Writer's Notebook - James Rafferty Blog

The Barnes and Noble Blues

Ordinarily when your largest competitor goes out of business, it's a great opportunity. But Barnes and Noble is struggling to find its way, even though they bought rights to the customer list of Borders. In recent news, Barnes and Noble has announced weak earnings and is comtemplating selling off one of it's crown jewels, the Nook e-reader. From a business standpoint, B & N is caught in a classic dilemma. They've got a well known brand, but their mainline business -- bricks and mortar book and music superstores -- is experiencing revenue declines. On the other hand, they've got a growing online presence with barnesandnoble.com, they've had a modicum of success with the Nook e-reader and their erstwhile major competitor is gone.

So, what does B & N need to do now? It's re-invention time, baby, and the company needs to act while it still can to leverage it's brand and figure out a new business model that will make sense as the content markets continue their acceleration toward digital media. Their mainline business can still be an asset, but they really need to look at all of their resources and try to establish business plans that get them a bigger stake in the digital economy, while retaining their ability to distribute books and other content directly to customers. They've just signed a deal to distribute content from the New York Times onto a subsidized version of the Nook, so they may have a few tricks left in their toolkit.

I work for a company that develops hardware and it is a very different business than publishing. I think Barnes and Noble would likely be better off spinning the Nook business off to people that really know the hardware business and can define a more pro-active market strategy. However, Barnes and Noble should still license the Nook for their own use, so that they still have a stake in it's success. Nobody else has duplicated Apple's recipe for success in well-designed premium media products, but I would expect there's still room for products that have decent margins and aren't just being used as a way to drive content sales. It's a changing world out there. Barnes and Noble need to take a fresh look at the businesses they are in and decide what business models make sense over the next several years. The past is gone and they need to be looking forward.

As a reader, I'd like Barnes and Noble to stay in business, because I've enjoyed shopping at their stores and where I live, there aren't many independent bookstores. As a writer, I'd like to have readers be able to continue to see real books on bookshelves. However, the Print on Demand business model probably makes a lot more sense than the current system of shipping books and then throwing most of them away when they get remaindered. What do you think? Will Barnes and Noble survive? Do you want them to?

Writer's Notebook: The Changing Face of Publishing and the Book

I recently read a very good post by blogger Mike Shatzkin about the future of the agent's job in an era where e-publishing is more common and big agent paychecks become much less common.  We also had the recent fiasco where Harlequin announced a self-publishing venture tied to their brand and immediately got hammered from all directions.  Clearly the publishing industry is going through an evolution and the rules are changing, but where will it go?

I certainly don't pretend to have the answers, but I've spent the past two and one-half years as an aspiring writer with a completed first novel and have looked at a number of different possibilities for getting that novel published.  I'm also past the midpoint in writing the first draft for my second novel.  So I've got some skin in the game and am very interested in seeing how publishing business models will change and how to get my books published in a way that will reach lots of readers. 

I'd prefer to go the traditional route of getting signed by an agent and published by a mainstream publisher, but there are other routes out there.  Just within the confines of my writer's group, the diverse and eclectic Writin' Wombats, we've got several writers who been published using the traditional approach of working through an agent, several who have self-published and built a readership that way, a few who have affiliated with small indy publishers that use POD (Publishing On Demand) techniques and one writer who has turned his self-publishing venture into a publishing company and is signing up other writers.  

The alternatives to the traditional publishers are numerous, but there are issues. In either the self-pubbed or indy publisher route, the writer must be prepared to do a substantial amount of self promotion to establish their personal brand and build a network of potential future readers.  Readers will want to have assurances that the quality of the indy or self-pubbed books is up to snuff, so there needs to be various new types of filters, such as reviewers who offer online book reviews and in essence, act as the first reader. 

What are your thoughts?  If you are a writer, have you gotten your books published?  Would you consider a non-traditional publishing path?  

If you are a reader, have you read self-pubbed books or content published by indy presses?  If you have, how did you find out about them?  Which ways do you think that books will be published in the next few years and will they be successful?   

These topics are fertile ground for discussion and I expect to write several related posts going forward.