What Happened to Traditional Publishing? I think most of the people on this mailing list are interested in reading books. So, I thought you might be interested in some inside information on the state of traditional publishing.
I have personally experienced the decline in traditional publishing over the years, but I didn’t grasp how bad things are until I read an article by Elle Griffin - No One Buys Books, April 22, 2024.
As you might imagine, publishers are not forthcoming about statistics. But a rare opportunity to see behind the curtain occurred when the Department of Justice sued to stop the merger of Penguin Random House and Simon & Shuster.
Griffin writes, During the trial every major publishing house and literary agency got up on the stand to speak about the publishing industry and give numbers.” providing “an eye-opening account from the inside.”
Griffin cites a lot of testimony, but here's one startling fact that sums up the dire situation for traditional publishers.
Fifty percent sold less than a dozen copies? I knew things were bad, but not that bad. So how do traditional publishers stay in business? Griffin explains:
“I think I can sum up what I’ve learned like this: The Big Five publishing houses spend most of their money on book advances for big celebrities like Britney Spears and franchise authors like James Patterson, and this is the bulk of their business. They also sell a lot of Bibles, repeat bestsellers like Lord of the Rings, and children’s books like The Very Hungry Caterpillar. These two market categories (celebrity books and repeat bestsellers from the backlist) make up the entirety of the publishing industry and even fund their vanity projects, publishing all the rest of the books we think about when we think about book publishing. These books make no money at all and typically sell less than 1,000 copies.”
So why do traditional publishers even bother to publish anything but books with built-in audiences? Griffin explains that publishers invest “small sums in lots of books in the hope that one of them breaks out and becomes a unicorn, making enough money to fund all the rest." Those "unicorns" happen about once every five or ten years.
Clearly, traditional publishing is in a vicious circle. The less money they invest in a book, the more the editing, production, marketing, and distribution efforts decline. Which means fewer books sell. Which means publishers have less money to invest.
Given the reality of traditional publishing, why am I still writing novels?
Because as traditional publishing has devolved, self-publishing has evolved. Self-publishing in now a somewhat viable alternative. I look at self-publishing as giving me the opportunity to do the work traditional can't.
Also, I still find the writing process deeply enjoyable. Not so much the daily grind of writing. I sometimes compare that to digging a ditch. I enjoy the mystifying process of discovering what a book is about, who the characters are, what happens, and how it all ends - none of which I know at the beginning.
And my readers keep me going. Your positive reviews definitely help. As do the comments you send me. Here's a few I received after my Who Doesn’t Like Babies? email. (Also published in my blog posts).
A Dutch reader named Bert told me about finding a copy of And Justice for One in a second-hand bookstore in Muscat, Oman. He wrote – “It’s still one of the best, most exciting, powerful books I did ever read”. And – “Just want to say how much I enjoyed travelling all over the world (Nigeria, London, Oxfordshire, Malaysia, Scotland, Egypt, the Caribbean, and now Zambia) with your books as a solid friend always close by.”
I have a reader, kav, who emails me occasionally. This time he shared these thoughts with me:
“I read a LOT – maybe 100-200 books a year. I have 3 favorite authors – You, Robert Crais, and Michael Connelly.”
And with regard to the character James Pony from And Justice for One. "You know you have succeeded as a writer when people want to be like your characters”
And about Bronx Requiem: "One passage I read over and over is the scene where Ciro and Demarco encounter the thugs in the motel – I love that scene.” (So do I! It's on pages 252-254 in the hardcover.)
Ken wrote something similar about re-reading my books. He said he can’t wait for the new Beck book and: "This is also a reminder for me to re-read Tribes. I've only read that one once!... John, I re-read them far more than you know!”
Until I received those emails, I never imagined that my novels had accompanied one of my readers on his thirty-year career path from country to country. Or that someone would still enjoy a character or a scene years later. Or re-read passages and entire books.
So deepest thanks to all of you for your kind words and support. The next time I have a chance to do that for someone else, believe me, I will. |
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