could write more books, and everyone wins, right? Self-pubbing to ebook gives instant gratification for the author, but it's becoming a swamped market now that the barriers to publication have fallen. Perhaps publishers could step in and help readers become aware of specific ebook titles. Without physical inventory and sale-or-return publishers could devote more money to providing excellent services for debut authors too. Many so-called boutique publishers are doing this right now.
The question is, having gained control of their destiny, do authors want to hand that back to others? Is avoiding marketing and promotion worth it?
What do you think? Do publishers have a role?