While I'd much rather discuss how to write well or what to do to keep your fans happy, the truth is that the publishing industry is changing at such a fast pace that it's hard to keep up these days. In my earlier 5-part series on the future of Christian bookstores in Canada, I looked at the difficulties facing bookstores. But of course, that's just the tip op the iceberg. Some of the things that have led to bookstore closures, and ultimately to distributor meltdowns, are the fact that:

1. Books can be returned, in whatever condition, reusable or not. Or, if they're mass market, booksellers simple rip the covers off and throw the rest out. This is bad on several levels, not the least of which is the number of trees sacrificed for books that are never going to be read.

2. The quest these days is not for the most amazing writing but for the most salable book. Especially in the Christian marketplace, it's about platform and marketability. And who cares if the writing is good or not? (Now, I know that any time one generalizes, there are also exceptions, and that's the case here as well. There are exceptions. But even those people would have to agree that the bottom-line has settled into "make money," and "art" is not so much sought-after. Funny, in the Christian publishing arena, the problem used to be that the message was the most important thing and art a very distant second. Now, it's will it sell? Not an improvement.)

The result of this focus is that publishers have essentially become gamblers. They pay a huge advance for a book on a "hot" topic or a current celebrity, and gamble that the subject alone will sell lots of books. Sometimes they win; more often they lose. And meanwhile, solid mid-list authors with decent readership have been getting jerked around and treated like lepers while ten or twenty publishers all go after the current big name who they think can sell more books.

3. Money is the touchstone as to whether books get promoted or not. When you go into your bookstore and see a huge display of one book right at the doorway, or a bunch on the nearest wall at 40% off for brand new books, those books aren't there because they're great books, but because the publisher paid for them to be placed there.

What will change these things?

Some years ago my husband wrote an article called "Reengineering the Church," which was published in Cell Life FORUM. While the focus was on why churches would change, I think the principles are the same. He's given me permission to reprint a section of the article here:

"Since change is usually accompanied by pain, why would anyone choose to do it? Michael Hammer says there are three reasons to change:

1) Desperation. Leaders realize that they are about to go out of business if they don’t change something. Many companies will go bankrupt if they don’t cut costs – and that often means cutting jobs. With fewer people to do the work, leaders come to realize that they MUST do things in a radically different way if they are to survive. Reengineering has come to have a bad name because it is so often associated with job cuts. However, in most cases the reengineering was a result of the job cuts  – and proponents would say that it was necessary to preserve the rest of the jobs in the company.

2) Anticipated changes. Leaders recognize that major change is about to hit – and they want to react before it happens. This is actually much harder – nobody likes to be a prophet of doom – ”the sky is falling, the sky is falling!” And the simple fact is most people won’t change until pain causes them to do it. On the positive side, however, people who can see trends coming and react to them in advance can avoid a great deal of the pain.

3) Leveraging success. The third reason companies reengineer is that they are doing well but they want to do even better. They want to increase their success to please their shareholders or perhaps even 'crush the competition.'

"How does this apply to the church? Obviously, then, reengineering the church implies that we make radical changes in the church for the purpose of dramatic improvement….Our traditions and practices shouldn’t be sacred. Reengineering – change – shouldn’t frighten us. Rather, as we realize that there are ways we can serve God better, we should move forward with great excitement!" (article copyright Les D. Lindquist – click here to read the entire article)

Or, in our case, make radical changes to the publishing industry for the purpose of dramatic improvement so that we can serve God better.

My husband works in change management for a large international company and teaches seminars on the subject, so change is "normal" for him. And, truth to tell, he and I are both futurists, neither shying away from or trying to stop change, but rather running forward to embrace it, even working to make it happen.

But, enjoy it or not, change is happening.

Consider this excerpt from an article in the September Maclean's Magazine:

New imprint rewrites the rule book: Rebel imprint: HarperStudio won't pay up front or do returns

"HarperStudio, based in New York City, was created in April by Robert Miller, the former publisher of Hyperion. It's a bold experiment in an industry whose wonky business plan could have been engineered by the Politburo. Gone are the big-dollar advances paid to authors; in return for less money up front, authors will receive royalties as high as 50 per cent (versus 15 per cent currently), as well as some profit sharing. Miller made the change because paying up front is costly for publishers when books bomb, he says. 'Advances have skyrocketed but sales haven't grown.'

"Even more radical is HarperStudio's proposed no-return policy with booksellers. Right now, of all the books printed, between 25 and 35 per cent are returned to the publisher for credit. Eliminating returns has been tried before — but never successfully. In 1980, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Inc. announced it would give retailers larger discounts, but end returns. Orders fell off, however, and the publisher had to reverse itself. Miller says the climate's different now, though.

"Nor will HarperStudio pay for prime placement in major book stores, another standard industry practice. Instead, it plans to generate buzz through the Internet. Movie trailers are the model. "You'll see authors blogging about the book pre-publication," says Miller. So watch for Emeril to start blogging about his first book soon. The topic is indoor and outdoor grilling — a fitting start for Miller's controversial new imprint, which will likely face its own share of heat."

You also might want to read this article on the same subject.

God already has a plan. Instead of resisting change, maybe those of us who want to see a viable, life-changing Christian publishing industry need to tap into his creativity and start leading the way.

 

 

 

 

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