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Publishing is becoming "fragmented" with the downwards pressure on price likely to put the paperback book under threat, delegates at Book Expo America heard at the traditional first day curtain-raiser, the c.e.o. panel.
The panel was moderated by Farrar, Straus and Giroux’s Jonathan Galassi, who was clearly in mourning. "Fragmentation seems to be the name of the game," he began, expressing fears about how we can "preserve core activities, protect writers," and maintain the value of time-honored roles. He talked of "the experience of cognitive dissonance and simultaneity being what it’s all about."
Penguin’s David Shanks, Workman’s new group publisher Bob Miller - ex-Harper Studio and Hyperion - the American Booksellers Association’s Oren Teicher, Ingram’s Skip Prichard, and Authors Guild president, lawyer and bestselling author Scott Turow were, with Galassi, there to discuss "The Value of a Book" in our new/old world. ICM’s Esther Newberg, who provided the agent’s perspective, was the sole female panelist.
Turow began with authors’ fears about piracy and lower income: 25% of net in "e" is less than a traditional 15% royalty. Newberg made her first point: "What are publishers doing to justify not giving authors 50%?"
Miller countered that "terms differ from publisher to publisher". Newberg shot back, "some terms are much better than others and we’ll have to go public and some of you will look bad".
"Why did publishers agree to allow e-books to be available at the same time as paper books?" Turow then asked. Galassi responded: "It was a mistake to let Amazon put out e-books simultaneously and charge the price it did. It will have a negative effect on the paperback." The paperback may well "go bye-bye," Newberg bluntly agreed.
Overall, Galassi said: "Something’s radically wrong about the way the market has determined the value of the book. I don’t think there’s going to be a pick-up in volume to make up the difference."
Miller responded that the downward pressure on prices was not going to go away, "although it’s false to talk about all books in one great sweep." On the other hand, he added "we cannot go back...we wouldn’t want to keep people back from the ebook if they want it at the same time as print."
However, Turow disagreed. "I’m not sure you can’t go back," he said, going on to tell publishers they should do a better job of "seeing around corners" and engage in "a little more futurism". He pointed out that the industry was now dealing with two pieces of intellectual property: the book and the device.
Shanks, on the other hand, reminded delegates about the present, namely that "more than 90%" of the business was still in paper. "We need to protect as long as we can the apparatus that sells physical books."
Teicher agreed, defending the role of bookstores. "We discover the book and put it in the hands of the appropriate consumer. We curate it. They want to come to a physical space. Preserving the showroom matters a lot. We need to ensure that books don’t become like every commodity being used as loss leaders." Unfortunately, as some in the audience said later, too often books that are discovered in independent stores are ordered on Amazon later.
Prichard asserted that "technology has evolved and publishing houses are going to have to turn into entertainment and education houses."
In the end, while Prichard spoke of ours being "one of the most exciting times," Galassi spoke of it being a "scary time". After an hour and a half, the common ground was that of course they were both right.
More on BEA to come.