出版与作家生涯2014antipope.org
关于出版业的一条脚注
A footnote about the publishing industry
导读
这篇围绕出版业的结构与价值链展开：从亚马逊为何选择图书切入，讨论编辑、出版商品牌等环节的价值，以及电子书/按需印刷可能带来的变化。对写作者来说，值得思考作品之外编辑与出版生态的作用，以及“更高效”是否等于更适合创作。
可以直接用的写作要点
- 01
把编辑视为作品的一部分：初稿完成后主动寻找并重视编辑反馈，因为编辑质量常决定读者能否读下去。
- 02
投稿前研究目标出版社/编辑的品牌与口味，利用其品牌信任降低读者选择成本。
- 03
区分创作判断与渠道效率：可以借电子书、按需印刷直达读者，但不要用“更高效”替代艺术判断。
- 04
理解出版链条中作者、编辑、出版商、读者各有价值，写作时可思考自己的作品适合哪一环。
HN 评论精选
亚马逊选择图书主要因为其电商属性——标准化、易存储邮寄、可售后付款、书目多，而非单纯因为出版业最失调。
“（贝索斯）选择出版业，是因为它显然是最失调的。”我记得传记里说，他选书是因为用户不必先验货就能买，书容易存储和邮寄，而且卖出去之前不用付货款。维基百科说：贝索斯读到一份预测网络商务年增长2300%的报告后，列出20种可在线销售的产品，缩小到五种最有希望的：CD、电脑硬件、软件、视频和图书。最终他决定网上卖书，因为全球对文学需求大、书价低、在印书目多。
lazyant查看英文原文
"(Bezos) picked publishing because it was obviously the most dysfunctional. " , from what I remember from a biography he picked books because they could be bought by users without checking them out first, they are easy to store and mail and you didn't have to pay for them until you sold them. From Wikipedia: "After reading a report about the future of the Internet which projected annual Web commerce growth at 2,300%, Bezos created a list of 20 products which could be marketed online. He narrowed the list to what he felt were the five most promising products which included: compact discs, computer hardware, computer software, videos, and books. Bezos finally decided that his new business would sell books online, due to the large world-wide demand for literature, the low price points for books, along with the huge number of titles available in print"
编辑质量和出版社品牌是读者信任与阅读体验的关键，不能把出版商只当中间商。
新的平衡不容易达成。以编辑为例：我们多数人读的是编辑良好的书，所以把编辑视为理所当然。我是业余书评人和博主，常遇到编辑很差或完全没编辑的书/故事；在我看来，编辑可以决定我是非常享受一个故事，还是读几十页就把书搁下。出版商还带来某种品牌忠诚：我有偏爱的出版社和编辑；听到喜欢的出版社/品牌签下新作者会兴奋，因为知道他们一直出版我喜欢的那类内容。因此，把出版商只看成“中间人”是短视的；这个生态已经复杂得多。
yawz查看英文原文
Unfortunately a new balance is not easily achieved. Take "editing" as an example: Most of us read "well edited" books, therefore we take "editing" for granted. I am an amateur book reviewer & blogger. And I regularly come across badly edited or not-at-all edited books/stories. IMHO, editing can be (at least for me) the difference between greatly enjoying a story and parking a book on the side after a few dozen pages. Then publishers also come with some sort of brand loyalty. I have my favorite publishers (and editors for that matter). For example, when I hear about the book rights acquisitions of a new author from my favorite publishers or imprints I get really excited. Because I know they've been publishing the type of content I enjoy. So, all in all, it's shortsighted to see publishers as just "middle-man". This ecosystem has evolved to be more complicated than that.
大出版商价值不足，但电子书和按需印刷可能让作者与读者直接连接、推动出版业复兴。
和原文作者一样，我认为大出版商很快会走向失败，因为他们在价值链中提供的价值不够。但不同于原文作者，我认为出版业正处在一次大复兴的边缘：真正重要的只有作者和读者，电子书和按需印刷可以让这种连接发生，而不必付钱给中间人。
ivan_ah查看英文原文
Like the OP, I think the big publishers are going down in flames soon. They just don't provide enough value in the value chain. Unlike the OP, however, I think the publishing industry is on the verge of a great renewal. The only people that matter are authors and readers, and eBooks and print-on-demand can make this connection happen, without the need to pay any middlemen. More on this here http://minireference.com/blog/techzing-interview/#opportunities
小说是艺术品而非产品，不应简单用生产效率逻辑衡量。
我不明白为什么会产生“生产小说可能有更好方式”这种想法。它是艺术品，不是产品。我们会担心音乐、绘画、雕塑，或诗歌、戏剧写作等文学形式的生产中“家庭手工业”的低效吗？对一位作家来说，这种哀叹显得奇怪；不过我不确定他是否真是这个意思。
markbnj查看英文原文
I don't know why the idea that there might be a "better way" to produce fiction would even occur. It's a work of art, not a product. Are we worrying about the inefficiencies of cottage industries in, say, the production of music, painting, sculpture, or other literary forms such as poetry and the various forms of theatrical writing? It seems an odd lament for a writer, though I don't know that he actually meant it that way.
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