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People Don’t Always Know What They Want. Here’s What That Means for Publishing and Your Books
Traditional publishing might not give people the chance to discover what they have a taste for.
Henry Ford is one of the most well-known American innovators. He’s the guy who brought mass production to the “horseless carriages” — that is, cars — we zoom around in today.
So what does Ford have to do with writing?
There’s a famous quote that, while having an unclear origin, largely is attributed to Ford: “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said ‘faster horses’.” The basic idea behind the quote is that, while customer input might be important, real innovation often means ignoring them, realizing a concept, and then seeing what the reaction of the public is.
Let’s think about this quote in relation to the traditional publishing industry. Generally speaking, publishers accept new books based on what they predict will sell well. But those predictions largely are based on past sales. So if, for instance, a publisher sees that they sold 5 percent more romances this year than last year, then they’ll assume readers want romances and buy more romance manuscripts.
