It Was the Best of Years, It Was the Worst of Years … No, Really!
December 29th, 2009
2009 brought the stutter-stepping economy into my book design practice. It also heralded the first knocks on publishing as an industry that I forced myself to take seriously. Publishers cut production and advances both. Gloom and doom regarding the future of the printed book became commonplace. I whined about the demise of the book as we know it in my own blogging, as well as in comments on other blogs and forums. (I was also told by other designers that I needed to get a grip.)
Now that the year is almost all over, and summing it all up, I see that my fears were not totally misplaced. As I alluded to above, at one point Houghton Mifflin ceased accepting new manuscripts. That had me holding my breath, waiting for a cascade of other publishers going over the edge.
As it turned out, it seems that for all the downsizing and other negative vibes, my year did not turn out badly. Oh, I grossed a little less than last year and a lot less than I would have liked, but given the way the economy sank, a little less than last year was not so bad at all. Fewer employees in publishing probably meant more work for freelancers.
The question is, What’s coming in 2010?
Entry Filed under: freelancing
3 Comments Add your own
1. Twitted by stephenTiano&hellip | December 29th, 2009 at 11:40 pm
[...] This post was Twitted by stephenTiano [...]
2. Joel Friedlander | December 30th, 2009 at 7:56 pm
Steven,
Yes, it’s a good time to take stock. I’d say your results are actually pretty good considering what’s been happening in publishing and in the whole economy.
2009 reminded me (and a lot of other people, probably) of the old Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times,” and it certainly has been interesting. My gut feeling is that 2010 is going to continue to see upheaval, change of traditions, and widespread difficulty. At the same time, there will be opportunities for some.
I hope your year turns out well, and I’m especially thankful for all the great folks I’ve met online this year!
(BTW you have a typo in your headline.)
All the best,
3. admin | January 3rd, 2010 at 1:10 am
First, thanks for pointing out the typo. Interestingly, as I’ve gotten better at typing on the tiny virtual keyboard on my iPod Touch, my real-life typing seems to have suffered. Strange but true.
Yes, I cannot complain about how 2009 treated me. And I’ve entered 2010 busy and in demand, which is a good thing that I should make clear.
Dick Margulis, a wise online friend, has pointed out to me on more than one occasion that I oughtn’t to sound so down about the prospects of the publishing business or my activity level, as that can come across as needy, which really isn’t the case. But such are the hazards of really enjoying this work of making books, of always wanting more books to work on, that I would willingly choose to miss some sleep when I’ve got a book and we–the book and I–are really cooking together.
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