tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post7931084250305415313..comments2024-03-28T02:00:11.260-05:00Comments on A Newbie's Guide to Publishing: Presumed InaneJA Konrathhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08778324558755151986noreply@blogger.comBlogger187125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-82931483413053075902012-05-21T07:12:32.910-05:002012-05-21T07:12:32.910-05:00"Microsoft has pretty much dominated the mark..."Microsoft has pretty much dominated the market with Windows. Has Windows become more expensive since it first launched because MS has a monopoly on operating systems?"<br /><br />Pricing is not the only issue! Microsoft's monopoly let them sell a lousy product at artificially high prices because no one could break into the market to compete!<br /><br />It took the advent of the internet and mobile computing to pull the rug out from under that, and suddenly, surprise(!), Microsoft was shown to be the dinosaur that it was.<br /><br />But for DECADES consumers had to pay ridiculous prices for LOUSY software. And a lot of much better products and approaches were strangled by MS because they had the pockets to do so. The only reason Apple and the rest did an end run around MS was that MS had gotten so sclerotic that they didn't even get what was happening.<br /><br />The dangers of monopoly are less in ABSOLUTE pricing, but in absolute VALUE. A monopoly, by definition, can set the price to be whatever they want. By definition, they can also sell you a product of a quality of any level, because YOU HAVE TO BUY FROM THEM.<br /><br />It's either a giant blind spot for you not to see this Joe, or too much Amazon worship. I fear the latter, and am tired of people wanting to replace the Publishing Industry of yore with a new King.<br /><br />Truth: ebooks are open format. We don't need Kindles. We don't need Amazon.<br /><br />Anyone who says anything else is selling you something, and it's not their book.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-10512012274254035262012-05-09T10:52:51.018-05:002012-05-09T10:52:51.018-05:00Thanks so much for your article on Writing for Har...Thanks so much for your article on Writing for Harlequin. I made even less of a royalty with Zebra/Kensington - 2% with the first book 'Listen to the Shadows' and '4% with the second 'Nowhere To Hide' because I had an agent. Wow!! Yes, distribution was great, but so what. <br /><br />These days, I am finally making some very good money writing the type of suspense novels I love to write. I still have a publisher, albeit primarily an ebook publisher (although she also makes the books available in paperback.) I don't begrudge her a penny for all she does - formatting, promoting, etc. I'm in a happy place. -:)Joan Hall Hoveyhttp://www.joanhallhovey.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-9353437387608614332012-04-23T13:05:32.985-05:002012-04-23T13:05:32.985-05:00As an economist, I can explain the example of a mo...As an economist, I can explain the example of a monopoly to which Mr Turow referred. Standard Oil used to have a monopoly on oil. The trustbusters therefore broke up into five parts, which - with two other companies - became what we economists refer to as an "oligopoly". This is better. My economic model has proven conclusively that oil prices are now going down.Drew McArtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11072490552934677099noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-25363691382440037482012-04-23T00:03:00.591-05:002012-04-23T00:03:00.591-05:00Monopolies are abusive. Amazon might, for all I kn...Monopolies are abusive. Amazon might, for all I know, crave that sort of power so they can abuse authors or consumers, or just fall into bad habits one day... except... there's no lock in. <br /><br />Maybe Amazon thought there would be locking up consumers when they started producing the kindle, but as the readers become cheaper, buying a second ereader from someone else is easy and cheap enough to become the common case. So consumers aren't locked in.<br /><br />Maybe Amazon thought that they would one day be able to get exclusive epublishing rights for swathes of books and then, someday, be what Nintendo once was - but the ereaders are too cheap to allow that sort of lock-in, and "programming" text for multiple devices is too easy to provide real barriers for publishers, either (as happened with video games back when Nintendo ruled the roost). Few could afford two game systems back then, and few game publishers could afford to program the same game for multiple devices because they were so very different. In contrast, there's just no lock in for ebooks and ereaders, now, or especially, in the future. If Amazon thought there was a huge monopoly waiting for them at the end of the ereading rainbow, they just guessed wrong.<br /><br />The one huge advantage Amazon still has is their review system; it can't be duplicated in a day and Sony and Goodreads aren't in a position to threaten there - yet. But at least one alternative will emerge, even if it takes facebook to do it (or facebook could buy goodreads). If the big publishers really want to control the future book market, it's Amazon's recommendation systems they should tackle head on, and pronto, before the cost of entry there climbs even further. That's the golden egg. Right now Amazon is Google for books, pretty much, and you can ask Microsoft how much fun it is trying to come in late and compete with Google while losing billions doing it.