Publishing

I appreciate the interesting insight Tom Sumner offered into the details behind book publishing. I learned just how involved publishers are in a project from the very beginning discovery of a manuscript, to the editing and formatting, all the way to production and promotion of the final product.

What I found most interesting was the discussion of the rise of alternative publishing sources. Commercial services offering manuscript formatting and printing are far more readily available for aspiring author-publishers, which could potentially limit the need for publishing companies.

Additionally, the advent of the internet and personal computer offer a much more dynamic alternative source of media consumption. Not only can book manuscripts now be easily compiled and distributed in digital format, but the product of written media has completely morphed to fill new market niches. Writing comes to us for free these days directly from the source: blogs, twitter, social networks and other readily available web sources and digital formats.

So do we even need publishers? The answer, for now at least, seems to be yes if we want to put together a professional product that will get lots of readers. But I feel that this might not always be the case. The development of new portable digital book readers like the Kindle, Nook, iPad and dozens of others, shows that there is an increasing shift in trend towards a more versatile delivery method. Nowhere does it say that written words have to be paper words, and I feel this trend for easier access and dynamic versatility will supersede our love of physical media.