Breaking From Tradition
Susan Driscoll, CEO and president of iUniverse, on adapting to an industry in flux.
June 2007 By Peter Beisser
As CEO and president of iUniverse, Susan Driscoll has helped the pay-to-be-published online publisher to become an attractive alternative to the sort of traditional publishing houses at which she once held executive-level positions, including HarperCollins, Henry Holt and Holtzbrinck Publishers. An affordable avenue for aspiring authors seeking to get published, iUniverse has become one of the largest self-publishing companies since its launch in 1999. Driscoll, who co-penned the book “Get Published” last year, not only is the top executive at the company, but also a mentor to iUniverse’s roster of authors.
Where do you see book publishing heading in the next five to 10 years? What part will print-on-demand (POD) play in that world?
Susan Driscoll: I think book publishing—for at least the next decade or two—will be a stable industry. I don’t think it’s declining. Everyone’s worried about the decline in readership. As the baby-boom generation ages, they’ll have more leisure time—and more time to read.
Beyond that, I think there are major changes coming. The computer generation and the people who are used to getting their information in other ways will be the main audience. In 20 to 30 years, there’s going to be some radical shifts.
I really think POD is a printing technology that could change the industry. As the technology evolves, more and more books are going to be printed on-demand. With the returns problems that publishers have, they’re really focused on more control.
What’s happening now is that we’re able to attract authors by selling more copies. We can do a small, offset printing to start off with and fill in with digital printing. Instead of doing a reprint, we can just fill in with the on-demand. It’s opened a lot more doors because it’s easier to go from one method to the other.
What are traditional book publishers not doing so well in your eyes?
Driscoll: I think traditional publishers are giant machines that are made to push books into bookstores, and then they hope that they sell. That model is changing. People are going to other places to get their books now. Publishers realize that. … But publishers are slow to adapt to a whole other method of distribution. For a niche audience, you can sell directly to them. It’s still a very best-seller [based] market, and I think [traditional book publishers] are losing a lot of opportunities for a lot of really good books. That’s our opportunity at iUniverse.
Where do you see book publishing heading in the next five to 10 years? What part will print-on-demand (POD) play in that world?
Susan Driscoll: I think book publishing—for at least the next decade or two—will be a stable industry. I don’t think it’s declining. Everyone’s worried about the decline in readership. As the baby-boom generation ages, they’ll have more leisure time—and more time to read.
Beyond that, I think there are major changes coming. The computer generation and the people who are used to getting their information in other ways will be the main audience. In 20 to 30 years, there’s going to be some radical shifts.
I really think POD is a printing technology that could change the industry. As the technology evolves, more and more books are going to be printed on-demand. With the returns problems that publishers have, they’re really focused on more control.
What’s happening now is that we’re able to attract authors by selling more copies. We can do a small, offset printing to start off with and fill in with digital printing. Instead of doing a reprint, we can just fill in with the on-demand. It’s opened a lot more doors because it’s easier to go from one method to the other.
What are traditional book publishers not doing so well in your eyes?
Driscoll: I think traditional publishers are giant machines that are made to push books into bookstores, and then they hope that they sell. That model is changing. People are going to other places to get their books now. Publishers realize that. … But publishers are slow to adapt to a whole other method of distribution. For a niche audience, you can sell directly to them. It’s still a very best-seller [based] market, and I think [traditional book publishers] are losing a lot of opportunities for a lot of really good books. That’s our opportunity at iUniverse.
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