| Re-Kindling Publishing
The pen is mighter than the e-book.
Many folks believe e-readers spell doom for the publishing industry. At Green Effect Media, we believe digital media is not the exclusive domain of e-readers. Short-run printing is an application of digital technology that’s pioneering a whole new publishing model.
At Green Effect Media, we believe that short-run publishing can succeed for authors and small publishers alike.
It’s no longer necessary to print a million copies of something to make a print-run economical. It’s no longer necessary to sell a million copes of anything to come out in the black. It’s no longer necessary to stock 1 million un-sold copies of anything in a warehouse somewhere.
We believe that this more flexible strategy which will allow small publishing houses to be more nimble will prove unwieldy for ultra-large, established publishing conglomerates.
Large houses have large appetites for profits, and the mouths of many high-paid executives to feed. Short-run publishing will never take any fat cats to dinner. But it just might put new ideas on the table.
We believe small, start-up publishers like us are in a good position to benefit from the changes sweeping the industry and expect to see more start-ups emerging in the coming months and years, especially as e-readers gain popularity and large book store chains continue to bail water.
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Someone’s got to take up the pen to defend print.
E-books are rapidly eclipsing the sales of hard-copy books, with sales seeing a 159% increase in Q1 2011 alone. Hard-copy book sales declined 23% in the same period.
Green Effect Media is a “micro” publishing house launched in 2009, based in Bolingbrook, Illinois.
If hard-copy books aren’t going to be relegated to the shelves of collectors as they were before paperbacks came around in the 1930s, publishers have to embrace digital technology, not fear it’s the death knell for print.
With digital printing, a single copy can be produced at a cost comparable with a mass market edition.
Creative entrepreneurial businesses like GEM, whose business model hinges on smaller volume, community-based sales supports local economies. GEM works with independent bookstores, libraries and other local outlets.
“Short-run publishing will never take any fat cats to dinner. But it just might put new ideas on the table,” Tortorich said. “National chain bookstores and newspapers are failing because their model pursues enormous profits and mass-market sales. When they sink, they bring whole economies down with them. Greed isn’t good.”
“Buying and selling locally is a recipe to help your own community thrive,” he said.
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