Taylor Swift and the Publishing Industry
A book depository, a book wishing well, a land of forgotten books?
Here’s a supposedly click-bait-y article from The Atlantic — I mean, with Taylor Swift as the focal point, how can it not be? — that is actually a look at some of the pitfalls of the publishing industry as it stands today. And a booster of sorts for not just raiding your own books (both read and unread) but for checking out used bookstores as well.
According to the piece: “The ‘Vegas’ model of betting on a few big titles each year is receding in favor of a focus on what a company has already published (or obtained by acquiring the backlist of a competitor).” The article also nicely ties together some comments from the CEO of Hachette — “Hachette will focus on introducing readers to an author’s existing catalog, in order ‘to have a business that isn’t super reliant on hits.’” — with the release day of the Taylor Swift Eras Tour commemorative book. Which, by the way, was published by Taylor Swift Publications. The conclusion made in The Atlantic is that “…[Swift’s] decision is less a bellwether for a big-name-oriented industry than a sign of the times—a symptom, not a cause, of a shift in the relationship between these businesses and the famous.”
“Books By Famous People” has always been a staple of publishing, but between celebrities going their own way and other successful writers continuing to self-publish, publishers have to be prepared for a possible shift — even if by just a bit.
You know that feeling when a friend gave you a mix tape? Nothing better! Middle and high school mix tapes are how I discovered XTC, The Posies, Richard Thompson, The Innocence Mission, and a whole array of music that maybe I would have stumbled across at some point. But maybe not. There was something magical about being gifted what amounted to a portal to a friend’s brain. (No one needs a mix tape to learn about Taylor Swift, btw.)
The fundamental pleasure of discovery. A reception of something new and unknown and ontheveryedge of elusiveness. Cheers to more book discovery the old-fashioned way: Friends. Or at the very least, a publishing house’s back catalog.
originally published on instagram