Is this really the enemy?
While I can’t remember a moment in time when I agreed
with Senator Charles E. Schumer on anything, his op-ed piece in the Wall Street
Journal this morning did make me waiver. He wants the DOJ to drop the Apple
E-Books suit. His reaction is based on the Department of Justice’s suit against
Apple and major publishers alleging that they colluded to raise prices in the
digital book market. He says that the suit would wipe out the publishing
industry as we know it, making it much harder for young authors to get
published.
As always Schumer is long on hyperbole and short on
reality. I also take umbrage with the issue of “young” authors getting
published, from my experience the great majority of us self-published writers tend to
be, to use the euphemism, mature and experienced. But he is correct in his
belief that this new media would wipe out the publishing industry; something is
needed to kick it in the ass. As new authors to the game, as well as
represented authors, quickly find out, to be successful requires a strong
back, since you will have to carry everything. What the publisher brings to the
game is dramatically changing and I don’t think they, or us, know what those
changes will be.
Dear reader, contrary to most of what you’ve read and
Schumer seems to believe, for the great majority of authors wanting to be read they set the price of the book. Not
Amazon, not iBooks, not Smashwords or Kobo or even Barnes and Noble. The
self-published author sets the price they want or hope to get. While we all
want to sell our product for the same price as Turow or Clancy, we are
realistic, we sell for what we can get. But we can, in the ebook world, change
the price daily, weekly, offer it for free, give it away, or charge one million
dollars. As always the market will determine the price. But it is also disheartening
to find that when it’s free you will “sell” hundreds, but when it’s at $3.99,
only in ones and twos (true story Charles!).
While there is the usual sop about the future and the
impact on digital platforms what concerns me is the simple act of the
government being involved in the control of the “message” whether it’s Shade of Grey or Dr. Seuss. Not the
words but the price and thence, the access to these words – if you control the price (or
even a threat of control) you control the message. The marketplace is a tough
world and in the end the marketplace will win. I hate to see a world in the
future where books are passed around on thumb drives hidden in the folds of
coats and stuffed in other unmentionable places. To paraphrase, “Is that a gun
in your pocket, or just the latest best seller?”
Editing
Editing of my latest O’Mara thriller, 12th Man 4 Death, is on hold this
week. This week is the Mystery Writers Conference at Book Passage in Marin
County, California. Three and one-half days of murder, mayhem, and CSI stuff
– cool. So you want to be a serious writer of crime novels and thrillers? It’s
always a good idea to be well founded in the facts, so for these few days I’ll
listen to the proper way to die, how to investigate the death, and then make
sure they stay dead. We’ll also look at story, character development, and
firearms. There is also a session on deadly plants and bugs – very cool.
I’ll report on the conference next week and maybe even
Tweet a few times. Look for it @gregorycrandall.
More Later . . . .
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