INT. MORNING - Fourth Floor of the Hip Happening Building, New York
(Writer is escorted by an Assistant to the Editor's office)
Editor: Good morning! Assistant, can you bring me a cappuccino, skim milk, two Stevias? Writer, would you like something?
Writer: No, thank you.
Editor: Please, have a seat.
(Writer sits across the Editor's desk)
Editor: I'm excited to tell you we're epublishing your new novel. Aren't you thrilled?
Writer: I'm flattered. But there are still some things I don't understand. I was hoping you'd make them clear for me.
Editor: Of course. I'm here for you. We're partners now. Exciting times.
Writer: Yeah. Well, first of all, I'm trying to understand the royalty structure.
Editor: That's boilerplate. You get 25% of the net sales receipts.
Writer: With the agency model, that means I earn 17.5% of the list price.
Editor: (beaming) Not bad, huh? If it was one of those old-fashioned paperback books, you'd only be earning 8%.
Writer: But paperbacks cost $7.99. You want to publish my ebook for $9.99.
Editor: We've determined that's the best price.
Writer: How?
Editor: Pardon me?
Writer: How have you determined that's the best price? Have you done studies? Polled readers? Experimented with different prices?
Editor: We arrived at $9.99 by comparing it to the prices of paper books.
Writer: But paper books cost money to create. There's printing and shipping. And even with that, paperbacks are still cheaper than $9.99.
Editor: We're just following the market.
Writer: Actually, you're not. You determine the selling price. You're setting the market, not following it. And $9.99 seems high.
Editor: You should just let us worry about that. That's why we're partners. You concentrate on the writing, we'll handle the business end. It's part of the service we provide.
Writer: What exactly is that service, again? I mean, there's no printing or shipping...
Editor: Do you think those are the only costs involved in bringing a book to market? (forced chuckle) You writers are so naive.
Writer: Please. Enlighten me.
Editor: Well, we edit. Books need editing. We also create the cover art. Books, even ebooks, need covers.
Writer: Go on.
Editor: The list is so extensive, I have a hard time remembering it all. There's, um, catalog copy.
Writer: You feature ebooks in catalogs?
Editor: Well, no. But we do a lot of marketing.
Writer: How exactly to you market ebooks?
Editor: Because it's all so new, we're still trying to figure that out. But we just flew the whole office to Seattle to have meetings on how to market ebooks. We were there for two weeks. I think we're making some real headway.
Writer: (under his breath) Maybe you should have a meeting on how to better budget your money.
Editor: That meeting will be in Florida, next month. It's at the Ritz Carlton. We're paying Warren Buffett to be our guest speaker.
Writer: (sighing) Are there any other costs involved in bringing an ebook to market?
Editor: There's advertising.
Writer: You advertise ebooks?
Editor: We're planning to, eventually. Maybe on that Facebook thingy. The kids seem to love it. We also use Twitter.
Writer: Facebook and Twitter are free.
Editor: Facebook ads cost money.
Writer: How many Facebook ads have you personally clicked on?
Editor: None. Those stupid things annoy me.
Writer: So, let's be clear on this. There are no printing costs, shipping costs, or warehousing costs, and you don't do catalogs or advertising or marketing...
Editor: (snapping his fingers as if remembering something) We also format and upload the ebooks to retailers.
Writer: How long does all of that take?
Editor: Excuse me?
Writer: To edit a book and make cover art and format it?
Editor: Well, we could spend two or three weeks working on a single title in order to get it ready.
Writer: Nine months.
Editor: What?
Writer: Nine months, working 60 hour weeks. That's how long it took me to write my novel. That seems a bit longer and more labor-intensive than your three weeks. Yet I'm only getting 17.5% of the price that you set. Do you know what your percentage is?
Editor: Off the top of my head, no.
Writer: You get 52.5%.
Editor: Really? Huh.
Writer: To me, that doesn't seem fair.
Editor: You don't seem to understand that you need us. Without editing or cover art...
Writer: (interrupting) Let's say the ebook sells ten thousand copies. Which, at your inflated price of $9.99, seems unlikely. But let's say it does. That means I earn $17,500...
Editor: A respectable figure...
Writer: ...and you earn $52,500. Even though you only worked on it for three weeks.
Editor: But you gotta admit, we made a terrific cover for it.
Writer: True. But for fifty thousand dollars, I bet I could buy some pretty nice cover art on my own. I bet I could pay a doctor to raise Pablo Picasso from the dead and have him do the cover.
Editor: Don't forget editing.
Writer: How long does it take to edit a manuscript?
Editor: Excuse me?
Writer: In hours. How many are we talking? Ten? Twenty?
Editor: It might go as high as fifty hours, with multiple read-throughs and the line edit.
Writer: How much do editors earn an hour?
Editor: Excuse me?
Writer: Let's say fifty bucks an hour. I think that's high, and I also think your fifty hour estimate is high, but even if we go with both, that's only $2500. And according to the Artist & Graphic Designer's Market, book cover art should cost around $2000.
Editor: Don't forget formatting and uploading.
Writer: I can pay a guy $200 to format and upload the book. In fact, I can also pay a guy $300 to create a cover, and an editor $500 to do both content and copy editing. But you're not charging me $1000, or even $4500. You're taking $52,500. And that number can get even bigger. If I hire my own editor and artist, those costs are fixed. You continue to take your 52.5% forever.
Editor: You don't seem to understand. Do you know how much it costs to rent this office? We're paying $25k a month, and that doesn't even include utilities. I've got three assistants. We all have health insurance and 401k. Expense accounts. Do you have any idea what it costs to take agents out to lunch?
Writer: My agent didn't broker this deal.
Editor: You're missing the point!
(Assistant enters, with coffee)
Assistant: Here's your cappuccino, Editor.
Editor: There's another cost! We paid five grand for this cappuccino machine! How are we supposed to stay in business unless we take 52.5%?
Writer: (standing up) I think we're done here.
Editor: Wait a second! You need us! Without us to validate your work, you'll never be considered legitimate! You'll just be some unknown, satisfied rich guy!
