INSIDER: With all of the new issues presented by the digital content realm, do you see the struggle between publishers and authors getting worse before it gets better?
KENNEALLY: I’m an author and was a freelance journalist for many years, and I know quite a few people who are likewise, so I have a rule-of-thumb: scratch an author, and you find someone who has a problem with his or her publisher. That’s human nature; I don’t think it’s a struggle necessarily, just a fact. The rise of independent publishing services and online bookselling certainly point to more authors going their own ways, but there’s a strong case to make that authors and publishers will need to strengthen their relationships and not strain them. In a recent “Beyond the Book” podcast, Sourcebooks CEO Dominique Raccah described to me her vision of the next evolutionary step for authors and publishers as a business partnership that is meant to be long-term. That sounds right to me.
Matt Steinmetz is the publisher and brand director of Publishing Executive.