Over lunch at work today, I came across this older article on Darren Wershler-Henry’s alienated.net.

I like what he had to say about how publisher’s should not fear the internet as a threat to print publications, but view them, rather, as a complement. He contends that publishers and authors who make publications available online (Ahadada, for instance, and its authors), are best poised to reap its rewards.

He contends that we (publishers, authors, readers) all win from online publishing, and that online publishing is an integral part of the ongoing viability of the creative process. It is a “vast, cheap new system of publicity generation� that will help to sell more paper books at a time when fewer and fewer people buy them. It is, in effect, a manner by which to grow one’s readership.

Imagine two kids, each with their own drink stands on a hot July day. One is selling distilled water in those tiny paper Dixie cups your dentist uses for a buck a cup. That’s print publication; it ensures quality, but leaves too much control in the hands of the publisher and limits audience growth.

The other kid will let you drink for free full-blast from the nozzle of the firehose that she’s hauled out the window of the school next door. That’s unrestricted digital publication, which gives you more than you can possibly use, with no guarantee of quality and no obvious revenue stream. For those committed to the idea of becoming or remaining a professional writer or publisher, the Creative Commons hybrid approach to publishing is the best compromise between two equally untenable approaches to handling content. What writers and publishers need to realize is that the internet isn’t a threat to or a substitute for print, but a complement to it. But in order to reap its rewards, everyone is going to have to unclench a little.

So, it’s up to independent publishers to strike a compromise. We’ve got to figure out a way of getting those dixie cups in the hands of a thirsty audience without losing our grip on the firehose!