The Replacement Press releases their first book

As an infant press in the Twin Cities, the Replacement Press is a publisher to watch. Composed of a husband-and-wife team, they publish out of their apartment, maintain day jobs and pour themselves into their venture. Both in their late twenties, Andrew and Sarah De Young have one solid advantage: an ease with the social media that makes other publishers cringe. They tweet, update their facebook status, post faithfully to their blog. They see ebooks and digital readers as a possibility to diversify literary voices rather than as a death blow to independent publishing. I see them as the potential of indie publishers' future: passionate, adaptive, glocal.

Perhaps I'm drawn to Andrew and Sarah De Young's adventure because their success could go beyond the personal. Starting from a vantage point inside the new digital era, they could begin to set the pace for 21st century publishing. After reading so many blog posts and news articles about the dim future of publishing, the Replacement Press offers an encouraging counterpoint. Yes, they are young. Yes, they are a fledging company, but they are creative, flexible and fueled by new possibilities.

As their first book launches this weekend, I wish them the best and will be following their progress.

Virtual Credit, Virtual Value, Virtual Ripoff?

Galley Cat recently posted this article which discusses lessons from Farmville that can be acclimated to the publishing industry. The main success they are interested in adapting? Virtual commerce. So, as opposed to paying a flat rate for an annual subscription or investing in a one-time purchase, readers would pay for virtual credits that are used up as they read.

After watching the video, it seems that what publishers love about the potential of virtual credit is exactly what consumer watch group would abhor. Virtual credit has one wonderful, magical principle that has many industries licking their chops: it is hard to evaluate the value of vcommerce. What does 33 credit per dollar mean to you? Or 42 credits per dollar if you buy wholesale? Since the time or amount allotted to virtual credit is completely arbitrary, there is no comparison shopping and no competitive edge keeping prices low. There is no standard that a consumer can use to compare and contrast. Virtual credit is hard to wrap your head around. Which is why some publishers are so excited about it.

Something about vcommerce seems underhanded to me. There is something very slippery, completely opaque and potentially dishonest about this sort of purchase. Into the midst of digitization frenzy, the whole publishing industry is scrambling to figure out how to make money. Yet championing a business practice that takes real money in exchange for something that essentially does not exist is not a way to create a good relationship with your potential consumer. In fact, under that term, it is an anti-new media practice because it takes advantage of the personal, familiar interactions of Web 2.0. It underminds the inherent trust. The utter delight at a consumer disadvantage disturbs me. The industry excitement about taking real money and returning a virtual product that defies evaluation, very simply, gives me Enron flashbacks.

Independent publishers engage in the new media era

The independent literary press has always had its work cut out for it. The publishing world, particularly in the last fifteen years, has become drastically concentrated into the hands of a few international media giants whose first order of business is turn-and-burn bestsellers. Now there is nothing wrong with a great story or entertainment for entertainment’s sake, but an overload of enjoyable, yet empty, diversions does not enrich us. Without a balance of voices that speak to the deeper chords of human experience, our lives are flattened, cheapened.

Struggling to maintain a presence in a publishing world dominated by fleeting amusements, small-scale publishing houses are gaining ground by engaging in new social media practices that, ironically, were initially popular for the quick entertainment they provided. The independent press now tweets, updates their Facebook statuses, diggs other publishers’ releases and blogs about the literary world (interesting that companies that survive by selling words now offer them for free).

Media Bistro’s Gallery Cat has declared that independent literary presses are actually leading the publishing industry’s transformation into the new digital era. Online, armed with social media tools, indy publishers have gone interactive. They have distinct personalities: some, like Soft Skull, are edgy and boisterous, others, like the Etruscan Press, are contemplative and graceful. Our smart phones, readers and notification boxes now light up with small updates that life is rich, exciting and full of great literature.