tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8704984.post3359738358959551373..comments2023-09-25T12:03:00.637+01:00Comments on Tom Morton's Beatcroft: Publishing is dead. Long live the new publishing! A response to Robert McCrumUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8704984.post-19176017160378264912014-03-04T21:23:10.123+00:002014-03-04T21:23:10.123+00:00I didn't just share your incredulity when I re...I didn't just share your incredulity when I read that article too, but I also thought "Where have those folks been the last few years?" Publishing in general may be five years behind the times, but I know full-time authors who saw the writing on the wall in the 1990s, long before e-books, when the big publishers began gobbling up the smaller ones in earnest. They shifted in the ways you describe yourself doing, and most are now still full-time writers - who don't have luxury attics, granted, but are still able to make a living doing what they love.Danny Adamshttp://madwriter.livejournal.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8704984.post-85520746229610262952014-03-04T11:48:04.832+00:002014-03-04T11:48:04.832+00:00After reading the original article, I mostly just ...After reading the original article, I mostly just felt bad for them. While it is hard to have pity, (and while I feel bad for them, pity is not the same thing), it is clear that these folks are lost at sea in a new ocean.<br /><br />Mostly, I just want to shake them a bit and show them how to do it themselves. Are they really so locked up in non-compete clauses that they can't? Are they really so slow at writing that they are unable to publish on a regular schedule? Are they really so bad at self-editing that they can't put out a readable work without the machine of trad publishing behind them?<br /><br />The days of navel-gazing while struggling for weeks to make a single sentence the *perfect* sentence are gone. Now it is about creating a work that people want to read and getting it to them without a great deal of drama. <br /><br />I sure hope they get it soon so they aren't left behind forever.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11111612317795472200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8704984.post-69958661248546424982014-03-03T21:27:03.238+00:002014-03-03T21:27:03.238+00:00I love the idea that the typical author ever enjoy...I love the idea that the typical author <i>ever</i> enjoyed luxury attic conversions or designer prams. (Not of course that anyone would actually enjoy designer prams, if indeed they exist.) My merchant banker friends could indulge such Fouquetian tastes, but even in a bestselling year I never came close to that kind of income. I do have a 10-year-old Toyota, though (bought second hand), and I will admit to shopping at Waitrose, so maybe the tumbrils will roll out for me come the revolution.Dave Morrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14468228790874490693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8704984.post-18400772607210708232014-03-03T11:49:22.073+00:002014-03-03T11:49:22.073+00:00Great comeback to that weirdly out-of-touch articl...Great comeback to that weirdly out-of-touch article.Mark Chadbournhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11966883091639663536noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8704984.post-33301775141964730392014-03-03T09:59:44.078+00:002014-03-03T09:59:44.078+00:00Well said. Besides, in this digital age, a writer ...Well said. Besides, in this digital age, a writer needs a publicist, not a publisher. That can be done efficiently and professionally without hassle.<br /><br />The connection with readers is direct, and with social networks, no need to go expensive luncheons and dinners flooded by people in search of a spotlight.<br /><br />Not only that, the query process will fade away, too. Writers write and readers read. If an agent of publicist wants to join and team up they can search for the writer online. Only, don't bother contacting those Indies who sell thousands books every day 'cause you'll have very little to offer and that 6 digits advance on a 20% royalties is passé.<br />Look instead for those who sell tens of books everyday, they're your target because you can make them sell thousands and enjoy your 15%.<br /> <br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04816281208427405784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8704984.post-29330781340936885302014-03-03T09:21:47.651+00:002014-03-03T09:21:47.651+00:00I read that article with exactly your incredulity....I read that article with exactly your incredulity. It's wallowing in nostalgia and snobbery, utterly convinced in the integrity of a failing model. I'm an emerging writer - I've just self-published a flash fiction collection, and I squeezed in the door with a novel to be published by Quercus in June. It seems to me that there's still value in traditional publishing, but it is tied ever closer to engagement with audiences. The self-pity in McCrum's article beggars belief. Lamenting the loss of a South Bank studio? Unbelievable.Simon Sylvesterhttp://simonsylvester.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.com