Some people/companies are very successful bloggers. Some get you hooked and then abandon you to weeks of clicking forlornly on their site until you really believe that they aren't coming back (Susan Hill's blog was one in case).
Some homebloggers update you with endless details/photos of their children and make you feel inadequate that you are not able to do the same.
Some bloggers relive their love lives (usually unsuccessful) in such detail that you wonder they are not using the blog as a notepad for their next novel.
Some bloggers moan about their field without offering many solutions. Unfortunately this is the camp I fall into. Mind you, a friend recently gave me a keyring with Caroline on it listing the qualities that the name embodies. I was most pleased to see "makes positive out of negative".
This is always the way I have operated. I look at all the downsides of a project and then try to figure out a positive solution. But it doesn't put me in a good light. I end up sounding like a lugubrious Clement Freud instead of a happy positive Davina McCall.
Still, one can't change one's nature and I have strayed from my blogpoint.
Some bloggers have a hook on which to hang their outlook. It might be spreading the word about books they have read; it might be interviewing authors to illuminate ways into publishing.
It is time to get out of my negative groove and find me a hook. As a publisher of languages, I am inclined to ramble down some word paths and see where they take me. I'll probably focus on Italian and I hope my visitors want to join me.
Wednesday, 29 September 2010
Thursday, 23 September 2010
Eliminate the negative
I fear I have been rather negative over the state of publishing and I apologise for this.
However, this interview with Tim Waterstone is a potted history of how we have ended up where we are. Reading this I realised why noone will be able to replicate what he did setting up the Waterstone's bookshops.
The answer is in this section of the interview
Books, we're constantly being told, have no future. Waterstone disagrees. Certainly, the abolition of the Net Book Agreement, which ensured books had to sell at cover price and could not be discounted in supermarkets, has made trading challenging. Waterstone was strongly in favour of the agreement and doubts he could have got his shops off the ground without it.
"WH Smith had by far the biggest market share. We could open a store right beside them and they couldn't cut prices against us. They had to compete on stock and staff and everything else. And I knew they couldn't. We were very good booksellers and people not being able to cut prices against us meant we were able to triumph because we were better at it than everybody else.
"Would the industry like the agreement back? None of them would say yes publicly but there wouldn't be a single person in publishing or bookselling who wouldn't say yes please. It was a safer, easier industry and I think the consumer was better served too."
Anyone out there got any good ideas?
However, this interview with Tim Waterstone is a potted history of how we have ended up where we are. Reading this I realised why noone will be able to replicate what he did setting up the Waterstone's bookshops.
The answer is in this section of the interview
Books, we're constantly being told, have no future. Waterstone disagrees. Certainly, the abolition of the Net Book Agreement, which ensured books had to sell at cover price and could not be discounted in supermarkets, has made trading challenging. Waterstone was strongly in favour of the agreement and doubts he could have got his shops off the ground without it.
"WH Smith had by far the biggest market share. We could open a store right beside them and they couldn't cut prices against us. They had to compete on stock and staff and everything else. And I knew they couldn't. We were very good booksellers and people not being able to cut prices against us meant we were able to triumph because we were better at it than everybody else.
"Would the industry like the agreement back? None of them would say yes publicly but there wouldn't be a single person in publishing or bookselling who wouldn't say yes please. It was a safer, easier industry and I think the consumer was better served too."
Anyone out there got any good ideas?
Friday, 17 September 2010
The Fry effect
This week saw the publication of The Fry Chronicles on a number of "platforms". Stephen Fry is a real e-man so it is fitting that his work is launched this way and no doubt he provided invaluable input on how to acheive it.
How, I wonder, are lesser endowed authors, editors and publishers going to cope with keeping up with the Frys? It will probably make working in publishing very stressful for "traditional" editors (let's say ones over 45) who may be good with words and manuscripts but not so up-to-date with using Facebook, Twitter and the like. Dearie me, I've just painted a picture of myself.
