Is Print Going to Die?
Several years ago, the National Endowment for the Arts warned America: Reading is at risk. They proclaimed that literary reading is declining rapidly among all groups, especially the very young.
Two weeks ago, in one of the breakout sessions at Book Expo America, Jeff Gomez wondered about that study. Is print really going to die? he asked. As the director of internet marketing for Holtzbrink Publishers, he has probably earned the authority to state his bold answer.
Print is dead.
He just published a book by that title, and his blog makes for very interesting reading.
***WARNING: Shameless self-promotion***
Over on GoodWordEditing.com, I decided to put his theory to the test. So this weekend, I published an ebook, Passion Play and Other Poems. It is entirely free. (So go download it, right now!)
If you only click on one link in this post, click here and download my ebook. : )
*** END: Shameless self-promotion***
Why not offer my work for free? What else am I going to do with a book of poems? Spend a year trying to get them published by a small press with a measly intial print run of 2000 copies (if I’m lucky)? Then spend another year hustling those copies at poetry conventions around the country? That just didn’t seem like a good use of my time.
I really believe that most writers just want an audience. (We want to pay the bills, too, but we already have day jobs for that.)
That’s why I’m so interested in Jeff Gomez’s ideas. If print is dead (and the internet killed it), then what will happen to writers?
In another session with Chris Anderson, author of The Long Tail, I sat next to Charlotte Dennett from the National Writer’s Union. She said all this talk about free content isn’t good for writers. We aren’t even writers any more! “Writer’s are being devalued,” she said. “They have become merely content providers.”
Chris Anderson’s response was surprising.
“Most people don’t make money from their passions,” he said. “But now writers at least have a non-commercial route to market. That could lead to a commercial route.”
Since there is no commercial route for poetry, I figured there was no point even bothering with the MFA publication jungle.
I don’t have a good conclusion for this. Nobody does yet. The entire publishing industry is about to experience what the music industry is already experiencing. When free content competes with paid content, the old rules no longer apply.
But don’t despair. Whatever happens, people will still read. The NEA says literary reading is on the decline, but what about the new reading? You are reading a blog right now, after all. A few years ago NEA wouldn’t count this moment between us as a reading experience.
Certainly there are limitations to any screen reading experience. But we do not need to worry that screen reading will completely replace print publishing. At least not for a few more years. The technology just isn’t there. Nor do we need to worry that the internet will replace traditional publishers.
Jeff Gomez says traditional publishers will always exist for five reasons:
- To find talent.
- To support talent.
- To edit talent. (“Even geniuses need editors,” he said. That made me happy.)
- Expose and market talent.
- Pay talent.
We all want to work toward that last one. We want to earn pay for our passion. But we will all write without pay. We do it all the time. I’m doing it right now. And you’re reading it.
Reading is reading, no matter what the device or the interface. Reading a blog is still reading. Reading a newspaper online is still reading. The internet has helped us recreate reading communities. It just doesn’t pay well.
Which reminds me. We all write without pay. If sales matter at all, it is primarily because they suggest readership. We care about reading. We care about readers.
In fact, writing is an act of love. It is patient. It is not self-seeking. It does not boast. It rejoices with the truth. It always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Here on this planet, we do not understand each other well. We only know in part. But through our reading, we can hope to know others more fully. And through our writing, we can be more fully known to others.
We have faith that God has called us to write. We have hope that someone will read what we write.
But most of all, we love. Our readers and neighbors. Our subjects and sentences and words. Our God who has created us in His image.
