tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post6304329638686711315..comments2024-03-28T02:00:11.260-05:00Comments on A Newbie's Guide to Publishing: Konrath on PattersonJA Konrathhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08778324558755151986noreply@blogger.comBlogger150125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-58602340031133220562014-06-07T15:08:26.796-05:002014-06-07T15:08:26.796-05:00SO how many of these brilliant publishers turned ...SO how many of these brilliant publishers turned down Harry Potter?<br /><br />these publishers would't know a great<br />selling book if it bit them on the nose. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-12969308205566057052013-10-31T14:33:13.425-05:002013-10-31T14:33:13.425-05:00Something I think is funny is that I never heard o...Something I think is funny is that I never heard of Patterson until I started reading your blog. I'd seen his books around, but his covers are so generic I never thought to even read the back of one or notice who wrote them. Now, thanks to this blog, I'll know to never read that generic book factory's works anyway :) Thanks Konrath!S. Petersonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-12132834946380075402013-05-08T20:50:40.158-05:002013-05-08T20:50:40.158-05:00Have just encountered your page and I guess you sh...Have just encountered your page and I guess you should be complimented for this piece. More power to you!Portland SEOhttp://bizsuccesscenter.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-77187711383837209282013-05-05T22:32:12.504-05:002013-05-05T22:32:12.504-05:00Konrath is right. Period.Konrath is right. Period.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-34048713194935870792013-05-01T16:01:24.500-05:002013-05-01T16:01:24.500-05:00Someone who deliberately conflates art with the pr...Someone who deliberately conflates art with the product-of-art remaining after the art is finished is someone who wants to defraud you.<br /><br />Why had I never heard of this Patterson nobody before today? I have a BFA in Creative Writing and I read a decent amount, so how could such self-professed "important literature" fail to grab my attention?<br /><br />Here's the thing: after they put down the pen/brush, artists cease being artistic until the process begins anew -- but mercantilist fraudsters remain mercantilist 24/7.Vanmindnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-59711413991654293442013-05-01T14:17:35.061-05:002013-05-01T14:17:35.061-05:00Mr. Konrath: "I'm the first to admit that...Mr. Konrath: "I'm the first to admit that I'm an entertainer," you say. "That's all I aspire to be." This is true as well of James Patterson, and of me if I ever get that good.<br /><br />But assuming Marshall McLuhan's dictum still applies ("the medium is the message"), it's not pointless to ask questions about delivery systems for language.<br />Nor is it irrelevant to speculate on the effects of speed and simplicity of delivery, and the huge influence of social networks on literature. Especially literature that aspires to be more than entertainment. <br /><br />Yes, these days the author of The Confederacy of Dunces would probably not have been driven to take his own life because no one would publish his work. The suicide would have come later, when he saw his book sink into oblivion. Almost certainly it would have, as he watched clever, prolific writers gaming the Amazon system, while he struggled to figure out the intricacies online marketing.<br /><br />What's funny to me, though, is that Patterson seems to be championing a cause with no relevance to his own goals, all of which seem to be commercial.Barry Knisterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03191575373788669991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-41004484882071614802013-05-01T13:53:02.069-05:002013-05-01T13:53:02.069-05:00http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/17/business/media/d...http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/17/business/media/david-mamet-and-other-big-authors-choose-to-self-publish.html?_r=1&hp&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1366206086-7WyYLBuQuRBkrcUknjiG6w&<br /><br />RE: discussion of literary fiction, <br />David Mamet and self-publishing <br /><br />Thank you for doing this blog. <br /><br />JoAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-34148676971399822632013-05-01T13:47:01.078-05:002013-05-01T13:47:01.078-05:00The problematic issue with the 'Patterson Ad&#...The problematic issue with the 'Patterson Ad' is begging for the government to save the Publishing Industry under the guise of 'please help protect literature'. Literature doesn't need protecting. The establishment needs saving, because, apparently, it's incapable of saving itself. Just like the automotive industry turned out to be incapable of saving itself.