(Writer turns to leave)
Editor: Think about what you're missing out on! When we do cover art, we do it without any kind of focus group, and we don't pay any attention to your wishes! We arbitrarily change your title to something we think is better, without any proof! We take twelve months to release a book after you turn in the manuscript when it would only take you a week! We pay twice a year instead of the monthly check you'd get doing it yourself, and our accounting practices are hard to understand and quite possibly shifty! Also, we'll drop you for no particular reason! You can't turn your back on all that!
(Writer pauses, then turns around)
Writer: Look, it's true that I do need a good editor.
Editor: See! I told you!
(Writer hands Editor his business card)
Writer: When your company goes bankrupt, and you're unemployed, I want you to look me up. Send me a letter. One page, double spaced. List your qualifications for editing my book, and your rates. Also include a SASE. If you don't hear from me in six months, no need for you to follow up--it means I'm not interested...
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278 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 278 of 278I'd like to address the idea that Joe's ebook success is directly linked to the fact that he was traditionally published first, and therefore had an established name/platform. While I'm sure that his name recognition didn't hurt, my experience and that of others like me, proves that being established isn't necessary to finding success in ebook publishing.
I was agented (twice) and had some close calls over the course of nearly 10 years, but never sold a book, and never had any fiction published, not even a short story. I uploaded my first self-published Kindle book in July 2009, and over the next several months uploaded five more. I estimate that I've sold over 75,000 ebooks combined.
Because of my steady sales and reviews, five of my books are now under contract with AmazonEncore and one of my novels has been optioned for film.
In the last year I've been living a dream. My first AmazonEncore title, A Scattered Life, was included on a bestseller list on Good Morning America recently. My story has been covered on NPR and the Wall Street Journal. I'm speaking to library groups and book clubs. And best of all, I have an income and readers.
The ironic thing? These are the exact same books that didn't make the cut with New York.
I have no secret formula for selling books. I just took Joe's advice: good stories, solid writing, professional-looking covers, good formatting, low price, and an enticing description. At least that's what I aimed for. :) I spent time on message boards and left blog comments to get my name out there. It did take some time, an hour or two each day, but was it worthwhile? Oh yes.
My sales really took off when posters on the message boards starting recommending my books to others. A very lucky turn of events for me.
This is a great time to be a writer. A year and a half ago I was a failed novelist with a hard drive full of rejected books. Now I'm doing what I love and getting paid for it. I had lost the joy associated with writing, because really what was the point if no one would ever read my books? Believe me when I say the joy is back.
Saw this response on Twitter:
"Konrath has valid points, but seriously, that horse is dead and the snark is stale. "Rich" and bitter are a toxic combo."
Get that, Konrath? You're a bitter rich man beating a dead horse with stale snark. Stop it, else we'll have to sick PETA on you (Publishers for the Ethical Treatment of Anachronisms).
Now excuse me while I head back to Twitter to read more about the redemptive powers of transmedia.
"Rich" and bitter are a toxic combo."
I'm not nearly as toxic and bitter as morons on Twitter who try to get noticed by insulting people.
Part of being a public figure means enduring negative comments, bad reviews, and the opinions of assholes. But I challenge anyone to find me insulting anyone by name, anywhere on the internets.
No class.
I'll take rich and bitter over poor and unpublished anyday. Joe, keep being a badass.
Portuguese cunt said: I'll take rich and bitter over poor and unpublished anyday. Joe, keep being a badass.
My wife might get mad at me for saying this, but I love Portuguese cunt.
joe said:
> The publishing houses
> can't do much of anything, Rex.
actually, i said that, joe, not rex.
and i hear what you're saying
about the publishing houses
being largely impotent. but...
they _do_ have deep pockets,
and they could hire someone,
if they thought it could be done.
as it is, they've been willing to
pay amazon 40% for customers,
on suggested list price, no less.
across the board in business,
retailers routinely take 50%...
so 30% really isn't an unfair rate.
> But Smashwords, started by
> one guy, is providing
> a nice alternative to Amazon.
> You know that.
oh please. you can't be serious.
mark has done a really great job,
in a lot of ways, but he's _not_
"a nice alternative to amazon"...
not by a long shot, or even close.
and the 85% he promises up top
quickly evaporates back to 70%
if you opt into wider distribution.
but the most important point is
he doesn't have any customers...
how many sales you made there?
i rest my case.
***
what _is_ closer, though, is kobo.
originally funded by bookstores,
and some publishers (i believe),
it now has borders in its fold, so
it should have a good selection...
plus it has enough capital to be
viable into the immediate future.
but it doesn't have the expertise
as online vendor that amazon has
-- amazon is the _exemplar_ --
nor does it have software chops
(which means that its apps suck)
so in the end, it gives more proof
amazon lacks major competitors;
it's not an example of being one.
-bowerbird
rex said:
> Thanks for the insult.
that rex! he's funny! i love him! :+)
-bowerbird
I think I've got a crush on anonymous...
:)
Karen:
I just read the first few paragraphs of A Scattered Life. Love the voice. Solid writing indeed.
Looks to me like you're publishing with the wrong house. I'm an acquisitions editor at a small house, and I actually do work pretty hard to develop, edit, publish, and sell our books. In fact maybe too hard, if your satire here is close to accurate.
Hey Karen: Just checked out the demo of Kindle for the Web (http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/?docId=1000579091) and looky whose book was there! Easily Amused by Karen McQuestion. Awesome. Truly awesome! Loved the writing, too.
Hey Joe, this is just what I needed today. I still deal with the feelings that I didn't 'make it,' like some of my author friends and chose to do the epub thing instead. Funny though, some of my other unpubbed friends say they are watching me closely and may follow suit.
We are quality writers with a lot of experience but just never seemed to break through that gate. I know December, when I get my first check of profits, I'll feel a whole lot better!
Thanks for the laugh!
I'm an acquisitions editor at a small house, and I actually do work pretty hard to develop, edit, publish, and sell our books.
Thanks for chiming in.
