Future of Publishing

The Author Produced Book

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With he advent of self-publishing and the technology and platforms that have emerged to make this possible, we have already seen a massive number of new books coming directly from authors. They are publishing in digital format and using POD services to get their works into the marketplace. Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Apple iBooks have been leaders in facilitating this movement.

But readers are finicky and I have already heard many complaints through online forums about the poor quality of many self-published books.

I believe we have seen an extreme swing from big publishing houses producing books to authors producing their own. In the future, I believe the middle ground will involve an emerging industry of small and independent publishers or technology specialists, who will aid authors in publishing their works.

 

Why I’m Here – Jane Friedman

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I am here because, as much as my career has revolved around the reading, writing and publishing of books, the book, as a content delivery mechanism (whether print or digital), has limitations. The book, in fact, has become very disappointing in comparison to other things I can learn, do and experience through other mediums. While the book has become a shadow of its former self partly because of how often the form has been exploited and overproduced for profit (for the slightest and most banal of ideas), mostly I just see it as a less compelling way— even a last resort — for sharing ideas. I would rather attend a conference, I would rather read and write online articles, I would rather interact on social media (the horror!).

It doesn’t have to be this way. I still thrill at reading a beautifully written passage that fundamentally shifts how I see myself and the world—something that reminds me that most of what I know and believe has in fact come from a lifetime of unforgettable long-form reading experiences. In fact, every one of my major life changes can be traced back to a very influential book.

But the basic physical form of a book, as well as its direct digital corollary, the e-book, has not been successfully integrated into the larger digital network we are all immersed in. I ponder this question every day: Does the book belong apart, or outside, of this network, for a focused and sustained reading experience that is quiet and solitary, demanding reflection? Or does it belong inside the stream? Or perhaps it exists in both places at once, and we shift modes based on need and desire.

When I attend writers’ conferences, I often tell writers to think beyond the book, to think instead of the story or message they wish to share, rather than focusing on a particular container. There has been so much aspirational focus on writing and publishing a book without consideration for the many other ways we can share ideas in the digital age. I am here to think more deeply about the purpose of the book (to question its very definition), and to explore its place in the ecosystem of ideas, communication and collaboration.

Digital storage

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With the inevitable future of mass storage of digitally archived materials, the key will be to use properly supported data centers for the housing and protection of the valuable information.  With more libraries and universities looking at this as a way to support the masses, they also need to have strong backup plans for the possbility of diaster.  Good recovery plans make it viable for libraries to get their networks back on line for the continued access but also for the protection of their valuable materials for the public and students to re-gain access to the needed information.  With many companies, hospitals, libraries and education facilities, this information is the life-blood of the establishment and without it, this can impact their research as well as (sometimes) their financial bottom line.  Schools and universities are using this more as a selling tool for having these avaialable online resources for both on-campus students as well as for their distance education programs.

Searching for what to read…

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As many people now are used to “Google” or “Safari” for the searching of key-words, this seems to be the next way for the finding of reading materials.  Many people are already using these same vehicles for the finding of “how to” videos, music as a reference for band classes, encyclopedia-like information on forums like “Wikipedia” for even class notes from a digitally published university lecture.  The key to this is not only the title or author of the materials but now the use of Metadata or metatags which is embedded information within the digital file name that assists in the search for key words.  Adding information about publishers, subject matter, date of lecture or just key terms that cover the salient points of the book or article all help in the search criteria being looked at by the reader.

In future search engines and web portals for reading materials and resources, the portal developer as well as the publisher needs to take careful consideration to this to ensure that their materials are found by the target viewers.

The future of reading

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In this age of constant immersion into the digital realm, more and more people are using the digital devices for the exploration and education of them selves.  As more and more content becomes more readily available, this method grows exponentially.  It allows the young to see words during interactive experiences through gaming and start to formulate a visual language by the continual exposure.  The schools adopting digital reading methods for text books provide an easy way to give information to the masses without the need to store volumes of materials.  The pervasive use of visual reading mediums such as laptops, tablets, phones, etc. make the opportunity to carry many different books, magazines, reference materials and the like with them at all times for immediate and easy access.  Publishing materials in the digital realm also allows the opportunity to get materials to the masses much easier than the shipping of heavy volumes.  Third world countries can now access digitially published materials in their own language where this was cost prohibitive in the past.

This seems to be the logical path into the future for the easy mass distribution of reading materials.

The Russian Oligarch Affair, Chapter One (Part three)

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Andromeda’s neck ached, tension mostly. The old lady who had just left might once have been an informal baby-sitter for her Uncle and her Mother, while there had been a discreet meeting of those who happened to be parents, but there was no way that she could ever be just an old friend of the family.
It must, she reflected, be bad enough if you were part of that family, whatever else you were able to do. Olympic equestrian, or flying a rescue helicopter, however much it depended on you own ability, people would see you as part of that family. Well, she had her own version of that, but enough of her family had reputations built on what they had done, rather than what they had inherited, that she could cope with it. She rubbed at her neck again.
Her Uncle looked tired as he came up the staircase towards her. He looked at her, and smiled slightly. “It seems almost too simple. Simple ideas always have complicated details, even when they work.”
She nodded back. “I think we have to be involved in some of the dodgy stuff.”
“It would be hard not to be, but Hugh is right. The logistics needed to handle that amount of money would be insane. Your young man should go far.”
“My young man?”
The smile turned into a grin. “He is his own man, of course, just like your father. And he wouldn’t be where he was if he was a neer-do-well.” Her Uncle looked back down the stairs. “It’s an uncomfortable thought, that somebody you have known for so long is resorting to a conspiracy theory. Remember to get your phone sanitised.”
Andromeda nodded. “My father used to put a fresh magazine in his pistol every morning, give the feed spring a chance to rest.” She chuckled. “I can’t legally carry a gun, but |I make sure my iPhone is loaded with clean code, and that’s maybe just as illegal. I wouldn’t call myself a hacker.”
“You grew up with computers. I did not.” He shrugged. “But I am not stupid. Don’t write off us old folks.”
He seemed to be walking a little bit more easily as she watched him go up the next flight of stairs. He had insisted the house had elevators when it was built. He had only used them the year he had broken his leg.
Her neck was feeling a little better now. She headed for her room.

