More on Thrillerfest, and elephants in the room


What was interesting to me about Thrillerfest was what wasn't talked about, at least not at the cocktail parties, celebrations, etc.: the changes that are taking place in the book world.

Actually, there were plenty of conversations about it, and even a few panels, but for the most part they were focused on the effects of change, like authors losing publishers and advances shrinking.

Ebooks are the most noticeable development - or at least they're the one most mentioned, though the discussions generally begin and end with the word. But just as huge - actually bigger, in terms of direct impact - has been the changing face of the mass market distribution system, including financial problems of the major players.

It's becoming physically more difficult to get paperback mass market books into the hands of readers. Add that to the loss of mall stores, and you can only see a vast drop in the number of copies sold for many books. There's more concentration on certain titles, more reliance on big box and on-line sales. If you write popular fiction - or what you hope will be popular fiction - that's a huge impact on how you make your living.

Or how you want to make your living.

Of course, it's hard to talk about stuff that you have no control over. You end up talking about promotion and publicity, for example. You get great advice and even come up with strategies to win over the public and inflame the news media. But if the books aren't going to get out there, you might as well be signing cocktail napkins in the bar all night.

What's the impact of all this change on readers? It's certainly not all negative. For one thing, it's possible to get a much wider range of books (used as well as new) on-line. As bad as the Google settlement is for living writers and for libraries, eventually the initiative to put all books on-line will make a huge number of texts available to readers willing to put up with whatever tax* Google imposes. And while there may the physical presence/selection may be somewhat reduced, there are still bookstores and bookstands in many of the places where we have an impulse to buy - the airport and train station, for example.

Myself, I wish I could see the future. All I know is, I keep bumping into the elephants in the room.

* - Advertising, access fee, ass-kissing - whatever. You control the codex, you do what you want.