internet

I spent a good portion of my lunch hour reading about Amanda Hocking’s self-publishing success story. It’s an interesting story, although I doubt it represents the seismic shift in the publishing world that many of the commenters would like to think. I tend to agree with the commenter who argued that Hocking’s success comes down primarily to genre (the very popular and — arguably — less discriminating young adult paranormal romance), cover design (clean, simple, and likely cheaply produced without looking too cheap), and price point (extremely low). That she appears to sell considerably better in the Kindle store (where there’s an ostensibly limitless electronic print run and lower prices) is perhaps telling.

Hocking’s writing, from the little I’ve glanced at it, seems passable enough — unrefined and of the sort I think I’ve rejected often from Kaleidotrope, often confusing physical description with character development and so forth. But she doesn’t seem like a terrible writer, and in interviews does seem to suggest she understands the need for an editor.

If anything, what her story calls into question is the need for a publisher. It’s early days yet, but if you can reach this level of success outside the mainstream presses, why wouldn’t you? I cringe at the idea of more self-edited (or unedited) fiction clogging the market — and I think success stories like Hocking’s will grow rarer as that market gets more crowded — but more books that traditional publishers are perhaps scared to take a risk on? More variety in the marketplace? I think that can only be a good thing.

In the past, what a traditional publisher had to offer you was professional editing; professional production, layout, and bookbinding; and detailed, in-depth marketing. I think the first of those is always going to be a necessity — and not just because I’m an editor. If a book published through Amazon.com is indistinguishable in (physical) quality from its competition — and I’ve never bought one, so I don’t know if it is — then I think the second of those two is going to be moot. And finally, if, as Hocking seems to have demonstrated, you can reach a wide audience without traditional marketing behind your books, with just Amazon’s visibility behind you…well, traditional publishing probably should be wary.

I think the questions are: will self-publishing authors still pay for substantial editing, proofing, and revision? Will Amazon continue to pay such substantial royalties to authors as more of them follow Hocking’s route? Will as many readers continue to pay as the market gets more crowded, low price point or not? And are the products being produced by Amazon (hard copy and e-book) high-quality enough that they don’t just look vanity press cheapies?

Me, I have no idea. Frankly, I don’t think anybody has any idea exactly how e-books — much less what they mean for self-publishing and individual sales — will change the publishing market. Yet everybody has a theory.

It seems like e-books have been on the cusp of changing everything as we know it for quite a while now.