Is Seattle The Next "New York" In Publishing?

When it comes to publishing authors’ works, Seattle may be the next New York City. Amazon and other tech companies have transformed publishing with e-readers, social media and new financial models, making the old New York book publishing house less relevant, according to tech reporter Emily Parkhurst.

Parkhurst, who writes for the Puget Sound Business Journal, said that Amazon is leading the charge in e-book publishing, and that’s changing the way authors distribute their work.

“Amazon now has its own publishing house here in Seattle where a lot of these new e-books are being published,” said Parkhurst. “They’re bypassing New York and publishing directly through Amazon. We’re seeing an ecosystem developing around Amazon’s publishing industry.”

That ecosystem, Parkhurst explained, includes marketing that would have traditionally been done by a publishing house.

Parkhurst predicts that as the industry evolves, regional publishers may crop up that specialize in issues popular to the local culture. She also sees more creativity coming out in publishing, such as reviving out-of-print works or technology works.

Something else that sets Seattle apart: readers here, according to Parkhurst, are big buyers of genre fiction like romance and science fiction, which big New York publishers once rejected.