Contact us

As part of our latest project – “The Book” – we are investigating the publishing industry. Our job is to design a business model that facilitates, commercialises and improves the availability of content originating from a wide range of writers, while meeting the nature and possibilities of the Internet.

We are therefore deconstructing the process of writing and publishing. We are talking to authors and asking crucial questions about writing and publishing, about the function of publishing companies, about the interaction between authors and readers and about the creative process in general.

It is clear that the book industry is changing (or “being disrupted”, to use a term we like). An article in The Guardian paints a picture complementary to our own observations: That the traditional institutions of publishing and the central function of the publishing companies are no longer as crucial for publishing and reaching a big audience as they used to be.

In the eighties and nineties a lot of the core functions in publishing were outsourced. That led to a growing number of out-of-house functions like freelance editors, freelance proofreaders, freelance art directors and freelance publicists. Today we see these same functions bypassed more and more often, and that authors increasingly choose to publish and market their books more indepentently.

Obviously, the Internet is the main driver in this development. New services like smashwords.com and lulu.com provide part time or professional authors with a platform where they can conduct and manage their own publishing. Considering this, what is the role of the traditional publishing company in the future?

The publishing company and the editor still offer an almost priceless service to (established!) authors. Besides creative support, marketing and the practical task of transforming a script into a physical product, the publishing firm helps in endorsing the work. On the other hand the commercial interests could act as a creative constraint for interesting new niche productions.

Instead of reaching the readers through old-school marketing or the traditional book fairs, the authors can connect to their potential audience through forums, rating systems, blogs, chats etc. These can also be means of promoting and endorsing a piece of work.

The article that I referenced earlier is written by Cory Doctorow, who besides being a science fiction and post-cyberpunk (?!) author, is also known for advocating the liberalisation of copyright laws. He is a good example of how to use the new possibilities and that it is possible to make money while doing it.

At Socialsquare we enjoy identifying the disrupters of a given industry. But what social and technical dynamics is driving this current development? The infrastructure of the Internet and the digitization of books are certainly major drivers. From the demand side we believe that the development evolves around the movement towards niche and long tail markets. From the supply side the development seems in line with the social paradigm and its sharing and co-creation. What do you think?

In the coming weeks we’ll continue our work. Together with our client we’ll design a concept that meets some of the issues and challenges above. I’ll write some further blogposts on some of the more essentiental questions we meet.

K