Publishers Will Continue Making It Difficult for Future Readers to Think for Themselves
Especially the legacy publishers
I’ve always wanted to publish my works with Penguin.
No serious writer hasn’t considered the giant publisher. The recognition that comes with such a classical stamp cements your voice in your field.
After losing her job at one of Kenya's leading airlines, a recently published author gave an online talk during the COVID-19 pandemic. I attended to get the details I would need before publishing my first book.
There wasn’t much. An ISBN, submission to a library, and discussions about royalties and rewards. Now that I’ve been writing online for years, looking back, I discovered she didn’t share the numbers from her sales.
In a recent trial where Penguin wished to acquire another major publisher, these missing details revealed the truth about publishing companies. They were like IMAX when COVID hit, when theatre numbers started dwindling.
Most producers began considering streaming platforms. You didn’t need a contract from a production studio such as SONY to make a movie. Sincerely Daisy was the first Kenyan movie to be featured on Netflix, without endorsement by a major production company.
Today, publishing companies are experiencing similar warning signs. While most writers who have done their research acknowledge the power wielded by these legacy publication houses, they have forgotten the other side of the page— the readers.
I worry we might not have enough readers and, worse still, thinkers. I used to blame it on aspects such as social media and AI, but now, I see how these publishers could also contribute to the same outcome.
If it doesn’t make money, it doesn’t make sense, and the consequence
If you don’t make money, then you don’t make sense
Pounds and US, no pence— Mavado
The small percentage of the franchise authors and celebrities pay the other authors whose books never found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
James Patterson has over 70 books. He is a multimillionaire. If Penguin gets wind that he’s thinking of publishing another book, they would be at his feet like Mort. The publishers need to make money.
Like any gambler, you need to play your cards right. There are safe bets. It’s safe to bet on James Grisham producing another legendary novel. The same goes for Dan Brown, Danielle Steel, or even Nora Roberts. The franchise authors sell because they have already done it before. The typical success to the successful archetype.
The kind of advance these authors will get is upwards of $500,000. They are the only ones likely to outsell their advance and start reaping the royalties from the book sales. If the only people who know you are the local grocer and your family, you may not fall into this category. The advance might be the only pay you will get from your book.
That, plus the badge you get to wear from getting published by a giant such as Penguin.
Besides such authors, the major publishers hedge their bets on celebrities. Most authors will reach out to Penguin. Again, if you’re in this category, such as myself, chances are your book may not sell as much. On the flip side, Penguin reaches out to celebrities.
When a publication contacts you, you’re a hotshot. What’s more, they know you are likely to have a massive following. The marketing budget gets slashed significantly, and the guarantee of a big paycheck is high. But what few stop to ask is what new thing would we be learning from these celebrities?
Some may have key nuggets of wisdom, but a full book? Maybe for the thrill of the story.
I’m a sucker for a good story, anytime. Get me a book by Jeffrey Archer, and I will clear my plans to consume it. Will, for instance, has received a lot of praise from my sister. It was an instant #1 New York Times bestseller. I’m considering reading it.
At best, we can get a good story. Someone like 50 Cent, whose marketing skills are phenomenal, fashions the shoes for us to live the life of someone who not only identified market gaps but created and eventually exploited them.
The stories make these celebrities sell. Same goes for Michelle Obama’s recent release, Becoming.
Where does that leave the thinkers? Thinking is not simply regurgitating what someone else has figured out. It’s developing your line of thought. Being bold enough to challenge current ideas and shape your concepts for the world to process them.
If books were one of the ways of doing this, then thinkers are about to get into a steady decline. Most books on the New York Times bestseller list have gone through the major publishers. That means that the authors are well-known for their previous work or, as we have already seen, celebrity status.
Added to this equation is that most people will use such a list as a gauge for a good book. It’s the safer option. Would you rather trust the functionality of an iPhone or that of a group of MIT graduates intent on changing our mobile experience? Odds are, the iPhone may not disappoint. Similarly, in case you have a medical condition and have the financial means to see you through good healthcare, a recognized institution with years of social proof trumps a recent up-and-coming health centre led by the country’s top practitioners.
