Is the Term ‘Legacy Publisher’ Outdated?
As publishing companies adapt to the e-book era, the term “legacy publisher” may be as outmoded as the print-focused businesses it seems to describe, suggests Mike Shatzkin, publishing consultant (and Digital Book World partner), in his latest blog post at The Shatzkin Files.
The term “full-service” might be more apt. Publishing houses were not built initially as author-centric service organizations, writes Shatzkin. They were created around editorial ideas: to publish literary fiction; or romance books; or dictionaries. Today, however, they are evolving into service organizations with authors and intellectual property at the heart of the operation.
As authors have been able to self-publish or partner with new kinds of publishing companies outside of the major New York-based houses to release new titles, publishing companies have had to pivot to become more author-centric.
Random House, for instance, touted its new author-centric approach in a statement last week outlining its record first-half revenues and profits.
Read more at The Shatzkin Files.
