From Inside the Indie Scene, a CNN special report, comes this gem—an interview with Kevin Smokler

Where is independent literature heading or does the concept even exist anymore? CNN asked Kevin Smokler—blogger, editor and publishing world consultant and author of Bookmark Now: Reading in Unreaderly Times—for his definition of today's indie lit and thoughts on the future of publishing.

CNN: How do you think "independent" in the publishing and author world has changed in the past five or 10 years? Or has it?

Smokler: I think in the past, pre-Internet, pre-Amazon.com and pre-explosion of chain bookstores in the late 1980s and '90s, you had a class of independent publishers. ... It was possible to have an industry essentially of mini-majors -- folks who were publishing things that perhaps major publishers wouldn't touch, but were dealing with general literary fiction and perhaps some forays into poetry, monologues, drama and experimental work.

What you had was a network of independent bookstores that supported and promoted them. ... There were independent bookstores interested in rooting out overlooked gems.

The growth of chain bookstores and the growth of the Internet changed all that, changed it in good ways and bad ways.

Good was the cost of print went down drastically. It wasn't as economically challenging to run a small press. But the difference was that: 1) There was a mass slaughter of independent bookstores, so there was less of a promotional outlet for [indie lit works.] 2) People's attention started to get pulled in 50 different directions. Interested readers had the time 20 years ago to go rooting around for rare and interesting books. There's simply a greater volume of noise now than there was before. So now you have to actively say, "I'm going to look for something that I wouldn't otherwise find. If it's not at my favorite bookstore, maybe it's something my favorite blogger finds. And the truth is, people don't actively charge out the door and say I'm going to go find indie literature.

The interview continues here. Read on!

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stevenl said:

Smokler?s written a bunch of sharp-edged and concise essays on the virtues of books. He?s a great writer, clever thinker, and provides crisp analysis on the direction of printed matter as it lurches into the future.

October 03, 2006

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