So you work harder than the author who wrote the book, which is why you earn three times more than the author? Or are your ebook royalty rates fair?
"...that rex! he's funny! i love him! :+)"
Jeeze. Anybody without a fan club interested in trading?
The publishing industry missed the boat. THEY should have set up self-publishing sites where anyone could upload their work, like LULU or Smashwords. That way they would have been able to hand pick authors that sell and who create their own buzz, and offer them a print contract. They would have been in control of the market, now they're still looking and wondering how they're going to be making any money of it, hence their inflated publishing rates.
The worst part of this is that they had an example of the music industry, which made that SAME mistake.
It's unfortunate for the book industry, but drastic restructuring and resizing is now inevitable. I love books and will always buy print books, but eBooks are going to take over the market, and self-published eBooks will be a huge part of it.
As for cover art, I make that myself, and I think I'm pretty good at it. I can do yours too, for a LOT less than what publishers are charging.
rex said:
> Anybody without a fan club
> interested in trading?
well, rex, you could always
just _stop_ being funny!
-bowerbird
Remind me again, why am I desperate to be signed to a publishing house?"
Probably because when you're published by one of the major publishers, your work takes on a legitimacy that you just don't get from uploading your manuscript to the internet, which anyone can do.
When you're published by one of the major houses, it tells readers that you're book has been vetted and reaches a certain standard. When a reader picks up your book in the store, they feel as though they are taking part in a larger conversation with their culture and society, where as when they read your self published manuscript, it's no different than reading a fiction blog post.
On some level, you probably realize that while you might make a few bucks and sell a few hundred copies of your book for a few pennies, you're really not doing anything special -- at least nothing every other writer in the country can do (and is doing) just as easily.
That's my guess.
I respect you for being a dissenting voice, but I want to respond to this.
Take someone like Karen McQuestion. Granted she's in the extreme top percentage of successful indie authors (maybe even #1), but it's lonely at the top of the traditional publishing world, too.
Does her success not give her legitimacy? Or indicate that her work isn't up to a certain standard? Is she not doing 'anything special?'
Let's take a more average indie success story. Let's say it's 500 sales a month on a novel. That's as many as 6,000 readers a year for perhaps many years. And if the book's success continues, it could be 1,000 or 2,000 or more sales a month.
I'd say any indie writer who achieves great success on their own shouldn't worry about legitimacy, not being special enough, or whether they've met the publishing industry's standards. In fact, they've met the publishing industry's gold standard if they are selling books.
If our hypothetical indie writer is selling a good number of books to happy readers, why should she care about anything else or worry about what other people think?
karen said:
> The ironic thing? These are
> the exact same books that
> didn't make the cut
> with New York.
well, that's not really ironic...
your books made a lot of money
for you, but you had few costs...
a corporate publishing company
has a lot of costs, and big ones,
so they look for the home run...
your books probably looked like
doubles to them. good enough
that it wasn't surprising they'd
attracted the attention of an
agent. but still, not home runs.
now maybe they were mistaken.
maybe your books really were
home runs, and they would've
sold in the bookstores, and
the publishers who said "no"
failed to recognize that fact...
but maybe if they would have
put one of your books into
the bookstores, it would _not_
have sold enough -- during its
6-week window of opportunity
-- to pay the corporate costs,
and you'd be a "published writer"
who couldn't get a second gig...
(remember, in the print world,
you can only release one book
a year, that's all you're allowed,
because the number of slots is
severely limited, for everyone.)
as you say, your numbers were
largely due to word-of-mouth.
that can take a while to kick in.
i'm guessing your prices also
were a factor. remember that
a corporate p-book sold in a
bookstore is gonna be $20+.
would you have sold the same
at that price? maybe. or not.
so really, this isn't "ironic"...
what happened is that amazon
gave authors a new way to play
the game. and when it came to
this _new_ game, you won it...
and other authors can win too.
and speaking of "winning"...
the very best thing about
this blog used to be _joe_...
but lately it has become
all of the other authors
who are coming here to
tell their success stories...
and the money is part of it.
a big part, no mistaking that.
but there's something else
here as well, something that
is even _more_ important,
at least from my vantage point.
and that is that authors are
gaining readers. even when
it's not enough readers to
create a big pot of money,
it's still _some_ readers...
so stories that had been
sitting in desk-drawers
and idle on hard-drives
are coming to _life_ and
being shared, and that's
a truly _wonderful_ thing.
if you are a writer, then
listen to what's happening.
and not just the _money_.
greed is just as ugly as ever.
pay attention to the fact
that there is a new game
that you can play, where
you don't have to be able to
appeal to the lowest mass
in order to get an audience.
like karen, you might find
that your audience is so big
that it simply astounds you.
but even if it's a small one,
it's one that is unique to you,
and one that can fill your soul.
so get in and play the game!
-bowerbird
IMHO, "legitimacy" has always been overrated. I remember when I was in grad school. I wrote fiction for children at the time, and I made my first sale - to HIGHLIGHTS FOR CHILDREN. It was a 400 word story and they paid $100. (This was in the 1980s, and not a bad chunk of change.)
When I told one of my professors about it, he got upset with me for even claiming that counted as a sale. It was not legitimate in his eyes.
The thing is, I just cashed another check from Highlights for residual rights for $158. Over all these years, I think I have made more money on that little story than that professor made on any of his literary books.
And I know for sure that it was probably read and enjoyed by more readers on the first printing than his book ever was. (Even though he liked to require his novels as the textbook for his classes. I guess that's one way to boost sales....)
IMHO legitimacy is necessary for people like him, but I don't really care.
I'm concerned about my "legitimacy" as a writer with only one person: my wife.
Or I suppose I could go to her and say, "Honey, sorry, but I've got to stop paying the bills each month. People on the Internet have shown me the light, that I'm not a 'real' writer."
@Ty:
As a friend of mine once said:
"Not having the status and legitimacy of being a "real writer" sure does burn...
...guess I'll just have to rub some money on that."
