Change is in the air – thoughts on the future of writing

I got ‘Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance’ for Christmas. The front cover is labeled 25th Anniversary Edition. I always feel my presents beforehand and the anticipation of receiving a book made me feel warm and happy, especially when I thought about the 25 years the book had been in print and how many people had thumbed the pages of that and other books during that time. I opened it and read the back cover, flicking through the pages to get a feel for the style of writing and the size of the font. Then I stacked it with my ‘to read’ books, waiting for five minutes between the turkey and Eastenders to make a start.

This time of year isn’t good for me, too heavy with bad memories. To balance this, I always buy myself an expensive present, some gadget or garment I wouldn’t normally buy. I was sorely tempted to buy a Kindle, but hard-hearted loyalty to the printed matter stopped me and I bought a pair of Oxygen boots instead. Until recently I remained steadfastly convinced that the e-book reader would be a passing phase, as transient as the betamax video player or the minidisc. Then something happened to change my mind.

I’ve been subbing my novel ‘Life: Immaterial’ this year and so far had several requests for the full MS. I’ve printed several copies of the 293 page document and posted them off to the agents and waited with bated breath. The world of the agent is mysterious and unknown to those who are submitting fiction. In our lowest moments we imagine all sorts of grotesque endings to our story of hope: it never arrived/ the agent using it as a doorstop/ the whole agency standing around laughing. Surely it would be easier to submit by email?

I recently received and email from an agent who wished to read my MS. I was informed that the agency now had an e-book reader and that I should email my MS in a format suitable for it. This caused me a short lived dilemma. My novel is meant to be published in a real book that someone can flick the pages of and see the font and experience the turning of the pages. Yet now, it seemed, it would be read on an e-book reader. Suddenly it didn’t seem like such a bad idea. If agents were using them, then I must accept it. So I sent it, in email form, and imagined the agent reading it in a format I had never imagined before.

Then Christmas arrived. I’m a twitter devotee and as the festive season approached lots of my literary friends announced that they had a Kindle. Then my friend who I catch the bus with in the morning produced one. The agent, Twitter, my friend. In every walk of my life, the e-book had arrived.

Then the worry set in. How would fiction be marketed in e-book form? How would writers and genre be represented? How would this work alongside traditional books? How would this change the way I write?

With the help of this excellent blog by Justine Lee Musk I formed my thoughts into something more positive than the negativity of the disappearing book. For a while now I have felt cynical about the power distribution in publishing. I fully understand the dynamic of publishers marketing and contacts as opposed to the isolated creativity of the author and hoped that there would be a fair partnership between the two. Whilst it is true that a book couldn’t be published without the authors words, the emergence of ‘sleb lit’ has somehow underlined the power of marketing: a well marketed piece of badly written anecdote will outsell a badly marketed work of genius.

In many ways, the arrival of on-line, wi-fi, e-book media, with it’s limited marketing power, will provide a benchmarking process for authors. We will have to prove our worth, we’ll have an on-line shop window where we can showcase our work, even without the middle-man of publishing, where the audience can choose for themselves. The e-book has entered the supply and demand market in time to diffuse the publisher/author power dynamic. I’m not suggesting that either will become redundant, but as the media changes and the dust of the recession settles then the dynamics will re-balance and those with the most determination, perseverance, positive influencing skills and, lets face it, talent, will survive. There’s a saying in marketing:

Every morning in Africa a gazelle wakes up.
It knows it must run faster than the lion or it will be killed.
Every morning a lion wakes up.
It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.
It doesn’t matter if you are a lion or a gazelle –
When the sun comes up you’d better be running.

Whilst publishers and agents will hit the ground running, for that’s been their business for years, authors will no longer be able to sit in their garrets shaking their heads and decrying electronic media and blaming selbs for straling the market. The recognition that comes from being published will be available to all through making media available in the most viewable format, but the prize will change and now the audience will decide. The line between publishing and self-publishing is set to become even more blurred than it already is, and the nature of representation may boil down to the ability to sell to the best e-book format providor.

Pesonally speaking, I like to work on the ‘I’ll beleive it when I see it’ premis. Now I’ve seen the e-book supply and demand chain start to run, I’m running with it.