<br /><br />I can't help but think that at some point the publishers (without colluding on book prices) will get behind other ereader systems boasting elegant and expensive recommendation and review systems with some very substantial investments, to ensure that Amazon isn't their only real choice of epublisher. Unless their cash runs out before their minds concentrate, of course.Russellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10028133169012516129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-43456968288829761112012-04-15T18:24:09.971-05:002012-04-15T18:24:09.971-05:00Let's see:
Microsoft (releasing versions of W...Let's see:<br /><br />Microsoft (releasing versions of Windows so bug riddled and byte hungry that people forced to buy a new computer deleted the new version and installed the previous).<br /><br />McDonalds (cornered the fast food market by using inferior products such as "pink slime," reconstituted and bleached mechanically seperated chicken (McNuggets) and added the nuerotoxin MSG to virtually every one of their products, among other unethical business practices.<br /><br />Nike (plenty about them on google).<br /><br />Your local cable company.<br /><br />Just to name a few off the top of my head.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-53567699169197447142012-04-13T12:00:59.155-05:002012-04-13T12:00:59.155-05:00The Rockefellers built a dynasty that lasts to thi...The Rockefellers built a dynasty that lasts to this day based on raising prices after they had established a monopoly.<br /><br />And, the price of corn and soy are so cheap because they are subsidized by the US government - not because Monsanto has a big heart and altruistically decide to keep the price in check.<br /><br />~SarahSarah Writing Onlinehttp://onlinedegree.botw.org/writing/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-3042578187325396072012-04-09T09:00:45.240-05:002012-04-09T09:00:45.240-05:00Joe, I hope you'll be able to address Jane'...Joe, I hope you'll be able to address Jane's comment above about reporting sales. That may very well lie at the root of some of the discomfort about Amazon. <br /><br />The root of any author group should be ensuring that the author's rights are protected, that the author's payments are delivered accurately and timely, and that the contracts the author signs are adhered to in good faith and good practice.<br /><br />As far as monopolistic behavior goes, I don't think anyone has yet pointed out that the cable companies that provide high-speed internet, being functional monopolies for their market, have played around with bandwidth throttling, tiered service, and pay-for-play prioritizing data delivery as much as public disgust will let them get away with.<br /><br />And yes, Monsanto is evil. 99% of all "soybean" stuff is Monsanto, genetically-modified, patented soybeans. They've changed the definition of what a soybean is, and eliminated actual real soybeans by making it illegal to save those soybean seeds. It's pretty scary to think that if Monsanto can't or won't sell seeds one year, our food supply would be devastated.Athena Graysonhttp://www.athenagrayson.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-45480812571712087702012-04-03T17:25:03.748-05:002012-04-03T17:25:03.748-05:00Right on, dudes. As a "new" old author (...Right on, dudes. As a "new" old author (64 and going strong), I invested one year in the traditional path of find and agent then a publisher. Let me rephrase that. I "wasted" 6% of my remaining years based on life expectancy charts. I need to get my Vic Bengston Investigation series in the hands of baby boom readers now - not when Big Six finally get around to it. Yes, the readers and authors are always left out of these discussions over the inevitable changes in the publishing industry. You two have done an excellent job of analyzing Turow's phony argument. <br /><br />Amazon has put me in the game and given me hundreds of new readers who can comment on the first book and spread the word. Amazon will enable me to publish the trade paperback, which gets me into bookstores. Along the way I am learning and putting together marketing and promotions (which I would have had to do anyway with a legacy publisher).<br /><br />Remember, the shortest distance between author and reader (which is the point, right?) is the internet.<br /><br />Keep hammering away..Richard J. Schneiderhttp://www.richardjschneider.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-55935707526685505442012-04-03T05:57:56.800-05:002012-04-03T05:57:56.800-05:00Isn't the worry for the Big 6 and other publis...Isn't the worry for the Big 6 and other publishers more that with Amazon as a monopoly they will start to squeeze the Publisher out and the Publishers cut out?<br /><br />Now right now people will say thats not a problem because Publisher's are trying to fix prices and screw authors. But what happens when the Publisher is gone or vastly reduced?<br /><br />You'll have less books on the market that are a high standard surely...thats not to say lots of indie publishers don't produce great books - but lots also produce a load of tosh.