WARNING: Good Books In Danger of Extinction

An article appeared in today's NY Times Business section detailing a plan by Harper Collins publishing to do away with author advances - money that is paid to a writer to basically, write a book. Now you might think that this doesn't apply to you, or your life - but hear me out … because it really does.

Just as a matter of background, a book advance is money given to the author to help pay for living expenses while they write the book. It also helps to pay for some promotion of the book so that readers like you know that it exists - something that publishers used to pay for and don't anymore.

And unless you're Bill Clinton or the Pope a book advance is usually a very modest sum. But it does allow the writer to take some time out of their regular work life to produce a quality product - something that is well researched and well vetted as well as creative and well written.

And it's not like an author advance is a gift or anything. Because once a book is published, authors don't see one dime of what you, the reader, pays for each copy, until the publisher makes back that 'author advance' - and all their other expenses. Only when that happens does the author have a chance of receiving a very small percentage (sometimes as low as 5%) of what the book earns over time.

Now, according to the NY Times piece, Harper Collins seeks to do away with the author advance completely, replacing it with a percentage of the book's profits only after it starts to sell. Citing rising publishing costs and increasing returns from bookstores, these geniuses have decided this is one way to "save the book business" from extinction. It also means authors now work for zero money.

Here's why this is SUCH a BAD IDEA- and how it can impact the quality of every book you read.

1. Because authors will now have to maintain their day job in order to survive while writing this book, there's no question the book is going to take a lot longer to write. For those of us who write timely non-fiction works, that means that what you read will be old news by the time it gets to your local book store, let alone gets into your hands.

2. Because authors will now be restricted to writing on lunch hours, on the subway, bus or train, or at night when we are dead tired, there is no question the quality of the books that are produced in a timely manner will suffer. And yes, I know the legend of the old "kitchen table book" written by the housewife in between potty training and PTA. But trust me, those books are few and far between and usually take a decade to write.

3. That leaves the possibility open for a third option: All books will eventually be written only by the excessively wealthy. So that means yet more know-it-all obnoxious celeb tomes, more books by corporate big wigs out of touch with the real world and God help us, more asinine heiress memoirs. Without an advance, these will be the only people who can afford to write a book!

What does all of this mean to you? Fewer books that relate to your life and lifestyle, fewer books written by quality writers, fewer quality books to choose from overall.

A Better Solution

I do, however, see one possibly better solution - and that is if we begin today to support self publishing. If publishers will no longer pay for book promotion, and now, are no longer going to grant author advances, I say what the heck do we need them for? We can write our own books, self publish them, sell them online - and keep all the profits - which will then, as authors, help support us while we write the next quality, self-published book.

This is even more true for the experienced authors that Harper Collins hopes to attract with their "no money down" deal.

How can you - as a reader - make a difference? It's easy.

The next time you see a book that's NOT published by a major company like Harper Collins or Random House, pick it up and give it some attention anyway.

Or better still, Google your favorite topics and visit the websites of authors who have already self published, and view their offerings with an open mind. You might just discover a book, or even an author, that is far better than what the major publishers are telling you to read.

And oh yeah...I sincerely hope that some of my colleagues in the Book Review business are listening. They can help by including an "Indy" review in their work on a regular basis.

Because from where I stand, self publishing - and not greedy publishers - may be what saves the book business after all.