Publishers are mastering the defensive moves. It appears their goal is to protect their current markets. However, this doesn’t look like a successful long term strategy. Even small losses in market share will add up over time, and as electronic book readers become more common, publishers will be easier and easier to bypass.
Is there a way for publishers to profit from the new trends instead of fighting them? What are a publisher’s strengths and how can they be monetized in this new environment? One option would be for the publisher to reconfigure itself as an open access pay-per-use services and editorial company.
Many self-published books suffer from typographical and basic grammatical errors. A publisher could offer proofreading and editing services on a pay per service basis. If this service succeeds, the demand will far outstrip capacity. This can be solved by establishing a services marketplace where independent proofreaders bid on job requests from authors. The publishing company would still offer its own services, but at a premium to the general market. For this extra fee, the author would receive a quality guarantee as well as premium services, such as editing and coaching on writing styles.
Another service would address packaging the book for sale. This might include layout, book covers, and translation into appropriate formats (epub, mobi, etcetera). Similar to CafePress, authors can open their Author personalized bookstores. These author stores can even offer a hardcopy option through a print-on-demand capability.
Arguably, the most important service that publishers provide is in managing the selection of books and arranging for access to the market. Although the publishing process may not be perfect in finding the best books, it does generally succeed in winnowing out unreadable slush. The presence of a publisher’s imprint is the promise of some level of quality. In contrast, the quality of independent writing varies from outstanding to utter dreck.