Frolicking through the Future of Publishing

This month, July, an event takes place that is lovingly referred to as Camp NaNoWriMo. It's a fun, summertime version of the regular NaNoWriMo. I use this time to start writing snippets of what will eventually become longer books, but quite a few people tackle the challenge. Props to them.

A brave few of those authors will send out inquiry letters to agents or publishers. Most of them will be rejected several times. Have no fear, though, because self-publishing has arrived with a way for authors to bring their works to the public quickly, inexpensively, and without going through the inquire-and-reject process.

In this post, I would like to discuss the future of publishing and self publishing. These are my own personal predictions and only time will truly tell where publishing will go in the future.

My predictions:

• Yes, more authors will begin to self publish.
• Yes, this will become a norm.
• The future of publishing will come in three waves:
• The Rejected: The future starts with those brave few who have tried and tried to get published the "traditional" route. Many of these books are fantasy, erotica and homo-erotica, fanfiction, spiritual, and religious. While many of these books are digital copies only, a few brave souls will offer both print and digital copies. Most of these books will...need work. I believe that we are at the beginning of this phase right now.
• The Hype: A small number of books digitally published will take off in popularity causing thousands of people who had never once before considered writing a book to write, publish, and try to sell their words all online. Most of these books will...need work. Although we are starting to find popularity in self publishing with the success of books like 50 Shades of Grey, I think we will see a few more years before the true hype begins.
• The New Norm: The Hype is over, and consumers are demanding good quality content. Pioneers in the publishing world are rethinking the relationship between print and digital media. What's left is a new normal, where authors and publishers work on building more content online and breaking the mold of conventional publishing. Agents book both physical book signings and simultaneous webcasts of the author answering questions. And I will leave social media for another day entirely.
• Publishers and agents will have to adjust to this influx of digital content and should prepare to focus on selling e-books first, print copies second.
• Physical books will never disappear, but they will get more and more expensive.
• New books published will come out as digital copies long before they are ever introduced in print.
• Technology is going to play a huge role in bringing readers closer to their books and inspiring people to read instead of staring at Facebook 23 hours a day. Think Pottermore but with the release of the book rather than after it.

Not convinced? You can read more about trends in self publishing with Trisha from The Book Case who touches on a possible future precedents of authors selling installments of books using Hugh Howey's Wool as an example. You can also check out this post about Penguin Books by Graeme McMillan, and how its acquisition of Author Solutions could set it up to identify talent in this digital age.

Yes, publishing is changing. For publishers, agents, and writers it's an exciting, terrifying time. I am more than excited to see publishing evolve and maybe publish a book or two myself.

Agree? Disagree? Comments? Questions? Leave me a comment, and I will do my best to figure out an answer!