"A unified field theory of publishing in the networked era"
Alright so first off, props to Chad Post for being the first to notice Bob Stein's post at the Institute for the Future of the Book and for the usual excellent job both summarizing and responding to the post.
Second, major demerits to every other publisher blog (me too, me too) for not noticing it til now.
The whole thing is excellent, and typed by hands possessed of a pinky which alone has more experience [re]thinking the author, book, and reader than my head does, and probably any head in the business. (When, early in the piece, he recalls "[t]here was an important aha moment early on when I was trying to understand the essential nature of books as a medium," early on means 1981! There weren't eBooks in SF movies in 1981.)
Anyhow, here's the key excerpts.
e) Once we acknowledge the possibility of a flatter hierarchy that displaces the writer from the center or from the top of the food chain and moves the reader into a space of parallel importance and consideration — i.e. once we acknowledge the intrinsic relationship between reading and writing as equally crucial elements of the same equation — we can begin to redefine the roles of publisher and editor. An old-style formulation might be that t publishers and editors serve the packaging and distribution of authors’ ideas. A new formulation might be that publishers and editors contribute to building a community that involves an author and a group of readers who are exploring a subject.f) So it turns out that far from becoming obsolete, publishers and editors in the networked era have a crucial role to play. The editor of the future is increasingly a producer, a role that includes signing up projects and overseeing all elements of production and distribution, and that of course includes building and nurturing communities of various demographics, size, and shape. Successful publishers will build brands around curatorial and community building know-how AND be really good at designing and developing the robust technical infrastructures that underlie a complex range of user experiences. [I know I'm using "publisher" to encompass an array of tasks and responsibilities, but I don't think the short-hand does too much damage to the discussion].
g) Once there are roles for author/reader/editor/publisher, we can begin to assess who adds what kind of value, and when. From there we can begin to develop a business model. My sense is that this transitional period (5, 10, 50 years) will encompass a variety of monetizing schemes. People will buy subscriptions to works, to publishers, or to channels that aggregate works from different publishers. People might purchase access to specific titles for specific periods of time. We might see tiered access, where something is free in “read-only” form, but publishers charge for the links that take you OUT of the document or INTO the community. Smart experimenting and careful listening to users/readers/authors will be very important.
Incidentally I concur with Chad's skepticism that fiction becomes like video games. Some writers of novels will also write for interactive narratives, but the premise of the appeal of a novel is not just immersive, like a video game, but submissive—give me all the words, and I'll do the rest, but for this experience, I don't want to create the words, the characters or plot points...