| Since the inception of broad-based, public-access
internet, many have been declaring the death of publishing as we know
it. While this has been aimed mainly at newspapers and magazines,
it is a comment that applies equally to book publishing and is therefore
of importance to writers of all ilks. And while in theory there is
absolute truth in the remark, in practice life is a little more complicated.
Furthermore, the effects here in South Africa are far behind those
in countries with better online access, more bandwidth and a bigger
base of public access. However, one big truth does remain: the world
of publishing in fiction, poetry and other literary forms has changed
forever. And it is for the better. What is needed is a clearer understanding
of what has changed, how this has affected the role of the writer
in the publishing arena and what it actually means on a day-to-day
basis for writers and publishers alike.
The internet is not the only thing that has brought about change, however. With the ever-expanding audience and dynamic marketing environment that makes up the modern marketplace, book publishing has had to become diversified and niched in ways that were not previously conceived of. What this niching often means is that publishers that rely on bulk printing and distribution deals are not able to fulfil the range of ever-increasing niches cost-effectively. Into this environment comes a series of smaller publishers, often splinters from larger corporations, who have chosen to concentrate on smaller and smaller niches and concentrate their efforts with publishing and marketing on that specific interest group. Just as in the music business, where the role of independent, minor record companies has become increasingly powerful, publishing is about to face a revolution in the practice of obtaining and publishing manuscripts.
The most important effect of these developments is that the absolute power of what gets published when has been removed from publishers, and real, credible alternatives have sprung up. Instead of having to go through established publishers, literary journals or outlets, writers suddenly have a spectrum of choices available for getting their work to the world at large. From website publications, mail groups and newsletters, to digital print-on-demand solutions, custom publishing and underground magazines, the choice has never been wider. So when a rejection slip comes back though your letterbox today, you don't have to burn the manuscript and take up goat farming. Instead, you can spend a little bit of time doing some research to find another way of getting your work out.
One of the dilemmas facing major publishers is that in order to do a large print run to keep unit costs down, your author needs to be pretty well-known so that you have at least a fighting chance of selling enough books to cover costs. And it is for this reason that the various options are of service to both publishers and writers. If a writer can establish a name and following via online publishing or a newsgroup and magazine, his or her chance of landing a bigger publishing deal increases. The bigger the name, the better the chance of landing a deal. What a lot of these changes mean is that the writer is under increasing pressure to become more business-oriented in order to own and manage these new opportunities. The other side of the coin is, of course, that the chances for a writer to make a name for himself are greatly increased and that the excuse that the industry is the root of all woe is becoming less and less current.
In the South African milieu, the online options open to writers
are good. In the past, sites like donga.co.za,
The Literate Gymnast, LitNet and now shortstories.co.za
have provided writers with easily accessible platforms from which
to broadcast their work. Although two of these sites are now defunct
(The Literate Gymnast and Donga), the emergence of shortstories.co.za
does demonstrate that the will to create and maintain such sites
is very much alive and that when some players fall away, others
will take their place. But online publishing is not limited to getting
your work posted on a literary site. The art of blogging is an increasingly
popular and influential manner of publishing one's own work on the
web and establishing a following and reputation should your blog
prove interesting enough.
Blogs are basically small websites that individuals use to comment on the world at large, particular issues or interest areas. Many web designers and programmers have used them as adverts for their skills and a reflection on their industries. This trend has expanded to include writers who wish to comment on society, politics, sport and any other subject under the sun. The entire Open Access internet community makes blogging more than possible, as it makes the tools available free of charge and delivers systems, advice and assistance so that almost anyone is now able to set up his or her own site and blog the world.
In addition to blogs, other community-driven sites offer the opportunity to casual users to provide commentary, analysis and original content via forums, discussion rooms and notice-boards. All these vehicles can be used by enterprising writers to spread their names and their ideas via the internet. But even off-line, the opportunities for writers have expanded significantly over the past ten years to include some interesting, plain crazy and credible outlets for new writers seeking to establish their reputations. Publishers like Botsotso have expanded from merely putting out a few journals every year to publishing actual books for the mainstream market. New Coin and New Contrast are still soldiering on, and Gauteng may be in the process of getting their own literary journal. New Africa Books and Jacana Press have both undertaken projects to publish new, unknown writers, and remain committed to the idea of publishing work by new writers in the hope of striking gold and establishing a viable relationship with a potential Nobel Prize-winning author.
There also exist a constantly fluctuating number of handmade 'zines
that feature poetry and short prose by new writers. A quick visit
to your local independent bookstore should yield a few copies of
these publications. Usually done on shoestring budgets, with limited
circulation, they are a natural starting-point for a new writer
to explore. Grrrr! from Cape Town has been sporadically
putting out issues for a few years, plus any number of other more
short-lived variants. Die Boekehuis in Melville is one good example
of a store that will carry such material and is committed to supporting
the emerging market for writers and readers.
The sudden resurgence of interest in Spoken Word and its hybrid offspring, Slam Poetry, has also meant a renewed interest in new voices and provided an interactive, real-world platform for writers to test their voices and their ideas in an instant-feedback environment. These events place a large number of people who are interested in writing and reading together in a socially accessible environment which is ideal for floating new voices and new ideas. Anyone hoping to start a new 'zine or new journal would do well to take note of the potential represented by these events and those who attend them. This is the first credible manner of reaching a group of individuals who are interested in words, yet probably never set foot in an Exclusive Books. They provide the bedrock from which a new market is emerging that traditional book marketing and selling methods simply do not reach.
