by Steve Jordan
While the amateur authors fought for their share of the American Dream, another set of authors fought to retain their dream. These were the professional authors, those already published, who were watching over their shoulders as the e-book era was swiftly overtaking them.
I used the word overtaking, because most authors were not prepared for the changes that the e-book would demand of them. The e-book threatened to irrevocably alter the pricing structure of books and publishing, and therefore the paychecks they expected to receive for their books. There was the threat to intellectual property that e-books represented, the possibility of a work being easily copied and redistributed without permission or compensation. There was the clumsy publishers’ effort to secure those rights, and the incredibly virulent backlash from the consumers against DRM. And there was the evidence of the music industry, which seemed to indicate that Big Pub and its partners—the authors—would be under direct siege by the hordes of “talentless amateurs” that would overwhelm them and ruin the industry.
It’s no wonder, then, that most established authors went along with the opinions of Big Pub, and sided with them in the effort to hold back the e-book industry as long as possible. Big Pub was sure that e-books would ruin them, and authors saw no evidence that the pubs knew what to do about it; so they shared in the publishers’ panic, and ran with them like baby deer following their mothers through the forests.
A few authors have managed to distinguish themselves in the e-book battle, on both sides. J.K. Rowling has pointedly refused to allow her popular book series to be sold as e-books, in a bid to avoid the possibility of her works being reproduced and disseminated without her permission (and without her being paid). She is certainly not the only author to take this position. However, as her books are oriented towards young adults and children—a group that is more aware of and interested in e-books than most older adults—the decision is considered more of a slight to them. Further, many of those younger consumers have reacted to her decision by manually transcribing her books to electronic format, in a blatant and pointed disregard for the author’s wishes, and distributing them online… exactly the outcome she hoped to avoid by shunning e-books in the first place. This ironic turn of events, a segment of a popular author’s fans turning on her and intentionally bootlegging her work, has already become e-book legend.
Harlan Ellison has also become famous for his negative reaction to e-books—ironic in itself, considering his reputation as a sci-fi author with a better understanding of the impact of technological development than most. Ellison has gone out of his way to prosecute any individual caught disseminating digital versions of his works, with a fervor generally exhibited by NRA members and anti-abortionists. Many other authors view the direct threat of litigation over a copyright-protected work to be the best weapon against illegal copying and dissemination, despite the demonstrated lack of effectiveness, ridicule and damage to reputation that various bands suffered through during the days of music-sharing through Napster… possibly authors hope the other aspect of the Napster era, the raising in the public eye of bands like Metallica during their Napster crusade, will similarly improve their public exposure and garner more sales. At the very least, authors like Ellison surely hope they will not be forced out of retirement by e-book-ravaged royalty checks and forced to make a new living.
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Other authors have taken the attitude: “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.” These authors, having seen the writing on the wall, decided to find a way to turn the e-book phenomenon to their advantage. Authors like Cory Doctorow have taken the tack that e-books represent effective ways of advertising their profitable printed books: They literally give their e-books away for free, while urging those who read them to go out and buy the printed book if they liked the e-book. They assume that some people will not buy a book they’ve already read, but some will, and that they are more likely to buy other books of theirs, as they are now familiar to them. Doctorow has said, “The greatest threat to an author is obscurity,” so he uses e-books as a “loss-leader” to expose his work to more people and build sales of other books. Other authors, using the loss-leader approach, release some of their secondary material as free e-books, and leave their primary books in print-only formats in order to allow the free e-books to bring in customers and recover sales from the printed books.
A few authors experimented with e-books, but with limited success in their endeavors. Stephen King attempted to release a novel, a chapter at a time, as an e-book, and asked only that his fans would “donate” to his website for each chapter, the intention being that if he received a set amount of money, he would continue to write the next chapter. But when chapter donations dropped below the level set by King, he stopped writing, infuriating those customers who had duly paid for the earlier chapters, and now would receive no e-book at all. The bad taste left in the mouths of King and his customers has prompted King to avoid e-books, or to position them as undesirable products (usually through higher-than-standard prices), in order to discourage e-book sales and encourage continued print sales. A few other authors have been singularly unimpressed with their first attempts at e-book sales, and have since pulled out of e-book distribution either significantly or completely.
There are established writers who have authorized the release of their primary works as e-books, through some or many of the e-book distributors available online. Of these authors, their works come in two flavors: One is offered for a price, free of any type of security, with the hope that this positive presentation of their e-books will be enough to mitigate a significant amount of loss through copying and bootlegging; and the other flavor locks down the e-book with DRM, in order to prevent its copying and bootlegging after the purchase. The jury is still out on the effectiveness of DRM used in this way, since to date no DRM method has proven unbreakable, leaving many of its opponents to declare it worthless. Its proponents, however, state that DRM only has to deter enough potential scofflaws to mitigate loss through bootlegging to an acceptable level, so they are satisfied that it is doing its job.