Brilliant, Brilliant, Brilliant. I LOVE reading your words Joe. I especially loved this line ' I bet I could pay a doctor to raise Pablo Picasso from the dead and have him do the cover' ... Móna
lol, THESE are the articles that make me wonder why I want to be traditionally published! Thanks Joe, you're a 'Newbie's' Hero!
Jude Hardin and Anon 9:26, thanks so much for the compliments on my writing. I really appreciate it!
bowerbird, you said it better than I could have. I'm not saying that New York made a mistake in turning me down. For their purposes, my books didn't make sense. How do you market a novel with quirky characters, a friendship triangle and a meddling mother-in-law? It's not high concept, that's for sure.
In my case, as you pointed out, I did an end-around by self-publishing on Kindle and was able to establish there was an audience for my books. And that's why ebooks are so great for writers. We can reach readers directly and let the market decide. And even if our books only appeal to a limited number of readers, still, there's a value there.
I heart Karen McQuestion!
That makes two of us! Mwaaaah, Karen!
Here's a question for the assembled:
Aside from these very comments on Joe's blog, where are other good places for discussion on ePublishing, self-publishing, etc.?
Forum suggestions?
Forum suggestions?
Check my sidebar.
Thanks, Joe. That's what I get for reading via RSS...
Joe, in a litigious society where people are more concerned about being politically correct than speaking up on what they believe in, I've got to applaud you for always speaking your mind.
Whether the reader agrees or disagrees with what you have to say, good for you for telling your point of view. You are not only giving people food for thought but raising some questions even those on the other side of the fence wish they had the courage to raise.
Keep doing what you do, we need you in the industry.
Here's another six figure writer (Douglas Rushkoff)who makes the same points as joe and has just jumped ship from mainstream publishers. He's doing it his way (not Joe's), and shows there are different creative routes. He makes many of the same points as Joe ... but, for those without a sense of humor, Rushkoff's take is told straight, but none the less damning. The publishing revolution is happening while some still howl at the changing moon, others making their moves. Link to article:
http://www.arthurmag.com/2010/09/29/rushkoff-why-i-left-my-publisher-in-order-to-publish-a-book/
Hi -- love the post! I'm an author and I run a small independent publishing company (Bucks County Publishing) and we are primarily involved in paperbacks but we do eBooks too... it is a side thing really because the overhead is so little to do it. We price all of our full length eBook novels at $2.99 and anything shorter is $1.99. Simple pricing. It is ridiculous that these publishing companies want to gauge the customer OR kill the medium.... or both.
And in the latest digital publishing news ...
Pubit, B&N's digital publishing site, is now available for use.
Really enjoying this, but "one book a year"?
I've heard that before, but where do the rainmaker authors (James Patterson) that seem to publish multiple novels a year written with largely-unknown juniors fit into all this?
According to JP, he cranks out an outline, and Junior Writer writes the actual book. JP goes over it, and then releases it with his name in block letters and Jr's in tiny letters. "Just like a screenplay," he explains. Multiple authors.
I've noticed some of the senior rainmaker women have discovered the efficiency of this gig, and started doing the same. Fine way to deal with the low payments to writers.
This must allow a writer to release as many books as they can churn out inh a year. Good idea there.Whatever it takes to buy one's freedom as a writer and lose the dead-end day jobs.
Know what, Kid? When you've got the cabbage to hire a gaggle of low talents to scribble out your half-baked outlines ("Stick a snake up er ass! Now that's enematainment!") have at it. Some people like writing their novels, dig?
I just surfed on in from another blog and all I can say to that post is *WOW*, and laugh to keep from crying...
question for anonymous
@ "rainmaker authors (James Patterson) that seem to publish multiple novels a year written with largely-unknown juniors fit into all this?
According to JP, he cranks out an outline, and Junior Writer writes the actual book. JP goes over it, and then releases it with his name in block letters and Jr's in tiny letters. "Just like a screenplay," he explains...
I've noticed some of the senior rainmaker women have discovered the efficiency of this gig, and started doing the same."
wondering if you know two items Anonymous? What do you think the sub writers are paid per novel? Second question do you know any of the women authors by name who are doing same with sub-writers?
thanks
dr.cpe
One book a year is all you're allowed?! I'm sure that would come as news to Patterson, Stephenie Meyer, Nora Roberts, Danielle Steele, Alyson Noel, and a huge chunk of working genre writers ...
Seriously?
"Rainmaker" is just the new word for "imprint." They're a brand - a brand wiht an entire line - and they get managed accordingly.
YESSSSSS.
What a great piece of satire! I'm not a novelist, but I am an independent comic artist. We face a lot of similar problems, except we have much less to choose from. We either make superheros or go independent. All of the other publishing houses are having too much trouble to pick up new talent.
I wish every attempting to publish ebooks on their own the best of luck. Your forging into the future of technology will also be helping my sub-industry as well.
David Thyssen said...
The publishing industry missed the boat. THEY should have set up self-publishing sites where anyone could upload their work, like LULU or Smashwords. That way they would have been able to hand pick authors that sell and who create their own buzz, and offer them a print contract.
Harlequin tried to do just that, and the industry had a hissy fit. Maybe because their self-pub branch was going to charge vanity press rates for editing and cover, etc. The RWA and SFWA threatened to treat them as a vanity press and not recognize their authors for awards.
anonymous said:
> One book a year is
> all you're allowed?!
> I'm sure that would
> come as news to
> Patterson, Stephenie Meyer,
> Nora Roberts, Danielle Steele,
> Alyson Noel, and a huge chunk
> of working genre writers ...
as is always the case in
the publishing industry,
bestselling authors are
exempt from all the rules.
anonymous commenters are not.
-bowerbird
Harlequin's vanity press connection was DellArte Press. I just checked on Amazon and there are 5 books stated to be from DellArte Press. All of the paper copies are in ranked at 1.6 million and above. The Kindle versions are mostly around the 250,000 rankings except for one book that looks like it might have found an audience (it had the highest print version ranking at 1.6 million, but the Kindle version is priced at $9.99, hence it's around 360,000 in ranking.
