Ideas-guy, futurist, purple cow guy Seth Godin announced last week that he was leaving traditional publishing behind. The industry wasn't future-focused, that he now had a direct connection with readers that many other authors don't have.
Of course, some traditional publishers got mad. Like this one. Publishers are needed, the argument goes, to establish platforms, to establish audiences, to market the book. That is in defense of a 'traditional' publisher–one who has their own in-house marketers, in-house designers, in-house sellers.
According to Seth, that's no longer forward thinking. So maybe a publisher should scale back all that ancillary stuff for real marketing people to bring in some fresh ideas, farm out the sales staff to create some new retail connections and rethink promo and distro with so many copies being digital. Print limited, collector's edition copies of books with lots of digital copies. Same thing, less overhead.
Sound familiar? Yeah, it's the indie music industry format. Try it.
These 'traditional publishing' people need to work with Godin to see what could work, not fight against him with every tooth and nail. That story has already been written by movie theaters and large music labels. Read it. There's not a happy ending.
