Originally Tin Pan Alley was a section of New York City, NY. It was West 28th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues in Manhattan. It started around 1885 and ended sometime between the Great Depression and the nineteen-fifties depending on who you talk to and how you define it.
Tin Pan Alley was during its time the center for music publishers and song writers who dominated the popular music of the United States in the late 19th century and the very early 20th century. During its hay day it was the home to names like Harry Von Tilzer, Irving Berlin, George and Ira Gershwin, and Hoagy Carmichael. This is where you came to get music and lyrics!
When phonographs, records and radio replaced sheet music as the driving force of popular American music, Tin Pan Alley began its decline. Today this area is known as NoMad neighborhood and the Floral District.
Although not all located in one area New York has over time became the central hub of Publishing in America. Within the city it is headquarters, or has offices representing the biggest and best publishing houses in the world. New York has approximately just over 27,000 printing and publishing companies within its limits. I wonder if self-publishing and the rise of the E-book will have the same effect as records and radio did on the music publishing industry?
I wonder what the number of new authors was in 2006? How many new books entered the market in 2006?
I wonder how that compares to new authors entering the market in 2010 or 2011?
I wonder how many new titles entered the market, traditional and E-books, in 2010, 2011?
Is the shift caused by more people wanting to write and publish books than the publishing houses can handle?
Because tons of people want to publish books but can't actually write? I read prolifically, traditional books and E-books. There are slush books on both sides of the street. There are some real gems in the self-publishing world coming to light as their work gets a chance to see the light of day.
It appears the publishing industry may be affected with the same timidity that a lot of movie producers have caught in recent years. Shying away from unknown quantities and instead looking for tried and true sure things. It is obvious that both suffer from not reading enough good books to make truly informative and novel decisions about which direction to go in the future.
Does the industry as whole just have a shortage of good editors capable of handling the flood of new material?
Has there just recently been a tremendous influx in literary interest around the world?
Or has the demand always been there but held back, told no, been silenced by the publishing industry until 2008? Is the influx the overflow that has always existed but just recently been given an outlet and means to make their work available?
I can't help but wonder what literary master pieces the world missed out on over the last century because they were ignored, turned down, quota's for that type of book were met for the year, or because the author didn't have the persistence or means to keep hammering away at the wall to be noticed?
Too many questions. I should stop before somebody gets an original idea.
Still reading, "The Power of Impossible Thinking" plus three other books. Still writing the sequels, on chapter six of the sequel to Whisper, and chapter eight of the sequel to No Rules Of Engagement.
Contest Update Amazon DE Zero
Amazon FR Zero
Going to give this to December and then I will go ape shit crazy on my blog forever about how great the United Kingdom is compared to the other two. The UK is my second largest market in the world outside the United States. I have been asked to send copies of my book to India to be reviewed and get featured on a India E-Book website that promotes authors and books in India.
Unfortunately I am waiting to get my Christmas bonus from my day job to afford to purchase copies of my own book to mail overseas. That would be depressing except I do have a job and do normally get a Christmas Bonus, and do have books of mine I can buy and promote. So as Monty Python and crew would say, Look at the bright side of life!
Amen and Good Day!
Posted in: Tin Pan Alley Music Publishing
0 comments:
Post a Comment