Hello Archangel,
I of course do not know what the Jrs are paid by Patterson, but a few months ago I read an (as always )completely engaging article about the guy, an interview with him, (which may well still be on the internet) in which he stated that he maintained a stable of nine juniors, (at that time). The article was largely about the fact that the man is literally his own industry, and that his publisher maintains an entire branch of the business just to promite his work and manage his career. Fascinating.
More interesting to me yet, is that at least one of his juniors has gone on to his own big time career, writing the airport lobby techno-thrillers that are so popular with travelling businessmen, and that on the cover of the book I saw at B & N, the former junior author has now turned the tables, as it were, and promotes himsef "as a former co-author of Patterson's." This all too funny to me, and no doubt the excellent plan JP had in mind when he statrted this merry go round. Everybody wins!
Leave it to a man to cut straight through all the publishing BS and meager payments, and find a way to beat the system. I love it. Yes!
It's easy to smirk at the writing of the senior rainmakers, but I think we are on a slippery slope when we begin sneering at other writer's work, and other people's interests. Love it or hate it, the rainmaker's writing is what many many people want to read. They are plunking down their cash for it, and I think the market has spoken big time here.
As for the women who finally caught on to this deal, I will track down the names. They were senior rainmakers in the Roberts-Steele group, and I am happy some writers, at least, are making some decent money. I don't read in that genre but a rising tide...go for it.
@bowerbird
Ha ha! You're so funny! Look at your cute little self and your garbled inconsistencies!
YOU'RE anonymous!
Ha ha!
One expense that wasn't mentioned is that the publisher has a retinue of well heeled attack lawyers able to bankrupt all pirates so bold as to download your eBook via BitTorrent.
After all, without those lawyers enforcing your 18th century privilege of a reproduction monopoly, copies that cost nothing to make couldn't be sold at $9.99.
So, if you do without those lawyers (whose fees would easily mount up to $50,000 if you didn't have a bulk deal with them), then you're going to have a little bit of a problem too.
You can set a price based on convenience, integrity, and patronage, but at some point you may realise that the benefit of viral promotion through encouraging people to freely copy your work outweighs any profit in free copies being theoretically unavailable.
You must migrate from the sale of copies at monopoly protected prices to the sale of your intellectual work to your new publisher (printer/distributor/promoter), i.e. the public.
You and your work are a natural monopoly, and this is the only monopoly that remains. You can only sell at a monopoly price that which no-one can obtain elsewhere: your intellectual work - your authorship. Anyone can make copies. Only you can write your books. It's obvious which you should sell and which you shouldn't. You are in the business of writing, not making copies.
The market for copies has ended. The market for intellectual work continues.
Or just treat the pirates as libraries or used book stores. Some people are going to read your book for free, some aren't going to pay, but if you keep your prices reasonable, many people will.
"One expense that wasn't mentioned is that the publisher has a retinue of well heeled attack lawyers able to bankrupt all pirates so bold as to download your eBook via BitTorrent."
I doubt this is a problem for indie authors. And it's not like the pirates quake in fear. Last I saw the RIAA hadn't managed to stop illegal music downloads, despite numerous wins in court.
anonymous said:
> YOU'RE anonymous!
i feel sorry for people who
don't know the difference
between anonymous and
pseudonymous, especially
if they consider themselves
to be writers.
and -- just to be clear --
i am not an exception to
any rules of publishing...
-bowerbird
The Daring Novelist said: 'I remember when I was in grad school. I wrote fiction for children at the time, and I made my first sale - to HIGHLIGHTS FOR CHILDREN. It was a 400 word story and they paid $100. (This was in the 1980s, and not a bad chunk of change.)
When I told one of my professors about it, he got upset with me for even claiming that counted as a sale. It was not legitimate in his eyes.'
Of course it counts. It was a professional sale. My professor would have congratulated you and encouraged you to keep writing and submitting.
Anonymous said: 'It's easy to smirk at the writing of the senior rainmakers...'
What is this 'rainmakers' term? Is it used to mean 'best selling author'? I have never heard that before.
The idea is to become your own rainmaker. Like Joe, I've had good success self-publishing. I don't post my numbers because I sell non-fiction textbooks and nobody gives a shit.
But I did it, and that's how I earn my living.
A lot of the writers here are proficient researchers, and they could easily write and self-publish a manuscript that could have moderate success. Maybe not replace the income of a day job, but a couple hundred bucks a month is nothing to sneeze at.
Christy Pinheiro said: 'A lot of the writers here are proficient researchers, and they could easily write and self-publish a manuscript that could have moderate success. Maybe not replace the income of a day job, but a couple hundred bucks a month is nothing to sneeze at.'
If that is all the profit uploading to Kindle brings in, a person may as well keep submitting to the print publishing houses.
@bowerbird
no need to feel
sorry for me.
i love your comments.
the only thing is
I wish there was
more of them. there's
never enough.
like when you give
advice on how to
approach a movie
deal, i think you
should tell us
about your experience
negotiating movie
deals. or else i
might think
you're just another
anonymous Internet
blowhard at home
in your undies.
more, please!
more!
> the only thing is
> I wish there was
> more of them.
good effort, except you
let in a capital letter there.
i feel sorry for people who
use "blowhards" and "undies"
in the same sentence. truly.
it's full-blown schizophrenic. :+)
-bowerbird
p.s. see, joe, i told you that
the anonymous commenters
would make fools of themselves.
Congrats to Karen McQuestion! I'm so excited for your success!
I just finished my first book and am self-publishing it. It will be out Nov. 2010. I am SO EXCITED about it -- and scared and nervous!
I've trained professionally as a writer since my teenage years and have had a few articles published, but not much more. While I easily got my articles published, I didn't have the fortitude to endure endless rejections from publishers so I never submitted a book proposal to any publisher.
My major in college was marketing and I'm very business-oriented. I did an exhaustive study of the publishing industry, beginning with Dan Poynter's "The Self-Publishing Manual." From a business perspective, it was easy to see that the traditional publishing model is broken beyond repair. Even if I'd been offered a book contract with a traditional publisher, I'm not so sure that would have been the best choice from a business standpoint.