It will also require lots of team patience between editors, marketers and the techie end of things to ensure that all are working from the same e-sheet. As most publishing houses have streamlined the editorial staff to the bones, I don't think the great new e-revolution is going to be that fun to work in from an editorial point of view.
I may be wrong, but let's see.
How, I wonder, are lesser endowed authors, editors and publishers going to cope with keeping up with the Frys? It will probably make working in publishing very stressful for "traditional" editors (let's say ones over 45) who may be good with words and manuscripts but not so up-to-date with using Facebook, Twitter and the like. Dearie me, I've just painted a picture of myself.
It will also require lots of team patience between editors, marketers and the techie end of things to ensure that all are working from the same e-sheet. As most publishing houses have streamlined the editorial staff to the bones, I don't think the great new e-revolution is going to be that fun to work in from an editorial point of view.
I may be wrong, but let's see.
Friday, 10 September 2010
Most telling comment
Following on from the discounting question, particularly of Tony B's autobiography, this comment in the bookseller has to be the most telling:
By Bored Bookseller
I'm quite bored of havign to move the Blair book from our crime section... if you ARE going to try and make that kind of statement, at least have the common sense tp move it to the 'True Crime' section rather than into crime fiction. Tsk. Anyway, our most frequent conversation is trying to explain why the book is ALREADY half-price.10 Sep 10 09:56
If you want to read the article the comment is on, here it is.
Publishers are doing no one (not even the consumer) any favours by selling books half price just as they come onto the market. It makes people suspect it's not worth full price. And it certainly doesn't help people trying to make a living out of selling books.
Monday, 6 September 2010
Need to knock publishing heads together
Following on from last week's blog about selling Tony B's autobiography for half price and Harry and Cat's comments, I think the real problem lies with publishers and how they themselves devalue what they produce.
There was also an interesting article and comments in the Bookseller regarding Tesco having esclusivity to the next Robbie Williams' autobiography.
I put the blame entirely with the publishers, by the way. They don't seem capable of joined up thinking. I mean, what bookseller would then want to stock this book? And the result will be that it will put them in a bad light in customers' eyes through no real fault of their own. They will only be getting a 30% discount from the publisher so they can't offer it at half price.
Anyway, there will be a bit more to add later on.
There was also an interesting article and comments in the Bookseller regarding Tesco having esclusivity to the next Robbie Williams' autobiography.
I put the blame entirely with the publishers, by the way. They don't seem capable of joined up thinking. I mean, what bookseller would then want to stock this book? And the result will be that it will put them in a bad light in customers' eyes through no real fault of their own. They will only be getting a 30% discount from the publisher so they can't offer it at half price.
Anyway, there will be a bit more to add later on.
Thursday, 2 September 2010
Why half price?
Coverage of Tony Blair's autobiography was all over the TV yesterday. You could see it on sale in what was obviously a Waterstone's. Imagine my surprise when I saw the sticker "half price".
Now here is a hotly anticipated book. It cost a massive advance. It has been widely reported that Tony B's revenue from this book will be going to charity, so why are they selling it at half price? Talk about making the public suspicious of a book that is sold at full price. And how about all that lost revenue to the charity? I'm not going to buy the argument that more copies are going to be sold at half price. Not for this book. All the sellers (supermarkets and Amazon included) should have agreed amongst themselves not to sell it below the rrp.
No wonder the publishing industry is wallowing about not knowing how to save itself.
Now here is a hotly anticipated book. It cost a massive advance. It has been widely reported that Tony B's revenue from this book will be going to charity, so why are they selling it at half price? Talk about making the public suspicious of a book that is sold at full price. And how about all that lost revenue to the charity? I'm not going to buy the argument that more copies are going to be sold at half price. Not for this book. All the sellers (supermarkets and Amazon included) should have agreed amongst themselves not to sell it below the rrp.
No wonder the publishing industry is wallowing about not knowing how to save itself.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)