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

On Mar 25, 2008, at 2:05 PM, Bill Janssen wrote:
> Hmmm.  I certainly ignore Amazon recommendations, and even  
> particular sections of the bookstore already have too many books  
> for me to use that as a guide.  I read by author, or by review  
> (NYRB, New Yorker), or by a friend's recommendation.  This is heavy  
> filtering.  Do you think that, say, the NYRB would "go away" if  
> everything was self-published, and there was a "wash of dreck"?   
> Would the New Yorker stop doing book reviews?


Yes. I think exactly that, since it's already happening all over.  
Major newspapers are simply discontinuing them, or sharply reducing  
their scope. Magazines we used to rely upon are doing the same.  
Websites aren't picking up the slack. I wouldn't be in the least  
surprised to see that the New Yorker followed suit before too many  
years passed, and to see the NYRB go belly up.

Book reviews for public consumption, as vs. those like the all- 
important PW, LJ, Kirkus, . . . that are designed for the industry  
insiders, are not a money maker. If those who make all their money  
from advertisements and sponsorships can't make them pay, I doubt  
that anyone else will.

Given that pronounced and widespread trend, I suspect that the  
filters will have to be at the outlets where people purchase books,  
and the freight will be paid, somehow, by the consumer.

> Is the continued existence of the New York publishing industry  
> essential to both of those sources?

Yes. It's the source of their advertising revenue. No revenue, no  
reviews.

Unfortunately, we book people have learned long since that those ads  
weren't worth buying. And the reviews aren't a very effective sales  
tool either, although the cost of getting one (shipping a comp copy  
to the right reviewers, maintaining in-house lists of same) are  
pretty low.

Ads are a total waste of time and money for books, EXCEPT within  
certain rarely available and clearly definable conditions. NYRB and  
the New Yorker aren't even CLOSE to meeting them.

Reviews aren't a very good sales tool. Haven't been for years.  
They're better than  nothing, and most fiction gets by on them, but  
they just don't move volume.

It's time to start building something that actually focuses on the  
readers, who they are, where they are, what they do, and what they  
want and why.

Good book publicists already do a lot of that, but it's sad to say  
that it tends to be in spite of the author, especially with fiction,  
rather than in concert with him or her. And publicity? It does move  
volume, and cost-effectively. Also without being "obnoxious and  
obvious."

Marion Gropen
Gropen Associates, Inc.
By-The-Question Consulting,  Tools for Publishers, & Classes
www.GropenAssoc.com
Her blog: www.GropenAssoc.com/blog




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