It is now mid-year, and that means everyone is starting to discuss mid-year performance (and individual performance). Right now I'm in the process of summarizing the 2009 outlook for my imprints at F+W, my new publishing initiatives, and anything else that proves my area will be more profitable next year rather than less profitable.

Just in time, there is a fabulous article today in the Washington Post by respected publishing veteran Jonathan Karp. He directs an imprint called Twelve (which publishes 12 books each year).

He discusses the pressure on publishing houses to be profitable, and summarizes the ugly options, of which I am all too familiar:

1. Add more titles to augment sales. (I hate this option the most. More titles, more work, usually fewer sales … plus you inevitably publish titles of lesser quality.)

2. Sell more copies of existing authors and titles. (As Karp points out, most executives don't accept this as a viable option when the industry is flat, at best.)

3. Ask popular authors to "increase output."

4. Diversify your "product line."

5. Cut costs, pray to the gods of movie tie-in paperback editions or hope that one of your authors gets his or her own talk show.

The final paragraphs of Karp's article offer hope that we can all soon get off this infuriating treadmill of more-more-more product. Emerging technologies will eventually give publishers only one way of standing out in the market: quality product. (Imagine that!) He says:

… publishers will be forced to invest in works of quality to maintain their niche. These books will be the one product that only they can deliver better than anyone else. Those same corporate executives who dictate annual returns may begin to proclaim the virtues of research and development, the great engine of growth for business. For publishers, R&D means giving authors the resources to write the best books -- works that will last, because the lasting books will, ultimately, be where the money is.

Read the entire article at the Washington Post, "Turning the Page on the Disposable Book."