I am here in New York for the Expo. I have noted that Hachette Book Group has crossed swords with Amazon. A fight has broken out and it seems Amazon is putting a hold on Hachette’s Books because a royalty dispute. Nasty bit of business this industry is involved in. Seems JK Rowling’s new title is swept up in this bit of tit for tat among the giants.
I’m still seeking an agency’s representation in the business. What is happening to the distribution channels, what is happening to our reading audience, what is happening to the economics of the industry is certainly chaotic. Perhaps I have arrived at the perfect moment or I am too late.
Somewhere between the former controlled closed distribution system and what has replaced it there has given way to a mass bookstore extinction event. And what we are all thinking about is whether each actors percentage of the deal is fair and square capitalism or if there is a rate setting formula that might better reflect the value of each player.
I have my own instincts but no facts to back up my hunch. And that’s the problem an author who has spent the last decade at his desk focused on three novels faces. How do I make sense of a marketplace in the grips of such monumental changes? I am here in New York and this week I will be gathering with my tribe at the Jacob Javitts Convention Center to see if I can wrap my head around how to function in this altered industries dysfunctional condition.
