I’ve actually thought about putting a burned CD in the print versions. Thing is, I’m as frightened of piracy as anybody (maybe more, because I’m alone), so I might not put in a code, but I would put in a CD. Still on the fence with it, though…

Extending the metaphor, the big houses should look to self and small publishers as farm teams where talent can be discovered and developed and new markets explored with little risk.

They’re already doing it. Quietly. IMO, what they want are semi-decent works with authors who are proven self-marketers. If the editing’s sufficient, they don’t even have to do much to that. Slap a new cover and ISBN on it and distribute it.

@Karlene

IMO, the goal of the big publishers and smaller presses, is to kill or, if that’s not possible, greatly impede the progress of ebooks. Prohibitive pricing is an excellent strategy to that goal.

As far as why the ebook format isn’t automatic for all new books, I think it’s because A) ebooks in all their forms are a giant mystery, B) they think an ebook has to look like the printed page, and the designers/typesetters don’t want to lose their jobs, and C) they’re scared of piracy. Personally, I think C is a valid fear—I fear it too—but ebooks are here. They can evolve with them and have a hand in their evolution or they can die. Not my or your problem.

In Galleycat’s micro summary of the eBook Summit, there was this quote:

Dan Costa (PC Magazine): “What can writers do to survive?”
Matt Shatz (Random House): “Write Code.”

I about fell off my chair laughing because that’s what you and I and Eugene have done.

But I’ll tell you where that job should go—the designers and typesetters.

On the ebook tangent– I don’t know why the ebook format isn’t automatic for all new books, nor (here’s my rant) why those ebooks are so expensive—except to cover the ginormous advances paid to authors. The cost to produce an ebook vs a paper and ink book is minimal. I’m shocked that some small presses are pricing their ebooks at the same price as the trade paperback version. And now, some of Kindles new releases are $14.95? That is just ridiculous!

When it comes to publishing, I would suggest baseball’s farm team system as an analogy. Way down in the bush leagues, in terms of raw opportunity costs, players are pretty much paying to play. By the time they get to double and triple-A, well-run teams turn a profit–by putting on fan-centered shows at prices fans can afford.

They’re not making the big bucks, but they get by. It’s in the self-interest of the major leagues that they get by so cultivated talent can rise to the top. Extending the metaphor, the big houses should look to self and small publishers as farm teams where talent can be discovered and developed and new markets explored with little risk.

The beauty of such a system now is that keeping the “box scores” is so easy with the current technology.

the assumption that readers will simply buy what they’re told to

I know it! Hubris, ignorance, or contempt? Who knows?

@Magdalen

Brilliant, as always. Insert the Amen Chorus here. Really.

I don’t recognize the 80% of the authors because no one else bothers with them. Their publishers may have thought those books worthy as fodder for the masses (in which case it’s the writers of the back cover blurbs who are really earning their salaries, not the editors), but not worthy of any sort of marketing. Or, at least, any marketing I ever see.

And I’m done taking the blame. I feel I do my homework as a consumer of romances. I can tell which 20% of authors are worthy of my notice. I no longer think there’s a gem in all those Who Is This? novels at B&N — instead, I assume there isn’t a five-star, grade A book hiding in plain sight on those shelves.

So, I’m with you, Moriah — publishers should stop going for quantity and start concentrating on quality. If they say, “Oh, but we think all our books are equally wonderful,” they get the look. The look that says, “You are so full of it — you know which authors are selling and which are not.”

And no more paperbacks? Are you kidding me? What is this: Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451? I know I’ll get an e-reader eventually, but I think paperbacks are around for a long time. Let’s just make them GOOD paperbacks reads.