The Future of Publishing – Part Two

3 October 2014

Last time, I looked at the distribution chain for a printed book sold through bookshops as opposed to a self-published ebook and questioned how the price of the first might be justified compared to that of the other. In particular, I highlighted the role of agents, publishers and bookshops themselves whose presence, unlike that of printers and distributors, is not strictly necessary to the process of selling a printed book. I asked what value they added and suggested they need to look carefully at the role they play in the distributive chain rather that simply telling us we should all buy our books in a bookshop instead of from Amazon.

Let’s start with agents. Their principal role is as gatekeepers, filtering out the dross and using their expertise to ensure that only books that will ‘sell’ enter the system ie. books that the reading public want to read. In doing so they are providing a service as they are saving the reader the time and effort required to find these books for themselves. Agents typically receive a hundred manuscripts a week. Imagine having to leaf through all that lot to find something you want. And they don’t always get it right - it can be very hit and miss.

There are no agents for self-pubbed ebooks. A lot of authors go down this route because they got turned down by agents or because they couldn’t be bothered with them in the first place. There’s a lot of dross out there (trust me) so how does the online reader find what they want? By word of mouth, recommendation and by looking at the reader reviews on Amazon and books sites like Goodreads. In other words they surf the online bookshop. Occasionally they turn up a gem that the agents have missed. If I were a publisher, I’d be keeping a very close eye on the ebook market with a view to picking up books with a proven track record online and turning them into bestsellers in print, cutting out the agent in the process. As more and more readers use their computer to find their reading material so the value of the agent will diminish.

The publisher is one more means of validating a book for the reader. By publishing it, the publisher is saying it’s fit for purpose ie. of good quality and it meets our needs. We look to our publishers to perform this task for us. More importantly, they are responsible for setting the RRP (Recommended Retail Price) which, in theory, establishes their return. I say in theory as they appear to have lost control of this important function and given it over to Amazon. Amazon, it seems, can sell at whatever price they like. The price to the public of my own book BIRDS OF THE NILE varies greatly online. This is fine – or it would be if the return to the publisher were constant, but I don’t think it is. I may be wrong but I believe the nature of Amazon’s contract with a publisher is for a fixed percentage of the sale price, a situation which allows Amazon to drive down the publisher’s profits at will. The publisher of my short novellas, Stairwell Books, have declined to put their print books on Amazon because they fear that Amazon’s discounting practices will undercut their margins to the extent that they will actually incur losses. This, they say, is Amazon’s game plan – to put them and others like them out of business and then move into the space that’s been vacated. A higher profile example is the current spat between Amazon and Hachette over the price of their ebooks. The whole industry is holding its breath over that one.

I can’t see how a situation where Amazon can have unlimited access to a publisher’s output and also dictate the price they buy it at is either fair or sustainable. Publishers have got to fight back. Either they renegotiate the nature of their contract with Amazon and instead of accepting a fixed percentage they receive a fixed price, or they withdraw their books altogether from sale through Amazon and make them available via their own online outlets or sell them through bookshops. If they don’t, there’s a danger that it’s not just bookshops that will go out of business, but publishers as well. Some consolidation has already started taking place amongst the major players.

And what of bookshops themselves? What service do they provide? Many retailers today are focussing on the ‘shopping experience’. They know that what they sell can be bought cheaper online but they maintain a High Street presence because as consumers we like the ‘touchy, feely’ vibe that a shop can give us. We like to browse and to be made to feel more comfortable about our choices by making them in pleasant surroundings. Bookshops these days have things Amazon can’t give us eg. the opportunity to handle a precious object, cafés and real, live author events. How can they turn these tangible advantages into custom and prevent their potential buyers from going home and ordering online at a lower price?

I faced a similar problem as a Financial Consultant when it came to the sale of Life Assurance. I represented a company which was a household name and carried with it the promise of quality. I gave my clients ‘advice’ that came not only from the extensive training I had received but also from the years of experience I had accumulated. I visited clients in their own homes and at their own convenience. I liked to think they trusted me and valued my involvement. These were the benefits I provided them with. But I was only too well aware that despite all the time and effort I might have invested on their particular case, they could accept my advice and then obtain exactly the same product online at a lower price. Since I was a commission-only agent, my livelihood depended on me making the sale and I was fortunate enough to be able to convince enough people of my worth.

I could ‘close’, but unless the agents, publishers and bookshops start to think more radically about their place in the publishing process, its worth and how they ‘sell’ it, so could they – albeit in an entirely different way.