The Future is... bright?

“You’re going to find that many of the truths we cling to, depend greatly on our own point of view.”

Sir Alec Guinness, Obi Wan Kenobi (The Empire Strikes Back).

Yes, I know, it is a line of scripted dialogue. But it is one which resonated enough with me over the years, that I have always remembered it; and not just because it was delivered brilliantly by an outstanding acting talent.

Indeed, there are many great quotes from both film and literature which have stayed with me, but I think this one is one of those timeless, forever-accurate lines which means something to everyone… and certainly when it is applied to writers and the future that may, or may not, lie before us.

For the most part, editors and publishers have long abandoned their age-old ‘traditional stick’ with regards to grammar and syntax, as modern writers flood the self-publishing literary channels with their works. There are a good many of this new breed who have gone out of their way to ensure a level of quality in their finished product; decent editing, good quality cover art, decent plot-work, strong characters and good descriptive… but it would be remiss of me to state this as being the ‘norm’.

Still there are too many unprepared, incomplete, badly written books hitting the e-shelves and as a result, a slowly-growing readership is wandering gradually away from self-published works.

Nevertheless, this seemingly continuing trend of bad writing comes as a result of a number of things.

It is free and VERY easy to self-publish. Perhaps too easy, based on some of the ‘dogs’ I have been subjected to on my reading list in recent years. But let’s not forget the ‘diamond’ that was Fifty Shades of S#!t… oh no, please let us not forget that wonderful example of the written word.

Why any traditional publisher would consider such amateurish twaddle worthy of publication is far beyond my comprehension. Not that either author (I use the term as loosely as permissible) or publisher particularly give a damn. They made a packet out of it and simultaneously stirred up a huge hornet’s nest in derisory comments and reviews (Many with far more entertainment value than the book itself).

But I digress…

Love them or hate them, Amazon has potentially opened up the world to all those people who believe the old adage ‘everyone has a book in them’. They have removed the excuse ‘I’ll never get published’, smashed the King Kong-esque wall between the average Joe and the literary world… and guess what? They’ve made a packet out of it too.

The plain fact that the majority of those with a book in them seem to have inadvertently swallowed one, as opposed to having the ability to produce one, has probably done more harm than good over recent years, with the added bonus of creating an anti-indie trolling community of a size the extended family of the Billy Goats Gruff would think twice about sinking their horns into.

I spent a number of years sending out half-baked works to traditional publishers, often receiving nothing in response. I wasn’t expecting instant recognition and a world-wide best-seller. I was dipping my toe into the water at the very edge of the storm to see if I had it in me to carry on.

And here I am… carrying on.

Many authors cling to one, specific truth; only a tiny minority will ever hit the big time. Whilst some may have outstanding sales and perhaps even earn enough to make a passable living from their efforts, the vast majority will not; but even a season of good figures and perhaps even one acclaimed title is no guarantee of success. Of those who earn little or nothing for their initial works, a good few will probably stop writing within a couple of years, only to be replaced by the next wave of hopefuls. But no matter how many come and go, the recipe will always be the same… Some will put in the effort and do it right, others won’t.

My point of view revolves around something I see as being inevitable... I may be proved wrong, but in the grand scheme of things it seems most likely that the great, wide-open world of the self-publisher will have to adapt to survive.

I suspect there will come a time when Amazon and their ilk will feel it necessary to reduce the existing royalty schemes we independent Johnnys and Janets enjoy. Perhaps there will be charges introduced to go through the initial publication procedures.

However it is done, I believe we are potentially only a few short years from having some of the sweeter air removed from the great self-publishing bubble we presently inhabit. If they have any modicum of sense, introducing a sliding scale to reward those who regularly add to their library of works, and gain the acclaim of independently verified reviewers, will serve to increase the quality of the books being offered as well as stopping some of the ‘fly-by’ writers hurling a piece of unsolicited rubbish into the ether in their efforts to earn the proverbial ‘fast buck’. Though, I have to say, I feel the word ‘sense’ in any meaningful connotation, is out of place when referring to modern publishing.

In the meantime, it is getting harder to find those genuine diamonds amongst an ever-increasing mountain of rough. That is not to say there aren’t a good many of them out there, but the level of dilution is very high.

Would a tagging system help? It is something I have considered asking of the mighty Amazon… a system similar to the martial arts grading process, where authors were colour-graded based on publishing time, review ratings and number of quality works would certainly not be difficult to implement, and may serve to educate the potential reader as to how good, or how ‘new’ the author is in comparison to others in their genre. Don’t get me wrong, it isn’t foolproof, but if it catches even a reasonable percentage of the dross it will be worth it… and good, new authors will quickly rise out of the lower ranks with relative ease.

So, how bright can we expect our publishing future to be?

Well, I think that will greatly depend on how much we all want it. While some of the better scribes among us may be tempted into the realms of the alternative publishing systems Amazon have already begun to introduce, the rest of us will have to muddle on and make good as best we can.

The future may not be all light and roses, but I think... for those of us who want to persevere and give the world our stories... it might not be too bad at all.