tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post1341787881676908219..comments2024-03-28T02:00:11.260-05:00Comments on A Newbie's Guide to Publishing: A Big Bestseller Weighs in on “Publishing Is A Lottery”JA Konrathhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08778324558755151986noreply@blogger.comBlogger100125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-80568143364037842702014-06-25T18:48:29.847-05:002014-06-25T18:48:29.847-05:00Joe didn't reveal the name of "Big Bestse...Joe didn't reveal the name of "Big Bestseller," but does anyone else have a feeling it's Stephen King?Dustin Dyehttp://www.dustindye.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-42445880214079294202014-03-03T12:44:19.675-06:002014-03-03T12:44:19.675-06:00http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7mjsNLNzbc
I agre...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7mjsNLNzbc<br /><br />I agree with Philip Roth. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07332153373313378464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-61395801534106087672014-03-02T08:59:00.381-06:002014-03-02T08:59:00.381-06:00Great Post! Thank you for sharing your experiences...Great Post! Thank you for sharing your experiences and I look forward to reading more......Sadia Ronyhttp://textilehelpline.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-75653993750868253572014-03-02T07:41:56.146-06:002014-03-02T07:41:56.146-06:00Hi Joe:
Do you believe it is a bad omen that ACX ...Hi Joe:<br /><br />Do you believe it is a bad omen that ACX (an Amazon-owned company) has recently announced that they will be cutting indie audiobook royalties from 50-90% to a flat 40%, as well as making their 'Bounty' payments harder to earn?<br /><br />This is the first time that Amazon has acted against the interests of authors (who own the audiobook rights in this situation) and could potentially show their willingness to do so via their other businesses in the future (i.e. KDP and Createspace). <br /><br />What is your opinion of this? Why has ACX made things worse for its authors/narrators, who are essentially following the exact same industry model as KDP (i.e. there is no upfront cost to Amazon for the creation and sale of the product so they can't justify taking such a large chunk of the royalties - it will be 60% under the new terms!)?<br /><br />If Amazon were to employ the same tactics across their ebook platform, then we would all suddenly find ourselves earning only 72c for every dollar we have been making previously.<br /><br />Is it something worth worrying about?Iain Rob Wrighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14840984365803973410noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-58330791800197144402014-03-01T13:28:05.817-06:002014-03-01T13:28:05.817-06:00Now THAT is an interesting diversion, and I agree....Now THAT is an interesting diversion, and I agree. Many of us real all day. At night I want to watch movies, to be completely surrounded by lights and noise. More reading is only an extension of an already too-long work day. The looming competition tsunami is between books and more engaging forms of entertainment much more than it is between authors.<br /> That said, all the quacking from the TP gang only says one thing to me, "We want to remain the primary source of available reading for the masses."<br /> Their beef is not quality, it's limiting supply to themselves and their cronies.<br /> As for quality, good God, there is an ocean of pap out there THEY have selected AND paid for...what possible difference could another ton of top of that make to anyone?<br /> News flash. Many people love to read junk, always have, always will. Open the floodgates to everyone. It makes no difference whatsoever. Time for the self-appointed "Gatekeepers" to get the heck out of the way.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-20670413737862515482014-03-01T08:50:02.505-06:002014-03-01T08:50:02.505-06:00NPR recently had a good story about how we cannot ...NPR recently had a good story about how we cannot appreciate good art separate from the mob mentality, which is why Mona Lisa is so popular but maybe not as good as Girl with Earring Vermeer, who was unappreciated for two hundred years. For me, these discussions suffer from the problem that we describe where we have been, where we are now, when in fact the future is always unexpected and different than we can see. Books like stocks are definitely undergoing the past performance is no indication of future results conundrum. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04250961899921191419noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-75388689117996375632014-02-28T19:20:00.055-06:002014-02-28T19:20:00.055-06:00Anonymous BB wrote:
