Is your industry getting killed with all the changes that are happening right now? We know people in real estate, banking and construction are running out the door in search of new opportunities. Here’s another one you may not hear as much about – publishing. Simon & Schuster, Macmillan and Harper Collins are laying staff off left and right. Salaries are being frozen or eliminated. Publisher’s Weekly predicts that 2009 will be “the worst year for publishing in decades.”
But what does that mean if you’re a wanna-be-author? Are all your hopes dashed – or do you perhaps have better opportunities than you’ve ever had before? In this week’s issue of TIME, Lev Grossman writes in Books Gone Wild that people are reading more and it’s never been easier to get a book out to an eager audience. Wooing agents, begging for a publisher, fat advances, printing on paper and shipping on consignment are probably things of the past, but there are no barriers for delivering a complete manuscript via a blog, podcast or cell phone. Let the readers decide – and if they like it, the product can then be created in another profitable form. (More about turning your writing into income in Write to the Bank.
Most every industry is the same. If you are in the restaurant business it may not make sense to be open every day, just waiting for customers. In New York City there is a restaurant that is only open twenty times a year. You have to have an appointment and pay in advance. No empty seats, no wondering if you’ll cover the overhead. I’m talking to mortgage lenders who can’t keep up with the flood of new customers for refinancing, builders who do nothing but specialty work and can’t turn out the work fast enough, and bankers who have plenty of money to lend and invest.
People ask about my business. Here’s the deal. If the economy is great, people know they have options so my business is great. If the economy is bad, people have to be looking for new solutions, so my business is great.
What about your business? I suspect the same can be true for you.
Dan Miller's Blog 