Why New Publishing is a Blessing, and a Curse

On February 14th, I became part of what I've decided to call "New Publishing." I decided this movement needed a new name because it encompasses e-books, self publishing, independent and small presses, and the democratization of books and publishing. To me, New Publishing is a revolution that takes the old model (small number of publishers control the vast majority of books released) and turns it on its head (small number of publishers control the vast minority of books released). My milestone in New Publishing was the release of my e-book RULES OF NEGOTIATION.

RULES is part of New Publishing for a few reasons. First, it's an e-book–and only an e-book. You will not find RULES in a bookstore. You don't need an e-reader to read it (you can get apps for your desktop, or download as a pdf) but you do need a screen.

Second, it was published by a small, boutique publisher, Entangled Publishing, not one of the so-called "Big Six" legacy publishers. (Though Entangled is growing so fast, maybe we need to start saying, Big Six + Entangled? )

Third, it's cheap ($2.99!). RULES is a contemporary romance. Its market is a huge number of voracious readers who read a LOT. A book OR MORE a day. (Get your head around that, critics–these people read hundreds of books a year! They are READERS, in every sense of the word!) They want quality, well-written books, but they don't want to pay $7.99 or (heaven forbid) $9.99, especially for an e-book.

So yes, I'm part of New Publishing. Now what about the blessing and the curse thing?

First, the blessing: in New Publishing, there's a huge number of books hitting the "shelves" everyday, and they're all a little different. Some will hit traditional tropes and fit squarely into popular genres. Some won't. Some will cross genres and feature non-traditional heroes and heroines (like the fantastic Busted in Bollywood, by Nicola Marsh, which takes place partly in Mumbai, and features an Indo-American heroine). With a limitless platform to take on new writers and new books, everything can be made available to readers. Everyone can publish, and everyone can share their stories. That's what I call the "democratization of publishing." The door is more open now than ever before.

But that, of course, leads to the curse. The vast majority of New Publishing books will find very few readers. A few will break out. Most will not. As the number of books in the marketplace increases, I see consumers becoming overwhelmed. In the face of limitless choices and limited time to read, readers often pick the "guaranteed" winners–books recommended by Oprah, critics, or their favorite bloggers. And that eccentuates the disparity between the bestsellers, and everyone else.

Overwhelmed consumers means the books that succeed will be virally amplified. These "big" books will account for an increasing percentage of books sold. I see this resulting in fewer and fewer authors being able to make a living at writing. I hear this from writer friends of mine who are taking second jobs, and from agents who are finding it harder and harder to sell their clients' books, even clients who might have had a nice career a decade ago.

More will publish, few will make significant dollars, and a very very very few will make millions. This suggests the end result will be fewer authors supporting themselves with their writing. I worry–though the jury is still out on this for me–that it will also, ultimately, result in the narrowing of what is actually read to a smaller and smaller number of books.

Despite this curse, I still think New Publishing is a great thing. Expanding choice, providing authors with a way to tell non-traditional stories, and giving readers a chance to discover books that are different from the "10 Ten" they see in the grocery store must be a good thing. I know I wouldn't be publishing at the rate I am without New Publishing. And to be honest, with every step I take on this journey, I become less focused on sales and more focused on readers. I cherish every Tweet, email, and FB message I get from people who love my books. I'll keep writing my stories as long as New Publishing will let me, even if it means juggling writing with another career and another job.

In conclusion, I just threw out a ton of bald-faced conclusions, suppositions, and unsupportable theories. Anyone agree with me? Disagree? I'm curious what YOU think the result of New Publishing will be.