The juggernaut of Stephenie Meyer’s “Twilight” series could not overcome the overpowering effects of a global recession last year as publishers sold fewer books in 2008 than the year before, according to the Book Industry Study group, a trade association.
–Motoko Rich, Falling Sales Cast Gloom at an Expo
Rich then presents the numbers, “Publishers sold 3.08 billion copies in 2008, down 1.5 percent from the 3.13 billion copies sold the previous year, according to Book Industry Trends 2009, an annual report that analyzes sales in the United States. Higher retail prices helped to lift net revenue just 1 percent, to $40.3 billion from $39.9 billion.”
Yet it was the last lines of Rich’s article that caught my attention and consciousness, “The data examined sales of electronic books for reading devices like Amazon.com’s Kindle or Sony’s Reader Digital Book. In the adult trade segment, for example, net revenues for e-books totaled $113 million, up nearly 7 percent from $105 million in 2007. Publishers have cited increases much higher than that.”
Whether we like it or not, the digital age has consumed publishing and writing. Authors and would-be authors must get on board. This is not a question of whether we like what is happening or despise it. Rather our responses and actions must reflect adjustment, adaptation, ultimately change.
And if we are to take our cues from the old guard of the publishing industry, what most stands out is that perhaps we want to avoid the slowness with which they have responded. Perhaps it is hubris or simply the desire not to change.
Common sense tells me that no one welcomes change when those alterations mean lost revenue which was the central them of the Rich’s article. Then again, I wonder what could have happened, how publishers might be feeling if someone within the industry had developed a Sony Reader or Kindle?
Then again that would have taken a bit of forward thinking.
Authors and would-be authors would do well to use a little bit of ingenuity when considering how we might connect with readers.
What have you done as a writer to greet the digital age?
How are you using the advancements of the digital age to further your success as a writer or author?
How do you feel about how the digital age is affecting publishing?
Great post!
Yes, we as authors, booksellers and publishers better wake up to the fact digital technology is here to stay and shouldn’t be ignored. Personally, I’m thankful for the digital age of publishing and I hope it opens up new avenues for authors and writers who have been long ignored by the mainstream publishers.
Thanks Charles. Digital technology is here to to stay and we as authors must use it 110% to our advantage, which if you think about it, takes much of the subjectivity out of getting your stories out there.
Again I appreciate your comments.