In 2013 I think more and more publishers will begin to accept unsolicited manuscripts for many reasons. The problem is money and great stories. Basically, they are running out of money and authors are running into money. Great stories are also sidestepping them and landing themselves directly into self-publishing or Kickstarter.
In 2013 as the amount of books sold increases we will see a trend of authors reducing their costs. They will need to reduce the costs of their publishing. I see agents disappearing almost completely because the cost of advances is far too much. Without agents, publishers have no choice but to open up their doors to. It becomes almost a necessity for them to stay in business.
Authors are also finding the double step of agents and then getting through acquisition editors too much too handle. It is easier to self-publish, self-market, and make bigger margins. So due to this publishers need to loosen their guidelines and their pocketbooks or they risk alienating great authors who have great books.
If publishers don’t pull themselves together and start accepting unsolicited manuscripts they will end up being no better off than they were before. If the changes to publishing don’t begin in 2013 then the changes will start to happen in 2014, but it really is only a matter of time as publishing becomes more and more electronic and less paper.
In future years, publisher’s roles will be marginalized to marketing and editing only. There will be no need for them to arrange for printing which was their major expense in the past. Without the need for a company to expend large amounts of money on creating a product it will be easier for publishers to make more quality products quicker and with less effort.
Mark Canvassa is a writer for Bookkus Publishing a new and innovative publisher accepting unsolicited manuscripts.
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