<br /><br />However, the automotive industry is incomparable to the publishing industry. Self-publishing is older than the publishing industry. Many authors who wrote 'literature' were, in fact, self-publishing their literature long before there was a publishing industry. In fact, the only comparison between the automotive and the publishing industry is that automation and mass-production killed the cottage industry. Self-publishing became expensive and difficult. Also, the book stores didn't sell ALL books. They sold selective books, published by publishing companies. Which made self-publishing a fool's errand and laughing stock, so writers weren't considered 'serious authors' if they couldn't break through the gatekeepers, who were not really looking for the next literary talent, but for the next commercially viable literary talent. And who can blame an industry for not representing quality, but commercial viability. So, people with money to set up a business to publish books became 'the establishment'. And the publishing establishment is not interested in publishing good quality literature unless it's also commercially viable.<br /><br />Of course, commercial viability in publishing 'literature' is a hit-and-miss proposition. Many literary books deemed commercially viable fail. So, the publishing industry sells a lot of books that cannot be called literature by a long shot to cover the cost of these failures.<br /><br />So now, here comes a way to publish without getting a second mortgage to cover the costs. And your self-published book will be in the same stores as the trade published books. So, where is the threat for the publishing industry? If the publishing industry is so threatened by these self-publishing upstarts, is it that they are unable to find suitable competition for the self-published crap that threatens them? Or is it because they think that readers won't care about quality and just go for the cheap books selling for less than publishers can afford to dump their own crap? And if they're incapable of dealing with such issues, should they be saved?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-3750846524042161582013-05-01T04:11:28.371-05:002013-05-01T04:11:28.371-05:00There's nothing like the blind application of ...There's nothing like the blind application of reductionist political labels to really raise the bar of the discussion.<br /><br />"I'm a communist, Bezos is Republican, let's call the whole thing off!"David Gaughranhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13236692339928690142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-16250384103070589422013-04-30T19:29:48.849-05:002013-04-30T19:29:48.849-05:00I think it is amusing that Joe is a liberal, but i...I think it is amusing that Joe is a liberal, but it is the controlling liberal New York approach to business that he fights against.<br /> <br />The New York Publishing Establishment wants governemnt solutions to stifle competition. They want laws to stop inovation in favor of thought police gatekeepers. They want government overreach to control what is allowed to be published, no matter the market.<br /><br />Joe still panders to the liberals with his class envey comments about the rich, but it's the liberals who would shut him up if they had the chance. It's ironic.Walter Knighthttp://www.waltknight.yolasite.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-54544664170018569362013-04-30T16:22:43.407-05:002013-04-30T16:22:43.407-05:00Great post, Joe!
Do you mind if I repeat the main...Great post, Joe!<br /><br />Do you mind if I repeat the main point, because it is an excellent one: <i>Patterson could use his considerable weight to get publishers to work with libraries, instead of against them.</i><br /><br />There is no way I can say it better.J. R. Tomlinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01109874615059334200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-19636700461571341022013-04-30T13:00:20.324-05:002013-04-30T13:00:20.324-05:00Sorry...one more point. ALL publishing was self-p...Sorry...one more point. ALL publishing was self-published before the big publishers stepped in and started dictating the industry. Back then, the little guy couldn't afford to publish his/her own books. Printing cost way too much and big guys were able to take on the financial burden. It's now back in our court with the inexpensive method of digital publishing...where it should be!<br /><br />As you said, Mr. Konrath, the big publishers are NOT interested in promoting literature or they'd take more chances on good books versus books they think will sell. When E.L. James was named (by Publisher's Weekly) the author of the year for 2011, I almost choked. They even stated the reasons why was because she made so much money. NOT because she wrote great fiction. What a freakin' joke! They're NOT opposed to the change in the industry or they wouldn't be publishing e-books at all (see said report I liked in my other comment). Bottom line is all they care about and I think the publishers are trying to milk this whole situation to line their pockets.