Do we still need publishers? Some thoughts from Anthony Horowitz

[T.D.McKinnon]

I couldn’t agree more with every thought that has been expressed on this thread so far. Any serious author, indie or otherwise, should not be happy until a professional edit has brought their work to the best it can be for the reader and therefore, obviously, for themselves. I too have been quite disgusted to discover errors and typos in books produced by the so called ‘big six’.

They are obviously cutting corners to cut costs - and that means, among other things, cutting staff - to try and stay in a business that is moving, quite rapidly, in a direction that will progressively cut their control and therefore their profit margins.

For years, authors had increasingly less control over their own artistry. They were basically told what to write if they wanted to be published, and then made to traipse from pillar to post to peddle their wares, and wait in queues, sometimes for years, sometimes indefinitely. The time of the middle people is coming to an end, or at least their control is now reaching its used-by-date.

I do believe there will eventually be a method of ensuring some minimum standards for ePublishing; although probably not until someone can devise a way of making money out of it.

There will always be a place for those who want to assist in the process (editing, distribution and, as MLE so delightfully puts it, curating), but the important people, and the only essential components in the process, are the writers and the readers; and they are definitely benefiting from the current trend. The future of literature has never been brighter.

T.D.McKinnon