<br /><br />So surely if one company has a monopoly they can start to put the squeeze on those people that supply them - as Eva Hudson suggests thats fine now but in the future will that mean the end or complete change of certain publishers?<br /><br />That will be the interesting bit - at the minute Amazon isn't the devil as they provide a large platform in both books and eBooks for people to sell on - but keep lowering the price so that Publisher's have to offer eBooks at penny prices and how can you expect them to make good on those profits at a low royalty rate?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-14478614973257549882012-04-01T19:09:40.034-05:002012-04-01T19:09:40.034-05:00Joe, I promised to give this topic a rest, but you...Joe, I promised to give this topic a rest, but your lack of understanding of monopolies was significant enough that I can't help myself. Pardon me if I miss one of your points—I'm only going to deal with your assertion that monopolies somehow result in lower prices, something absolutely no economist would argue.<br /><br />Microsoft: Microsoft has an incredibly powerful competitor for it's products, one that generally trumps it in the marketplace: previous versions of their own software. I freelance and have been in a good number of large companies. It is extremely rare for them to be running the latest versions of Office and Windows. In fact, in the past five years, I have */never/* worked in an office that had completely upgraded their MS software. MS drops or maintain prices because it's hard to get people to upgrade. Arguably, their monopolization resulted in bad upgrades (AKA, Vista), although that worked against them, so it was probably monopolists complacency rather than greed that lead to that debacle.<br /><br />Google has increasingly turned to abusing their own privacy policies to increase add-revenues; stealing data from Yelp and other sites; and manipulating their search results to favor Google services. Their business is delivering consumer data to advertisers: You wouldn't see any pricing increases as a consumer, as you're their product. YouTube is owned by Google and run for the same end. They are under DOJ supervision because of their abuses.<br /><br />Facebook has a near-monopoly and has frequently changed privacy policies to increase ad revenues without proper notification. They basically follow the Google rules of advertising monopolies.<br /><br />Netflix's primary competitor is cable. They have to keep prices low enough that people add Netflix to their services instead of getting their movies from cable. Cable is a monopoly in most areas and charges outrageous prices while offering little service. ISPs in America lag many other countries where real competition between ISPs exist.<br /><br />Oil is a commodity. OPEC hasn't significantly impacted the price of oil since the '70s—every OPEC nation games their output to maximize their profits. The price increases are due to increased global demand. US demand has actually declined while our production has increased, yet prices have risen. <br /><br />Utility companies (aka, monopolies) can't overly gouge consumers because they're regulated monopolies. Prior to regulation, they routinely gouged consumers.<br /><br />Air fares were significantly higher before Carter-era deregulation forced them to compete on fares. You can get home telephone service for under $5/mo now that AT&T is broken up. Long distance used to be so expensive it was rare to call distant families; now its usually free.<br /><br />Corn is massively subsidized by the government. Monsanto and other ag firms use their monopoly power to force farmers to purchase new seeds every year, a massive change over pre-monopoly agriculture. They have also used their lobbying power (derived from their monopolist positions) to get legislation that makes it illegal to criticize their products and actions in many ag states.<br /><br />I'll let you, Scott and Smashwords (http://blog.smashwords.com/2012/03/does-agency-pricing-lead-to-higher-book.html?spref=two) argue over the rest, Joe, but I'd love an update where you take back all the nonsense about monopolies. It makes you look ill-informed and not particularly thoughtful.London Crocketthttp://www.brokengirl.info/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-53953907095947587192012-04-01T12:38:11.883-05:002012-04-01T12:38:11.883-05:00Joe, what a great post! And what a great and selfl...Joe, what a great post! And what a great and selfless service you've done for us indie authors--thanks so much.<br /><br />I've mentioned you, your blog and your book,as well as Barry Eisler on my blog post: <b>"EBook Sales Tanked? There's Hope!"</b><br /><br />Please drop by--it'd give me a great boost, as well as my readers. And, if you have time, leave a comment and tell me why I'm wrong/right/need to look at it another way.<br /><br />Also, it'd be great to get you to do a blog interview with me sometime!<br /><br />I wish you great and continued success. Again, thanks for all you do.<br /><br />http://gordonkessler.com/2012/04/01/your-ebook-sales-in-the-tank-theres-hope-8/Gordon Kesslerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18234898552591664361noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-61840555507313701842012-03-30T15:22:08.685-05:002012-03-30T15:22:08.685-05:00Just found this blog, looks like a interesting pla...Just found this blog, looks like a interesting place.