tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post4050871913584611995..comments2024-03-28T02:00:11.260-05:00Comments on A Newbie's Guide to Publishing: Should E-Books Be Cheap?JA Konrathhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08778324558755151986noreply@blogger.comBlogger239125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-29093900834890971062010-10-05T13:22:49.152-05:002010-10-05T13:22:49.152-05:00Fantastic, smart post. Thanks a bunch.Fantastic, smart post. Thanks a bunch.Derek Murphyhttp://www.jesuspotterharrychrist.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-31815008458007424782009-07-27T20:38:48.499-05:002009-07-27T20:38:48.499-05:00I would like to argue about when the rot started i...I would like to argue about when the rot started in the Music Industry. <br /><br />It was not Mp3, but CD that started the damage. A CD cost twice what it should have, when they come out. This is a matter of public, and legal record.<br /><br />Everyone now knows that every time they hand over their cash for a disc, they are getting screwed. The extras on a DVD are mostly stuff they have made to promote the film anyway.<br /><br />For almost the first time in history, books can be pirated, and it looks like the publishers are going to handle it badly like the rest of the Media industry.<br /><br />Think about what you are paying for a Kindle file. The Author has already done all the work, and they want you to part with the same amount as for a book. <br /><br />What they should do is publish all the 'Maybes' as ebooks, and as part of the contract if you sell a certain amount you get a print run. Then sell them cheap, so people will try new authors. Have a meal or buy an untried author's book, or skip a coffee for an ebook?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-3732948857806653062009-07-06T19:18:41.672-05:002009-07-06T19:18:41.672-05:00Whew. I finally made it all the way to the end of...Whew. I finally made it all the way to the end of the comments.<br /><br />Great work all.<br /><br />JA - Thank you for providing this inspirational blog for us to learn from.<br /><br />Zoe - I am enjoying "Kept" on my iPhone using the Kindle Reader app.<br /><br />Speaking of self-publishing, there is a 1-day conference coming up on Saturday 7/18 in San Francisco.<br /><br />INSTOCK<br />The Conference for Self Publishers<br /><br /><a href="http://www.instockconference.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.instockconference.com</a><br /><br />I will be there and if you are in the area should check it out.<br /><br />cheers,<br /><br />PTPeter Trapassohttp://www.petertrapasso.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-86916382364568694012009-06-30T15:53:59.404-05:002009-06-30T15:53:59.404-05:00Good analysis. The eBook industry is in its infanc...Good analysis. The eBook industry is in its infancy, but fast approaching the "tipping point" (where sales justify better, cheaper equipment and most formats get shaken out). When it reaches the tipping point (10% market penetration?), it should take off like VCR's did in the 70's and more recently DVD's.<br /><br />When that happens, more authors will publish FIRST electronically and then <i>maybe</i> in paper.<br /><br />Titles will no longer go out of print. Royalties will be better than paper. And the selling price will be lower.<br /><br />AKW Books (akwbooks.com) is already positioning to ride that wave. We keep our quality high (the writing must be top-notch and no porn / erotica), and already pay a 50% royalty. Our contract is the best in the industry from a writer's point of view.<br /><br />I expect other e-publishers will follow suit.<br /><br />Like you, we're still waiting for that "magic" distributor (not Scribd -- yet). In the meantime, we sell what we publish and try to stay away from Amazon and their profit grabbing ways.Al Kalarhttp://www.akwbooks.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-31575455886419829472009-06-29T13:05:48.558-05:002009-06-29T13:05:48.558-05:00Obviously, THAT's my point, Anonymous. The ne...Obviously, THAT's my point, Anonymous. The newspaper industry is flying apart like a detonated carpet bomb... and print books aren't faring much better. As obvious as it that a successful blogger not worry about the need to be "rubber stamped" by the newspaper industry to validate the worth of his or her writing, it should be just as obvious that one shouldn't need the validation of traditional print publishing to validate the value of one's book. For the first time in history, it's viable and easy to just put your work out there yourself and see how it does!Joe Mentahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07082831708335979746noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-39616710599839552852009-06-26T13:29:15.243-05:002009-06-26T13:29:15.243-05:00It would be interesting to hear from some agents a...<b>It would be interesting to hear from some agents and editors on the subject.</b><br /><br />I'm a professional independent editor and can attest to the value of a writer getting his book professionally edited before he tries to sell it.<br /><br />Your book is your "product." Why try to sell a product that is tarnished or has flaws you cannot see yourself?<br /><br />I've written an article "How to Critique Fiction" that is widely used in critique groups. Writers go to crit grouops to get feedback on the quality of their writing.