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Straight Talk on e-Publishing

Straight Talk on e-Publishing

by Steven Bassion

A few weeks ago publishers fell all over themselves and each other to embrace e-books. Michael Crichton and other literary luminaries would be e-published, it seemed. If anyone remembers, two weeks previously, the magic words in publishing spin were instant books. What is going on?

First, look to the I.R.S. It is not so very long ago that the American tax authorities reversed a long-standing special rule for book publishers. The old rule said that they could count the printing and marketing expenses as current costs, even though the books might sell over a period of years. The new rule said that printing and marketing had to be allocated and spread over the life of the book. The transition from old rule to new rule, created a tremendous one time tax liability. How were publishers going to pay? The new rule also made patience much more expensive for publishers; it became much easier to scrap new books within a matter of weeks, if they didn't become blockbusters. Next, look to the various merger manias of the past twenty years, fed by junk-bonds, speculation and herd mentalities. Book publishers, pushed by tax liabilities and pulled by surprisingly large financial gains or simple survival, became part of the (drum roll here, please) the entertainment industry. What is going on? Book prices are going up. Unit sales are not. Both e-book and instant-publishing technologies give book publishers the opportunity to cut the costs of inventory. Both offer to reduce sales costs dramatically. What we are seeing is classic commercial strategy. When sales stagnate, cut costs. What's happening with sales?

A survey by the old American Booksellers Association revealed that less than 10% of American adults read anything. And the percentage is shrinking. In the past decade, sales (in chained 1992 dollars) have fallen by 10%.

One can divide readers by their predominant reason for reading:
  1. Information
  2. Enlightenment
  3. Entertainment
What part of sales can be forced to grow? Convincing those who read that they need more information or enlightenment is a scant proposition. Information (or, at least, data) is everywhere, available - updated - for the unsaturated by television and internet. People can scarcely be forced to read for enlightenment, without calling into question the last fifty years of western civilization and education. However, there is some hope that people can be convinced to read for entertainment, since the appetite for entertainment is almost universally encouraged and virtually insatiable.

If we were discussing packaged foods, the facts would be analogous. How much ketchup can you sell? When ketchup sales have peaked, what can you do to make more money. Cut costs. Sell cocktail sauce and salsa. Sell crackers and corn chips. Sell squeeze bottles, plastic packets and "classic" glass. Think about the lucky entertainment moguls who can sell their stuff electronically, something you can't do with ketchup and salsa and chips.

So now we are clearly and understandably back to e-books and instant publishing.

What seems to be missing from this picture is art and culture - items assumed to be part and parcel of any discussion of books and publishing. But they are not.

Writers, editors and publishers have become the migrant and factory labor of the entertainment industry - entertainment workers. And, while migrant and factory workers have the luxury of not having to pretend about what they do, writers editors and publishers must believe or pretend to believe that what they do concerns art and culture. This reminds one of nothing so much as the plight of sex-workers - pretending one thing is another. What will become of this mess?

The power of the Internet - and of e-books and of instant publishing - is universal accessibility at low cost. Those who know what they want can find it easily and inexpensively. The points of contention here are how do young people learn what to look for and how do any of us become inspired and transformed by art in the overwhelming cacophony of entertainment, advertising and other background noise.

However, e-books and instant publishing are as much a part of the answer to the future of art and culture as they are a> symptom of the problem. The balance of the answer lies, where it always has, within the individual's right and power of discrimination - not very sexy, not very comforting, not very high-tech - but that's where the answer lies.