Is Book Publishing Dying? An Author's Perspective

I have been writing books for a few years and the publishing business is full of options. I would caution any new authors to fully review a publisher before choosing one. I don't think I could self publish and I think a good editor is essential. If someone is going into writing books to make money the probability is that they will be sadly mistaken. Thanks so much for the video.

My dark take is that books will grow massively in popularity as the economic downturn becomes worse and worse 😊

Books are an evergreen business - nuff said

Guys dop not read made up stories anymore. Our lives are so much better thebn fiction.Its girls that read. This video made no demographic difference. plus censorship is practiced by publishing to promote lleft wing stuff. its oppresaive and corrupt. the real matters not the fake. we no longer are stuck in front of the fireplace. i do adiobooks but im different. never fiction excep[t a few greats.

These days, it’s probably easier than ever to publish a book. But here’s the problem: it’s also harder than ever to find a good book. The market is flooded with stories, and now we’re even seeing whole AI-generated books popping up. That really puts me off, at least.
You also have to ask yourself: what does reading or writing do for me? Do I get anything out of it? Does it give me anything in return? And then there’s the competition from so many other things (social media, audiobooks, TV series, etc.).
For me, writing has always been a way to balance out the stresses of everyday life. I never set out to get published until one day I developed an interest in everything that happens after the writing is done. I wanted to know what else was in store. That’s why I then published my book. Throughout the whole process, I received a lot of help from my publisher (Novum Publishing). Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been feasible for me. After all, most of us also have a job, a family and a household to run. I never wanted to just throw something onto the market; quality was very important to me.

I submitted my manuscript to a publisher kinda on a whim. I heard back the next day and had a meeting set. After doing research on hybrid publishing my excitement has almost completely waned.

There’s also value in rereads …. 14 hr turns into 28 hrs for 25 bucks. Oh yah and my wife read it so there’s another 14 hrs

As someone who wants to get into the publishing industry (not as a writer) this was surprisingly comforting

75% have read a book? no way.

People don't have the leisure to read. They do gig jobs after their regular job.

I remember as a kid paperbacks could be had for maybe $5 and definitely under $10. I went to the bookstore the other day and really had to pause to think if I wanted to commit to buying a $20 paperback. I decided to borrow it from my library instead. I am planning on buying the book when I get my paycheck because I really enjoyed it and plan on rereading, but wouldn't it have been nice if I didn't have to worry about taking a chance on a book because of the cost?

I know the cost of physical books has played a part in me not buying books and instead getting books through Libby and other means. Even paperbacks going for almost 20 bucks makes it unapproachable from a value point.

TIL I learned that John and I disagree about how readable 'Beloved' is

As an indie author who worked as an editor for various traditional outlets: it is about time that the power of publishing yet again returns to the hands of the people writing them. Like when people had easy access to their own printing presses. Indie is the way.

Also, a LOT of editors who edit for indie authors WORKED FOR trad houses at one point or were trained in the same systems they hire from. There is a such thing as an indie editor who adds the same value as a traditional editor (especially those of us who changed from one to another).

The reason why books cost so much is the paper industry took a huge hit the last few years. Several papermakers in this country closed their doors and moved elsewhere or never reopened. For example, the plant in Maryland that is gone. They supplied so many outlets, and now we do not have the luxury of them being state-side.

Write a book that matters,

You're then one that's dying

I'd be curious to see if public library circulation data is increasing at all in this time. A cursory search seems to say yes. I wonder if fewer people are purchasing books and going to the library instead.

I must be a hell of an outlier; I read every night before bed and go through a book every 1-2 weeks.

I try to leave my phone and watch on the bedroom charger when I sit down to read. Just to avoid the distractions of going to Wikipedia and such.

did you just seriously call my favorite heartbreak book "fun good times"?

"75% of adults report having read a book"

Yeah sure okay but who is checking them on it? There's a social pressure still to be someone who reads, and that will skew self report stats in at least a non-zero way.

You can also access many books through your public library at no fee.

Why are libraries not considered in the price / entertainment tradeoff. At my local library even if the book isn't there I can 1.) Have it ordered, delivered and pick up the book for FREE 2.) See if I can access it on Libby (FREE) 3.) See if audiobook is available (FREE) 4.) If none of those options are available I can choose another book (FREE).