Joe Konrath's post articulates EXACTLY why I chose to self-publish. I've been fortunate to be mentored this year by Sheri McConnell. Sheri founded and ran the National Association of Women Writers for 10 years and she advocates self-publishing. She's worked with hundreds of authors over the years, many of them traditionally published and many who got big publicity (Oprah, etc.).
I think it's natural for writers to feel like they've "sold out" if they choose to self-publish -- that if they're self-publishing, it's because their writing isn't good enough. So even though they're easily able to self-publish, they still feel like they're not legitimate.
However, I DON'T feel that way at all. Make no mistake: I'd LOVE to be offered a publishing contract by a Big Six publishing house. That kind of validation would be wonderful. But based on the current state of the publishing industry, I truly don't think it would be the best choice.
If you choose to self-publish however, please don't EVER feel like you sold out or that you had to self-publish because no traditional publisher would take you. Writing is the creative side, but publishing is the BUSINESS side.
Take a look at the article from Wired magazine "The Long Tail" here:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.10/tail.html?pg=1&topic=tail&topic_set=
The economics of selling products and services online has truly changed the rules of business. It's removed the constraints of bricks-and-mortar retailers, allowing you find the readers you (OR your publisher) might never have found otherwise. According to the article, the old 80/20 rule no longer applies and almost ANY type of music, film, art or book can find an audience.
My message to ALL writers and wanna-be-published authors is "Go for it!" If you're worried about not being considered legitimate, have someone you trust, someone with the appropriate credentials (professors, editors, peer reviewers, etc.), review your book. Even if they don't review/edit books as part of their normal work, people are often open to freelancing or just giving feedback. Having your work vetted by industry experts (for non-fiction) or editors and professors (for fiction) will go a long way towards legitimizing your work (and validating you). If you have positive and constructive feedback from someone you trust with appropriate credentials, you'll feel much better about your work and less likely to feel discouraged and illegitimate.
I'm nervous about the market response to my book (even though I have positive blurbs from early peer reviewers), but because I did my homework, I feel really good about my self-published book.
I hope this helps. However you choose to self-publish, I wish you the very best in your journey!
Sincerely,
Michelle Nightengale
It's true, there are Seth Godins in the world. But most authors aren't them.
A few things to think about:
The authors who succeed without publishers are by and large nonfiction authors. If you look closer, you'll find that many of them are veterans of several books, and (this is key)business people. They have companies, they are consultants, they have a name in the media. Their book is one facet of a larger public presence. Even if they did have a traditional publisher, they would still be driving the sales.
Very few first time authors, and even fewer fiction authors ever achieve that kind of network--much less start out with one.
The publishing process is hard. Let's say you're getting the standard book package--that is, a hardcopy version, either paperback or cloth (not both), assorted ebook formats (mobi/kindle, ePub/apple, eReader, PDF, Daisy, etc, etc), plus whatever foreign rights the publisher can scrape together (for fiction, this tends to come only after major success, with the exception of certain shoe-in books/authors. For business, Korean and Chinese aren't unusual right out of the gate, but they're not guaranteed either.) Obviously there's content editing (for nonfiction there's also peer review), vetting for copyright violations, proofing (three rounds is about average), designing the interior and cover, recruiting endorsers, writing copy cover copy, writing web copy, QC-ing the assorted e-versions, and ensuring that all that information is accurately reflected on relevant retail websites.
Most authors don't care to handle the due diligence to achieve even this base-line level of market coverage and availability.
Understandably, one might argue. (That whole writing thing does tend to take a while.)
Then there are the special treatments reserved for top titles in any given season: the audio book, the vook, the (god forbid) screen rights, the promotional website, facebook page, the stupid twitter stream, the email blasts (previous customers, librarians, indies, the purchased lists), the booksense box, the press release, the contest entry, the copies for industry reviewers (PW, Library Journal, the papers, freaking Oprah), the conferences (BEA, NLA, Midwinter, Frankfurt), the Amazon promotions, the Barnes & Noble display table (you have to pay for those, you know!)and on, and on.
Added to that, there's the sales team. I really can't put enough emphasis on this one. There's the college team and the trade team; sometimes there's even staff specializing in library sales and staff specializing in Indies. They're all out there, all the time, meeting professors who assign books to hundred-person lecture classes, meeting buyers who dictate which books will be carried in Barnes and Noble A, B and C stores, and which will only be on the website. This may not matter as much as it did five years ago, but it still matters.
Added to that, most really big publishers have dedicated Amazon employees. That is, staff at Amazon whose salaries the publisher pays, who work exclusively for that publisher. This is because it's really hard to get things done on the world's biggest book retailer.
So, is publishing in trouble? Obviously.
Are publishing companies woefully understaffed? Good lord, yes.
Are things about to change? Well...lets hope so.
But keep in mind that publishing professionals are incredibly dedicated and hardworking people doing a largely thankless job for basicly no money.
"A thankless job for basically no money"? Gee, that sounds like writing. At least the writing is a real pleasure, and sometimes much more than that. I hope publishing delivers at least some of those rewards.
Meanwhile, may I ask the group a question?
I've been thinking of putting the first chapter of my book online as a sample. I would like to see whatever positive or negative reaction that might elicit, from anyone who is interested enough to read it. I have two concerns.
The book is based on a real incident that took place in the 1600's. I haven't seen it mentioned in a book before. (Which may be good or bad.)
I keep reading that anyone is free to copy one's work, enlarge upon it, and present it as their own. I am not much worried about this-everyone has their own style, but I would like to be the first one (apparently) to use this actual event in a plot.
Konrath says posting his work for free may actually increase sales, and again, I am not much concerned about that end of it.
Has anyone had any experience with this? Simply posting a first chapter and holding the book back?
Thank you for your thoughts on this topic.
Great post. And, the walls came a-tumblin' down! Here's to a new world in publishing.
This post was full of awesome. Publishing needs to change, and so does corporate structure in general.
