Will traditional publishing houses become obsolete?

Oct 03 2007

Something is happening in the music business that runs parallel to the book publishing business. There’s a revolution going on where musicians are shunning the big labels to stay completely independent. The latest band to go the "indie" route is Radiohead.

Of course, in the publishing industry, people have been self-publishing their books for years now. But with the internet becoming more and more mainstream, the muscle that authors can flex is now quite great. An author can literally become his/her own publishing house and reap more financial benefits than if they signed a contract with a traditional publishing house.

One of my favorite blogs, Print is Dead, talks about how Radiohead’s decision to stay independent from the big record labels will have a big impact:

But what’s most amazing is that, as the music blog Idolator wrote, "the words ‘Capitol’ and ‘EMI’ appear nowhere on the Radiohead site." Which means that the band, free from their major label contract, are choosing to release this record on their own, at a time and in a manner of their own choosing. Remember the days when bands were sent back to the studio because clueless A&R guys didn’t hear a "single"? Well, those days might just be nearing to a close, because why would a band like Radiohead need EMI or Capitol? Why not just do what Radiohead’s doing and release the record themselves?

That means decisions being made in the recording studio will be artistic ones, not marketing decisions. Furthermore, bands like Radiohead will control their own copyrights and take in a greater percentage of the profits from album/song sales.

The parallels to the publishing industry are striking, as many large publishing houses take control of books once that contract is signed, often making questionable editorial changes based on "marketability" and decisions made in the boardroom, not the author’s imagination.

But the author who stays independent can publish the book they want to publish and promote it via the internet. Aside from publishing expenses, the author takes home all the money they make. The best part is, the author also holds on to the copyrights to his/her book, which means they can do with it as they please – even coming out with new versions, sequels, prequels and anything else one can imagine.

What does this "independent streak" that’s running through the music and publishing world mean? It’s putting the large record labels and publishing houses on notice that we (authors, musicians, etc) don’t need you anymore to succeed. Independent publishing just might be the new model everyone has been looking for, as the traditional publishing model is losing money at an alarming rate.

I used to be excited about getting a traditional publishing contract. But as the years have gone by, I’m now more excited about publishing my own work and keeping creative control over all the editorial and marketing decisions.

My question to all of you is this: is a traditional publishing contract still the "holy grail" of being a writer? Or do you get more excited about staying independent and doing things your way?

2 Responses

Thank you for this post Brad. I realize I’m a year late in reading this, I’ve also interested in self-publishing. But it seems that any article I read that discusses it makes it appear more dire than going the “traditional” publishing house route. I would hate for my book to be changed in any way I think it unnecessary, but I feel powerless as an author, especially in the internet age.

Ed 12/4/2008 10:34 am
Personally, I no longer think that a traditional publishing contract is the “holy grail” of being a writer. The “stigma” of being self-published still exists to some degree within the literary community. But it’s likely to erode over time, thanks to the digital era!

> To Ed (commenter above), sometimes I feel quite, quite powerless as an author as well. However, I try to keep moving forward as best I can, and not let unpleasant feelings of inadequacy get in the way.

Jess C Scott’s latest blog post..Ooer!

Jess C Scott 7/17/2009 8:20 am