NEWS: Is this Year Zero for the Publishing Industry?

CULTURE: Is this Year Zero for the Publishing Industry?

A suicidegirl member, Larry Harrison, has joined an international venture to take on the publishing industry. Year Zero Writers is a group of 20 authors from as far afield as Hong Kong, the USA, England, France, Dubai, Greece, and Finland who have joined forces to bring their unique brand of contemporary fiction direct to readers. The group started as a response to a publishing industry dominated by market trends that squeeze out original, edgy fiction.

Year Zero Writers has a simple manifesto, based around the principle that literature is a living conversation between readers and writers, in which a publishing industry that demands editorial changes and toning down of content has no place. The group’s first project, started in March 2009, was a novel, The Man Who Painted Agnieszka’s Shoes, written in real time as a dialogue with readers, and given away for free on the social networking site, Facebook.

Larry Harrison, a founder member of the collective, says, “We’re about giving readers the words we write, and letting them decide for themselves. Quality is essential – whether it’s cover design or avoiding sloppy formatting. We are doing this because we care about readers, we care that what they read is in no way censored or diluted or made to some arbitrary model. Because we care about them we want to give them something different to mainstream publishing, but of equivalent quality.”

Thirteen of the Year Zero Writers, including Larry Harrison, have provided samples of their work for the collection Brief Objects of Beauty and Despair, which the collective is giving away as a free pdf (available from the website) to showcase its work. This is only one of a set of marketing strategies that embrace new media such as the microblogging site Twitter, where the group’s writers already have a devoted following of over 1000.

The first novels by members of the collective will be released on September 1st and will be available from Amazon. The first titles will be Benny Platonov by Hong Kong resident Oli Johns, which tells of an exile from the former East Germany who believes he can save Hong Kong’s homeless with his stories; Glimpses of a Floating World by Larry Harrison, an elegy to the lost underbelly of '60s London; and Songs From the Other Side of the Wall by Dan Holloway, the heartbreaking story of a teenage girl growing up in post-communist Hungary who dreams of following her mother to “The West”.

“It’s time writers started thinking less parochially and traditionally,” says Larry, “and more like those musicians who happily give their songs away to their fans, or the artists prepared to rally round a common ideal. It’s time writers came out of their attics and embraced their readers. That’s the movement we want to start.”

For more info go to: http://yearzerowriters.wordpress.com

Sounds well and good, but also strikingly similar to the "promise" of self-publishing.

interesting, i will follow this

People posting fiction on the web! How unique!

Over 1,000 people on twitter? Srs bsns.

The self-publishing movement has been going strong for years- I wouldn't say a rebellion against the publishing industry is in any way a new idea.

Yes, as someone who gets paid to write, I'd prefer to not do it for free, thanks.

Self-publishing isn't new, but it's a recent development for like-minded writers to come together through the internet, to publish and market work that shares a common theme. Publishing as Year Zero means people know where to find edgy, contemporary fiction that is unlikely to be made available commercially. Check it out at http://yearzerowriters.wordpress.com

I spent many years being paid to write as well, but there are times to charge and times when you want to contribute something for free?

Well...when you say that the publishing industry doesn't produce original, edgy fiction...I have to vehemently disagree. Craig Clevenger has produced two edgy & unique fiction novels in ths last few years...in The Contortionist's Handbook & Dermaphoria. Bob Falherty's Puff was amazing...and funny, Christopher Moore is an extremely brilliant fiction writer...and continuously puts out quality books. Brocke Clarke is one of the most original writers to come out in the last 10 years. I loved both of his novels "Ordinary White Boy...and An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England.

I just can't agree that there isn't exceptional, original fiction being put out.

On first glance, it definitely sounds intriguing. But Cash makes an excellent point. I'd also point to the continued popularity of Chuch Palahniuk, the recent mainstream successes of Warren Ellis, and the (albeit, postmortem) new obsession with Roberto Bolano. As an amateur writer myself, working on my first novel, I get the appeal of sidestepping the seemingly monolithic publishing industry and striking out on your own. And 1,000 followers on Facebook is nothing to sniff at. I'd be eternally satisfied if I knew 1,000 people ever got to read my book.

But when it comes to this, and all forms of self-publishing, sometimes you have to ask: Why ISN'T the work being released by a major publishing house, or even one of their "lesser" subsidiaries? Maybe that's not fair, and the article does go out of its way to express their commitment to quality, I just can't help but wonder how much editorial expertise or care goes into a venture like this.

Still, I am curious and it's probably best to withhold final judgment until we've seen all their material.

Oh, and as a final note: I think the idea of writing a novel via committee on Facebook, while, ahem, novel is beside the point of real storytelling. The term "author" isn't meaningless. Isn't a book meant to express a single author's vision? Or, in some cases, a pair of authors?

