Like a lot of hand-wringers, I’ve been lately wringing my hands over the future of the publishing industry. This interview with Richard Nash of Soft Skull has both soothed my worries and stoked some ideas I’ve been thinking about the future of the arts.
What I’ve been thinking is this: As giant media companies like Clear Channel, Houghton Mifflin and Hearst crumble, they’ll leave a vacuum which will be quickly filled by tiny startups, passionate artists and excited businessmen who rebuild the entertainment industry in a new way. As Nash puts it, the recession is an opportunity to rid publishing and other industries “of a lot of cant and laziness and arrogance.” I’m totally excited to see the publishing industry, especially, at a better fighting weight.
It’s Darwin: small, independent media companies are perfect for weathering recessions. As the publisher of a small press company, Nash says that a lot of the techniques big publishers are using to survive are the same techniques his small company has always had to use:
So in a sense these challenges that we’ve faced for our entire existence likely have us better prepared for the current challenges . . . we can’t take anything for granted, and the proof of your faith in your editorial judgment lies solely in the willingness of the reader to embrace it.
So … anybody want to start a business with me? Yeah? Yeah.