Quote:
Originally Posted by SolRaven
I don't know if this has been mentioned in this thread, but I believe part of the reason publishers are so resistant to ebooks is because other than marketing, authors won't need them to distribute their digital copies. As an author you might find it hard to give a publisher a cut of the profit of the book that you just spent a year writing when you can publish it your self digitally.
|
While I agree that an all ebook world (if it ever exists) will greatly limit the role of the publisher, I think it is unfair to suggest that marketing is all they would have left to do. Personally I think that the most valuable role that publishers traditionally do is the editing of the book; i.e., and we are not talking about just correcting spelling and grammar errors either. Ideally we are talking about helping the author trim and tighten their manuscript (And in some places adding to it). A couple authors have published "uncut" versions of some of their books... often I think to the detriment of the original published version.
Now that being said, there is no particular reason why editors need to be tied to publishers. I can imagine a world where editors are free lancers who are hired by authors before they they finally self publish their books. But even then I am sure publishers might have other valuable roles.
--
Bill