<br /><br />That's my two pence...<br />ArialArial Burnzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00446636373168813135noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-70390657625491575012013-04-30T12:50:07.196-05:002013-04-30T12:50:07.196-05:00Here's what really burns me...my husband found...Here's what really burns me...my husband found a Publisher's Weekly article that posted the sales figures for the Big Six EBOOK SALES (the titles they would share...not all of them). I'll let the article speak for itself (http://mysticalpress.com/ebooksales.pdf), but in short...why the HELL are they complaining about financial hardships and wanting to be bailed out??? If you look at that report (which shows titles that sold 10,000+ copies), they're making PLENTY of money from the ebook explosion! SEVERAL titles sold over 400,000 copies. Kiss my unicorn (I have one tattooed on my backside), Big Six!!! And these are the 2010 and 2011 figures. Surely those figures have gone up. SERIOUSLY?????Arial Burnzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00446636373168813135noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-6471889127952658862013-04-30T08:51:39.027-05:002013-04-30T08:51:39.027-05:00Anonymous @ 2:33 said: No, but those who set out t...<i>Anonymous @ 2:33 said: No, but those who set out to write a literary novel (for example) in a month often end up realizing that what they wrote was dreck!</i><br /><br />Sometimes those who set out to write a genre novel (for example) in a month often end up writing dreck.<br /><br />Perhaps this is more a result of the writer's talent than the time frame in which the novel is produced.<br /><br />Some people can't write literary novels. Some people can't write a decent mystery, either...no matter how long they work on it and no matter how many times they rewrite it.<br /><br />I don't write literary fiction. I've read a lot of literary fiction and enjoyed some of it and not cared for some of it. But my mind simply doesn't work that way. If I spent 1 month or 3 months or 3 years trying to write a literary novel the result would be pretty much the same. Time is not the issue. It's talent.<br /><br />That's not to say that writing genre fiction doesn't require talent. It does. it's just a different type of talent than what it takes to produce literary fiction.Merrill Heathhttp://merrillheath.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-90914416400387208852013-04-30T08:25:13.522-05:002013-04-30T08:25:13.522-05:00In 2009 Patterson signed a contract to produce 17 ...In 2009 Patterson signed a contract to produce 17 books in 3 years, for $150 mil. The Forbes article called him a fiction factory. And it's around this time I first heard him complain about the Amazon $9.99 price point as being unsustainably low. I also read comments by other writers to the conclusion that what he would most likely be doing would be cleaning out the odds and ends drawer in his desk & doing more in the way of supervisory work on stuff his "partners" would be producing under their joint bylines. <br /><br />Patterson's case of Stockholm syndrome is even more advanced than Turow's. I do not understand why either of them, or Roberts, or King, or Steel need the Publishing Industry. Granted, Industrial Publishing has been good for them, but they came along at a time before the only thing the industry knew how to produce and promote were the Blockbusters Hollywood loves so much. They all have a formula and their audiences line up for each installment cash in hand without a care as to what media format the stories are served up in, so long as they get their fix Now. <br /><br />Now, if Industrial Publishing could be a little less penny wise/pound foolish, the libraries Patterson complains about needing help might not be in as bad a state. A lot of their funding comes from local sources like property taxes and we all know how stable and fruitful that avenue has been. So many Industrial Houses have decided that Libraries are second only to Amazon in their evil pantheon that ebook sales are either hideously expensive per unit or require titles to be replaced as soon as they've gone out 16x. The theory is that even more than physical books, ebook sales to libraries mean fewer ebook sales over all. Still haven't figured how that came up except that someone figured libraries would have to replace a printed copy that had been stolen because they'd know it wasn't back, but that even with DRM there might not be any way to tell how many times a title had been stolen. <br /><br />I've been reading ebooks since the 90's. I started on my b&w Palm III was able to hold 2-3 average titles. I started with Palms because they worked so easily with the family Macs. I stayed with them because their screens got bigger and they started using SD cards to store extra data above and beyond the megs of data each device could offer. I bought my first (refurbished) iPod Touch because it had the eReader app and I could transfer most of my collection to the new platform. <br /><br />As an aside, B&N has lost whatever sympathy I might have felt for them over how badly they handled the whole eReader/FictIonwise debacle. Why waste all that time reinventing a badly wobbly wheel when they had these 2 sites up and running? Why all something "the Nook", which then had to be explained to Everybody when they had the eReader Site AND Software? It was like IBM walking away from the term PC. With a little vision and forethought, B&N could have been a lot closer to parity with Amazon and the Kindle. dafaoltahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02267343560982775574noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-77015276931592413242013-04-30T02:33:15.272-05:002013-04-30T02:33:15.272-05:00There's nothing inherent in the genre of liter...<i>There's nothing inherent in the genre of literary fiction that requires or demands a radically slower pace.</i><br /><br />No, but those who set out to write a literary novel (for example) in a month often end up realizing that what they wrote was dreck!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-38017687409128032582013-04-29T21:49:27.569-05:002013-04-29T21:49:27.569-05:00I appreciate Realist offering a contrasting point ...I appreciate Realist offering a contrasting point of view. But I would like to look at the literary writers and what else is contained in these few short lines.<br />Scott Fitzgerald, of course…Hemingway, a lot of myth in the man there, but great literature too; William Faulkner, a hero of mine, but Malcolm Cowley arguably saved Faulkner from obscurity in 1946 when he edited the Portable Faulkner anthology, which is considered to be the turning point in his reputation. Cowley also gave the same treatment to Fitzgerald and others during the same period. Thomas Pynchon…at least you have chosen one writer who is alive, albeit he's so private that who would know (I see you only chose male authors). However, I think the most interesting choice here is Toole.<br />John Kennedy Toole wrote the frantic and hilarious Dunces and got it in the hands of legendary editor Robert Gottlieb (S&S at the time), who eventually rejected it. The string of events that followed led to Toole's suicide. A decade later, Toole's mother and Walker Percy (another great New Orleans legend) got the book published. It won an award, I believe.<br />The problem here (and not just Realist's) with the whole discussion is that it makes the same mistake Gottlieb did. No one today needs to imitate the modernist moment. There is too much going on and too much change in this post-modern world and writers today need to capture it. That's the power of writing at any point in time. To dismiss ebooks as a "godsend for certain books" is to pass judgement on people whose passion and goals are the same as generations of writers: to reach readers. <br />Joe and Barry have taken up the cause for ebooks and have made me a believer. Joe is probably the hardest working writer I know of, and Barry has put a lot on the line to go independent. I see how the record industry perished in the face of digital music. I see how critically acclaimed shows are now made by networks like AMC (Mad Men), and not the big four. But I didn't see what was happening to publishing.<br />When I stumbled across Joe's blog a few months back, I had one thought: Once, this guy was a reason to believe in traditional publishing, so what happened? But you read discussions and pretty soon you know.<br />It's pretty easy to see that things are going to change quickly and no one really knows what writing, editing, or publishing are going to look like in a few years.<br />For my part in this, I took a completed novel that I had set aside over a year ago and saw it in a whole new way. I spent a few weeks preparing and then epublishing it. I'm not too worried about any literary praise, but it has the chance now to connect with readers (other than agents, critique groups, etc). For me, that's the magic of it all.M. Ross Leighliternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-13947348268131829272013-04-29T19:36:51.591-05:002013-04-29T19:36:51.591-05:00Brick buildings do not keep fine literature alive,...<i>Brick buildings do not keep fine literature alive, lit professors do.</i><br /><br />I was thinking something similar. The university presses will keep literary fiction alive for a good, long time, I'm sure.Tyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09192814826756623212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-17215263622947002052013-04-29T18:32:30.557-05:002013-04-29T18:32:30.557-05:00Brick buildings do not keep fine literature alive,...Brick buildings do not keep fine literature alive, lit professors do.<br /><br />Josephhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09866329313708655247noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-19230253527678360912013-04-29T16:48:12.869-05:002013-04-29T16:48:12.869-05:00Posted by James Patterson on Facebook today:
