The Condensed Killing
I recently read An article by Scott Stern of The New Republic chronicles corporatization of publishing and its effects on the author.
Pre-Conglomerate era
Prior to the corporatization of publishing, the industry as it was, comprised two forms of publishers, the houses and mass-market paperback publishers.
Houses: Small family owned and operated business that focused on selling based on relations and references, with no consequence to favored authors or editors if they didn’t sell well.
MMPP: Produced genre fiction (Westerns, Romance, and Mysteries), focusing on providing readers with more challenging and aesthetically interesting books.
New era of Books [The Conglomerates]
Spurred by the game-changing purchase of MMPP New American Library, Times Mirror Company set the trend that resulted in the consolidation of the publishing industry, Big fish ate little fish and bigger fish took all.
Conglomerates across various industries, Energy, Telecommunications, Automotive etc. snatched up companies like Random House, Macmillan, and Simon & Schuster whether through direct or indirect means.
Economic downturn in the 70s shifted the way publishers did business. Editors no longer made impassioned or personal decisions but on the basis of each chosen title being a proven “moneymaker.” Dissuaded to do otherwise, they took fewer risk. A choice that lead novelist adapting best-selling techniques.
These changes are observed through the lens of authors like, Cormac McCarthy, A.S. Byatt, Denis Johnson, and Colson Whitehead.
Mass distribution whosalers and chain bookstores
Think Amazon-esque companies in the 70s and store like Barnes & Noble in the 80s. They gave incentive to publishers that focused on a standardized quality of work. It gave rise to autofiction, a genre where authors fictionalized their lives to express their anxieties about the business through their work, in order retain a modicum of the control they lost.
The bestseller
Driven by profit, the newly realized corporations allocated the bulk of resources and attention to ultra-bestsellers. Between 1986-1996, 63 of the 100 bestsellers were written by 6 people.
Tom Clancy, Michael Crichton, John Grisham, Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and Danielle Steel, five of which still dominate the market.
Modern authorship
The advent of Amazon, eBooks, and social media has put more pressure on the author, who find the have a greater chore of work to do than most can handle: Writing. Marketing. Publicity. Audience building.
Conclusion
Vilarino concludes with a pressing question. How do we create art in these conditions?
Personal Insights
After reading the article, I can understand the “killing” of the author. I’ve often spoken to peers about the desire to not have our work look like others, despite is deemed popular, marketable etc. Corporatization has taken the expressive, artistically free authors of old, closed the gates, and offered them one small opening by which to pass through, into the world of success.
It leaves the modern author/writer questioning how to create their works, market, and sell them without compromising their creative vision.
That’s not say, there is no place for the expressive writer that aims to distant themselves from the prevailing conditions of today. The accessibility of publishing and eBooks has given new voice to self-published author, though oversaturation of the market has become a major challenge. A decision still needs to be made on which direction to take, all of which are influenced by the conglomerates.
