Yes, Virginia, People Are Still Ignorant

Jim Hines gives us his version of "Publishing 101" in which he takes apart some of the most common criticisms of John Scalzi's big book deal. As Scalzi has pointed out in many past blog entries, publishing at its base is still a business. We may love the authors and books and things that publishing gives us, but the publishers (like the authors) are in this to make a living. Tor, in giving Scalzi such a large deal, is saying "we believe that we will make a lot of money this way." That's a very interesting statement about the future of publishing, and not something about which one ought to make ignorant assumptions. It's possible Tor will be wrong and they (like other today-profitable businesses) will end up losing money or even going out of business. But that's something we have to wait and see, not something you can divine from the entrails of this deal.