by guest writer Ken Arnold

Two weeks ago I was a presenter at the Idaho Writers League conference in Idaho Falls (along with Ink & Paper’s Linda Meyer and freelance editor Laura Meehan). As a Manhattan transplant, I was excited to see more of the Northwest and especially Idaho. The three of us shared the driving, which allowed some time to watch the hills, the Snake and Columbia Rivers, the empty spaces.

Here’s what struck me most forcefully about the conference. The writers who gathered to learn more about writing and publishing were focused almost exclusively on publishing and marketing themselves. One group of writers has formed Bitterroot Mountain, LLC, a company (not, the leaders insisted, a cooperative) to help them publish and market their own books. Is Bitterroot a publishing company? No. The explosion of self-publishing options and tools has created a growing alternative to the traditional publishing model. Last year, 132,000 books were self-published. Few of them sold very many copies. But the point—it was clear from the discussions I heard at IWL—is not to build sales. It is simply to publish.

And modern technology is a huge help in this. Computer programs make it easier to self-publish from your home office, and print-on-demand makes it affordable because authors do not have to purchase quantities beyond what they can sell. Amazon.com and electronic bookstores make it possible to distribute without going through bookstores. The writers at IWL know how to publish and work together to improve their skills, and I suspect that the same thing is happening around the country.

Publishers are using the same tools these writers are using, of course, but what it means, I think, is that technology is facilitating a two-tier publishing system: at the “upper” level mainstream authors and publishers make a lot of money through normal distribution channels; at the “lower” level, authors are not making money but they are able to publish and sell their books without having to deal with publishers who, for the most part, do not care about them.

I do not think that this situation will change; in fact, it is probably the first sign of the publishing future: not the end of the book but a dramatic change in the way books are published and distributed. Regional systems may become more important as authors reclaim the rights to their own work, and it’s our job as publishers to both pay attention and to acknowledge this growing trend among us.

Ken Arnold is the publisher of Portland’s KenArnoldBooks, which, in addition to its “Provacative, Profound, Hilarious” books, offers its own regular newsletter. Go to the website to learn more about signing up for the newsletter AND winning your free toaster…