The death of publishing …

• Posted in About Books

There’s been a lot of talk lately about the death of publishing, especially with romance publisher Dorchester possibly dropping its production of mass market books and going to an e-book/print-on-demand model.

You can read about it at Publishers Weekly, and there’s also a good post at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books. Tons of other blogs like Dear Author have also weighed in on this. Do a Google search, and you’ll find plenty to read. However, also according to Publishers Weekly, there is some confusion about exactly what’s going to happen, so take this post with a grain of salt because by the time you finish reading this, something else may have happened or changed.

First of all, let me say that I really feel for all the Dorchester authors out there. To be told that your book will be printed one way and then have this major change thrust upon you, well, it sucks. It just sucks. I would be screaming and pulling my hair out if something like this happened to me.

So how will this affect publishing overall? I don’ t know, but I think it’s the beginning of the end for Dorchester. Ink and paper are big, big expenses, and if Dorchester does in fact drop production of their mass market books, then it will save them some money in those areas.

But by dropping the mass market books, they’re also cutting off an important source of revenue. E-books are growing in sales, but I don’t think those sales will be enough to make up for the lack of mass market sales. What about impulse buys by folks browsing in bookstores? Or at Wal-Mart or even the grocery store? No mass market books means no sales that way. Plus, I just don’t see readers paying $12-$15 for trade books, which is what the Dorchester POD books might be priced at, according to one of the PW articles.

Personally, I don’t mind spending $8 for a mass market paperback. But when the price goes above $12, even if it’s a trade paperback or hardcover, then I think twice about buying it. If it’s something I really, really want, then I shop around. Usually, I end up buying the book at Amazon, just because it seems like they have the best prices on trade paperbacks and hardcovers. For example, I ordered a hardcover of Catching Fire the other day at Amazon because it was less than $10 — and so was Mockingjay.

So I don’t know what the Dorchester news will mean in the long run, but I do know this — it’s an interesting (and scary) time to be in publishing right now because no one knows what the future will bring. I’ve got my fingers crossed that everything works out okay for the Dorchester authors affected by this. I’m sending well wishes your way, folks.

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4 Responses to “The death of publishing …”

    • Jennifer Estep says:

      I don’t care how people choose to read books — paper books or e-books. But I always want the option of the paper books. You’re right — libraries and bookstores just wouldn’t be the same if all the books were e-books. I think part of the magic of just seeing all those books in one place and being able to look through them would be lost.

  2. Dewey says:

    Everything in life is going digital, but I wouldn’t worry about it…then again, I’m just a consumer, not a producer.

    I would assume people who read are also people who are well-educated. There’s no way you can avoid reading on a machine called a computer. Perhaps, this change of venue is for the better? Computer has changed alot for literacy.

    • Jennifer Estep says:

      Yeah, everyone is going digital, but not everyone is there yet — especially when it comes to e-readers. I won’t be able to read Dorchester books because I don’t have an e-reader — and I don’t want to read them on my computer.

      I guess what I was trying to say is that it’s sad that there will be less paper books in the world — and that I really sympathize with the authors that this is affecting.

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