No one doubts that the publishing industry is making a seismic shift; the questions remaining have mostly to do with speculation over the final magnitude when it’s all said and done, and the playing out of the aftershocks.
In the past year alone, five writers I know here in Alaska , all successfully and traditionally published, have told me they’re seriously exploring new ways to deliver their work to readers – and that’s only from the small sample of writers I know well. One is David Marusek, who kindly sent me three links to timely pieces about the changing state of publishing, with permission to share them here.
“One of my models for ebook success,” Marusek writes, “is the sci-fi thriller writer Jeff Carlson…he sent me a link to a current update on one of his ebooks, a self-published novel fix-up of one of his popular novellas. You’ll note that he…takes a hybrid approach, self-pubbing mixed with traditional, including an upcoming book with Amazon’s 47North science fiction imprint.”
Marusek also sent me this link to a post by John Scalzi, about “one of the big six trying to offload its risk but stay in the driver’s seat.” Scalzi, says Marusek, “is a newish bestselling sci-fi writer and probably one of the last of the breed who has come up entirely via the traditional route.”
Finally, he shared a post by Kris Rusch, which proved one of the smartest pieces I've read lately on changes in the publishing industry: blunt, astute, to the point.
It would be lovely if as writers we could go about our craft with nary a thought to how our books would reach readers, but such a notion has gone the way of the petroglyph. Our best hope comes from authors like Marusek who are both forward-thinking and generous with information and ideas about the State of Publishing .
If you have links or thoughts to share on publishing – traditional, alternative, or hybrid – send them to debvanasse (at) gmail.com, subject line “Pub Corner.”
