Traditional Publishers Will Survive Because Writers Need Them

Amazon’s becoming a publisher, and that’s scaring publishers to death.

I’ve no idea why — publishing’s been broken for decades. Amazon can only revive a moribund industry.

Publishing WILL survive. (Although it doesn’t deserve to. Everyone with a grain of common sense has seen the tsunami of electronic publishing build for at least ten years.)

Amazon will help traditional publishing to survive.

I agree with agent Richard Curtis. This article, Amazon Set to Publish Tim Ferriss – NYTimes.com, reports him as saying:

““There is lots of conventional business being done by conventional publishers on conventional terms, and the books are being published on conventional paper with conventional royalties. What we’ll see for a long time is an amalgam of the two approaches, digital and traditional.””

Traditional publishers will survive for at least another decade, and here’s why: writers need them to help them to write great books. Since great books sell, readers get the benefits.

Writers need traditional publishers

Writers need traditional publishers because they produce wonderful books. I love electronic publishing, but it’s way too easy to get “published”. I’ve been reading a LOT of Kindle novels, just to see what’s being published.

I’ve found it’s much safer to buy an ebook which has already been published as a paperback by a traditional publisher. The novels are just better, because ALL writers need competent editing.

Buying straight self-published novels is a lucky dip. It takes a lot to establish narrative drive and write a satisfying novel. Looking back at the straight Kindle novels I’ve bought over the past few months, I can see that I stopped reading all of them before the end. Some were excellent novels, but all had flaws.

Of course, this is a purely subjective viewpoint.

What’s your experience with straight-to-Kindle novels? Please share your point of view in the comments.