After a conversation with my agent and various other wonderful creative types in San Francisco a few days ago, I have realised that things are changing in a major way in the publishing business. The negative gear change in the economy is scary, but it is also bringing possibilities. When the old order falls, new ones have a chance to breathe- like a tree falling in the crowded forest give seedlings below light for the first time.
The internet and its possibilities has been nibbling on the edges of the big publishers for years, and while some have tried to make changes and adapt, many have not. Houghton Mifflin’s recent stop on acquiring books is a pretty big indicator that there is a lot of struggle going on behind the scenes in the publishing business.
So the arrival of Scott Sigler on the New York Times Bestseller Lists is I feel a marker in the timeline of change. Scott is, if you don’t know it a great guy, the first person ever to pick me up at San Francisco airport without knowing me. Now I am very used to meeting people from the internet, but back then- I admit I was a little nervous. Scott however was just happy and kind and pleased to meet me. He set the tone for all these other trips.
So now he’s made it. The guy who first podcast a never before published novel is on the most prestigious list in publishing. It is a great beginning for 2009 for him- and heck for all podcast novelists.
To Scott I say- congratulations. You’ve been working so hard in a bumpy year to get here- bask in it for a spell mate. (As a nice side effect I’ll be able to dine out on that whole rubbing-vodka-into-your-head thing now)
Things are changing for us all, so let’s get ready to ride that wave!