[...]What It Takes: The RIght Team[...]…

On the publishing industry. How are they going to pay for the staff to support writers? E-publishing is here to stay and it’s will affect the revenues and profit margins of traditional publishers.

I see the music industry having exactly this problem right now. Too many labels are only willing to put money on what has the quick payoff and not willing to invest the time and money for artist development (what a good manager and a good label rep SHOULD be doing) to help give that artist a quality, long-term career. All of the superstars of yesteryear (and many still with us), whether you talk about The Beatles or Led Zeppelin or U2 started out slowly without hitting it out of the park in terms of sales from the get-go. It took time, and development, and touring, and experience, and tweaking, and doing it again.

And, funny, many, many of the bands who went through that process stayed with the labels that helped them do it. So, there is often a reciprocation of loyalty. There just has to be a longer term vision from those putting in the time and resources to make it happen.

Recently, another writer, whom I deeply admire, took an interest in my late-swinging-but-naturally-talented way with words. Her coaching has made a world of difference (heh, if I do say so myself). And for that I am grateful.

Let’s skip “the grass is always greener” for now. What if the team is capable of getting you to the playoffs, but not the big show, and a big show team comes knocking? I would think an author who jumps ship in this case would be branded negatively. How can the new team think he won’t do the same if a better team comes knocking again? And the first team worked so hard to get him to that point in the first place, then he bails?

It’s on the team to do the best they can for the author, but what if it’s not good enough? Better yet, how does the author know when it is good enough?