The word "edgy" is so irritating. What does being "edgy" have to do with being good? What does it even mean? Concentrating on the publishing world and their refusal to publish your book because it's too edgy or too-crazy-man seems sort of self-defeating, you know? I mean, there are tons of authors who are doing everything from self-publishing, to running their own small presses, to being published the traditional way, all without talking about how there is no chance that the big companies will publish their book because it's "too out there, man!" instead of working on their craft.

Secondly, being a part of Twitter or selling your book via Amazon isn't exactly "taking on the publishing industry", it's joining it, or at least trying to. And you're late, even: I'm sure that Borders and Random House are on Twitter, and I'm guessing that they have a few more than 1000 followers that you're claiming. And, according to Twitter, Year Zero has less than 200 followers.

I don't like to put down what you all are doing, since it seems pretty harmless, but this is basically an ad (Seriously: if you mention Larry Harrison one more time, Candyman is gonna show up) masquerading as an article. It's annoying when big publishing companies do it, and it's not any less so just because you're small-time and edgier than a tube of Exxtreme Flavor Pringles.

And here I thought I was the only one to think Larry Harrison was mentioned excessively.

I get that the publishing company is a big evil ogre trying to keep the poor tortured artist in his place.......but, really, it could be that they're not publishing the stuff because it isn't good, not because it's "too edgy" (whatever the fuck that really means).

Several of the Year Zero writers are published authors who are choosing to join this collective, but readers can resolve the quality issue for themselves, by checking on the link above.

On the question of giving away content for free, Dan Holloway of Year Zero had this to say: "I have written about giving work away for free on a number of platforms, easiest to negotiate being my blog www.agnieszkasshoes.blogspot.com but as recently as last night on a great post (Free vs Freemium) on disqus (link below).

"My basic belief about giving away work is twofold. First, I owe it to my readers to let them decide whether they like my writing or not without paying. If they do like it, I believe they'll pay for the physical book. Second, I think it's a good business model. It's the one Trent Reznor and other musicians I admire have used. Give away the basic product for free, and charge for something extra - be it extra content, special binding, or an insight into the process of writng the book. I see books more like merchandise than CDs. I am delighted for readers to have the story for free. I hope (and believe) they will like it enough to pay, as a fan, for something to mark their reading of it.

"In terms fo writing interactively on Facebook - it has been a conversation, but I don't ever feel I lost my author's voice. It's felt much more like sitting at a virtual campfire - like the old oral storytellers in ancient Greece, changing the story every night to please a particular audience (or a comedian tailoring jokes to the venue whilst keeping the structure of the show). For me culture has to be a dialogue with the audience - or it's just an author's private therapy. Because I've been able to plant fake news stories and the like in the group, it's also taught me a huge amount about writing back story, and about pacing (one duff chapter and I'm dead) so I think I've benefitted as an author as well as just a conversationalist. I hope if you read it you'll find the mix of multimedia, manga, S&M, art and loss to be wholly in my own voice, but with an ear firmly to my readers.

"By edgy, I don't mean stuff that contains lots of swearing and drugs and violence (I leave that for the Facebook novel :p). Rather I mean the kind of fiction whose readership is outside the mainstream, isn't seen or tapped by commercial publishers, because either it isn't recognised or it's smaller. A publisher has to be confident of selling 10-20,000 copies of a book instantly to take it on. I don't want to have to write fiction that HAS to have that kind of readership. I can make a perfectly good living from selling 2-3,000 copies of 10 books a year, and I write a book every 9 months, so I'm happy I can support myself eventually. I'd love more people to read my book - but I'd be happy for them to do so for free (it's more important for me to be read than to be rich), provided eventually enough people pay.

"Obviously, that's just me. At Year Zero we all have different opinions, but what we have in common is the belief that we would rather give the people who are interested in reading what we write the chance to do so than to change what we write to get it published the conventional way."

Many established writers - Neil Gaiman, Cory Doctorow, etc have released free PDF versions of there books and it's dramatically increased sales, although if you're not an established writer this might be a problem.

If enough people read a free pdf copy of your book that your name / the work begins to get some traction (easier now than ever before) often these writers have been picked up for a publishing deal, so I believe it could help non-established writers that way as well.

Thirdly, it can work towards Kevin Kelly's concept of 1000 True Fans... if using the internet/free material you can find 1000 people willing to buy whatever you produce because they like it so much, it can be enough to finance a career.

That said, I don't know much about this particular project (the "article" does read somewhat like an ad), but I think the principles of Creative Commons publishing are pretty solid.

Fourthly - it's hard to get your book read often - many writers would prefer for 1000 people to read their book and get no money, then have their work mouldering aimlessly in a dozen slush piles.