Are books dead, and can authors survive?

[Lily]

"At the Edinburgh international book festival this weekend, Ewan Morrison set out his bleak vision of a publishing industry in terminal decline. Here's a shortened version of his argument.

Will books, as we know them, come to an end?

Yes, absolutely, within 25 years the digital revolution will bring about the end of paper books. But more importantly, ebooks and e-publishing will mean the end of "the writer" as a profession. Ebooks, in the future, will be written by first-timers, by teams, by speciality subject enthusiasts and by those who were already established in the era of the paper book. The digital revolution will not emancipate writers or open up a new era of creativity, it will mean that writers offer up their work for next to nothing or for free. Writing, as a profession, will cease to exist."

www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/aug/22/are-books-dead-ewan-morrison

[bubblegum91]

I just had the image of every writer pulling at their collars and gulping like on the Simpsons!

[charlotte]

Thing is some writers have always given up their writing for next to nothing - being an author unless you are a mid-bestseller is unlikely to become a day job.

Romance moved over to ebooks before most other genres and both it and its authors are surviving.

This like with music etc will probably give Indie authors a shot.

[Richard]

I believe it will just evolve as most everything else. Quality writers will always be in demand, but the medium they use may change.

Vinyl albums may have been replaced by the cassette, cd, Mp3, etc,. but the music lives on.

[Lily]

It's safe to say that the days of huge advances and the likes of Stephen King and JK Rowling are finished. As for ebooks, they're so easy to pirate, (mine included ) and there's nothing the publishers can do about it. File sharing is not illegal. It's no different from what the public libraries are doing. So given these hard facts, I don't see how writers can make much money anymore.

Technically, we're in violation of copyright when we buy a book and then pass it along to our mother, after we've read it. This, of course, as Bill Gates found out, vis a vis MS software, is totally unenforceable. ;D

www.themillions.com/2010/01/confessions-of-a-book-pirate.html

www.hongkiat.com/blog/20-best-websites-to-download-free-e-books/

chronicle.com/article/Publishers-Ask-File-Sharing/63670/

[Richard]

Aug 31, 2011 10:58:47 GMT -5 Lily said:

It's safe to say that the days of huge advances and the likes of Stephen King and JK Rowling are finished. As for ebooks, they're so easy to pirate, (mine included ) and there's nothing the publishers can do about it. File sharing is not illegal. It's no different from what the public libraries are doing. So given these hard facts, I don't see how writers can make much money anymore.

I certainly agree with that.

I just don't view writing as a way to be famous or wealthy, so I look at it from a more personal approach than say a business one.

[Lily]

Aug 31, 2011 11:25:04 GMT -5 Richard said:

I just don't view writing as a way to be famous or wealthy, so I look at it from a more personal approach than say a business one.

And very wise too. There were always huge odds stacked against a writer ever getting into the big time. About on a par with the chances of winning a lottery. And I believe that's about a 14 million to one shot. ;D

There were writers who either didn't want to, or just were unable to see the writing on the wall. (Pun not intended) I recall a few years ago when I suggested on a forum that the publishing industry as we'd known it was as good as finished, with bookstores closing down in droves, etc., I was attacked and insulted. Another piece of the Holy Grail I challenged was that a new writer MUST have an agent. Utter bollocks!

While it's good to stay the course, we also have to be able -- in the interests of our own survival -- to switch tracks and diversify. Those who fail to grasp this concept are destined to go the way of the dinosaur.

There's always someone gains from an upheaval of this sort, and this time it's the reader. He will enjoy the convenience of an unlimited selection, right from his computer, and all for free! What not to like about that?

The times they are a changing.
www.marketwatch.com/story/are-bookstores-doomed-2010-08-17

[Lily]

What it boils down to is unless the pleasure is in the process, there isn't much point in writing. Of course, it was always that way. Only now it's a bit more so.

[avery]

The gravy train just dried up for writers. They better learn to be content with leftovers and scraps.

[raemorgan]

The net's pretty well finished artists and musicians as well.

[avery]

Artists are hard hit too. Now instead of hiring an artist for an article or story the editor just pops on line and has the choice of thousands of images, many of which are in the public domain and free or available for a very nominal cost.

[Edward]

This was a really good post. I wonder though if anything has really changed? A truly good story that's well written, it seems, will find its way to readers and the movie industry.

I don't know if that's absolutely true, but it seems like it should be.

[Richard]

Sept 20, 2011 0:21:00 GMT -5 Edward said:

This was a really good post. I wonder though if anything has really changed? A truly good story that's well written, it seems, will find its way to readers and the movie industry.

I don't know if that's absolutely true, but it seems like it should be.

I'm not so sure about that. I would hope it is the case, but it seems the biggest challenge is to "hook" someone in the business on a good work. You can have a masterpiece, poorly represent it, and it is never seen. Whereas, an author already represented can have some earlier work be quality, then later work not so much but still get the nod.

This is true with musicians as well. Those who have a connection seem to get the opportunity. I've known local musicians who had far more individual talent, but just could never get their foot in the door.

You can only give it your best and see what happens. It shouldn't keep one from trying.

The funny thing is I'm personally a realist (part pessimist); yet when it come to writing I'm an optimist.

[Lily]

Connections smooth the way in every field of human endeavour. If you don't have any, it's an uphill battle. Politics are at the root of everything. To quote an old saying: It's not what you know, but who you know! (There's a crude variation on that which I won't include here.) ;D

Take a look at some of the actors. If they hadn't had a famous parent they would probably have never have made it into movies. Even although as in the case of Michael Douglas and Jane Fonda, for instance, they are very good at their craft.

I often think that many of the best writers, musicians, artists and actors, etc. are destined to remain forever unknown.