3 Pieces of Hope for Literature

8/20/2013

Lately there's been a major buzz about print publications, copyright infringement, our education rate, and what role literature will have in the future. Luckily, it seems many people are acting out to insure a better tomorrow. The times have changed, so have publishers, news sources, print and digital technologies, as well as our educational systems. All of these things combined show three signs of hope for the future.

We'll Still Prefer Print in the Future.

The biggest dilemma in publishing is the cost of distribution, rate of emissions, returns, unsolds, etc.

For instance, I'm working on a new version of No-Injury Policy, which will be smaller and feature only one less story. However, a new story will be included, which can already be found in the 2nd edition of the short story collection.

The reason I've decided to shrink the physical size of the book is because of distribution rates. It's really cool to be featured on Amazon, B&N, Tower Books, and so on, but it's around 15% of the cost. The average cost of distribution is 10%. Mine is a tad higher because I'm available internationally from as close as Canada to as far as Japan and Australia.

Luckily, the bulk of my books are either eBook files or print-on-demand copies. This means I don't have "unsolds." Unsolds are books that cannot be sold from an initial surplus of printed copies, returns, etc.

Returns and unsolds count for as much as 30%-40%. However, on June 19th, 2013, things changed.

High-Speed Digital Pursuit.

Ever since the major boom in eBook piracy, publishers have fought back with different methods of preventing the illegal distribution of their titles. Whether a digitally encrypted restriction or simply stopping Kindle and Nook users from lending books, nothing has really slowed down the illegal transfer of published works.

In the Netherlands, readers are afforded a little more freedom with their legally purchased books. Truth is, their copyright laws are extremely lax so torrent sites capitalize on their laws to share files, including eBooks.

As another strategic move to combat eBook theft, a distribution agreement between publishers and eBook distributors may insist on adding a digital watermark to every eBook that shows where it was purchased, etc. So if it ends up on a file sharing service illegally, it will be linked to you.

This relates here in the United States too. The big fear is that if you lost your eReader or let too many other people borrow it, the books with your name attached could get you in trouble, although you never personally contributed to piracy.

Personally, I'm honored if someone makes the effort to steal a copy of one of my books. Just don't let it happen to often. Grrr.

What Education & Wolverine Have in Common.

Niall Ferguson, Professor of History, Harvard University, recently took a look at our education system here in the states and concluded that we are not capitalizing on educational opportunities. Our big mistake is "zip-code related," meaning there are poor schools in poor areas.

Universities are left to clean up, but the business sense of many of these institutions is more like a monopoly. Instead, schools should compete and see which ones can make the best students.

I personally like many of his ideas about increasing the education rate of Americans and fixing our problem. He believes technology can really offer the best education to students, a system that makes sense and works with the student. It would be amazing to see higher education recognize the pros and cons of technology and understand the average attention rate and work with it to help the student overall.