Question of the Week: What's Next in Publishing?

Hi, everybody. It's Liz with today's question. Hope you're having a great week and oh, we forgot...

If anyone had told me 10 years ago where publishing would be today, I would have laughed, said, "Oh, yeah, right," and gone on about my business. We've seen so much happen: indie-pubbing, MM, FF, and erotica stories becoming part of the romance genre, NA becoming a new sub-genre, chick-lit coming and--in large part--going. I'm big on "what's next?" these days, so here's my question for the week for both the Wranglers and everyone else (please chime in--we get lonesome here!) what do you think will be The Next Big Thing(s) in the world of publishing?

Kristi says:

Sometimes I feel like I have a little whiplash in publishing. Self-publishing was once looked up as horrible, now it's widely accepted. Same with e-book and e-first imprints. We're seeing publishers merging and authors releasing books in all kinds of genres/sub-genres without pseudonyms. I get a little tired of the 'it's the Wild West' phrasing, but it is true that publishing is changing so fast that's its hard to know what will come up next. 

One thing I think will be huge, and something I'm considering doing myself, is the Enhanced Versions of books - ebooks that include pictures or songs, author interviews, backstory detail and even deleted scenes...all in files that allow the reader to read only the published version of a book or to include those extras. I read my first 'enhanced' book recently (a Courtney Milan title) and loved it!

Nan responds:

Kristi’s response about the enhanced books is intriguing and news to me, so wow! My thinking is more along the lines of what the new thing will be in the romance genre and I’ve thought about this a lot. Naturally, I’m hoping that the idea of older heroines will catch on and people over 45 will be clanging for books about their age and older! But I think in a way, I kinda hope the big push for dark erotic tales and vampires and zombies will subside some. The world can be such a dark and dreary place sometimes and I hope for the next generations—our grandkids—that the dark trend will end. I want books about light and love and hope and joy. I know, I know, the whole Pollyanna thing, but wouldn’t it be lovely?

                                                                                                       

Margie's answer:

Good question. I kind of like Kristi's answer about interactive books--the way technology is going and the attention span of the younger generations coming up behind us, it seems inevitable. 

As for books themselves, I kind of hope for more genre-morphing combining genres to create new, original genres. And above else, I'd love to see the censorship of books be abolished nationwide. 

And my answer:

I think Kristi’s right about interactive becoming bigger. I’d love, as Margie says, to see censorship abolished, but I’d like for some kind of ratings system—at least in genre fiction—to give you an indicator of what you’re getting. Not because I’m a prude but because everyone’s choices vary so widely and you can’t always tell by cover or blurb what you’re getting.

Along with what Nan said (I have no original thoughts—you all knew that, right?) I want to see romance or good women’s fiction with “mature” protagonists. If the heroine cares about skinny jeans or the height of her heels, that’s fine, but I don’t want to read her story. As a baby boomer, I know there are very, very many of us, and I truly don’t understand why publishers don’t want authors to tell some of our stories—we’re interesting!

As far as technology goes, it’s just going to get more sophisticated and amazing.

So, readers and writers, what are you expecting from the next ten years? Let us know!