NEW YORK TIMES: The Pain of Print.
This is a great article that shows with some clarity the problems behind old school vs. new school thinking. I was an editorial cartoonist for years. I was published in daily papers, weekly papers and then as an independent. It was a very difficult day when I realized that most mid-sized newspapers where downsizing their local editorial staffs, (including cartoonists) in favor of syndicated news packages. I was not syndicated but luckily it was not my only gig. (Don’t get me started on syndicates, believe me when I say that it is a golden choke chain.) I continued to do cartoons covering local politics and state events as needed. Ultimately this part of my studio work dwindled down to 10 or 12 stray comics a year as I moved into other areas of interest. I essentially unplugged from this kind of cartooning.
At first I blamed the newspapers for short sighted thinking. And then I blamed the syndicates for homogenizing the art form into 10 or 12 bland universal visions of political correctness. And then I blamed myself for wanting to be part of the hive mind and I stopped thinking about it altogether.
Along the way, I leveraged my illustration skills, found a few publishing outlets, sharpened my web and design ability and moved on. I soon discovered that the same thing that happened with newspapers was happening all over the publishing grid, from old school book publishers to magazines and periodicals, to educational content. Oversimplified, this shift in thinking meant: people in overwhelming numbers were turning to web media as a distribution method for information and entertainment. This strikes at the core foundation of publishing giants and syndicated content. They want and NEED people to see them as a singular source of content. Their built-in bureaucracy is dependent on homogenized and culled information for the masses. They are blind to the niche or obscure talent or opinion. Without them as a middle man, telling us what is acceptable or noteworthy, their power is nullified. This is precisely where web media and distribution excels by eliminating middlemen and putting the power of free thought and expression back into the hands of the content viewers and content creators.
It was this that prompted me to resurrect my cartooning skills and essentially self-publish a web comic. Most publishers are singularly focused on saving the monolithic and sinking titanic that they find themselves in. It is their bottom line. To abandon ship would be heresy. Those who can’t see that the ship is sinking, or are so dependent on the ship that they are frozen in fear, will go down with it. Those who realize that having a little independent boat that is more flexible, more maneuverable and infinitely scalable, will ultimately survive (and flourish) in their own right; without the help of those publishing giants who for years have told us it is impossible to accomplish this task without them.
And I think this is what scares the publishing old school the most.
While I don’t think that print publishing will go away completely, I do have to agree with you on your reasoning. I’m working on a novel that I hope to get published in print, but I just started a webnovel in the same fantasy world. My reasons are the same as the ones that you described here. Of course, I also have the desire to be more in control of my own income, so that’s also a part of it.
Good luck to you.