<br /><br />But fellow writers are often weak mentors. I've been doing critiques and mentoring of writers for many years. If you want to get good at something, you must work at it for a long time. I've put my time in and can almost always spot places in a manuscript where it could be strengthened and improve its sales potential to a publisher.<br /><br />BEFORE you try to sell your "product," have an expert like me go over it to help you improve its quality.<br /><br />If more self-pubbers did that, a lot of the junk out there would be rewritten and become much better.<br /><br />Victory Crayne<br />www.crayne.com<br />Independent Editor, Writing Coach/Mentor, Ghostwriter, Writer, Public Speaker<br /><br />"You write to communicate to the hearts and minds of others what's burning inside you. And we edit to let the fire show through the smoke." - Arthur PolotnikVictory Craynehttp://www.crayne.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-59062321689860914992009-06-25T11:59:28.143-05:002009-06-25T11:59:28.143-05:00There was so much about self-pubbing in this threa...There was so much about self-pubbing in this thread that I decided to blog about my opinions and advice.<br /><br />http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2009/06/should-you-self-publish.htmlJA Konrathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08778324558755151986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-8774118873280403722009-06-25T07:19:10.742-05:002009-06-25T07:19:10.742-05:00Brilliant post!Brilliant post!Barbara Martinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00610140328527165017noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-58532595178224761612009-06-24T22:39:20.366-05:002009-06-24T22:39:20.366-05:00It's a burden, being right all the time.
I k...<b>It's a burden, being right all the time. </b><br /><br />I know exactly what you mean.<br /><br />And for Anon, since s/he's such an excited fan!!!<br /><br />I did three interviews today.Stacey Cochranhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14128613653591282474noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-78892381907648118832009-06-24T14:54:03.839-05:002009-06-24T14:54:03.839-05:00The traditional industry won't collapse but it...The traditional industry won't collapse but it will certainly face changes. Divisional VPs might live in Queens instead of the Hamptons, like with the music industry's A&R guys living in Tarzana instead of Malibu.<br /><br />As with film aficionados who prefer John Cassavetes to Will Farrell, there will always be those audiences who don't want their books to have a variation of exactly the same scene when they get to page 150.<br /><br />Be it electronic or paper small presses and indie publishers will be around. Who knows, we may all end up with better product when more people are exposed to what they might really like instead of what Madison Avenue tells them they're supposed to like. Getting Led Zep to license their music for Cadillac commercials certainly didn't make it a better car...<br /><br />After all, trad pub DID publish Paris Hilton (can you imagine this as the end of your gene pool?) and almost published OJ Simpson.Ron at CMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10075044892993504475noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-9749264552992027722009-06-24T14:27:35.827-05:002009-06-24T14:27:35.827-05:00After all, if what you're doing was REAL writi...<i>After all, if what you're doing was REAL writing, some newpaper editor would have long ago picked up your efforts as a bi-weekly column.</i><br /><br />Uh Mr. Menta....have you taken a look at the state of newspaper publishing??? <br /><br />Can you say "Video killed the radio star," boys and girls? <br /><br />I knew you could<br /><br />Anon 6??Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-670683960627700722009-06-24T14:04:34.537-05:002009-06-24T14:04:34.537-05:00>>Take a bestselling author that makes 3 mil...>>Take a bestselling author that makes 3 million on a two book deal.<br /><br />About 100k copies?? And isn't there usually a royalty jump in HC??Amie Stuarthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14145328243563702260noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-27821348466676666112009-06-24T13:00:36.331-05:002009-06-24T13:00:36.331-05:00Excellent post!Excellent post!PBIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05643553811799195520noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-77311406140078812112009-06-24T11:00:45.067-05:002009-06-24T11:00:45.067-05:00This is exactly what my publisher is doing: http:/...<i>This is exactly what my publisher is doing: http://www.fremantlepress.com.au/books/1092</i><br /><br />It's a burden, being right all the time. But I'm man enough to handle it. :)JA Konrathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08778324558755151986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-44181151849285403122009-06-24T04:37:38.887-05:002009-06-24T04:37:38.887-05:00"If I were Simon & Schuster, or any big p..."If I were Simon & Schuster, or any big publisher, I would digitize my entire backlist and sell it on my publisher website for $2.99 a book, splitting royalties 50/50 with the author,"<br /><br />This is exactly what my publisher is doing: http://www.fremantlepress.com.au/books/1092<br /><br />(That's AUD$ on the site, not USD)Simon Hayneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02660767551431793439noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-39272263298550354022009-06-23T12:51:51.669-05:002009-06-23T12:51:51.669-05:00"Stacey Cochran said...
