The whole business model for writing changed twice in the course of history. The first time was when Johannes Gutenberg invented the movable type printing press. What he did for writers was transition the profession from scribes who worked specifically and exclusively for one person, sort of like glorified secretaries, into a world where writing was now something that could be done for more than one person. In other words, writers could now serve many masters. Gutenberg invented the technology that created the book publishing industry and advertising.
That was in the 16th century.
Of course, Gutenberg’s printing press created a fiendish group of individuals known as publishers, who masterminded the production and distribution of books and later on of newspapers and magazines. These guys had the money to bankroll these enterprises. They reduced writing to a job, sort of like pressman or designer or paperboy. It was good in that it at least gave writers something to do for a few centuries but it was bad because writing became just another task that could be bought and sold … ideally by paying the writer very little yet making a lot of money off of what he wrote.
In our own lifetime, the Internet wrought the second major change. I don’t know if anyone told them yet, but the Internet killed the publishers. Okay, that’s perhaps wishful thinking, but the Internet changed and diminished the role of the fat cat publisher.
You know why? Writers can now self publish. There was a time, not so very long ago, when self publication was considered a desperate, tragic attempt to gain recognition or love. It was even called the vanity press. Today self publication is smart business. Writers can now write and distribute their own materials.
Why aren’t more writers doing that? Well, probably for the same reason that William Randolph Hearst was not able to build Hearst Castle until the 20th century, after a few centuries of movable type. That is to say, the transition is too new. Writers have not wrapped their mind around the idea yet (or learned to wield the technology). Publishers are still bobbing around.
But it’s a whole new game. The minute you decide that you can now write and publish yourself … that’s a different kind of business. And it’s one that is wide open for writers.