Breakfast was traditional, and would not have been out of place a century before. Maybe the modern servings were smaller. Most people didn’t need the energy, no longer walking so much and having central heating. Andromeda was not so idle. Neither was Hugh, and he could be so energetic.
He was far better groomed when he entered than he had been when Andromeda had last seen him, and his scent was rather different too. You could hardly say anything was secret, but she didn’t really care. The household staff liked him, even without her obvious, and enthusiastic, approval. He managed to fit in and, oh boy, didn’t he fit in well.
“You young people should remember to get some sleep.”
Nobody replied. Dakin set down the coffee pot and enquired if Mr. Powell desired his usual breakfast. Mr. Powell indicated that an extra rasher of bacon would be appreciated.
Andromeda buttered another round of toast. “Hugh, I do not believe that story about the planeload of money at Sheremetyevo.”
He nodded. “It sounds like a plot for a cheap movie. I remember at Sandhurst…” He reached for the coffee pot and launched into a long story about a fellow cadet who had obviously been watching the wrong movie on the night before an exercise. Andromeda listened carefully: she had been trained by the Army Union, and then selected for the Landing Force, and the style was different. But not so different where it mattered. “…but I was the one who got the bollocking even though my plan worked. I wasn’t in control, they said.”
It was a new story to her. “That’s a fair point,” she murmured. “Do you think your platoon could make it work?”
He grinned. “The last time I was on exercise, I sat down in the middle of my briefing, told them a sniper had just blown my brains out, they should get on with things, and then I started reading a book.” He shrugged. “They did OK. The book wasn’t so good.”
“Sheremetyevo,” prompted Gonville Bellman.
“A plane left twenty billion Euro there, in cash, and the consignee has never turned up to collect. You know what you can buy with that much money, or what you need to sell. I figured around two hundred million tons of crude oil.”
“That’s a lot.”
“Yes,” agreed Gonville. “Very rough figures, but call it six hundred tanker movements. Or about 40% of total annual oil tanker shipments.”
“I expect the con game is looking for a mark too dumb to add up the figures.” Andromeda murmured her thanks to Dakin and attacked her breakfast. “I wonder what we will not be looking at while we hunt a money laundering operation big enough to own a government.”

Authors and the allure of scarcity

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As we see scores of amateur authors invest enormous amounts of time and effort to build audiences through social media, perhaps we’ll see more successful authors withdraw from these activities completely. Chuck Palahniuk and Jeffrey Eugenides come to mind as examples of authors who are not nearly as reclusive as J.D. Salinger or elusive as Thomas Pynchon, but do strategically avoid overexposure.

I can imagine a future in which participation in or abstinence from social media becomes a generally agreed-upon marker of stature and cultural value. In a world where constant media exposure is almost obligatory, mannered obscurity might be the only way to really get noticed.

The question, of course, is whether these authors will need to use social media and similar platforms to become name brands in the first place. Maybe these media will be a tool exclusively for early-career or undiscovered authors, and once established, the online presence will gradually wither, then disappear entirely.

The future of the book is interactive, social and integrated with physical reality

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Part of the current conception of a book is fixed text that a reader proceeds through in a pre-determined order. We may find books becoming more interactive, with more detail presented on characters or storylines that a given reader finds more interesting. We may also find books becoming more social, with the opportunity to discuss your thoughts on the book with a community of like-minded individuals as you read it. We may find that authors can receive real-time feedback on books and then adjust the text based on people’s responses, creating a better product overall. Finally, I think we will be seeing the content of books integrated more with physical spaces, where if you are in a particular location or context (e.g., on a bus versus reading at home) you receive a different reading experience.

Finding books through communities

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While I think intelligent predictions of which books people will like will become more sophisticated over time, I think in the future the social element of reading will be a huge factor in which books people choose. People will form niche communities around their particular literary tastes, and use those communities to find new books. This is a good example of the long tail, where with the growth of Web 2.0 technologies, people can now find like-minded individuals across the world for any set of tastes and preferences.

Ubiquitous reading in the future

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Technologies are increasingly becoming ubiquitous and tangible. Instead of needing to visit a computing device in a fixed location to access digital content, people now carry around tablets and mobile phones and have access to content at any time and anywhere. While I think there will still be a place for e-readers in the future, I think we will increasingly be seeing information further and further integrated into the physical world. With the growth of augmented reality devices such as Google Glass, people may soon be reading virtual text by using contact lense-like devices to overlay it over the physical world. One might also imagine digital text built in to large-scale physical objects like walls, so people can navigate through a book much in the same way they move through physical installations like museums.

Dan Gillmor Interviews Author Barry Eisler

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Barry Eisler writes terrific thrillers. He’s also one of the more forward-looking people in the publishing world. Several years ago he turned down a book deal from a traditional publisher and signed with Amazon. In this conversation, we discuss how it’s gone, and how publishing is changing, especially for authors.