The End of Publishing, or Its Rebirth?

This week’s issue of New York Magazine is ruffling feathers with its cover story on the supposedly imminent death of the book publishing industry, titled simply “The End.” (Not even a hedging question mark. Ouch.) But the irony of Boris Kachka’s gloomy prognosis is that it leads — in the very first paragraph — with what might be the brightest point of hope for the industry: HarperStudio, the new imprint from HarperCollins that has set out to rethink the business model. Here’s the existing problem, as Kachka lays it out:

Lately, the whole, hoary concept of paying writers advances against royalties has come under question. Following their down payments to authors, publishers don’t have to pay a cent in royalties, which are usually 15 percent of the hardcover price, 7.5 for paperbacks, until that signing bonus is earned back. The system is supposed to be mutually beneficial; the publishers guarantee writers a certain income, and then both parties share in the proceeds beyond that level. But it only works for publishers if they’re conservative in their expectations. As auctions over hot books have grown more frequent, prudence has gone out the window— paying a $1 million advance to a 26-year-old first-time novelist becomes a public-relations gambit as much as an investment in that writer’s future.

That money has to come from somewhere, so publishers have cracked down on their non-star writers. The advances you don’t hear about have been dropping precipitously. For every Pretty Young Debut Novelist who snags that seven-figure prize, ten solid literary novelists have seen advances slashed for their third books.

HarperStudio, by contrast, caps advances at $100,000, reduces returns (i.e. unsold books that get shredded), and offers authors a 50/50 profit split (instead of 15 percent of the cover price). Authors who’ve taken the bait so far include Michael Eisner, Emeril Lagasse, Isabella Rossellini, and 50 Cent. Kachka puts down the new model as less than radical because independents already use some of these tactics. But in an industry as stodgy and backwards as this one, it looks a lot like revolution when a major player is willing to experiment — and convinces big-name authors to do the same.

And for writers at the other end of the spectrum, HarperCollins also recently launched Authonomy.com, a community site that lets aspiring writers upload excerpts of their work and vote for favorite submissions. (Thanks to Boing Boing, who found it first.) Manuscripts that score well will be read by actual editors, thus eliminating another publishing pet peeve: the slush pile.

Sounds less like “The End” and more like a brand new chapter.