I think publishing as an industry has got itself away from its practices that have worked for over two centuries, and tried to follow a model based on new cars and breakfast cereal, and almost all writers are paying the price. But storytelling is still an appreciated art form, and people like to read, albeit in changing forms. Electronic publishing is offering all manner of ways to read, and in time that will only increase.
Eight years ago, when Magnificat was published as an e-book, you made some very prescient statements. You told Publisher's Weekly, "Big change will happen when someone comes up with the equivalent of the Walkman--the Bookman. The day may come when a full-service bookstore will have books on display and you can choose the format: disk, printed and bound, audio, etc., or you bring in your Bookman and they go "twang" and you're all set up." Now we have the Amazon Kindle, and "book kiosks" that print and bind books for the customer in minutes. As the owner of a new small press, I am keenly aware that books now have to be packaged in many formats--audiobook, podcast, e-books that can be read on iPods and cell phones, it's a whole new world. What new trends do you think have potential for authors to get their stories to the eyes and ears of their audience?
I hope the present downturn in the economy doesn't slow the expansion of the electronic marketplace, because this clearly is the place where the developments are happening. For the time being, though, print is still the place where writers get serious notice, and that may be the case for another five to ten years, depending on how the technology evolves. The problem I've seen with beginning writers publishing directly online is that they don't go through the editorial process, which forces the writer to see his or her work through external eyes--a prelude to a readership. This includes dealing with the realities of grammar, some of which is chaotic in online works.
Pat LoBrutto, my favorite editor, early on in my career sent me a list of possible revisions on the book I had just turned in, one of which was truly invaluable to me: he said that on a particular page, it was difficult to follow the action because the dialogue was oblique, and he suggested that if I wanted it more direct, I should clarify it, and if I was trying to obfuscate, I might want to increase the obfuscation. He didn't tell me which to do, but he gave me the advantage of other eyes. Since then, I have made it a practice at the conclusion of a book, to provide copies to three recreational readers who don't know me (my friends find them for me) and aren't familiar with my work, with instructions not to tell me what they like or dislike about the book, but where it isn't clear. I never use a recreational reader more than twice, and I try to find one musician among the three--musicians always know when the pacing is off.
Article comments
1 - Mayra Calvani
Great interview! Thanks for sharing!