So everyone will read what every other person is reading. But if what everyone is reading is simply a book by another known author, who is likely to be writing fiction or a celebrity, whose story we can get from a documentary, will reading prompt thinking? A more accurate question, the kind that targets these legacy publications, is: If most of the sold copies are from celebrities or franchise authors, will reading their work prompt thinking?
George Mack recently launched his high agency website. Inside it, he talks of the three kings of the tennis court — Federer, Djokovic, and Nadal. Each of them has a different preparation style before a big game. Federer will play with the ball, Jokovic will prefer a logical, methodical option, while Nadal does high-energy feats. The lesson? No set path towards greatness. But this will not stop the publishers from targeting them.
Targeting these stars to write their books won’t prompt thinking from the readers. At least not directly. Which of their books will show how each of them prepares differently from the other tennis court giant? Unless you’re a journalist like David Epstein, interested in making these comparisons and improving your range, you may never know about these different preparation techniques.
Ultimately, you may never know that the path to greatness is not the path described in the books of each of these tennis legends.
Words are not just designed to convey thought. They also prevent it.
It further begs the question: Will the phrase leaders are readers still apply?
Granted, reading is not the only way to spur thinking. Hours spent thinking about a given topic should do the trick. Creativity strikes when you least expect it. Preoccupation with reading might counteract my sermon on the need for thinkers.
This time to oneself, however, has already been snatched. In our dopamine economy, distraction is the best way to make money. As Mavado sings, if it doesn’t make money, it doesn’t make sense. Off with the reading head.
Books hardly distract. Rather, they sharpen focus. Hard cover samples don’t have notifications pinging every minute. But what books will we be reading? Will the label of the publisher still convey the authority it once had?
When I think about all the authors who have shaped my thinking, I hardly find anyone in my circle who has read their work. To date, I can comfortably mention that nobody in my 1800+ contact list has ever gone through the works of Karl Popper. At most, maybe 5. Most don’t even know the guy, and yet, his ideas have shaped the philosophy of scientific thinking during the 20th century.
Karl Popper gained a reputation within the Vienna Circle as one of its leading opponents, since he didn’t believe in positivism. Rather, he advocated for falsification. Through a list of his literary works, he wrote his name in history. I have never seen any of his works sold in the local bookstores. It doesn’t make money. So it doesn’t make sense.
Does the name Donella Meadows ring a bell? She was one of the leading researchers concerned with systems dynamics. Her books made me revise my list of mental models.
The Limits to Growth was published by an unknown entity, but it luckily found its way around the globe and to my phone. The odds of getting such hits are narrowing down even more because the legacy publishers will hardly do the marketing for you.
The reason they reach out to these internationally acclaimed authors and celebrities is that they already have a massive following. No marketing needed. But for someone like you or me, what do we have to offer? A unique thought? A novel concept? Well, for these publishers, if it doesn’t make money, it doesn’t make sense.
They will stick to children’s books and Bibles. These two sell more than any author combined. They are business. In Mavado’s words, they are all about: Box of money
They are not our fairy godmother. They don’t even care if thinking nosedives. Frankly, the more they encourage thinking, the more people will rally against the books they push for. That thinkers are reducing in fraction is to their advantage.
Does that sound familiar? Hello, social media, is that you?
It seems that publishers are now riding the distraction cruise ship. Most people live their lives online. If not creating, then consuming, with consumers being overwhelmingly more than the producers.
Keep the consumers distracted. That should be the strategy. Then throw at them the content you prefer.
Publishers find that this is an easy option.
Charlie Munger liked to talk about worldly wisdom. It is indeed wise to ride the tide rather than fight it. But, at what cost?
What I’m trying to say is…
Without the money, there is no survival
So, me say— Mavado
Publishers have joined the winning team.
It’s all business, right? Why inspire thinkers when you can make money?
Thinking may not feed you, take you around the world, meet your childhood celebrities, and even give your partner and family the kind of life you never had. Money will.
Why spend so much time thinking anyway?
It only makes sense, right?
This song inspired some of the lines used in this article. Source — YouTube