The Two-Headed Beast of Publishing: Quality Books and Marketing
There have been many changes over the past decades in publishing, and maybe even the last centuries, but none to me are more notable than the understanding of the shift between the control of the staff of editors at a publishing house and the now powerful grip of the marketing department in terms of making decisions over which books publishers publish and upon which other books publishers decline. I can cite many changes, such as conglomerates' buildup, small presses' absorption, etc. Still, they all fall under the heading of marketing power because even these, by nature, have changed not just the what but the who of who is selling books. If your large conglomeration directs itself by the marketing department focusing on sales, then, of course, when conglomerates acquire a publishing house, you will make it subject to the same criteria.
There has been much lamenting about conglomerations and even the possibility of censorship related to these conglomerations when a written work does not play well with an international company's reputation. However, this is where most of the discussion stops. We must acknowledge that any book may be published nowadays, regardless of its marketability or subject matter. What few discuss is that in this age of conglomeration, we have also had an age of the explosion of the small press whose desktop publishing and print-on-demand capabilities have opened publishing to a wide range of traditionally- and self-published authors. To stay in business, though, unless the small press is a hobby rather than a company, the marketing department, or the consideration of marketing factors, will still decide whether a book is published. If it is self-published, then not so much, for that could also fall into the vanity area, but vanity is a subject for a different essay altogether. The point is, whether, with a traditional conglomerate, a small mom-and-pop independent press, or even an income-producing self-publisher, the bottom line will be market solubility, which translates equally into none other than marketing.
No matter your publishing model, this solidifies two things to the forefront of any author's consciousness and criteria. No matter where you are, you must think about the marketing department (whether it is called that or not) and provide a product worthy of marketing. These two go hand-in-hand for today's writer, especially since, in almost all cases, marketing for an author at a large conglomerate, a small independent, or a capital-focused self-publisher all falls to the author himself as no one else (anymore) is going to step up to the plate to do it. Marketing viability is where we have landed when discussing changes over the many past decades in publishing. The wily author will become adept at marketing and writing regardless of the publishing platform. The most significant news over the last few decades is that technology has leveled both publishing and marketing. Consider publishing today in a new, more positive light. Publishing has always been a two-headed beast of quality books matched with quality marketing. Knowing this, you have the power to direct your career and take it to the level your passion for self-improvement and evolution allows. Educate yourself in both.
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