I assume it means less individual sales for book publishers, but I think libraries might truly be the best public service ever devised. BTW, I'm reading your new novel, Everything is Tuberculosis, for FREE from my public library. Thanks.

Not to sound contrarian, even though that's something I like to do so I can sound smart, but I don't think publishing as a whole is on its way out anytime soon, or even facing any significant decline. Just because penguin and harper Collins aren't doing so well, doesn't mean the industry as a whole is suffering

describing the fault in our stars as a good fun time made me lol

Okay, I have to know how in the world the wall behind you was built? I have never seen horizonal cutouts for shelves like that before. First class!

I hope it is

Even as a librarian I find it hard to reach for a book when I am constantly carrying a distraction machine in my pocket. And I already love reading and want to read more, and I'm not even in short-form endless scroll video platforms! P.S. books can be the same value proposition as TikTok (under this definition where "value" is defined only as number of hours of entertainment/distraction per dollar spent) if you use your library card :)

Exactly right

At least for me reading a book and watching a video (either Shorts or ones like this) aren't comparable. I want something totally different from them and I do it at different times of the day and in different situations.

I love my physical books as much as I love the books I can access via my phone.

I think i would be more sad without physical books.
Ok, now going to read a copy of Paper Town i got for 5$ at a used books library. 👋 Good night !

You cannot rip books from my cold dead hands!!

We need a big overhaul of how the audiobook system works

I’ve been using Libby. Which is great. Except I’m a person that re reads the same series over and over again. And the series that I read are generally popular. The waiting is pretty long. And books will be ready out of sequence or with large gaps in between.

Recently, I discovered that this series is on spotify. And in the narrator version I want. I have spotify premium. I was so excited. Except… fifteen hours in… I get an alert that I ran out of hours. And to top up, I need to pay $13 flat fee for TEN MORE HOURS or wait till it becomes the next month

I was mad so I turned to other options. Audible? 14.95/mo is kind of a good deal cos u can get book credits. But amazon is kinda sketchy about whether purchasing a book is real permanent ownership or not :( and I believe audible exclusive is damaging to the audiobook world

Ugh. Yknow what I want? I want to be able to purchase from a bookstore, a audiobook CD or file download that I can permanently own. No questions asked. No need to purchase an app to play it or subscribe to anything

Or for my library on libby to buy a shit ton more of the hunger games so that people don’t have to wait forever

When SOTR first came out, the waiting line was over FIVE YEARS LONG

I was really excited to read your new book the reviewed one

Then I was disappointed in it

I did not getthe tuberculosis one

Baker and Taylor just ended, so Ingram is one of the last big book distributor in America right now besides Amazon, which has been hard for our libraries to transition to. Amazon doesn’t provide good Marc records.

If Amazon continues pushing electronic books, and they keep revoking customers' access to books they've purchased to force them to update an app or buy a whole new device, then Amazon might just kill publishing.

I'm a diehard tsundoku. I buy allll the books. I buy more books than I'll ever be able to read. Do I like the cover colors? I buy the book. Do I like the title? I buy the book. Does the synopsis sound interesting? I buy the book. Did I listen to an audiobook and like it? I buy the paper copy. Did someone recommend a book? I buy a copy. Does someone somewhere mention a book they read or wrote that sounds interesting? I buy the book. When I have time to spare waiting on the train, I go buy a book. When I'm a bit sad and on my way to buy comfort food? I also buy a book.

If I single-handedly need to save the book industry, I will. One book at a time.
(´▽`ʃ♡ƪ)

And if you rent it from the library.... it is freeeeeeee.

Yes it is. In many years after school i've tried notorious Brave New World and The Catcher in the rye - what a nonsense trash books, are people pretending thats good? In first the useless women romance takes most volume of book, i dont want spend time on soap opera in book form, the second by Salinger is just bad, its not a literature, an attempt to write anything, what a waste of time it was, awful.
I havent tried yet Pride and Prejudice, is it another overvalued trash?

“Fun good times” well I love the fault in our stars I’m not sure I would describe it as fun good times

Im one of the people that raises the nation #of books read... im on track to finish 200 this year

is an audiobook more book or more podcast?