Tuesday Tales:
So for starters, I have to brag. My daughter is a college senior and recently applied to 17 PhD or Masters programs. She was just offered a spot at the University of Nebraska in their doctoral program. Waiting to hear from the other 16. She has also been accepted as a presenter at a conference in her field in San Diego. Of course, my brilliant daughter will probably be the first to publish. Her Independent Research paper is being submitted to journals.
Hey, if you can’t brag about you children whenever and wherever possible, what’s the point of social media? Which brings to my point, social media as a marketing tool for new writers/authors.
Her more reticent Mom’s, that would be me folks (no snickering from those who know me), big accomplishment of the week is setting up a Twitter account. @kvictoriasmith. It is yet another step in building a platform for the day when I, too, can lay claim to the title Published Author. So now I blog, am on Facebook and Twitter.
I can’t say how it will all end up but we stand at the edge of a new world and places like Facebook and Twitter are not only marketing but educational tools. We can teach each other and watch and speculate on trends. After all we are writers, it’s our job to ask what-if.
So here’s the question. What do you think the publishing and bookselling industry will look like in 5 years? 10 years? Will the roles and responsibilities of the author, agent, editor, publisher and publicist change? What about big bookstores, will they even be around? Do they go the way of the music industry, as some have suggested? Do we need any of them in an Amazon/Kindle/B&N/Nook world?
What’s a lowly writer to do to get published and get Henry Cavill to play the hero? Or maybe Alex Skaarsgard. Or even Matt Bohmer. Hmmm, now where was I?
I think the pub industry is going through a paradigm shift now with the e-book revolution. In 5 years, I'm sure the majority of books sold will be in the e-book format. 10 years? I'm guessing nearly all.
ReplyDeleteAs for publishers, I'm a firm believer they aren't going anywhere. Their business models will change, but they will be just as important before - or more so - when we are drowning in indie pubbed books, many readers will gravitate to the big house books to narrow the playing field. I.e. I think many readers have a certain level of trust in big house books regarding quality, style, etc. With indie books, you never know what you'll get. There's some amazing indie books out there, but they get buried by the tsunami of others thrown out there. Just my two-cents worth.