Comments on: Clashing Perspectives: Coming Home to Roost

By: A book is a book – or is it? | Ebooks on Crack

A book is a book – or is it? | Ebooks on Crack — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 22:52:24 +0000

[...] hardcover sales to decline significantly? This takes us back to the questions raised earlier in Clashing Perspectives: Coming Home to Roost and leaves us in the same [...]

By: A Book Is a Book — Or Is It? « An American Editor

A Book Is a Book — Or Is It? « An American Editor — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 09:00:50 +0000

[...] hardcover sales to decline significantly? This takes us back to the questions raised earlier in Clashing Perspectives: Coming Home to Roost and leaves us in the same [...]

By: Clashing perspectives: coming home to roost | Ebooks on Crack

Clashing perspectives: coming home to roost | Ebooks on Crack — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 00:52:48 +0000

[...] Via An American Editor [...]

By: Rob Preece

Rob Preece — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 16:06:11 +0000

Some good thoughts, Rich. It’s my personal belief and experience that most self-published books are not worth reading at any price, and wading through the slush to find the few pearls is a full-time job (the job title: acquisitions editor). I fear that if you’re right, people will simply stop reading. It’s not like there aren’t other activities that can consume our time. If it becomes impossible to find well produced, edited stories that actually make sense, we’ll all do something else.

I agree that many publishers have contributed to this situation. Being part of big conglomerates has led publishers to focus on cost cutting and also on the “big book” syndrome (e.g., publish the ‘next’ Harry Potter, Da Vinci Code, Twilight, etc.) rather than on producing the best books we can.

One thought about your argument–I don’t think most authors produce books thinking that they’ll offer them for free and that there will NEVER be any income coming. Even those who offer free books believe that they’ll be picked up, that their next book will bring in revenue, that advertisers will find them. As self-publishers increasingly learn that these future opportunities are mythical, fewer books get written. Of course by that time, there are fewer readers to read them, too.