I just completed an ..."Stacey Cochran said... <br />I just completed an interview with Robert Burton Robinson and discovered that this blog and yours truly served as the inspiration for his psychopathic villain in ILLUSIONS OF LUCK.<br /><br />Here's an excerpt from the interview:<br /><br />And I will now reveal for the very first time the identity of that real-life novelist. It’s YOU, Stacey. The inspiration for my evil, twisted, but highly intelligent villain was Stacey Cochran. Are you surprised, Stacey?<br /><br />When I first began to post “Bicycle Shop Murder” on my website, I discovered J.A. Konrath’s blog, “A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing.” That’s where I learned of you, Stacey, a regular commenter on J.A.’s blog. There you talked about writing ten novels and about your thousands of rejection letters from agents and publishers. (J.A. Konrath had a similar story, but he had finally secured a publishing contract.)<br /><br />But Stacey endured the rejections. He would never give up. He would just keep writing and encouraging other writers to fight the good fight. And now it is paying off. Stacey is having great success with his Kindle versions of The Colorado Sequence and Claws.<br /><br />So, I started thinking: What if a guy had everything in the world he could possibly want but a book deal? And what if after being rejected so many times, he decided to take a new approach and go directly to the public by posting his book online? (Much the way I did.) And what if he believed he had a supernatural kind of luck? And what if he decided to push that luck to the limit, doing whatever it took to get what he wanted, daring the god of luck to fail him? And what if he was a psychopath?<br /><br />The result of all those “what ifs” is Lucky Larry. Thanks, Stacey, for giving me the seed of inspiration for this character. You might say that Lucky Larry is Stacey Cochran gone over to the dark side. (evil laugh)<br /><br />I am both disturbed by this and deeply flattered... <br /><br />You've got to read the excerpt of of his novel on Amazon describing Lucky Larry. That's me!!!"<br /><br />Totally fascinating, incredible stuff! I thought I'd post it again, just in case anyone missed it!!!!!!<br /><br />Please keep us informed of your every move!!!!!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-48047539378011281162009-06-23T11:21:38.533-05:002009-06-23T11:21:38.533-05:00So, I started to upload my novel CLAWS to the scri...So, I started to upload my novel CLAWS to the <a href="http://www.scribd.com" rel="nofollow">scribd.com</a> store late last night.<br /><br />Joe, have you talked about scribd.com elsewhere on this blog?<br /><br />And does this mean we could call ourselves "Simon & Schuster" authors if we publish and sell via Scribd?Stacey Cochranhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14128613653591282474noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-31575729240233240402009-06-22T23:58:49.539-05:002009-06-22T23:58:49.539-05:00Hey Stacey, I just checked Landstrom out, Metagame...Hey Stacey, I just checked Landstrom out, Metagame looks REALLY good. I'd love to read it, but I don't have a Kindle. :( Wish he had a print version too.Zoe Wintershttp://zoewinters.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-79479531668828641932009-06-22T23:08:56.413-05:002009-06-22T23:08:56.413-05:00@Zoe,
I thought so, too!
