Elle Griffin has a post based on the Penguin Random House Simon and Schuster monopoly trial. In it, she basically claims that books don’t sell, that no one knows how to sell books, and implies that everyone would be better off on Substack or similar platforms as a result. The problem is, she is relying on bad data and a mindset from a trial where it was in the publishers’ best interests to downplay their market power. In other words, she is basing a significant argument on faulty information.
I am mystified that publishers, who have been in business for hundreds of years, suddenly “forgot” how to promote and sell books. Did the Men in Black pay them a visit with their mind eraser pen? So, what I am hearing is they want to protect their monopoly on a business that they willingly admit they no longer understand and woefully suck at.
Yes, the publishing business is in turmoil with Amazon revolutionizing distribution and now self publishing but I really see the main problem as it is now too easy for inexperienced and simply bad writers to create content and distribute it. Even here on Substack I am constantly unsubscribing to writers who waste my time with poor prose and sloppy thinking.
Publishers used to be the BS filters for society, but now any maniac with a computer can flood the web with wretched nonsense. It used to be an honor to be vetted and published. Now all it takes is a click of a computer key. I would agree that old school publishers don’t know how to regain their purpose as information gatekeepers like the newspaper publishers have been struggling with this past decade. I can only imagine the chaos that AI-generated content will add to this bonfire of banality.
I am mystified that publishers, who have been in business for hundreds of years, suddenly “forgot” how to promote and sell books. Did the Men in Black pay them a visit with their mind eraser pen? So, what I am hearing is they want to protect their monopoly on a business that they willingly admit they no longer understand and woefully suck at.
Yes, the publishing business is in turmoil with Amazon revolutionizing distribution and now self publishing but I really see the main problem as it is now too easy for inexperienced and simply bad writers to create content and distribute it. Even here on Substack I am constantly unsubscribing to writers who waste my time with poor prose and sloppy thinking.
Publishers used to be the BS filters for society, but now any maniac with a computer can flood the web with wretched nonsense. It used to be an honor to be vetted and published. Now all it takes is a click of a computer key. I would agree that old school publishers don’t know how to regain their purpose as information gatekeepers like the newspaper publishers have been struggling with this past decade. I can only imagine the chaos that AI-generated content will add to this bonfire of banality.