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Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg
...self-publishing tends to be concentrated, and even confined, to a few genres -- mostly those where research is unimportant and books gain traction without favorable signed mainstream media reviews.
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Well, of course.
Indie publishing is all about money.
It's *all* about commercial genre books.
(Or, if you want to sound all insider-like, consumer trade publishing economics.)
(And, of course, all publishing is about money, in the end.
)
Authors take on the added functions of a publisher because it makes economic sense to do so. And it makes more sense in the high volume commercial genres like romance, mystery and thrillers, and SF&F, where reader purchases are price constrained so that by bypassing the gatekeepers authors can set lower retail prices and come out ahead thanks to the higher margins of indie publishing. It also makes enormous sense in genres that are vastly underserved by the establishment, like erotica.
Conversely, it makes less sense for genres where sales are inherently low and/or depend on validation by acclaim (awards and such), like litfic, or authoritativeness, as in self-help and non-fiction, to sell. Indie publishing such titles would undoubtedly increase the author's margin but at the cost of the validation conferred by the establishment. And since sales volume in those genres isn't price dependent but rather depends on that validation those authors can't really choose the Indie road until the review and awards establishment worldview changes. Which won't be soon. Most likely, they'll have to wait for the current generation of authoritative validators dies off.
Indie publishing is flourishing because the economics of genre publishing are changing in ways that no longer depend or even require the strengths of traditional publishing houses. Or, more telling, no longer require tolerating the *limitations* of traditional publishers in time to market, formats, genre boundaries, release schedules and what-not. In today's world getting DUNE to market wouldn't require years to find a publisher willing to bet on a giant unitary novel set in some undefined future that drops readers in an unknown culture with neither a guide nor a dictionary. Instead, he could have simply hired a professional editor, picked out a generic desert pic from creative commons, and released the book to slowly build an audience by review and word of mouth, which is *exactly* what Chilton (a publisher of automotive catalogs, not a bastion of literature) did for him. Different times.
The fact that indie publishing is so well attuned to the needs and skills of genre authors is reflected in the extent of its penetration into the genre markets; knowledgeable observers would expect deeper penetration in price-constrained markets where series of relatively short works are predominant and where author treatment and royalties are notoriously poor. One would expect second-tier traditional publishers dependent on genre titles to feel the impact of the new market realities long before the highly diversified multinational monsters like the Randy Penguin. And, not surprisingly, that is exactly what we're seeing: Harlequin is (deservedly) in outright decline and Kensington's Kozlowski is freaked out, running around looking to delegitimize indie titles and authors, or at least ghetto-ize them, trying to turn back the clock.
On the other hand, the multinationals are still doing killer business off the strength of their legacy brand name authors, as demonstrated by Hachette and its latest financial report, propped up by books from authors who made their name (and fortunes) before the indie publishing evolution.
http://www.the-digital-reader.com/20...total-revenue/
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From the tone of the email it would seem that Hachette success was attributed less to good business and more to having picked the right best sellers:
HBG profit “was significantly higher than 2012, thanks to several bestsellers,” states Lagardère’s press release. CEO Michael Pietsch said, “following a challenging 2012, 2013 was a strong year for HBG, with 6% growth in net sales and higher growth in profit.” HBG’s digital sales were up 33% over the prior year, and represent 30% of the company’s overall sales. HBG broke its bestseller record in 2013, with 206 print and 84 ebook titles on the New York Times bestseller list, including 52 #1 bestsellers. The major releases driving the company’s sales for 2013 include THE CUCKOO’S CALLING by Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling), THE LONGEST RIDE by Nicholas Sparks, ALEX CROSS, RUN by James Patterson and David Ellis, DAVID AND GOLIATH by Malcolm Gladwell, THE HIT by David Baldacci, THE GOLDFINCH by Donna Tartt, and I AM MALALA by Malala Yousafzai.
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When people talk of traditional publishers "dying" they aren't really talking of the corporate giants, those will be with us long after they stop publishing anything but celebrity bestsellers. Rather, it is the second and third tier publishers that are at risk of dying or having to sell themselves to the multinationals. The current era of consolidation isn't going to be limited to glass tower gang but will instead mostly decimate every other traditional publisher between them and the "art house" niche players. And the reason for this is that, outside the BPHs, it is genre books that pay the bills in between the occasional "lottery winner" releases.
Indie publishing may be "only" about commercial genre titles but those commercial genre titles is where the money is. And without that money, the dominoes start to wobble.