BTW, drop me a message ...@Zoe,<br /><br />I thought so, too!<br /><br />BTW, drop me a message through staceycochran.com and I'll email you the phone # for Friday's interview. I think Sam Landstrom will be joining us.Stacey Cochranhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14128613653591282474noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-66923935302325717162009-06-22T22:13:52.860-05:002009-06-22T22:13:52.860-05:00OMG that is freaking awesome! Is that really what...OMG that is freaking awesome! Is that really what the book is about? If so, I'm so reading it.Zoe Wintershttp://zoewinters.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-42690849268344614522009-06-22T22:05:19.078-05:002009-06-22T22:05:19.078-05:00I just completed an interview with Robert Burton R...I just completed <a href="http://onlinebookreview.org/2009/06/23/online-book-review-robert-burton-robinson-interview/" rel="nofollow">an interview with Robert Burton Robinson</a> and discovered that this blog and yours truly served as the inspiration for his psychopathic villain in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Illusion-Luck-Tenorly-Suspense-ebook/dp/B002BWQ49G" rel="nofollow">ILLUSIONS OF LUCK</a>.<br /><br />Here's an excerpt from the interview:<br /><br /><b>And I will now reveal for the very first time the identity of that real-life novelist. It’s YOU, Stacey. The inspiration for my evil, twisted, but highly intelligent villain was Stacey Cochran. Are you surprised, Stacey?<br /><br />When I first began to post “Bicycle Shop Murder” on my website, I discovered J.A. Konrath’s blog, “A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing.” That’s where I learned of you, Stacey, a regular commenter on J.A.’s blog. There you talked about writing ten novels and about your thousands of rejection letters from agents and publishers. (J.A. Konrath had a similar story, but he had finally secured a publishing contract.)<br /><br />But Stacey endured the rejections. He would never give up. He would just keep writing and encouraging other writers to fight the good fight. And now it is paying off. Stacey is having great success with his Kindle versions of The Colorado Sequence and Claws.<br /><br />So, I started thinking: What if a guy had everything in the world he could possibly want but a book deal? And what if after being rejected so many times, he decided to take a new approach and go directly to the public by posting his book online? (Much the way I did.) And what if he believed he had a supernatural kind of luck? And what if he decided to push that luck to the limit, doing whatever it took to get what he wanted, daring the god of luck to fail him? And what if he was a psychopath?<br /><br />The result of all those “what ifs” is Lucky Larry. Thanks, Stacey, for giving me the seed of inspiration for this character. You might say that Lucky Larry is Stacey Cochran gone over to the dark side. (evil laugh)</b><br /><br />I am both disturbed by this and deeply flattered... <br /><br />You've got to read the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Illusion-Luck-Tenorly-Suspense-ebook/dp/B002BWQ49G" rel="nofollow">excerpt of of his novel on Amazon describing Lucky Larry</a>. That's me!!!Stacey Cochranhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14128613653591282474noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-46427186522804360232009-06-22T18:21:16.632-05:002009-06-22T18:21:16.632-05:00LMAO Jude @ "It's about the chicks" ...LMAO Jude @ "It's about the chicks" hahahahahaha. That's great!Zoe Wintershttp://zoewinters.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-56857127356770382662009-06-22T18:12:13.613-05:002009-06-22T18:12:13.613-05:00Agents decide to rep less than 1% of what they'...<i>Agents decide to rep less than 1% of what they're submitted. Then they sell less than 20% of what they rep, and most of that is sales from their already established clients, not new ones. And I've heard editors reject 90% of what agents give them, and of the 10% they accept, they only make offers on 2 out of ten because most others get shot down at the acquisitions meeting.</i><br /><br />There you have the vetting process in a nutshell. To break it down even further: only a minute fraction of the ones who finally make it to print ever achieve any measurable level of success. That is in terms of $. So, to me, anyone who approaches this game with notions of actually making a living at it is utterly insane. It's not about the money. It can never be about the money.<br /><br />It's about the respect, the glory, the booze, the chicks. It's about walking down the street knowing you were the one in 400,000 who made it through. Mostly though it's about the chicks.Jude Hardinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09994813046526310594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-24223161601311778032009-06-22T16:14:33.720-05:002009-06-22T16:14:33.720-05:00Hey Robert,
Be sure to get your print book linked...Hey Robert,<br /><br />Be sure to get your print book linked to your kindle book in Amazon.com (I don't know yet if this happens automatically or if you have to do something to make it happen.)<br /><br />One good thing is, all your reviews for either version will show up on each version. Plus, if you start moving up the charts in the kindle store or in other categories outside the kindle store, it will say "other versions available" beside the book so if someone who doesn't have a Kindle stumbles upon it, and they want a print copy, it's right there, with a click.Zoe Wintershttp://zoewinters.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-67562685886882795372009-06-22T15:55:38.194-05:002009-06-22T15:55:38.194-05:00Anon 4.0
I don't know anyone who can live off...Anon 4.0<br /><br />I don't know anyone who can live off a $5,000 advance. <br /><br />Bad economy means even less of a chance to get that 5k. I hear advances are now 2,500!<br /><br />Anon 4.0Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com