One illustrator-ish quibble - $300 (or $500 as one commenter said) for cover art. This is cool for some things; licensing a photo, or providing one of your own. But illustrators can expect to spend 20-80 hours of diligent, practiced, trained work painting a cover. I'm thinking of the Tor Books style of cover.
For a quickly done job, $300 at 20 hours is $15/hour. $500 at 20 hours is $25/hour.
I refer you here.
Robert W. Walker said...
The SAD thing, the really, really sad thing is that there are so many authors who are going along like sheep with agents and editors who are "doing them this big favor" and taking large cuts of their income, still working on the old model. Sad that they are convinced it is the only way they can work when in fact Indie publishing means Freedom and Liberty from the slave labor of old.
~~~
I write books. They do the production, marketing, selling, and pay me enough to live quite comfortably.
I don't mess with marketing, editing, promotions, or other deals. I do what I like, which is write.
If, on occasion, they tire of a book, it reverts to me, and I resell it elsewhere.
It seems an odd slavery I'm in.
And Mr Derek Canyon, the "Every copy of the novel over 1000 that I sell will be profit" comment just shows that you've done no research in this business whatsoever. The odds of you selling even 1000 copies are minuscule, especially if you can't spell "negligable" (sic).
Taken to its logical extreme, the self-pub model has everyone put a book online, hoping that enough random passersby will decide to plunk down cash.
The reality is, radio and film did not kill theater, home VCR/DVD did not kill film, eBay did not kill retail shopping, and e-Publishing, which my primary publisher is actively engaged in at less than paperback rates, in advance of the hardcover, un-encrypted, in any format, is not going to kill paper publishing.
The self e-pub people today are the same as the vanity pub people of the 50s, convinced of their own greatness.
Branding works. Branding is easier with large chunks of capital. Publishers bring that to the table.
Otherwise, there are 20 billion links on the internet, and you're hoping I'll not only click on one but send you money.
If that worked, spammers wouldn't have any business.
"Anyone want to go into the ebook business with me? :)"
I will. Let's do it, bro! :D
"Christy Pinheiro said: Maybe not replace the income of a day job, but a couple hundred bucks a month is nothing to sneeze at."
Frank Martin said in response:
"If that is all the profit uploading to Kindle brings in, a person may as well keep submitting to the print publishing houses."
Bite me.
That $200/month could seriously be saving my ass right now. At least I could get a second pair of jeans and a new pair of work shoes. Maybe even get an oil change. That's enough in a year to buy a replacement hearing aid, which I can't afford currently.
That could pay for braces for your kid, medicines for an ailing senior, or groceries for someone disabled and otherwise unable to work. That could be extra hired help around the house for my ill grandparents, and would keep them from moving into a nursing home.
That's 2 months of my rent and utilities per year. That was 4 months per year of my friend's house payment on the house she just lost, tax and insurance included. When I buy a house next year, that's 3 extra house payments a year, which means I'd pay off a 30-year mortgage in 10 years, with many more thousands saved in interest.
That's a big chunk to toss in an IRA annually and build a retirement for myself.
That's a trip for two to India. For a month. Each year.
Speaking of India, as many as 300,000 farmers in India have committed suicide in the past few years due to some crop failures which have left them in horrid, crippling debt which could never be repaid. Average amount of that debt? $1500. With $200/month, I could save one life a year and still buy a new wardrobe annually. AND have tax savings on the donation to save a life.
$2400 is more than I've spent on clothes in the past TEN years put together, and I just got married, too.
The federal guidelines for food costs for a family of 2 is $298/mo. That's what they give a family of 2 monthly in food stamps, if needed. 66% of monthly food costs for a single mom and her kid is NOTHING to ignore.
Who are you to decide what the funds threshold is for others? Shouldn't the author decide what he or she is willing to take for their work? Shouldn't the individual be able to say "I'm ok with this level of payment"?
Maybe $200 is chump change for you, but it isn't for everyone. If you want to decide that $200/mo or the like is too little for you, and you'd prefer to wait for the one in a zillion chance for a big deal, then that's your call. Just don't say it's better for everyone to wait for that probably nonexistent day, because some people need every dollar that they can get. If they can get a couple bucks this way, I'm all for them making this choice for themselves and taking a risk.
Honestly, the 'risk' of publishing on Kindle is the 'risk' of people actually buying your work, one shot at a time. Waiting on NY, the 'risk' is waiting to see whether or not someone thinks 10,000 people will buy your work in one calendar year eighteen months from now. NY publishing in gambling terms is a crap shoot on top of a crap shoot on top of a crap shoot, with loaded dice at every turn. Doesn't mean that someone doesn't get lucky every once in a while, but overall, the house wins every time.
Given the common levels of first advances nowadays, I'll take 100 sales per month at $2 in my pocket per sale in perpetuity rather than $5000 just once. I think many folks would agree with me on that.
Here’s the finish to your story, Joe:
Ten years after the Writer/Publisher interview, the writer opens his email. He receives a notice that Amazon has decided to backlist his latest title. Rather than the 20% writer’s “cut” that he has become accustomed to, Amazon tells the writer that his title—based on the low sales of his last title—will only get a 15% writer’s cut and will go immediately to the e-backlist (equivalent to publishing direct to paperback).
The writer looks back on the days when he strutted his bravado in front of the editor in the now-defunct publishing house and realizes that all things come full circle. He fondly recalls the days of e-publishing’s 70% writer’s royalties, and although he still feels he made the right choice ten years ago, he is saddened by the upshot.
The writer decides to work in the Garden Center at Lowe’s and get a Master Gardeners certification.
Amen to that,Jenna. Cold hard facts. The NYTR BS list is, and has been for years, jammed with the senior rainmakers, some of whom have multiple bestsellers on the list at one time. Publishers can't sell enough of THEIR books-why on earth would they begin investing money in the average newcomer?
Agents say repeatedly they take "less than 1% of unsolicited manuscripts." Of these, what fraction do you think become best sellers? Right.
Agents can't afford to work much of the middle ground anymore. They have NY rents & mortgages to pay.
If $200 OR less a month, allows someone to keep writing and enjoy the pleasures of being published online or by nontraditional means, why would you wait?
