Does a new publishing model really exist or is it still in the making? We have all gone through the frustrating efforts of trying to solicit a dialog with a publisher or agent. Notice I said dialog, to hell with getting an actual deal. I went through the exercise briefly and found it perplexing, incredibly stupid and some what amusing because of its inherent inefficiencies. I only sent out ten inquiry letters to a few random agents and got only a few replies. In one case, I actually did get a formal rejection notice that I kept. I won’t mention the agent’s name because they at least had the courtesy of returning a rejection notice but their response was curious in that the agent claimed to be working with an author on a project of a similar nature. Yeah right, more likely the agent never bothered to read my synopsis in its entirety but here is your opportunity to vent your spleen. Oh, yeah, where the hell is that project they were working on anyway? At least I got my project out as podcast.

Slush piles and the like are norm for this industry (?) and I agree with the assertion from Michael Allen, who wrote the depressing “The Truth About Writing”, that there are many more lotto winners than there are financially successful authors. And as form of mea culpa, we are to blame also, or rather I should say the advent of the PC and word processor since any blithering idiot can now post some words and claim to be a writer. I include myself among the league of blithering idiots but I will continue to work to improve my form.

So what about the traditional publishing industry? Is the end near? Well, I’ll tell you a little anecdotal story that might give you a little insight. I have a good friend who works for Doubleday and I met up with her at a friend’s party. She knew of my work and she gave me the name of a head huncho to forward my manuscript to. I dragged my feet for a few months frankly because I felt the manuscript wasn’t ready. Now keep in mind I have my other friend telling me to write another book and move on because nobody cares if you have written one book. However, this book is my obsession and getting it right is more of a priority to me than writing other stories. Anyway a couple of months pass and the word gets back to me that my friend is looking for a job because the entire Doubleday division was laid off! I didn’t know if I should laugh or cry.

So what the hell is going on? I’ll tell you since I am marketing type and I see this all the time. We call it convergence, new technology being disruptive and challenging the established traditional business models. Nothing is more traditional than the present publishing model but the Internet, ebooks, podcasting and blogging are changing the model in so many different ways. It happened to the computer industry and now it is happening to newspapers, television, music and other traditional educational/communication forms. Change is a bitch and it is up to us to separate the noise from the facts.