Re: future of publishing

But authors don't get these things from publishers for free. If 
marketing, copyediting, cover images (and indexes) actually sell more 
books then authors are at liberty to commission them from specialists in 
their field. There's no reason why they should be obliged to pay a 
publisher to do it for them.

I recently co-authored a book which was put out by a major global 
publisher. As far as I could tell the only thing they did which we 
couldn't was to market it. As far as I can tell they are not doing it 
very well -- at least, we have had several marketing ideas which they 
don't seem to have followed up. Their communication with us (after 
publication) has been minimal so I don't really know WHAT they are 
doing, but they don't inspire confidence.

Next time I'll probably self-publish and pay a marketing company a few 
grand instead. They would almost certainly do a better job.

If publishers do what they are paid for well, then there is every reason 
to go on paying them. But do they?

Jon.

Marion Gropen wrote:
> Do you then see no role in the future for all of the things that  
> publishers do, besides selection and marketing?
>
> Do you think that the untrained will be able to publish (as in secure  
> editing, copyediting, cover images, and text design/composition) as  
> well as those with years of experience and education behind them?
>
> What about publishers' role as venture capitalists? Investing heavily  
> (see above functions, plus of course, marketing budgets) in many  
> books, and relying on their skill in picking the best to improve the  
> odds of success enough that the AVERAGE result (over a large number  
> of titles) is a decent profit. A single title publisher, or even one  
> with a small catalog, is up against odds that are likely to mean they  
> lose their shirt, even when they do everything right.

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