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The
Warren Adler E-Sheet 29
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this issue:
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Greetings
From Publishing Central
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My Cyberspace Adventure
About five
years ago, I began to explore the
possibilities of cyber space for creating a
new paradigm for the publishing of books.
The available research at the time and the
potential offered an optimistic appraisal.
Delivery of text through digitalization was
rapidly expanding, hardware devices were
being developed that were allegedly user
friendly and mobile computers were
proliferating.
I have
always been a fan of innovation and the next
new big idea, having created some profitable
concepts in those years before my novel
writing career took off. As a child of the
depression, seeing my father being the
victim of the whims of bosses and undergoing
the devastation of long periods of
unemployment, I have been conditioned to
believe that control over one's destiny
meant never having to kowtow to others and
to make my own career decisions.
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"The
generational gap is narrowing and
reading on screens is working itself up
the academic chain. It will happen
someday." |
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With that
motivation in mind, I embarked on my
cyberspace adventure, digitalizing all my
novels in the English language, making my
books available as e-books in all format as
well as Print-on-Demand. I gathered all my
rights, subrights, foreign rights, film
rights under one umbrella, Stonehouse Press
and distributed the books through all
cyberspace venues and all available brick
and mortar store chains and stores. Frankly,
I envisioned a future where a single author
might be able to write, market and
distribute his own works, in print and audio
adaptations and, eventually, convert his
work to movie adaptations. It does not take
a wild leap of the imagination to realize
that the technology exists to do just that.
The obstacle to making such a project
economically viable is another matter
entirely.
I had no
illusions about the possibilities of a quick
return on investment. I was thinking far
ahead. The copyright laws allowed my estate,
my offspring and theirs, to own the
copyrights for more than 70 years beyond my
lifetime. Every time I visited a library and
viewed the thousands of books written by now
dead authors, I calculated that only a
handful had the foresight to realize that
their work had economic value long after
they had died…
One might
judge such a fantasy of immortality, however
limited, as an exercise in pure ego and
perhaps they are correct. But without the
confidence in one's creative ability and
work product, how can one possibly spend
one's life in such a serious and lonely
pursuit as imaginative writing, painting or
composing, without a strong belief in its
usefulness and perpetuity? Indeed, how many
times have we seen old or dead authors
resurrect into popularity after years of
obscurity? Okay, it's a fond hope, or, more
likely, a mad dream but I take some comfort
in the words of Shakespeare's Macbeth (Act
1, Scene 3):
If you can
look into the seeds of time
And say which grain will grow and which will
not,
Speak then to me
This then
has been my motivation in embarking on my
cyberspace adventure. So far, few if any
other authors of my production, (27 novels
in more than 25 languages) have followed in
my wake and I often feel like a kind of
naïve trail blazer hacking my way with a
blunt machete through an impenetrable
jungle.
I knew I
was ahead of the curve, but I didn't believe
I was this far ahead. So far an inexpensive
reading device has not been devised to
compete with the paper book. Its getting
closer and closer. Digital paper will soon
be introduced which will bring the reading
experience via cyberspace one step forward.
The generational gap is narrowing and
reading on screens is working itself up the
academic chain. It will happen someday.
I am
talking of trade books, fiction and
non-fiction, the heart of the commercial
publishing industry. Trade books have lagged
well behind digitalized text books, medical
and law books, research tracts and other
tools of the professions and the academy
which are in common use today.
In addition
to the hardships of inadequate hardware, the
problems of marketing, branding and creating
awareness of one's works on the Internet is
massive and inefficient, especially
difficult for a single author projecting and
promoting his own works. Having the impetus
of two high visibility movie adaptations
that are repeated on television over and
over again, is a plus but not a panacea.
While my new novels are published by
traditional publishers, I still haven't
found the magic bullet to publish my own
books over my Stonehouse indicia.
One must
view this venture as a challenge. It will
happen. Somehow, somewhere someone will come
up with a solution that pushes the envelope
of cyberspace publishing. A Chinese novelist
Quian Fuzhang has come up with his own
solution, sending frequent text messages of
his new novel "Out of the Fortress" to cell
phones throughout China. The 200,000 word
book is sent out in 70 character servings
and paid for by the cell phone owner. His
innovation has attracted the attention of
the media and he has been interviewed by
hundreds of journalists. Whether his book is
meeting with customer satisfaction is
another story. The votes are not yet in.
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The
next generation
of digital readers. |
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But I have
to admit that this innovation comes from
left field and may work. Naysayers and
literary purists notwithstanding, my hats
are off to Mr. Fuzhang.
Another
innovation is the self-publishing machine
being installed in bookstores, such as
Bookends in Ridgewood, New Jersey. Just feed
it your manuscript and the paperback book,
ten minimum, pops out shortly, complete with
an illustrated cover. It won't solve the
marketing problem, but certainly will solve
the wannabe problem of being, despite the
size of the press run, a published author.
Still other
innovators are working on a book vending
machine that will let you buy a digitalized
published on demand book while you're having
your latte at a Starbucks store.
In my view,
trade books will not really pay off big-time
until some version of affordable digital
paper makes its debut. Meanwhile the rise of
the electronic book is slow and steady as
more and more people become comfortable with
the process.
As for me,
I will continue to hack my way through the
jungle. Nothing will daunt my optimism. I'm
on the prowl for bright people of any age
with out-of-the-box ideas to feed my
obsession and will welcome any new ideas
from those who read this e-sheet.
The world
is changing rapidly, and taking us in
strange and often mysterious directions.
I'll let it take me wherever it goes.
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