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| So not the Author. DepositPhoto |
So our challenge this week is to set forth five prophecies
for the future of publishing/romance/anything related. We do have a touch of
the ‘the sight’ in our family but not for things of this nature LOL (doesn’t work
on Lotto numbers either).
The first thing that comes to mind is that Amazon has become
a big, stable business (as far as the books and indie publishing aspect) so I
expect someone will come along and be a disruptor. Here’s the Wikipedia
definition of disruption: “Disruptive
innovation is a term in the field of business administration which refers to an
innovation that creates a new market and value network and eventually disrupts
an existing market and value network, displacing established market leading
firms, products, and alliances.”
It happened to the phone company, the major TV networks, the
record industry, the airlines, the retail industry, IBM, Xerox…so I predict it
will happen to Amazon as well. Yes, Amazon
itself has been a huge disruptor in so many ways but time overtakes us all,
inevitably.
Second, I think reverse harem will continue to be a big
trope in romance, until whatever is next comes along to displace it. I have no
idea what the next big popular trope will be. We’ve had the stepbrother thing,
the blue space barbarian thing, YA dystopian angst, sparkly vampires…what’s
lovely about the indie publishing world is that when a trope ceases to be ‘hot’,
authors can still write it anyway and readers can still find it anyway…just not
as much of it. Or those of us who didn’t find a particular trope fit in with
their storytelling can just keep writing what we write and appreciating our
loyal readers.
Third, since humans first sat around the campfire and told
each other stories, there’s been a need for entertainment to balance the cares of
daily life and work. I don’t expect that need to ever go away but in this day
and age there are so many more options for entertainment than our ancestors
had. Authors will have to be prolific and nimble to stay in the mix, and keep
in mind that publishing is very much a business. Yes, there must be a good
story first but discoverability is the key.
As a follow-on to that thought, fourth prediction, I think
the older methods of promo – newsletters, Facebook ads/pages/groups, conferences,
good reviews in a magazine, blogging, tweeting – are all becoming increasingly
less effective. New methods of promo to reach the current and new audiences
will have to be found. I’m not a Silicon Valley techie or a PR person so I have
no idea what those new shiny tools will be, but I’m keeping my eyes and ears
open.
Fifth, I predict someone will become the next ‘overnight
success’ with something totally new that no one saw coming that catches the public
fancy, becomes a movie or a TV miniseries, maybe even a theme park, and spawns
a zillion similar books…because this always seems to happen. Someone will hit
the zeitgeist just right, at the right second and BAM. Household word. The
author probably really isn’t an ‘overnight success’ but has been writing away
in the modern equivalent of a garret for years.
More power to you, unknown author!
And if I knew what that shiny fabulous book plot was going
to be, I’d write it myself, but as I mentioned above, the family gift is more
for premonitions of onrushing catastrophe than what trope to be sure to include
in the next book.
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| My heroine in HEALER OF THE NILE makes predictions by casting colorful stones. Of course when all else fails, she has a direct line to Shae, God of Fate. DepositPhoto |
