The Changing World Of Publishing

14 Replies

I’ve been feeling a bit melancholy of late. Reason why? I’m still kind of bummed that the Heartsong Presents line is being cancelled. I was working on a proposal to send to them, and then I heard about that.

Top it off with Borders shutting down a few weeks ago.

The publishing world is changing drastically. Since Borders is now closed, I’ve wondered about the fate of printed books? I just received my Kindle e-reader as a birthday gift and I love it. Do you think we’re moving toward the time where printed books will be history and will no longer exist?

I’ve also heard in various writers’ circles that other publishers will eventually get rid of their trade paperback books. Just makes me stop and wonder.

Also, I’ve noticed that a slew of commercially-published authors have started releasing self-pubbed e-books. I’ve heard some make great money and others have not had that much success in sales and money. Will the book world change so much that commercial publishers will cease to exist and everybody self-publishes e-books? Those who are deemed to be successful are the ones who make lots of $$$?

Or, I also wonder if commercial publishers will get even more picky about the authors that they want to publish. Do you think that commercial publishers might reach the point where they choose new authors from the selection of successfully published e-authors?

What’s the point of this blog post? I’m not sure! I’m just thinking about the vast changes being made in the world of publishing and trying to digest everything. I know it’s gonna be hard to figure this all out. I just think it’ll be weird and a bit sad if we ever reach the point where… there are NO MORE BOOKSTORES!!

~Cecelia Dowdy~

14 thoughts on “The Changing World Of Publishing”

  1. Missy

    I think it’s going the way music and tv have. Remember 3 channels? And when music choices when I grew up was rock stations and country stations. Now there’s pop, rock, alternatve, R&B, rap, hip hop, etc.
    I think low price e-books are the future. With lots of choices. Someone told me it’s the wild west. Some will strike gold and some won’t. A few will get rich and many will make an ok living.

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  2. Sidne,the BCR

    I’ve thought about those things also. I love my nook and sony e reader. however I really only use for travel purposes. The only down fall to ereaders is a lot of downloading can be done. its so not protected enough. self publishing and ebooks are just less expensive ways to get your books. commerical publishers can not afford to get picky about anything when authors are learning more and more of the book industry and others for that matter. and with social media’s out on the internet, you can almost do your own marketing. the profit margin is much better and worth it to me. I would never put out a thing if i’m not making the highest percentage. while helping a grilfriend to self publish her book i was astonish to learn what each author made per book. NO WAY, NO WAY

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  3. Cecelia Dowdy

    So, Missy, you think that there will come a time where bookstores simply will not exist anymore? I can imagine sitting with my grandchildren and telling them I remember when stories used to be printed on paper and we bought these books at places called bookstores! 🙂

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  4. Cecelia Dowdy

    Hey, Sidne. Most publishers give a higher percentage on e-books…more like 25%, give or take. I’ve heard several authors talk about this and I’ve heard mixed things regarding the self-pubbed e-books. These are commercially published authors that I’m referring to. There are some who seem to make a lot of $$$(not sure how much). While, others are telling me that they’re only making a few dollars a week!LOL!
    So, there’s definitely a science behind it. I’m learning that the success is definitely gradual. Most state that you have to released a lot of titles within a short period of time. Like, a book every month or every few months during the span of a year or so and you’ll see the steady increase in sales? Don’t quote me on this because I have yet to try this out myself, but, it is something that I must keep in mind since I really don’t know when/if I’ll ever sell another novel again! 🙁

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  5. Missy

    Of course you will write again. God gave you the heart and mind of a writer. The landscape is just changing so you do it a different way. Like the apostles had to tell people about Jesus. They told people on the street. Then when they got locked up, they told people in prison. The change in venue didn’t change their calling, just location of the message.

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  7. Teresa Slack

    I know times are changing and we have to keep up with them, but I hate to think there will eventually be no need for bookstores. What about libraries? I love everything about them. One of my most inspiring places. Will that be taken from us too? Or at least the libraries we’re used to? Sigh. Changes are coming so fast I can’t even keep up. I guess we can only keep writing and hope the technological age doesn’t leave us in the dust.

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  8. Cecelia Dowdy

    Teresa, thanks for commenting. Did you know that you can download e-books from some libraries now? I didn’t initially realize this but somebody told me about it. Apparantly, the library can purchase the license to a book and make it available to their patrons to download. I believe only one person can download it at one time, so, you might still have to wait awhile to read your favorite books?

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