Smarana Mitra writes on Forbes.com about publishing, calling it “archaic beyond belief” and noting that it “treats its most important asset—the author—badly.” She points out that on a book that costs $24.95 in the store, the author typically gets no more than $1 or $1.50.
What’s the solution for us writers? Mitra thinks its Amazon.com:
“Amazon is poised to revolutionize the book printing business through vertical integration…Assuming that Amazon already pockets 50% of the retail price of a book, it could directly engage with authors and cut out the middlemen: the agent and the publisher. That would free up 30% to 40% of the pie, which can easily be split between Amazon and the author. [If] Amazon becomes the retailer, marketer, publisher and agent combined and takes 65% of the revenues, offering 35% to the author--we end up with a much better, fairer world.”
Her prediction: “Over the next few years, Amazon likely will use its power to build direct relationships with authors and gradually phase out publishers and agents. It will first go after the independent print-on-demand self-publishers and get the best authors from that world. Amazon will then take on the large publishers.”
There are problems with this picture. One is that if Amazon ends up being the 800-pound-gorilla in this game, there’s no guarantee that down they line they won’t squeeze the authors’ share down to its current level. The other is that we still need to get readers to become aware of our book—this is much harder than writing the book. Right now, a lot of exposure comes from book stores. But at the very least, Amazon is waking up and shaking up the publishing industry--and maybe that will motivate publishers to work more closely with their authors for a win-win situation.
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