Writers Tricks of the Trade VOLUME 10 ISSUE 1 | Page 43

bookstores given how quickly digital
formats rose—and physical formats fell—
in the first half of this decade.
T HE MUSIC FIELD WAS A CLOSE PARALLEL
The closest parallel to book
publishing, at the time, was the music
industry. The structure was similar
(labels and publishers, musicians and
authors) but the so-called digital boom
had hit the music industry nearly a
decade earlier. From 1999 to 2009, the
revenue pool for music declined by 63
percent, according to RIAA and the U.S.
Bureau of Economics. This statistic cast a
shadow on the future of book
publishing—but in some ways, it also
helped our industry learn how to navigate
its own struggles.
F AST FORWARD TEN YEARS .
2019: W HAT WERE THE OPPORTUNITIES ?
The U.S. print market grew 12 percent
since 2013, thanks in part to the growth
of the adult nonfiction and juvenile
categories. But even so, the market is not
without its challenges.
W INTER 2020
Television/film, music, and video
games were competitors with clear
starting and stopping points, more like
reading. Streaming and endless social
media feeds took up even more of
potential readers’ time. But, books can be
flexible—audiobooks entertain you on a
commute, and physical books stick with
you when you want to take a break from
social media and the digital world.
This new digital age has also created
opportunities for readers to find the
books they want faster and more easily.
Using tools from review sites like
Goodreads to recommendation engines
on retailer sites to online book sales and
recommendations
from
local
booksellers, booksellers and publishers
continue to find innovative new ways to
get the right books into the hands of the
right readers.
It appears that books are not going
away any time soon. If anything there
are more and more choices, but 2020
may bring additional changes. Stay
tuned.
P AGE 38
W RITERS ’ T RICKS OF THE T RADE