Suffering Market?

[DarkDesireX]

I'm not sure if this is the right place for this question.

How is the publishing industry fairing with the falling economy? I know everything is effected differently, but what should we, as writers, be expecting? Will it be harder for us to get published because of dropping numbers in readers or would those numbers be going up with readers seeking an "out?"

[OremLK]

I wouldn't expect a big change. The entertainment industry tends to do pretty well in times of recession, because people want to escape from their troubles. And books are pretty inexpensive entertainment! I'd be more interested in the (r)evolution from print to electronic in terms of things that will impact the industry in the near future.

Regardless, I don't think the state of the economy will or should affect how we try to get published. Just keep plugging away.

[Enzo]

Too early to have a major impact.
But consumers looking to cut back on spending might well drop buying books and getting them from the library instead. So I'm not too optimistic about 2009.

[johnzakour]

I've noticed my books tend to sell pretty much the same (for better or for worse) no matter what the economy.

That being said I do believe the down economy will make it harder for me (and others of course) to attract new readers as readers will spend their hard earned money on "known entities."

[ChaosTitan]

A good way to keep track of the latest industry news and how things are fairing is by subscribing to Publisher's Marketplace. It's well worth it.

[2Wheels]

Quillblog reports that Doubleday are laying off 10% of their staff:
http://www.quillandquire.com/blog/ (see blog news for Oct 29)

[Smiling Ted]

Quillblog reports that Doubleday are laying off 10% of their staff:
http://www.quillandquire.com/blog/ (see blog news for Oct 29)

So a serious recession might not affect sales - but it could affect the efficiency and effectiveness of publishers, as they try to do the same job with fewer people.

Look for response times to get even longer...

[scope]

While I have neither a degree in economics or a crystal ball, I can't see how this horrendous economy cannot hurt book sales in all ways. With money being harder (almost impossible) to borrow will that not force many bookstores to close their doors and/or order less books and do less promotion? Aren't publishers likely to reduce their work force and marketing and promotion? While it's said that during bad economic times the entertainment industry is less likely to suffer, which may of course be true, doesn't it have to suffer to some degree? During good times and bad will the same number of people buy the same number of books selling for let's say $15-$30?

As time has shown, during tough times the borrowing of library books dramatically escalates.

I hope I am completely wrong, but I see an overall industry decline until such time as the economy strengthens.

[Karen Duvall]

The way I see it, writers provide product for publishers to manufacture and sell as books. It's their business, and without new acquisitions, they'd just fold up and die. The industry may produce smaller print runs and books may have fewer pages, but as far as acquisitions go, I don't see it changing all that much. The only factor to affect acquisitions will be the reading public, and readers read. Those who read won't stop reading. Books are like a food group to those of us who enjoy them, and though we can go to the library to check out books for short periods of time, most of us don't like limits put on our reading time. Just a thought.

[Use Her Name]

If anything the drought will only last a year or so. Even in the great depression novels were published, and books were read-- this present recession might make getting published a little slower, but as always, of it is quality work, usually you can get it done.

[DarkDesireX]

These are all good points. I know for me personally I've turned more towards the library as was mentioned. I mean...I go through about 15-20 romance novels a month when I'm not writing (paperback) and while most of them are only 4-9 bucks that stacks up quickly.

It's always been a little guilty pleasure of mine, a treat of some sort and with my tightening budget I didn't even have the option of buying less. I had to cut it out completely.