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Originally Posted by Kali Yuga
The problem isn't that publishers aren't "keeping up with the times." They've adapted reasonably well to many industry changes such as online and discount-chain sales (e.g. Walmart), and POD.
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Now, some have, some haven't. I've read over the years about publishers who are embracing new technologies (ebooks, authonomy, POD), new author relationship models (eg. ditching advances and raising royalty percentages), etc - and those who seem to be reluctantly accepting the new technologies but not changing their business models at all.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kali Yuga
The problem is that it's quite plausible, although not yet certain, that reducing the wholesale price for a high-margin book could destroy their profit margins.
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OK. Won't argue there
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kali Yuga
I might add that I have a sneaking suspicion that at least some of the people who deride an industry for failure to adapt to a disruptive technology would not be too thrilled if it was their industry, livelihood and/or profits that were under threat.  This is quite evident, for example, when you examine how negatively programmers and IT workers react to their own jobs getting outsourced to India. |
First - I think individual workers more deserving of sympathy when changing world markets kill their jobs, because businesses are supposed to have people qualified to recognise these issues and help them react. Individuals can't always have the know-how to do that. HOWEVER... I'm in IT. I'm an ex-programmer. Years ago I saw the writing on the wall for my particular little specialty, and moved slowly into technical writing. Not JUST because I thought it most likely to survive as a local industry, but that was a big factor. Why would tech writing survive? Because it requires local knowledge, local language, and a high degree of technical know-how. So, you know, I'm speaking as someone who thinks that individuals really should move with the times and continually watch the trends, too. I think I'm fairly consistent in my opinion on this.