That's a question that many authors are asking themselves in the e-book era. And publishers are answering it.
Several major book publishers have recently come out with aggressive statements asserting what they do and all the work that goes into publishing a successful book.
So, what do publishers do?
According to an internal document leaked to Digital Book World by Hachette Books Group in December, they (edited and shortened excerpts from the document):
1. Find and nurture talent: Identify authors and books that are going to stand out in the marketplace; discover new voices; nurture writing talent; foster rich relationships with authors and provide them with expert editorial advice.
2. Fund the author's writing process: Invest in ideas in the form of advances paid to authors, allowing authors time and resources to research and write; and invest in infrastructure, tools, and partnerships.
3. Distribute and sell book to widest possible audience: Distribute books to the right place, in the right numbers, and at the right time both in print and digital; work with retailers and distribution partners; tackle supply chain complexity; explore new product ideas even if, in some cases, a positive outcome is not guaranteed (as with apps and enhanced ebooks); and act as a price and promotion specialist (coordinating 250+ monthly, weekly and daily deals on ebooks at all accounts).
4. Build author brands and protect copyrights: Generate and spread excitement about authors; present books to the marketplace in exactly the right way through marketing and publicity expertise; and protect authors’ intellectual property through strict anti-piracy measures and territorial controls.
Why are publishers so eager to proclaim their relevance these days? Because they're facing increased competition for their most important clients: authors.
A decade ago, the only way to have a book published and sold on store shelves was to sell it to a book publisher that would help edit, design and distribute it. Today, anyone who can type and has an internet connection can have her book for sale at the world's largest bookstore -- Amazon -- in a matter of hours.
There are dozens of technology vendors that offer self-publishing services, with more popping up all the time. Smashwords will distribute your book to all major e-bookstores except Amazon and give you a hefty 70.5% net proceeds of sales, offer you marketing advice and give you a suite of tools to manage it all. Penguin's Book Country has a community of writers and editors who will workshop your book until it's ready for publication through the site's proprietary software. Author Solutions is currently offering writers a special deal: 100% of net proceeds of sales on books it publishes and distributes in perpetuity, as long as they're uploaded before July 4. Kindle Direct Publishing will put you on sale at the world's largest e-bookstore.
All of these services are in competition not just with each other but with traditional publishers, which generally offer no more than 25% royalties on e-book sales. Publishers do, however, generally pay advances, sometimes in the six- or seven-figure range -- something no self-publishing service has been known to do. And they also generally distribute books into bricks-and-mortar bookstores, of which there are thousands in the U.S. About 80% of the trade publishing industry's revenue still comes from print books and, for the most part, traditional publishers are the best bet for generating print sales.
New technologies like print-on-demand and in-person or in-store e-book sales may change that (not to mention the continuing rise of e-reading). For now, however, traditional publishers still hold that advantage.
But if the publishers can't attract authors with advances, support services and a promise of maximum possible distribution, what will happen to them? A publishing house that doesn't publish books is, well, just a house, I suppose (and houses don't make money like they used to).
So, publishers are now openly competing for author talent with self-publishing sites. Among the tens of thousands of self-published authors, a few are making huge amounts of money, hitting best-seller lists and even occasionally getting picked up by traditional publishers for huge contracts. While these few are outliers, they give the armies of would-be best-selling authors hope, fueling the fire.
In a world where anyone could be a best-seller, take the lion's share of the rewards and do it all on their own, why would you need a publisher? It can't be that hard to write, edit, format, design, publish, market and sell a book, can it? Well, here's what Random House has to say on the matter:
