What Authors Can Expect from the Publishing Industry in the Next Decade
Whether you are an advocate for AI or whether you would not like the idea of AI in creative spaces you and us can agree that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is here to stay.
It is definitely consequential in every industry out there and the publishing industry is not an exception and while there may be many opinions about AI in book publishing, it is a fact that it is already becoming quite popular in the industry.
We are seeing the utilisation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in various aspects of creating a book and publishing it right from helping authors in the editing process to helping authors in creating the book covers to also playing a much more active role in writing the book.
Do we think it is unethical to utilise Artificial Intelligence (AI) to write a book? Of course, it is because if AI is utilised to write a book then it does not stay original, but it is complicated.
There might be a counterargument to this as others will say that it is just like hiring a ghostwriter and that is also a very genuine point to consider.
We are not really sure how the readers are going to react to the active involvement of Artificial Intelligence (AI) within the writing process and whether they will accept the idea with open arms or will simply stop buying AI-utilised books.
But what we can be sure about is the fact that AI will continue to play a role in the publishing industry and become much more active.
It does not stop there because Artificial Intelligence (AI) is utilised in every aspect of publishing nowadays because the author might use AI to do market research and they might use AI to learn about ebook formats and do more so you can expect AI to stay in the industry and become a permanent element of the industry.
Author Branding
Author branding has always been important but not as much as how it is now and we predict that author branding will become a necessity within the coming decade.
This is simply because of the rise of online platforms and social media and the relevance of direct relationships with readers through social media.
If you want your product to become successful in today’s market you need to become an influencer and you need to directly market your product out to the consumers.
You in this case are the author and your product is the book and that is why you need to create a deep connection with your readers and that is only possible by becoming an influencer.
Yes, there are a lot of negative connotations with the word influencer but influencers can be of different kinds and there are definitely influencer authors out there who are already very popular and making it big in the industry simply because they have established a very active relationship with their readers on social media.
Gone are those days when you as the author would simply submit your book for publishing and relax as the publishing company does all the marketing because if you follow something like that now your book will just not sell copies.
You need to market yourself and create your own brand and utilise that brand to attract readers and establish a direct connection with them through a continuous strong online presence.
If you are an author and planning on publishing your first book then you should start this online journey much before you publish the book so that you already have followers to market the book to.
Subscription-Based Models
If you remember the point about the dominance of digital formats in the publishing space then you might also understand why digital is popular.
It is simply because of how affordable digital formats make accessibility to books which means the entire process becomes much more affordable for the author in terms of investment as well as the reader.
If you want to make things even more affordable then you introduce subscription-based models.
This is a very powerful and popular concept and it has already taken off as we can see very popular book publishing platforms introducing subscription models where they provide unlimited access to ebooks for a certain fee.
These kinds of deals are actually very affordable to start with and if you are someone who reads at least five books every month then it will cost you a fraction of what it would cost to buy those ebooks.
These subscription models are becoming popular simply because they offer unlimited access to a library of books for a very affordable amount and if you want to have an idea about this subscription amount then the amount of these unlimited subscription models is usually set at the price of a single book.
That means at the price of a single book you get an entire library and that is why we predict this kind of model will become even more popular within the coming decade.
Personalized Content Delivery
Book publishing platforms are slowly but surely introducing more accurate and more powerful algorithms in the form of more accurate recommendation models in order to understand the preferences of readers more accurately and suggest books even better.
This is done with the help of data analytics because if platforms are able to guess your preference then they are also able to deliver your books which you are more likely to read.
That is exactly what is happening on all the popular book publishing platforms out there as they are utilising everything from Machine Learning (ML) to AI as well as complex algorithms to understand the kind of books you like and provide completely personalized recommendations to each individual reader.
This is just like having a personal secretary who understands you and recommends you only the things you will probably like.
We will see this model of personalized content delivery become much more popular in the coming decade as every platform out there will implement this kind of personalized delivery model in some capacity or another.
Of course, there are going to be options to promote your book within these recommendation models which authors can then leverage and target their audience.
Speaking of which audience targeting will also become much for accurate as platforms already understand the kind of readers that will like your book based on history.
Audio Formats
One of the things that will skyrocket in the coming decade is definitely going to be books in the audio medium formats such as audiobooks and podcasts.
In order to understand the popularity of audiobooks we need to understand why people prefer them. If you want to conventionally read a book then you need some time in your hands specially reserved for reading that book.
Unfortunately, not everyone has that luxury of time because the average working-class person probably spends hours going to and from their workplace during which time they might be driving or they might be availing busy public transport.
Now if you live somewhere with empty trains and empty buses then you can definitely take out your book and read it while travelling but that is not the case and in a situation like this a physical book or even an ebook becomes a highly impractical option for consuming content.
That is where we see the popularity of audio format books such as audiobooks and podcasts which readers can listen to even while they are commuting to work or even cooking as they can simply put in headphones and listen to it while doing anything else like working out.
The audiobook fits in perfectly within the modern lifestyle of a working individual.
While we do not recommend listening to audiobooks if you are doing something that requires attention such as driving but it is a very popular method of consuming audiobooks and that is why we are going to see the explosion of popularity when it comes to audiobooks and podcasts in the coming decade.
We hope this blog gives you an idea of the situation of the publishing industry in the next decade and we sure hope you are prepared to meet these new challenges as you reinvent yourself as an author.
However, if you are unsure about the future and would like the most reliable partner to help you out through the ups and downs of publishing trends, we are here for you.
We are Orange Publishers and we are the fastest-growing book publishing company in India and we will help you with all your publishing needs.
We will guide you through the entire process of publishing the book and also help you understand how you can conduct proper author branding and much more.
We welcome you to visit our website and check out everything we do.
