Re: Our "publish then filter" future...

 
  From: Bill Janssen 


  JH writes:   Bill,

  I am not sure you have answered these points;   your comments are quite heavily qualified.


  So, I think what you're saying is (1) most people buy most books at bookstores, and 

  JH:  Most people who buy books probably still do in the US, though on-line stores like Amazon are eating rapidly into that.

  (2) that a bookstore provides a critical "filtering
  for quality" for the reader, and 

  JH:  If you leave out 'quality' then yes;   'quality' is a judgement call. very subjective.    It also depends what is being filtered and why.

  (3) to accomplish that filtering, the
  bookstore operators depend on publishers to sort out the 5% of "good
  stuff" from the rest of the dreck, and 

  JH:  'Drek' is again a judgement and subjective.   Until a useable alternative filtering is developed this is the one that is relied on.   Even with it there are a lot of books to choose from.

  (4) without that two-level filter,
  people will become so disgusted by the amount of junk they encounter,
  they may well not buy books at all. Am I getting that right?

  JH:   That is why they choose to let publishers and booksellers do most of their filtering.

  > If a writer has submitted their book to every publisher they can find,
  > and been rejected by them all, there's likely very good reason: either
  > the book isn't of professional quality or the market for it is so small
  > no publisher can afford to take it on. My experience for the last five
  > years is that most fall into the first category.

  I believe this, but I think that most would-be authors don't know how
  to "find" many publishers, so I think this argument is weaker than it
  sounds.

  Bill

  JH:  That last seems a good point.   But there is also the question of how serious an author is, that he makes no attempt to use the many sources of publisher and agent lists - usually with advice for submission.   So perhaps there is even a question of how one defines authors for these discussions.

  But if the established and well oiled system with a relatively limited numebr of publishers is difficult for them, how will they deal with the proliferation of small publishers?

  Joseph Harris
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