Salon Magazine has a cheerful little piece looking at the recent downsizing or dissolution of several major publishing houses. Due to their corporate parentage, many publishers have been hit hard by the recent economic downturn—some parent companies are billions of dollars in debt.
“There were hedge fund guys with no background in publishing buying up publishing houses,” says André Schiffrin, founder of the New Press and author of “The Business of Books: How the International Conglomerates Took Over Publishing and Changed the Way We Read.” He explains that corporate owners of major publishing houses expected impossible 15 to 20 percent profit margins in an industry with traditional margins of 3 to 4 percent. “They were part of that whole feeling that you could make money by buying and selling companies, rather than by selling books. At some point it comes to a dead end.”
The article cites changing distribution models as another factor in the hard time publishers are having—both the shift from small bookstores toward national chains, and the shift toward digital distribution. However, it also suggests that e-books might be publishing’s salvation—and not just the Kindle and Sony Reader, either. The article cites Stanza’s 600,000 users when it suggests that “the biggest shift might happen on cellphones.”
Neelan Choksi, Lexcycle’s chief operating officer, agrees that the midlist will suffer in coming years. “There’s going to be less support for smaller writers in the traditional publishing model, in the big buildings in Manhattan,” he explained. “But self-publishing and digital books haven’t been considered. This upheaval will cause many authors to look at the alternatives more seriously.”
Wow, I really am getting an early Xmas present! The death of the publishing industry? Seriously?
I rather doubt I am lucky enough to see a 300+ year old cabal of dedicated monopolists dissolve during my lifetime, and certainly not for Xmas! But downsizing is a good thing. Most of these thieves with suits have stolen enough, and if and when they lose their jobs, I cannot be expected to shed any tears.
The publishing industry is guilty of many crimes, but recently, they have become redundant, so who needs them or their lawyers. I hope authors start running to POD services (they save trees, keep prices down, and do not go around suing people and attempting to “own” information). Authors have been ripped off by publishing houses for long enough, anyway.
As for the executives of these foundering firms, perhaps they should give their million dollar salaries back to the authors they took them from. It would be the least they could do considering their greed has pushed the cash cow over the cliff.
Yes, Yes, Yes! Support Creators, they are the ones we need. Thieves in sharp suits we do not need, and never did. They have destroyed all the creative arts, now they have destroyed the world’s economy. Isn’t it time to tell them to “GO AWAY!”?