I'm not interested in growing old and morose by assuming the above odds will ever work in my favor. Why would they? Am I really that much better than the thundering herd snapping at my heels, ALL of whom hope to be picked up by a NY agent?
Dreams are great. In reality I seem to have the greatest stake in my success. Who can you name that has actaully been picked up? Sara Gruen. The author of "THe Help." Out of how many hundred of thousands waiting to be noticed and signed?
But I wish you all the luck. You may be that rare new author who is way,way ahead of the landslide behind you.
Thanks Anonymous! I appreciate the luck, and I hope you're right! I also send it right back your way: I think if we do this right, there could be a lot of luck to go around, and make us all just a weeny bit happier. I'm good with that.
:D
Jenna quoted and relied:
""Christy Pinheiro said: Maybe not replace the income of a day job, but a couple hundred bucks a month is nothing to sneeze at."
Frank Martin said in response:
"If that is all the profit uploading to Kindle brings in, a person may as well keep submitting to the print publishing houses."
Bite me."
Haha, buy me dinner first. Wow Jenna, don't take it personally or anything.
"That $200/month could seriously be saving my ass right now. At least I could get a second pair of jeans and a new pair of work shoes. Maybe even get an oil change. That's enough in a year to buy a replacement hearing aid, which I can't afford currently.
That could pay for braces for your kid, medicines for an ailing senior, or groceries for someone disabled and otherwise unable to work. That could be extra hired help around the house for my ill grandparents, and would keep them from moving into a nursing home.
That's 2 months of my rent and utilities per year. That was 4 months per year of my friend's house payment on the house she just lost, tax and insurance included. When I buy a house next year... "
$200 buys nothing like that here, not even close. If you want to speak in relative terms, then what your $200 is getting you, I would need several thousand per month to equal. So yeah, several thousand per month on kindle sales would be worth while. But $200? I could make more than that with a third job on the weekends.
Just to say that the cover price - $9.99 or $7.99 as the case may be - is not the price the publisher receives from a stockist. Bookshops and ebookstores have to make a profit too. I don't know about the States, but working for a publishing house during the week and as a bookseller at the weekend in the UK I can assure you that a £7.99 book will more likely be bought for circa £4.00, maybe £4.50.
As an experienced freelance editor, there is no way a thorough copy edit can be achieved at a rate of 2700 words an hour. A proofread, perhaps, but not a copy edit.
And as a current social media marketer I can tell you that, while facebook, twitter, YouTube, etc are free, to advertise on them has a cost attached, as does having a person onboard to keep on top of them. I work for an international (education) publishing house and running a successful social media campaign takes time and expertise. To register is free, but to interact with people around the world on a 24 hour timescale - well, put it this way: it's a darned good job I'm passionate enough about selling your books to want to take my work home with me. Because the amount you predicted to make on your book? Isn't that far from what I get paid. Or any of the publishing house worker bees, for that matter...
Spare a thought, please, for the people behind the publisher's office walls - we're usually over-worked, underpaid and totally committed to making you as successful as possible. We're passionate people, and underserving of your flippancy.
We're passionate people, and undeserving of your flippancy.
Actually, as a publisher, you're undeserving of 52.5% when the writer only makes 17.5% on a book that he wrote.
If those rates were flipped, there would be no need for my flippancy.
Publishers are hardly the fat cats of the literary world. (I'm really not sure who those would be. Critics, maybe? Or those celebrities who also write picture books?).
Basically everyone in publishing below the executive level could be making more money elsewhere. By and large, the people who work on books and the people who support them are mid-level (at best) professionals who've invested their careers, hearts, minds, blood, sweat, and leisure-time in making art happen. Even the finance end of things isn't working out so great at the moment, that shouldn't devalue their contribution, and it doesn't make them the enemy.
Even the finance end of things isn't working out so great at the moment, that shouldn't devalue their contribution, and it doesn't make them the enemy.
Their contribution isn't worth 52.5%. The one being devalued here is the artist who wrote the book and getting 1/3 of what the publisher is making.
No, it doesn't make he publisher the enemy. It makes them capitalists.
But previously they were needed. Now they aren't. And yet they foolishly continue to believe that they're essential.
That's either hubris, or idiocy, or both.
I love it. My favorite post of yours so far.
Joe, thank you so much for this blog and this piece.
I am a first-time author who has a NY agent and a publisher's offer on the table. It is a small publisher but it has a solid reputation in my genre.
I've sold 500 hard copies of my self-printed eccentric non-fiction via Amazon and my website. I think I could do much better with an e-version. (I'm assuming readers would be more likely to risk $3 than $20 on a self-published author, also, many of my blog's fans are international where it costs $40 to have my book mailed.)
The decision is tearing me to pieces. I've spent almost ten years of my life on this book. I illustrated it and the title is dear to me ... I think the publisher already wants to dump the illustrations and the title.
My advance is a piddly four figures, but I will probably sign to get the credibility of a "published author." As Mark Asher noted above if my book career fails to materialize (which is likely) at least I will be able to put it on my resume for other pursuits. I would also like it to get some media coverage and some professional reviews.
In your piece you mocked Facebook ads but advertising to niche audiences was cost-effective on Facebook when I made $10 on every book I sold off my site, and $5 on every book I sold on Amazon. Of course, it will not be cost-effective when I'm getting scraps off each book. And I checked, my publisher sells their eBooks for $10. *sigh* Talk about giving people an incentive to learn about torrents.
I want to rely on my agent's advice but I realize he has an incentive to push me in one direction.
I've appreciated many of the comments on here, e.g. Jude Hardin's. Peace.
I rarely comment on this blog because there are always so many comments, I figure no one will pay any attention to me anyway. LOL. But I do want to say that I loved this post, and I loved the humor in it. You always make me laugh, Joe. And I almost always agree with everything you say.
Also, I feel like I'm one of those successful indies you were talking about, having sold over 40,000 copies of my ebooks. Most of those sales were in 2011. If I had gone the traditional route, my books probably wouldn't have even been out yet.
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