thoughts on Jane Friedman's "A New Age of Discovery"

Jane Friedman’s “A New Age of Discovery” concludes What Editors Do by taking a look at the present and future of the publishing industry in terms of technology and how people, particularly large publishers need to adapt to the changes the industry is going through. What I really liked about this chapter was that while so many think negatively of the way technology has changed reading, Friedman provided a more objective look and rather than suggesting that it should stop changing, she explained how publishers need to change with it through the use of metadata, SEO, and more personal relationships with consumers and readers.

Relationships seemed, to me, to be one of the main points of this chapter. According to Friedman, because publishing has increased so much, a book is no longer anything special just by being published, which means publishers and authors benefit from having a real community of readers that like their book for more specific and contextual reasons. This is interesting to me because I think we tend to assume that technology makes things less personal, but apparently this might not actually be the case for books and reading, which I think is probably best exemplified by online communities of readers like fanfic sites or Booktube. I also liked how at the end of the chapter, Friedman stressed that the relationship between an editor (or agent) and a writer are still incredibly important during these changes. Do you guys agree that relationships are more important now or do you think they’re less important? I think I agree but I could see how there might be a case for so much quantity and fast consumption limits the possibility of deeper connections. 

Going back to a previous point, do you guys think these changes are overall good and that publishers should adapt? I’m inclined to think they are; potentially amazing books can get published easier and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with businesses changing how they work as the world around them changes. If large publishing companies need to emphasize marketing more, then why shouldn’t they? That touches on a quote Friedman gave from the chief digital officer of HarperCollins: “Marketing has been the division most impacted by the need to change. There has been the change from analog to digital, but also the need to transform from trade marketing to relationship marketing.” There’s the emphasis on relationships again. 

On the other hand, Amazon is monopolizing book sales, both physical and electronic, but Amazon is kind of monopolizing everything, so I feel like e-books and self-publishing are not the problem; the problem is Amazon and the system that allows it to be a monopoly (but that’s a different topic). Overall, I do think that the widespread availability of stories and the ability to tell them is a good thing, but I’d love to hear other thoughts on it. 

Overall, I thought this was an interesting chapter and I liked that it felt a lot less negative than other things I’ve seen discussing technology in reading and publishing. And as an added positive, it didn’t make me feel bad for having an e-reader!