|
Eggers revolution chills US
publishers
Bestselling author's move to overthrow
conventions of the book trade
Dave Eggers, author of the bestselling
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius , has
a new novel published in America this weekend - but there will no point in fans
rushing to a major bookstore to buy a copy. In what has been described as
either courageous entrepreneurship or vainglorious folly, Eggers has
eschewed the normal publishing route taken by writers of his stature -
and the seven-figure advance that comes with it - and issued the novel
himself.
You Shall Know Our Velocity, which
tells of two young Americans who travel the world trying to give away
money, is only available at independent bookshops across the US and from McSweeney's, the New York-based magazine and website
founded by the writer. The book industry's retail giants, Barnes &
Noble, Borders and Amazon.com, have been cut out of the action. Just
10,000 copies of the book, printed in Iceland and then shipped to a warehouse in Boston, are available at $20, around $10 less than
the price charged by mainstream publishers for books by authors of
Eggers's stature.
The book has already generated
enormous interest, with an excerpt in the New Yorker magazine and
numerous articles congratulating the author on achieving a great
marketing coup. 'Eggers has accomplished a daring trifecta;
it merges the long tradition of self-publishing (think Walt Whitman,
Thomas Paine) with modern technology (sales over the internet), while
sharing the spoils only with friends (the independent bookstores who were
the earliest and most enthusiastic supporters of McSweeney's),'
the Wall Street Journal declared.
Eggers remains downbeat. 'It might work on this scale; it
might not - we really have no idea,' he said in a recent interview. 'I
think that if you care about writing, then you care about how it makes
its way into the world, and self-publishing is one good way to make sure
it comes out the way you'd envisioned. But we'll see. It could all go
horribly, horribly wrong.' That is the outcome desired by some members of
the mainstream publishing industry who have long considered Eggers to be
a troublesome maverick and who see his latest venture as a quixotic
attempt to undermine their dominance of the book world.
Others see the author's move as
another signal that the publishing industry is undergoing a revolution.
They include Jason Epstein, co-founder of the New York Review of Books.
He says: 'He is not the first author to take the self-publishing route
but he is probably the most well-known, and all power to him. Whether it
will work, I don't know, but at least he is showing some life and passion
and ingenuity. If it fails, he will always have the built-in hedge of
going the more traditional way. Publishers would be eager to have his
book.'
A former Random House
editor and innovative figure in the New York publishing world, Epstein is
the author of Book Business, which foresaw the demise of the publishing
industry in its current form. Inflated advances for big-name authors,
ever decreasing profit margins and the emergence of new technologies will
mean an end to retail giants such as Borders and big publishing houses.
Taking their place will be smaller enterprises with fewer overheads and
more immediate access to the reading public, like McSweeney's
and the growing self-publishing industry, Epstein argues. In the past 18
months, almost 40 self-published novels by authors who couldn't generate
interest in their manuscripts first time round have subsequently been
bought up by major publishing companies after selling significant numbers
through mail order and over the internet. 'The self-
|
publishing stigma has been replaced with high-figure advances
and full-page ads in the New York Times Book Review,' says M.J. Rose, a columnist
with Wired magazine and a self-published author.
Another threat to publishing's
behemoths comes from Epstein himself, who is a partner in a company
developing what is effectively an 'ATM [cash machine] for books'. The
machine, invented by a St Louis-based car engineer, Jeff March, is around
the size of an office photocopier. It can take a digital file, print it
and bind it into a paperback book within minutes. 'This means a reader
anywhere in the world can go to the machine, type in the name of the book
he wants, and have it in his hands. We already have a working prototype
which produces 100 pages in three minutes at a cost of one cent per
page,' Epstein says.
Three Billion Books, the company
formed by Epstein and colleagues, is already in
negotiation with the World Bank to introduce the Print-on-Demand machine
into the developing world, where it would help the dissemination of
badly-needed text books. The bank has an extensive catalogue of books on
agriculture and public health which it currently ships to the Third World at enormous cost. One of the great advantages
of this technology is that you could publish books in countless
languages. There would be no problems with shipping or with having too
much inventory. All you need to do is the translation and then make a
digital file,' says Epstein.Such machines could
be up and running in the developing world within a year.
Retailers and publishing firms in the
West will do as much as they can to stall the development of this
technology in North
America and Europe, Epstein predicts. 'But eventually the
publishing world will see that it works and will have no choice but to
accept it. The horse and buggy trade did whatever it could to discourage
the automobile, but eventually the automobile proved its point.'
Guardian Unlimited � Guardian
Newspapers Limited 2003
WRITERSWORLD can reprint a book from another publisher as long as
you own the copyright or a copy of certification or letter of transfer is
submitted with the order from the previous publisher. We will issue a new
ISBN number. Needless to say the book which you want reprinted must be in
good condition. If it is not we will attempt to rectify the
condition for an extra charge which we will agree on beforehand.The
above referenced charge does not cover the cost of photographs or
illustrations in your reprint. We will quote you seperately
for this which will be charged at cost.You must
purchase a minimum of eight copies at �6.00 per copy. We store one copy
and send six copies to the legal deposit libraries. Another is for the
press. We require a payment of �25.00 to cover delivery charges.We will provide you with the first one
hundred copies of reprint and delivery charges at cost to promote the
reprint in local bookstores etc. You can order additional copies at print
cost plus 15% and the delivery charges.Your book will be made available through every major internet
bookshop, including Amazon, Bol, Waterstones, WHSmith, Ottakar's, Hammicks, Blackwells, Thins, Methvens,
etc., on Websites throughout Europe, the Far East, Australia, America and
over 12,500 retail booksellers.
|
