Comparing the Publishing Industry to the Movie Industry

I've worked in both the film industry and the publishing industry, and I've found it striking how similar they are in terms of their various levels.  What's especially striking is how few people in those industries seem to recognize this similarity, or perhaps how much they're in denial, particularly in the publishing end.

Here are the different levels at which these industries connect:

Movie studios are the equivalent of major publishing houses
Independent movie studios are the equivalent of smaller publishing businesses
Youtube is the equivalent to self-publishing

People who work in publishing, especially those in major publishing houses, would be appalled to hear one say they operate like the film industry, and will deny it until they're blue in the face.  But it doesn't make it any less true.  If you want to get your script seen by a studio, you have to go through an agent who has the right connections.  If you want to get your manuscript read at a major publishing house, you need an agent with the right connections.  Often these agents work in the same office, and are sometimes the same person!  And while publishers will act like their work is superior to films, the agents who will get you to them will all say that they're only interested in a book that can get made into a movie.  To say that you're trying to write a book for the sake of a book will get you laughed at by the very people who smugly act like they're better than the film industry.  There's really no difference.

The benefit you'll get from a studio is huge amounts of publicity and large payment.  The drawback is you'll have to do everything their way.  This is the same with publishing with major publishing houses.  Their editors will tell you how they want you to do it.  These decisions will often be based on the same politics and financial analytics that studio executives deal with.

To get into an independent movie studio takes having a connection to them.  This doesn't always have to be an agent; you just have to have made the right connection to finagle your way in.  This connection can often be made at a film festival if you're not hanging around the right crowds.  This is also true of small publishing companies, like university presses.  You can often make those connections at book fairs if you're not hanging around the right circles.

The benefit you'll get from an independent studio is you'll get exposed to all the art audiences and the festival circuits, as well as you'll have a short run in theaters and on TV.  The drawback is that you won't get as much traction as you would out of a major studio and when it's done, the production company owns it, not you; even if it barely got shown and you know how it could get better exposure.  When they're done with it, it's done.  This is the same with a small book company.  They'll release it to all the book festivals and to a number of independent bookstores... Maybe you'll get on the shelves of select Barnes & Nobles stores and it'll probably be available on Amazon for a time.  But when the company is done with it, they're done, and you no longer have the rights.

Producing for Youtube is literally the same thing as self-publishing a book.  When you press "upload" you are literally self-publishing.  I emphasize this because it's shocking how few Youtubers seem to understand this.  Luminaries in their field like John Green self-publish amazing Youtube videos, then put down self-publishing books.  Booktubers who review all sorts of mainstream books by huge publishing houses refuse to look at self-published works, all the while not acknowledging the fact that they themselves self-publish their videos.  Their similarities here should be self-evident, even though it's gone over the heads of so many in the Youtube world.

The benefit of self-publishing is that you have the freedom to tell the story the way you want to.  You don't have to alter your vision based on what some executive thinks is in vogue, and you'll be able to keep pushing the book long after the initial six months after release are over, (the time that most publishers give up on a book.)  You can also sell on Amazon, the top seller of all books.  Hell, they'll even help you publish it.  The drawback, of course, is you're in charge of everything.  You have to buy the artwork for the cover.  You have to get the editor, (and yes, you need one.)  You then have to promote it, and believe me, most other people in self-publishing won't help you.  Youtubers obliviously consider self-publishing to be unimportant, (even though THEY are self-publishers,) and many, many blog reviewers say in their terms, "no self-published works".  This is, of course, the height of hypocrisy, but that's the sort of uphill road you have to traverse when you're self-published.  And it is VERY hard to get noticed through all the noise.