Where Will Publishers Be in 10 Years?

I raise the question not because 10 years is a magic number, but because the onset and increased popularity of e-books and digital publishing leads up to the question I've been asking a while: in a world in which authors can make money self-publishing (in print or e-book form), will there be book publishers in 10 years?

It's an interesting question, given that we're coming to accept e-publishing as just publishing (without the "digital" modifier) (link via About Freelance Writing) Needless to say, publishers are trying to figure out how they fit in the picture.

Also needless to say, since e-publishing can be easily accomplished by authors themselves (even a technically-challenged sort like yours truly), this leads to the whole self-publishing debate. Some people in the business dismiss self-published authors as people who lack the patience and diligence to properly learn their craft and break into the business the way they did. Well, yes, some of them are like that and, as a result, some self-published work is awful. However, not all self-published authors are bad writers. And just because certain established authors had to suffer the slings and arrows of rejection before achieving "published author" status (or walk to school ten miles in the snow), that doesn't mean authors can't try to self-publish in order to be noticed. It's not easy, but it is a viable option.

This has been proven by authors like Brunonia Barry (bestselling mystery author) and K.J.A. Wishnia (Edgar-nominated mystery author), among others.

Even Joe Konrath (an author who first broke into the business with his print novels) has achieved such a level of success by self-publishing his out-of-print titles, he's considering self-publishing an e-book from a manuscript that the mainstream publishers rejected. In other words, we're talking about cutting out the publisher entirely. Although the post is titled "In Defense of Print," it's really about how he's embraced e-books and raises the possibility that authors can successfully publish e-books themselves (read the whole post). Caveat: Konrath was an established print author before he did this, so his e-book success probably won't reflect that of new and unknown authors. See the disclaimer at the bottom of this post.

In other words, it's still a good idea to seek an agent and traditional publisher. I agree with Konrath on this. But I also think it's okay to self-publish work that's been carefully vetted in some way while you do that. Just make sure you're putting out your best work. Get a professional editor to review it and help polish it up. Failure to do so could come back and bite you down the road.

Finally, as if digital publishing weren't enough to grapple with, now we have this! Looks like publishers are finding interesting ways to insinuate themselves in the digital picture. First graphic novels, now video books. What's next?