Not Quite Random Thoughts

I started out to write a few seemingly disjointed thoughts that have been on my mind, but a funny thing happened on the way to the blog - I realized that they're really all kind of connected. So bear with me please.

I've been reading Cat Lindler's Kiss of a Traitor after reading about it on Romance University last week in an article entitled Revolutionary Heroes: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Kiss of a Traitor reminds me of the kind of lush historical romances I cut my teeth on and which have been in short supply in recent years. I've always loved reading and writing Revolutionary War stories but anytime I mentioned that interest to an agent or an editor, I was told quite bluntly that there was no market for them. Another recent post on Romance U had an agent commenting that she'd heard of agents and publishers not even willing to look at historicals set in America. Yet Medallion Press took a chance on Cat's book which drew rave reviews and Wild Rose Press has an American Rose line. Hmmmmmm.

That got me to wondering. How many readers are there who would love to read other settings or themes but have had to settle for whatever the big publishers decided was marketable? I'm not denying that Regency England may have a larger market interest share than Revolutionary War America but does it have to be exclusive? The current glut of vampire romances or paranormal romantic suspenses being published at the expense of other types of novels are another example. And remember when all anyone wanted was chick lit?

All of this makes me think of how cable revolutionized the television industry. Which also makes me wonder - is the ability to fill this kind of need for individual interest a way small presses or epublishers will change publishing?

Earlier today, I stumbled upon Joe Konrath's blog - Publishers + Ebooks = Epic Fail which is basically an analysis of his ebook versus print book sales.

If you haven't read it yet, check it out. I don't have the background to know if his argument holds water, but it was fascinating reading given what else was on my mind.

Many of Joe's comments about the future of epublishing are hardly unique, but he does give an interesting financial analysis from an author's point of view. I don't think he ever addressed the idea that his name being established by print publishers puts him in a different league from the ordinary person trying to self publish, but the whole idea is interesting anyway.

I'm sure none of these thoughts or questions is particularly new or insightful but they've been circling in my brain lately so I decided to throw them out there. I have no crystal ball to tell me the future of publishing, but I'm interested to hear any thoughts you may have on how changes in the industry may impact you as both a reader and a writer.