The biggest news in terms of independent publishing is the advent of digital
print-on-demand solutions. Probably best represented in South Africa
by Compress (www.compress.co.za),
digital print on demand offers independent publishing projects flexibility
while lowering their risk. Although print on demand does result
in higher unit costs, it can also accommodate much smaller, repeat
print runs, thereby lowering the overall risk to that publisher,
and thus offsetting the higher unit cost. What a digital print-on-demand
solution will be able to offer you could include total preprint
solutions including editing, layout and design services. Instead
of then printing 1 000 or 3 000 copies of the book, with no idea
of how many will be sold, the publisher can do runs of as few as
50 at a time to use as marketing and sales tools, as well as meeting
orders from websites, independent bookstores and the like. While
some service providers may also then offer a distribution and marketing
solution to you as an independent publisher, there is no shortage
of companies that will service bookstores on your behalf, for a
cut of your profits. In fact, a quick flick through the annual Publishing
Association of South Africa booklet will give you a wealth of possible
contacts.
What all these options mean is that the idea of becoming a self-published author is becoming further divorced from the old-school view of self-publishing as being vanity publishing and all the often negative connotations that go with this. For lesser-known authors, self-publishing may well work out to be more profitable, practical and effective in the long run. Why go to a major publishing house that may not reach your particular market and earn an 11 percent royalty rate when you can publish yourself and earn a far greater commission and have complete control over where your book goes? The truth is that these are real and available options, but that of course the author must of necessity either have a project manager involved or be able to run the business end of these transactions as well. Whether your solution is online-based or in self-publishing, the new author can begin to use a far more flexible range of solutions that give greater artistic and business control and may actually enable the author to reap greater benefits as well.
The most obvious implication of these options is that they are clearly not for everyone. The well-known stereotype of the artist as a useless businessman has enough foundation to it to mean that there are some people who simply are not able to complete the money, time and people management that engaging in self-publishing does require. However, websites and forums remain open to all comers, if you're good enough. And what better way to find out if you are, than on the instant-feedback network of the web? Matters have not yet reached a scale where real-world publishing can be done away with entirely, especially in South Africa, where such a minute percentage of the population is online, and almost the entire emerging market is offline. Even Stephen King failed to sell a novel online chapter by chapter, so publishers need not be quaking in their boots just yet. But the message is clear: the internet and other digital publishing solutions need to be considered by real-world publishers now, before they do become a threat. The music industry ignored internet downloads and file sharing until it was too late, arrogantly secure in their traditional market dominance. Now they are losing money hand over fist as they battle to catch up with where market attitudes towards music have gone.
While it is true that a similar resource for writing has yet to hit the marketplace, the concept remains a possibility. Two days before MP3s were discovered to be a great way of encrypting audio files, there was no efficient and fast way to download music files either. A similar high-speed and large-memory way of transferring word documents or other text files could arrive tomorrow. If you could get the new Martin Amis online for free, don't tell me that you would rather go and buy the hardback for R400. Then we would see some accelerated change in the publishing industry. But for now, not even Stephen King can effectively sell an online version of a new book, so publishers can still sleep at night on that score.
So if you are a traditionalist who wants to have a publisher and do things the normal, traditional way, there is no compelling reason for you not to do so - apart from then having to continue to put up with the constraints as they currently exist in publishing. Publishers are very restricted in terms of the costing of books and their perceived market impact, which may often result in perfectly worthy projects simply not seeing the light of day because of the perceived difficulty of selling them, or because of high production costs. Our book market is an expanding one. As the imbalances of the past are redressed, more and more people are becoming literate and therefore by definition, entering the pool of potential book buyers. The biggest challenge now for any voice to be heard, is how to reach these people, and to understand what it is that our new, emergent psyche wants to hear.
The voice of the South African writer is one that has always struggled to be heard. However, in the modern era the tools and facilities that are available to get more voices heard are many. Traditional and more modern, alternative choices confront the writer, raising the question of their intent, their target market and their expectations. In one sense it heralds an age of the artists, where creative choices and freedom of expression are facilitated by easily accessible, cheap technology. Yet, at the same time, this technology does require some business acumen and marketing expertise, removing the artists from the plinth of the muse, and forcing them to interact in the ways of commerce. It is a trade-off that will inevitably lead to great benefits for those able to make the leap. At this stage, however, those who are unable to make the leap can still follow tradition with no ill side-effects. Perhaps further into the future this will no longer be the case and all artists, of whatever persuasion, will be competing in the open, global market, and of necessity be entrepreneurs and marketers as well as creatives.
|
Dave Chislett is 34 and lives in Jozi.
He has also lived in PE, Cape Town and London. He managed to get a
BA from Wits, majoring in English and Philosophy, and won the Ernst
van Heerden Creative Writing award from the same institution in 1998.
He has somehow survived a career as a freelance music journalist and
promoter but is much better now. He is better known as the editor
of the Urban series of short fiction, and also appears in the From
Joburg To Jozi collection, published by Penguin. He is currently
working on a novel.
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