And then there are authors who have chosen to offer e-books in a way calculated to garner the greatest appreciation from customers, while still providing some income: E-books sold at prices the consumers consider very fair (generally below $5), in multiple formats, and without DRM. Most of these authors hope to create a following for their work that could conceivably match, or even transcend, the market possibilities of their printed counterparts; or to breathe new life into their older works, which have gone out of print circulation and therefore represent potentially recoverable income.
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While all of these authors were open to take different approaches to e-books, all of them were aware that they were now competing directly with amateur authors, the kind of people that they previously stood well-above, looking down upon them from the parapets of the publishing “Castle.” The development of e-books, unfortunately for them, had provided a way for the amateurs to scale the castle walls and stand eye-to-eye with those inside.
Some of them were magnanimous enough to be willing to share the spotlight with the amateurs, being sure that their work would outshine the amateurs’ work, and duly send the amateurs home in ignominy. Many of those authors had been surprised to discover that there was often very little difference between the sheen on themselves, and the sheen on the amateurs. This has led some authors to question the value of the services they gained from the publishers, other than the obvious established distribution network. As the distribution element alone is worthwhile to them, they are content to bask in Big Pub’s protection and promotion over the amateurs. But they have increasingly found themselves forced to defend their position against the amateur newcomers, bringing to mind again the champion Apollo Creed discovering that his opponent, Rocky Balboa, was more of a handful than he could have imagined.
Other authors insisted on standing apart from the amateurs, basically not giving them a chance for direct compariso
n. These established authors remained steadfast in their assertion of their superiority, by virtue of having “paid their dues” and landed the prestigious publishing contracts, unlike the amateurs petitioning for recognition in the new, democratized e-book world.
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But as more retailers like Amazon’s Kindle or Barnes & Noble’s e-book stores proliferate, more and more established authors will realize they are no longer standing so far apart from the amateur or self-published authors, and the services they had previously received from publishers may not be enough to protect them against the industry’s newcomers.
Some of those established authors have indicated that, the moment that day comes, they will retire from the publishing industry, either directly or subtly suggesting that the industry will be forever ruined by the e-book era and therefore not worth their time or effort. Many of these authors have fallen on the more traditional complaints about the e-book industry, the suggestion that removing the aspects of printed matter from literature will irrevocably damage the romance, the tradition, the value, and the very soul, of that literature. Others simply make it clear that they feel the new authors are not up to their ideals, and will never be so without the traditional publishing machine to groom them into “professionals.” Few of them seem to wish to publicly voice the obvious: That they may no longer be able to make the living they are accustomed to in the e-book industry.
A few authors have even suggested that the demise of the printed book was a harbinger of the demise of civilization itself. Poet Alan Kaufman once suggested that the transition from print to e-books would be akin to the book-burnings of World War II, and that e-books’ fans were the equivalent of Nazis.
These and other similarly-impassioned claims seem to indicate a distinct and, in some cases, pathological fear of the uncertain future of the literature market, and a reflexive establishment of a death-grip on the traditional publishing methods. It mirrors the actions and attitudes of the majority of established publishers, which makes sense, as many of these authors understand that their professional and economic futures are strongly linked to their publishing houses and established relationships, and how well they manage to deal with change. Those authors who have decided not to allow publishers’ inaction (or mis-action) to drag them down, are taking charge of their future by trying new publishing methods.
As some of these methods succeed and some fail, we can expect to eventually see some coherent workable business methods rise to the fore, and much of the guesswork of the early business environment should fade away. This will create a calming effect on established and professional authors, and decisions will be made by individuals on whether they plan to adopt the new methods and stay in the book business, or opt-out and either retire or seek a change in profession. But for now, everything is still in flux, and the pro authors, like the Big Publishers, are still rushing about, looking for direction.
20: The environment—The green movement vs. good ol’ paper
Since awareness of the need to deal with pollution began to develop in the 1960s, the global marketplace has had a tenuous relationship with pollution and the environment: Although the world’s industrial nature was the major culprit of pollution, it was also the engine that allowed growth and progress in the world. As much as people wanted clean air, they also wanted jobs, homes, food and money, and it was difficult to curtail industry and maintain the perks of modern life.
Many industries came under close public scrutiny, usually because of their environmental impact with either prominent areas or prominent people, and as governments initiated pollution control laws, these industries would come under heavy regulation. Others, keeping a low profile (and spreading around enough lobbying money to keep it that way), managed to avoid serious regulation.
