Konrath Howey Shatzkin oh my!

We live in interesting times. JA Konrath, Hugh Howey, and Mike Shatzkin are making it even more interesting. Konrath and Howey are successful indie authors and maybe the largest, most active evangelists for the ecosystem of indie publishing.  Self made successes.  Mike Shatzkin, from what I have found so far, seems to be the lone voice crying out in the wilderness in defense of traditional publishing.

For the most part, Konrath and Howey are looking forward and offering their perspective, experience and expertise on a growing, moving forward industry. The Wild West.

Mike Shatzkin, at 66 yo, offers value in his perspective on the traditional publishing world. But this is almost solely done in defense and justification of an aging, collapsing, rigid, and shrinking industry, that is still the 800 pound gorilla. This is more like an austere Madison Avenue.

Once again we see the same old same old. Big established industry pays no attention to the little yappy dog barking at its heels. It plows on the same as it always has, while the little yappy dog, actually a puppy, keeps finding food and water and keeps on growing.  The little puppy that used to be heel height is now snapping at their kneecaps and still it is ignored. Music has gone through this destructive evolution. It's basically not there anymore. Can traditional publishing not see the similarities in play here? Software is mostly through this and numerous other industries can be described by this same conceptual model.

Big, comfortable, no threat perceived, no need to evolve, sit back and let the good times roll.  Given the number of established industries that have gone through this disruptive evolution, you would think traditional publishing would at least acknowledge that what has happened to others could happen to them. Not so far.  Everyone must still be in the sauna on Madison Ave, waiting for their cigars to be clipped and their dry cleaning to be delivered.

Go read what the above three pundits have written.  Well worth your time, if you are interested in this fast evolving world of writing and authoring and publishing.