"If you express those id...Anonymous BB wrote:<br /><br />"If you express those ideas as numbers, you're describing the lower slopes of an exponential curve that has to - can do nothing other than - explode upward until every cent of global GDP is spent on e-books, and every second of every human's day is spent reading them."<br /><br />Your math checks out, but I think that is so theoretical as to be the least of our concerns anytime soon. In reality, the great battle isn't <i>among</i> writers but <i>between</i> writers on one side and producers of other kinds of entertainment (movies, TV shows, video games, etc.) on the other. I wrote a bit more at length on my blog: <a rel="nofollow">http://www.ootersplace.com/is-publishing-a-zero-sum-game-a-response-to-lynn-shepherd-an-anonymous-bestseller-and-like-minded-writers/</a>Karl El-Kourahttp://www.ootersplace.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-9481847732973577322014-02-28T12:14:09.057-06:002014-02-28T12:14:09.057-06:00Not sure if everyone here is aware, but ACX, Amazo...Not sure if everyone here is aware, but ACX, Amazon's audiobook production wing, announced yesterday they are slashing royalties. <br /><br />http://blog.acx.com/2014/02/27/an-important-note-about-acx-payments/?=TWTJames N Cookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12095813877966402074noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-15774565987300569962014-02-27T17:52:56.070-06:002014-02-27T17:52:56.070-06:00The level of fear about allowing --gasp!-- the com...<i>The level of fear about allowing --gasp!-- the common man to make up his own mind is pretty astounding, and always makes me envision <b>people in hip NY lofts listening to classical music while swirling wine in big glasses, with their noses turned toward the ceiling</b>.</i><br /><br />There are certainly some of those types, but the sad truth is that most of the gatekeepers in the BPHs are earnest, well-intentioned, smart people who really and truly believe they have a responsibility and a special talent to curate literature on behalf of the "people."<br /><br />It's the missionary's curse. Every time you try to convince someone of your worth, you're simultaneously reinforcing those beliefs in your own mind. After decades of this from-up-on-high "curation," it is inconceivable to these folks that the free market can come up with systems and checks and balances that will do a much better job of curation that they could ever do.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-1483205188776844722014-02-27T14:40:32.542-06:002014-02-27T14:40:32.542-06:00Hi, George R.R. Martin.
Hi, George R.R. Martin. <br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-14972597328237827182014-02-27T14:36:42.324-06:002014-02-27T14:36:42.324-06:00@Suzanne Cowles,
Wait, so you're saying your ...@Suzanne Cowles,<br /><br />Wait, so you're saying your trad pubs friends care about quality writing? I have one word for you: Brad friggin' Thor. 'Nuff said.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-61531391296548460682014-02-27T14:25:08.354-06:002014-02-27T14:25:08.354-06:00What is it about letting readers choose what they ...What is it about letting readers choose what they want to read, how they want to read it, and what they want to pay for it, that scares guys like BB and the publishing houses so much? The level of fear about allowing --gasp!-- the common man to make up his own mind is pretty astounding, and always makes me envision people in hip NY lofts listening to classical music while swirling wine in big glasses, with their noses turned toward the ceiling. Good grief.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-56168308108629398202014-02-27T10:19:56.139-06:002014-02-27T10:19:56.139-06:00Not terribly useful to me. I'm not a bestselle...Not terribly useful to me. I'm not a bestseller, let alone a big bestseller. For writers like me, Amazon and self-publishing have been life savers. And let's face it, as long as Amazon makes it possible for me to keep writing, there's always a chance. <br />I will say that I have been traditionally published by two of the big houses, and they have done nothing for me. This may be because they decided I was not bestseller material. In other words, different authors got different deals. A midlist author was pretty much doomed.<br /><br />And finally, I don't write bestsellers because, by and large and leaving out, say, Harry Potter, I have little or no respect for bestselling novels.I.J.Parkernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-13784631591187673482014-02-27T09:41:47.844-06:002014-02-27T09:41:47.844-06:00Joe, have you seen these writers' reports that...Joe, have you seen these writers' reports that show they're earning eight figures?Bill Peschelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15257587479467531187noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-84832359206782717912014-02-27T03:02:49.450-06:002014-02-27T03:02:49.450-06:00The fragmentation of audience/national 'common...The fragmentation of audience/national 'common experience' is already over. it was predicted by McLuhan in the 1960s. It was magnified by news radio stations by the dozens back when, then television networks, then cable networks, then internet newsites, then bloggers. Nothing new and it is not 'on its way'… it is, in its early winter already.<br /><br />I see that BB does not count the manipulation of numbers in pre-orders by various groups that have a political or religious agenda… which would skew ANY data about sales pre and post pub, immediately. And does not take in account known manipulations of bulk sales by various 'motivational speaker' authors who contrive with friends' to be number one, even for an hour on AMZ by sudden pre-planned volume selling [to friends].<br /><br />Howey's stats cannot be certain or disqualified unless authors who are aware of the manipulation of BS status, speak about it, and in spades. <br /><br />Bsellerdom on NYT list, re certain book store reports-- the exact names of which are known to ALL in publicity in BPH-- and to any of us authors who have slogged through months of 'book tour'… tour used in absurdist context as though pleasant rather than grueling nonstop…. are weighted and most have no idea how, why, where, when, who.<br /><br />We havent even addressed 'returns' re BB. Nor deeply discounted bookselling, nor how 'power editors' in pub often grab lion's share of resources for their few authors, leaving all other authors to muddle through with 'low man on totem pole' editors …<br /><br />ya bastaArchangelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18358062143743621676noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-88665672206652266452014-02-26T12:21:19.997-06:002014-02-26T12:21:19.997-06:00I'm neither the BB anon, nor the other anon. ...I'm neither the BB anon, nor the other anon. <br /><br />Regarding the fragmentation of the audience, I think this is going to happen much more quickly than we think. It's practically already over. <br /><br />All of the other similar markets have already done so. I grew up in an era where every kid on the bus watched the same tv show the prior night. That's gone and there's lots of crap - and some of the best TV ever at the same time. <br /><br />Similarly I grew up in a time when there were 2 major radio stations in my podunk town. We only heard top forty or country. <br /><br />The audience has fragmented, and I couldn't be happier.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-65108165438435873732014-02-26T11:58:46.195-06:002014-02-26T11:58:46.195-06:00Joe said: "My mother read me Cat in the Hat, ... Joe said: "My mother read me Cat in the Hat, I read it to my sons, my sons will read it to their kids."<br /><br /> Right. The current classics will likely continue into the future. But will there be a 'Dog in the Sock' equivalent classic book written today that will be read 50 years from now? Not sure.<br /><br /><br />Again the comparison to music applies. There will always be fantastic books that kids love and that parents love to read to their kids. These will still be passed down through generations. Will there ever be another like Dr. Seuss...probably not, but that has nothing to do with ebooks. My kids are loving and learning to play music that I grew up listening to even though they've never seen a vinyl record or cassette tape. Just as they are learning the classic piano composers who didn't have methods of recording at all, in their time. We are quite capable of being the gatekeepers of what we pass on to our kids and grandkids...in my opinion, anyway.<br /><br />Colin<br />Colin Mhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02511279879308565952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-56123706188744998232014-02-26T11:40:57.129-06:002014-02-26T11:40:57.129-06:00"It's probably only an urgent issue for t..."It's probably only an urgent issue for those who write for teens or kids."<br /><br />I have three kids in your reader demographic. They are always within ten feet of their devices (ipads, playbooks, readers) They all have accounts with iTunes and the major book chain in Canada and the buy at-will with their earned or birthday money. They don't need us to drive them to the bookstore. In fact they don't need to wait for anything. If there is a book being discussed by their friends, they can come home and buy it. They do all the "finger-work" and bring us their device to type in the password. Easy as that. The only paper books they read are one's they bring home from school. Even then, we've come close to getting it in eversion for convenience. My kids are doing book reports on ebooks. Although we may not be the norm yet, we are a convenience driven society. Another point - we are willing to pay more to increase the likelihood of our kids reading as much as possible. There are many parents willing to go to great lengths to get their kids reading, who haven't even tried a tablet or reader yet.<br /><br />Ebooks in general will continue to grow in all age groups, including teens. If its not a hot demographic yet, keep building your base, because it will be. <br /><br />ColinColin Mhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02511279879308565952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-87475079490130629722014-02-26T09:11:18.545-06:002014-02-26T09:11:18.545-06:00First, a huge thanks to Anon BB for participating ...First, a huge thanks to Anon BB for participating in the discussion. So awesome. <br /><br />I saw a recent article about how low e-book prices are devaluing books and therefore ultimately hurting authors. Although I understand the concern a little, this was not the first time I had seen an article place blame at the feet of authors for devaluing books through lower prices.<br /><br />I find this interesting.<br /><br />Over the last month, multiple people have confirmed that part of the reason the publishing industry has had an okay last few years is because of their profits from ebooks. In other words, their profits on ebooks are higher. There is room for Big Publishing to share more of the profits on ebooks with authors but thus far they have not. So...given an opportunity to share more money with authors and/or reduce costs to readers...big publishing has chosen to instead keep the profits for themselves. We have been told that this is just business and until there is a business case for publishing to change, they won't.<br /><br />On the other hand, you have authors who have figured out how to use ebook platforms in such a way that they can actually earn more money and lower ebook prices at the same time. In this scenario, authors have been doing what is in their business interest and, coincidentally, something that is in the reader's interest as well. And in this second case the author is blamed as 'devaluing' books while we are told the publisher is just doing business as they 'devalue' authors and readers.<br /><br />Again, I find this all interesting.Daniel Kenneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11607594747105799701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-34727280506682825602014-02-26T06:31:27.925-06:002014-02-26T06:31:27.925-06:00Just to be clear, those posted quotes from Emily G...Just to be clear, those posted quotes from Emily Gould and Jim Rutman are pulled from a book of essays called <i>MFA vs NYC: The Two Cultures of American Fiction</i> (ISBN 978-0865478138).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-34948388249418155942014-02-26T06:25:21.755-06:002014-02-26T06:25:21.755-06:00"Even for the lucky books that do make it to ..."Even for the lucky books that do make it to publication, disappointment awaits. A robust majority of all published books will not justify the advance paid by the publisher, even if that advance was a pittance, as it likely was."<br /><br />- Jim Rutman, Literary Agent at Sterling LordAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-50262813216160204502014-02-26T06:01:54.414-06:002014-02-26T06:01:54.414-06:00"and we skip the mindless rah-rah cheerleadin..."and we skip the mindless rah-rah cheerleading, which, it has to be said, is a thousand times more strident on the self-pubbed side, then we could at least discuss the issues in a way we might find, you know, interesting, being by definition fairly bright people."<br /><br />No wonder the indie talking appears to Anon BB as a noisy (and probably annoying) sound box. Legacy publishing has cultivated the silence among authors for decades. Authors have been quietly discussing publishing between them at the conferences' bars, but never in public for many years. <br /><br />So yes, laundry being washed in public may not be the fact of "bright people". You may hate it, but it's one of the gene of the self-pub revolution. The gene of transparency, which make us indies more efficient bacteria, as that was once said here on this blog. Bacteria are efficient to wash laundry, indeed.<br />Alan Spadehttp://emmanuelguillot.over-blog.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-13776550216550331172014-02-26T05:40:23.832-06:002014-02-26T05:40:23.832-06:00"My first clue that my book would not be a be..."My first clue that my book would not be a bestseller came in a marketing meeting about six months prior to publication, when a marketing assistant suggested that I start a blog, and I had to explain that her bosses had acquired my book in part because I was a well-known blogger."<br /><br />- Emily Gould, author of <i>And the Heart Says Whatever</i> (Simon & Schuster, 2010)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-61105502819678580742014-02-26T05:11:22.830-06:002014-02-26T05:11:22.830-06:00First, the only way I see eBooks flatlining like B...First, the only way I see eBooks flatlining like BB suggests is if the U.S. is hit by an EMP. Every person that I know, who has picked up an eReader in the past five years (even the highly resistant ones,) has been smitten. I don't know the statistics off hand, but readers with eReaders are still in the vast minority. Every one of my children's friends have an eReader. My children have eReaders. My favorite gift to give is an eReader. Frankly, the eBook "revolution" is in it's infancy. Book stores are ghost towns, and even the ghost towns are fading fast. Everyone knows that ship is sinking. We're reaching the point where the band playing on the Titanic's lido deck will start slowly sliding with the rest of the furniture. I don't relish this reality, but I'm certainly not going to give up my seat on one of the lifeboats to sip martinis while the band plays. I'll take my chances elsewhere.<br /><br />Which brings me to Barry's concept of the lottery and Joe's carny game analogy. I think both of them were being NICE, because they didn't dig a little deeper into the real insidious nature of the GAME. The STAKES. They've talked about it before, but the recently ignited storm over Hugh's report has focused on the ODDS and the need for some transparency. That's a great start, and it appears to have opened some conversation...thanks to Barry and Joe. And Hugh, of course. <br /><br />I'll frame the STAKES with my own personal experience with small publishers. I've turned several down over the past two years. The main selling point for signing with them has been paper distribution. I've had agents sell me on the same point. Each time I ask if they would be willing to run with my paper rights and leave the ebooks to me, I got the same answer. An honest answer. They couldn't afford to do that. All of these publishers existed before eBooks took off. Why was it suddenly impossible for them to do business without eBooks? After all, their main strength and point for me to consider was paper sales. It didn't make sense. That wasn't all that didn't make sense. The contracts laid out the STAKES, and they were something you'd expect from the Twilight Zone episode, where the dark haired man suddenly appeared in the room after you'd uttered, "I'd do anything to have book deal."<br /><br />Bottom line, the ODDS suck if you're traditionally published or self-published, but if your book tanks in the trad pub world, for whatever reason, it gets buried. Business is business, and businesses don't try to rebuild, retune and repaint the race car that didn't bring them fame and glory. That car goes into a dark garage and rusts. Well, not exactly, you can still visit that car and take it for a spin as a reader. As the author, you can stare at it through a window and wait for them to give it back. The ODDS against success are high, but in the self published world you can continue to race that car, and if you have enough cars, you can make a nice living doing it. And you have every motivation to rebuild and repaint that car...it's your livelihood, not to mention your creation. <br /><br />BB correctly pointed out that the payoff for winning the BPH lottery can be much bigger than running the self-pub race. Unfortunately, the STAKES are high, when they don't have to be. If the book flops, why do they hold on to it? To squeeze the life out of it. Books that lose the trad pub lottery are sent to the gulags. Few come back. Those that do can be revived and turned into money. Huh? But they failed. Rotted in Siberia. How can that be? Ask Joe and growing host of traditionally published authors about the backlist that is returning from the Gulags. With the tender-loving care that only a parent could give to an ugly child, these books are winning beauty pageants. Maybe only local or regional pageants, but they're winning and making money.<br /><br /><br />Steven Konkolyhttp://www.stevenkonkoly.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-17072182622707234622014-02-26T04:43:28.486-06:002014-02-26T04:43:28.486-06:00"I think touching younger readers is immoral,..."I think touching younger readers is immoral, and illegal.<br /><br />Oh, wait... reaching.<br /><br />I don't actually worry about it. I'm 43. I figure I can last at least 20 more years before my generation, and the Boomers ahead of me, start dying off and hurting my sales."<br /><br />Eww! There's a place I never wanted my conversation to go to ... Okay, it's okay, my eyes have stopped bleeding now. That look of shock I'm wearing though, that's going to be there for a while.<br /><br />*Ahem* As a female author of science fiction for teenagers, I guess I find that it makes a difference to book sales now, given the genre I write in. <br /><br />But fair point. It's probably only an urgent issue for those who write for teens or kids. Still, it's interesting that no one's bothered to fix that problem. For example, how does Pottermore sell books to its fans? It's got 9-12 readership without credit cards? <br /><br />It's a little off topic though, so thanks for the response. I'll let you get back to the BB comments :).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com