“All your base are belong to us”

Posted on 24. Aug, 2009 by Chris Matney in Book Publishing, Front Page Posts

You are probably either scratching your head about today’s title or chuckling quietly to yourself. The reference is from the internet phenomenon that surfaced in 2000-2002 mocking the poor translation of the game Zero Wing from Japanese to English. The reference appeared in music, videos, clothing and the general press for months. So, what does this have to do with anything? Well, it illustrates two points.

First, it shows the power of the word of mouth shouted into the megaphone we call the internet. Not everything that catches on is a carefully planned marketing catchphrase. Second, and more on topic, it was the mantra of a niche of gamer geeks for several years. I have been thinking quite a bit about Trapdoor Books’ role as niche publisher vs. the generalized approach of the major publishing houses.

Part of my excitement is borne from the marketing plans that are being pounded out for our first few novels. We are very specifically looking to target those books to the appropriate audience. Trapdoor Books titles will not appeal to all readers – and we don’t want them to. What we are looking to do is provide an excellent story that will appeal to our readers – an established, focused, core readership.

There was a great blog about this topic sent in by one of our community members the other day entitled, More evidence that the general trade business is getting harder. The article mentions an observation by Boyd Tonkin of the UK Independent. Mr. Tonkin discusses the collapse of salaries for well-known authors since the heydays of the 1980’s. He makes some wonderful points about the rite of passage for literary giants who worked “day jobs” to satisfy their literary goals.

Mike Shatzkin, the blog author, begins his discussion by noting that the book publishing industry must shift from the horizontal to the vertical. His advice: “you must focus, you must specialize in niches so that you own vertical audiences.” I whole-heartedly agree.

What I don’t agree with is the tenet that such a move is a death knell for literary fiction. In fact, I expect that we will see small, niche science fiction publishers that must distinguish themselves from Tor, for example, by publishing a better-told story, more richly developed characters – in short, better science fiction.

The blog also references Tom Matlack’s article Book Publishing: Death or Rebirth?. It also supports the idea of niche publishers – this time through Mr. Matlack’s own tale of trying to get his book published – first-person stories by men about manhood. Rejected fifty times, he is skipping traditional publishers altogether – eschewing that he will be able to find readers who specifically want to read this type of book. Of course, Mr. Matlack has the resources to hire an all-star team of experts (editor, book designer, lawyer, photographer, web designer, etc.), so I’m not sure that he represents your typical James Joyce scenario. But, the overall conclusion is the same – a vertical approach to publishing is replacing the traditional horizontal approach.

In the end, the winners in this transformation will be those publishers that can establish a solid reputation and a clear understanding of their readers. Just remember, “all your base are belong to us.”