Author Gene Doucette offers a lucid account of the ‘collective insanity of the publishing industry’

Fantasy Author Gene Doucette has posted one of the clearest and most lucid account of the “collective insanity” of the publishing industry to date. (Source: The collective insanity of the publishing industry – Gene Doucette)

Traditional publishers are desperately fighting to maintain an economic model that in the world of ebooks, digital access and independent publishing is no longer viable. They have created their own fantasy — ebook reading is down and print sales are up — and have decided to believe with all their hearts in that fantasy.

Doucette give an easy-to-read account of how they did it.

The publishers have even convinced the New York Times and a few other clueless journalists (and, sadly, authors) that the fantasy is real.

Doucette writes:

If the Big 5 are under the impression that they can strangle the ebook market, they’re mistaken.  All they really can do is strangle their corner of it.

If you’re wondering, driving readers toward print and away from ebooks is actually the idea behind this madness.  Given the overhead costs of one versus the other, it makes almost no business sense, except for one detail: the Big 5 can exert a lot more control over print and distribution of paper copies than they can over electronic copies.  So if you’re looking for logic in this scheme, that’s probably where you’ll find it.  A true resurgence in print could mean a revival of physical bookstores and a resumption of Big 5 control over the publishing industry as a whole.  And maybe a pony, a recipe for no-calorie fudge, and a cure for male-pattern baldness. (quoted)

Read the entire article. It’s a bit of a laugh, but it’s also sad.

Tags: Big 5 publishers, collective insanity, ebooks, Gene Doucette, New York Times, print books, print sales, publishing, reading, self publishing