A few days ago I came across an article written by author Roy Connoly explaining why he’s embracing e-books and self-publishing. It’s a good article, and I recommend reading it all. From the article:
“I’m now Ray Connolly, writer, editor-in-chief and head of marketing of Plumray Books, and any one of the 2 billion computer-owning people in the world who wants to read my new novel, The Sandman, can do so at the click of a mouse. It’s being serialised chapter by chapter on mywebsite where, over the next 10 weeks, it will build like a part-work. In the words of a friend, I’m “doing a Dickens”.”
The article didn’t go unnoticed, and within a week there was a response from Ursula Mackenzie, chair of the Trade Publishers Council.
I have to admit that I’m biased, but Mackenzie’s arguments seem pretty thin. Her arguments are basically:
- Without an advance, writers could work on their novel full time (unpublished writers everywhere just snorted into their beverage. Very rarely do any of us have the luxury of writing ‘full time’.)
- Authors won’t be able to figure out how to protect their work from pirates. (Amazon includes DRM on their work, and many authors see the benefit of opening up their books as part of a marketing campaign.)
- And then the ever ‘how will we be able to wade through all the ‘garbage’ that makes it onto Amazon. Something we’ve already talked about on this site several times.
For whatever reason, I think it’s human nature to find the need to pick sides. We have to fall into the e-book camp, or the traditional camp. I probably sound like I’m coming from the e-book camp simply because I talk about it so much on this site. However, I fall firmly into the ‘there is room for both’ camp. Yes, the publishing industry will end up going through some pretty drastic changes, but we don’t have to fear e-books. There is room enough for both.
