http://thedigitalist.net/2008/03/do-authors-deserve-a-better-deal-from-digital-publishing/ a blog by the digital team at Pan Macmillan Sun, 05 Feb 2012 02:58:30 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 http://thedigitalist.net/2008/03/do-authors-deserve-a-better-deal-from-digital-publishing/comment-page-1/#comment-421 Rob Wed, 19 Mar 2008 12:03:16 +0000 http://thedigitalist.net/?p=111#comment-421 I wouldn't disagree exactly, but I would say that an ingenious person could come up with all sorts of ways of linking authors and readers which didn't use the existing filters of the agent->publisher->retailer supply-chain. Yes it works, currently, but it could certainly be improved upon from a readers' or authors' point of view. Instead of a three-stage filter that whittles down an undifferentiated mass of unpublished manuscripts into the range you see in Waterstone's, I can envisage something electronic that sits between reader and author and functions much more in a match-making role than as a one-size-fits-all filter. It would use reader feedback directly. It would profile readers. I've often thought that two people who share the same favourite ten books, will be able to suggest books that the other will like. If such a thing were ever automated so that a hundred thousand readers were sharing their aggregated suggestions with exactly those other readers most likely to be on the same wavelength, then such a system would far surpass the current process of publishers and retailers clamouring for attention and readers listening to whoever shouts loudest. It would also cost a great deal less. Readers would learn to trust the recommendations they received, which would encourage them to experiment more. In an author-centric or reader-centric world, publishers would never be the ones who help readers choose books, simply because what one publisher suggests the next one will contradict. Publishers are unlikely to settle only for the readers who will love a particular title, when also selling to those who will merely tolerate it, or even hate it, pays vastly more. I've never read a book jacket that warned me off a book. Am I to conclude that all titles are perfect for me? A match-making service capable of helping readers to find writing which perfectly suited them, regardless of what everyone else was reading, would be popular with all readers and all but a few very successful authors. Publishers help readers choose books, but not so well that they should gamble their survival on that fact. I wouldn’t disagree exactly, but I would say that an ingenious person could come up with all sorts of ways of linking authors and readers which didn’t use the existing filters of the agent->publisher->retailer supply-chain. Yes it works, currently, but it could certainly be improved upon from a readers’ or authors’ point of view. Instead of a three-stage filter that whittles down an undifferentiated mass of unpublished manuscripts into the range you see in Waterstone’s, I can envisage something electronic that sits between reader and author and functions much more in a match-making role than as a one-size-fits-all filter. It would use reader feedback directly. It would profile readers. I’ve often thought that two people who share the same favourite ten books, will be able to suggest books that the other will like. If such a thing were ever automated so that a hundred thousand readers were sharing their aggregated suggestions with exactly those other readers most likely to be on the same wavelength, then such a system would far surpass the current process of publishers and retailers clamouring for attention and readers listening to whoever shouts loudest. It would also cost a great deal less. Readers would learn to trust the recommendations they received, which would encourage them to experiment more. In an author-centric or reader-centric world, publishers would never be the ones who help readers choose books, simply because what one publisher suggests the next one will contradict. Publishers are unlikely to settle only for the readers who will love a particular title, when also selling to those who will merely tolerate it, or even hate it, pays vastly more. I’ve never read a book jacket that warned me off a book. Am I to conclude that all titles are perfect for me? A match-making service capable of helping readers to find writing which perfectly suited them, regardless of what everyone else was reading, would be popular with all readers and all but a few very successful authors. Publishers help readers choose books, but not so well that they should gamble their survival on that fact.

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