However, with the deterioration of the ozone layer and the threat of global warming becoming more apparent at the beginning of the 21st century, many people began to realize that the stakes were much higher than they realized. Scientists began looking past individual organizations, and examining the amount of carbon being pumped into the atmosphere, from any and all sources. Suddenly, anything that produced excess carbon, or prevented the planet from naturally capturing and sequestering carbon as it had for millennia, came under direct scrutiny, and few industries or technologies were not found wanting.
It was in this climate (ahem) that the green movement stepped into the debate between printed books and e-books, and sought to determine which, if either, form of literature delivery was best for the planet.
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The attention lavished upon it by the green movement did not thrill the paper industry. They’d already had their fill of public attention, and still sported the scars.
At the beginning of the environmental movement, the paper industry had been stung by its association with the logging industry, which was one of the first industries to be savaged by the environmentalists. Already established as one of the premier industries of the American northwest, logging came under heavy criticism for its then-common practices of clear-cutting forests, driving local wildlife away or into extinction, and tearing up the local ecosystems in harvesting trees primarily for lumber and paper use. Logging, long considered a noble and honorable profession, increasingly came to be regarded by many groups as akin to the rape of the natural world. Governments stepped in and forced new regulations on the logging industry, forcing them to examine ecosystems before charging in, to mitigate ecological damage while working, and to restore forested areas that had been harvested.
These forced activities helped mitigate damage to forested areas, but it was also a significant expense, and the logging industry quickly passed those costs onto the paper and lumber industries. Soon paper products jumped in price across the board, because the paper mills were being charged much more for their stock than in the past. This price jump created a ripple effect that touched off the systematic decimation of the press-printing industry, as the cost of large press runs could not compete against the smaller targeted runs of the new technology, computer printers, networked photocopiers, and electronic files. As general printing began to dwindle, paper producers found their client base shrinking drastically. Their remaining major markets became the office paper markets, and paper for newsprint and books… still substantial, but a shadow of their former markets.
I had a front-row seat to the decline of the printing industry, as the practices of my profession (running digital printing systems and converting documents to digital files) was instrumental in taking business away from press printers. As I worked away, printing companies downsized, then shuttered their doors, or they were forced to convert to digital printers like the Xerox DocuTech, and much smaller runs than they had enjoyed previously. Within a few years, it became obvious to me that the press printing industry was on a powerslide from major industry to boutique service, an eventual victim of modernization.
Perhaps due to the hard times faced by the paper industry, there was little thought given to the ecological impacts that standard paper production had on the environment. Paper production was a lot more than chopping down a tree; it typically involved rending, pulping, re-congealing, bleaching, cutting and packaging of wood products into thin, flat sheets. These processes involved heavy transporting and milling machinery, which required significant amounts of power to move and work with heavy products like lumber, and the requisite lubricants and materials required to keep that machinery running. The pulping, congealing and bleaching involved up to 40 caustic and toxic chemicals and bleaches, plus huge amounts of fresh water. When these chemicals and water were used, they were limited in recyclability, and generally useless after one or a few cycles. Then these waste chemicals and water would simply be dumped into the waste stream, which might be a local stream or lake, and ending up in the local watershed. In short, there was nothing particularly clean, nor easy on the environment, about the printing industry.
Supplementary to the paper mills was the need to ship their produc
ts from place to place. This was also hardly a clean process: Although some stock could be transported by train, a relatively efficient mode of transportation, at some point all of it had to be transported by diesel-burning semis and trucks on the nation’s highways and in the cities. The trucking industry was likewise under scrutiny for the amount of pollution caused by old, inefficient truck fleets and inefficient daily practices (like idling overnight and during rest stops), and under pressure to clean up their act.
Next, major printing industries, the ones that did the heavy newspaper and book production, used up more electricity and required oil-based lubricants for its printing machinery. Those books were printed using inks which often included toxic trace minerals and metals. Once their stocks were printed, they were generally transported in smaller collections, which invariably meant more inefficient truck transportation. Then, those printed products had to be stored somewhere, generally in warehouses. Because paper is highly susceptible to environmental conditions, the warehouses generally had to be climate-controlled, requiring more energy usage to maintain them. And finally, those products had to be moved to local bookstores, using more power for lights and climate control, until they were bought by consumers and finally removed from the industrial energy- and pollution-stream.
There was no way to put a clean face on this overall process, and the printing industry knew it. So they made every effort to remain quiet, to avoid entanglements with environmentalists, and to quietly lobby to protect themselves and their interests. Today, the bulk of the public has only a general idea of the whole of the process of delivering a book to their hands, not the real environmental impact of that process.
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The electronics industry was, if anything, a bit more used to public scrutiny, as it had developed largely in conjunction with the environmental movement, and had had “greenies” looking over their shoulders from day one.