Join...Posted by James Patterson on Facebook today:<br /><br /><i>Join me for a Twitter chat with iBookstore on Wednesday, May 1st at 1:00PM PST/4:00PM EST. Ask me anything.<br /><br />Tag your questions on Twitter #AskJamesPatterson and I'll scroll through and answer as many as possible.</i>Jude Hardinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09994813046526310594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-17008294532762536772013-04-29T16:34:42.992-05:002013-04-29T16:34:42.992-05:00That means that all the Indie authors underneath h...<i>That means that all the Indie authors underneath her on the list got BUMPED ONE SLOT DOWN.</i><br /><br />That's how bestseller lists work. This isn't new to ebooks or Amazon.<br /><br /><i>That's what happens when people go out of their way to provoke trad publishers and trad authors into using indie pricing and indie sales strategies--thus creating more unecessary competition for themselves.</i><br /><br />Because anyone who buys Murdoch's ebook will never every buy another ebook by anyone else ever again. So Muchdoch's sale is a loss for the rest of us.<br /><br />Or... wait a second. I think some readers do buy more than one ebook. And by "some" I mean "all."<br /><br />And with low ebook prices, those readers will be able to afford to buy more than they used to, which benefits all authors.<br /><br />And if an author gets bumped off the bestseller list, that's okay. There will be another chance, because ebooks are forever.<br /><br />My ebook The List has been in the Kindle Top 100 four different times. And it'll hit the Top 100 again. Because in a digital world, every ebook is brand new to somebody.<br /><br />And unlike the print world, books don't have to fight for shelf space, or get sent back to the publisher if they don't sell quickly.<br />JA Konrathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08778324558755151986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-77014454404699494282013-04-29T15:59:24.866-05:002013-04-29T15:59:24.866-05:00"David Gaughran said...
P.S. Iris Murdoch hi...<br />"David Gaughran said... <br />P.S. Iris Murdoch hit #5 in the overall Kindle Store charts last August with a backlist novel. She's hardly at the more commercial end of literary fiction. How did she manage this feat? Her publisher dropped the price to $1.99 and ran a couple of ads."<br /><br />That means that all the Indie authors underneath her on the list got BUMPED ONE SLOT DOWN.<br /><br />That's what happens when people go out of their way to provoke trad publishers and trad authors into using indie pricing and indie sales strategies--thus creating more unecessary competition for themselves.<br /><br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-75622607872174896242013-04-29T15:25:16.465-05:002013-04-29T15:25:16.465-05:00"Nurturing authors" is an element that h..."Nurturing authors" is an element that happens at Writers' Conferences. As people rub shoulders, we find answers to the publishing maze.Sally Fergusonhttp://sallyswords.braveblog.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-57105392821887816302013-04-29T12:57:10.595-05:002013-04-29T12:57:10.595-05:00@Jamie
Not to pile on, but I also wanted to say th...@Jamie<br />Not to pile on, but I also wanted to say that right now there seems to be a bit of a shadow over the whole literary fiction when you separate this out from any genre.<br />People who read the form for magazines and, God help them, who have to read heaps of it for the Pulitzer and prizes of the like have been making the same cry for years now (that authors in the field just tune out) that it all sounds the same. The same themes, the same handling of the themes, the same cadence, the same everything. It's like someone wrote a guide on how to sound literary and handed it out and that's what they're getting in return. Over and Over again.<br /><br />J. W.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-39146375978721816042013-04-29T12:05:19.076-05:002013-04-29T12:05:19.076-05:00@Jamie
I have to assume that print runs of "...@Jamie<br /><br />I have to assume that print runs of "serious literature" are so small because that's about the level of interest in serious literature. I know there are people who enjoy, or say they enjoy, literary fiction but I don't meet many of them. Still, if these small print runs sell out that's great for the authors and their readers. But wouldn't both be better served in the digital world where a print run never sells out and the author earns more per copy which he is able to sell to the reader at a lower price?<br /><br />Maybe, as previous commentor implied, serious literature isn't actually a business but is more of a hobby. In that case, the economics of it don't matter as much and literary authors and fans shouldn't care about eBooks one way or the other. Adrianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10006474957374268396noreply@blogger.com