<br />As far as the Amazon's treat of being monopoly, I would not worry too much. I am pretty familiar with real monopoly of companies in eastern Europe, and Amazon is nothing like that.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-62528295597885013222012-03-30T09:40:58.068-05:002012-03-30T09:40:58.068-05:00First, I want to say that I love your blog Joe! I&...First, I want to say that I love your blog Joe! I'm sory that I haven't been groupie stalking you like I used to. I finished reading "Shaken" I thoroughly enjoyed it. I can't wait to get "Stirred." Love your books!Gigihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13154822322063236644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-16734189754345679272012-03-28T15:05:18.347-05:002012-03-28T15:05:18.347-05:00I love your blog and everything you write on it. ...I love your blog and everything you write on it. Does anyone know that hospitals are buying up doctors offices and leaving the doctors as employees so they can monopolize fee payment from the HMO's as a conglomerate they can tell the HMO's we will not longer accept you as a plan. I haven't seen one word written about this. Amazon is allowing authors that wouldn't have been known otherwise to get their work out. I have tried many authors because the book was 99 cents and I was quite pleased with the work. I borrow books from the library now because the hardcover prices are outrageous, plus I have no more room in my house for stuff. Amazon is a smart company. BTW I read that Apple stood with the publishers when Amazon wanted to lower the prices of ebooks. Maybe Amazon is a company looking out for its customers.Jenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08041662828756719909noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-70914071043940619992012-03-28T12:04:16.595-05:002012-03-28T12:04:16.595-05:00Amazon and Createspace rock. It's just that si...Amazon and Createspace rock. It's just that simple.<br /><br />With the growing number of indies out here in the world, the "Writer's Guild" needs to be a little more honest about who they represent. Because in this case it certainly isn't writers.<br /><br />Maybe indie writers need their own guild.D. Nathan Hilliardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06860591310866413986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-47614227132361968992012-03-27T15:21:21.290-05:002012-03-27T15:21:21.290-05:00J.A., I have a question I hope you might be intere...J.A., I have a question I hope you might be interested enough in to pursue.<br /><br />In traditional publishing, there's an audit system whereby writers can verify that their royalties match their sales.<br /><br />In the case of Amazon/KDP, there appears to be no way to audit records. Authors are given reports generated by Amazon and have no way, to my knowledge, of verifying the accuracy of sales data.<br /><br />I became curious about this a few weeks ago, when 7K+ downloads were had during a 24 hour Free promotion. Yet, two days after the free period ended, an additional 334 free downloads showed up. <br /><br />During another, non-free time, I experienced a skyrocketing number of returns. It's been my experience that more returns happen after free promotions because people don't see that the book has gone back to not-free, but this was a whole three weeks after my last promotion day, and the figure was wild. 84 returns out of 110 sales. My book has been up for months, so I knew it wasn't a formatting or downloading issue.<br /><br />So my question is -- do you think Amazon should have independent auditors? Do you think this is something authors should demand?Janenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-83316525064942859162012-03-27T15:21:05.932-05:002012-03-27T15:21:05.932-05:00J.A., I have a question I hope you might be intere...J.A., I have a question I hope you might be interested enough in to pursue.<br /><br />In traditional publishing, there's an audit system whereby writers can verify that their royalties match their sales.<br /><br />In the case of Amazon/KDP, there appears to be no way to audit records. Authors are given reports generated by Amazon and have no way, to my knowledge, of verifying the accuracy of sales data.<br /><br />I became curious about this a few weeks ago, when 7K+ downloads were had during a 24 hour Free promotion. Yet, two days after the free period ended, an additional 334 free downloads showed up. <br /><br />During another, non-free time, I experienced a skyrocketing number of returns. It's been my experience that more returns happen after free promotions because people don't see that the book has gone back to not-free, but this was a whole three weeks after my last promotion day, and the figure was wild. 84 returns out of 110 sales. My book has been up for months, so I knew it wasn't a formatting or downloading issue.<br /><br />So my question is -- do you think Amazon should have independent auditors? Do you think this is something authors should demand?Janenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-54941431235844139722012-03-26T09:59:54.303-05:002012-03-26T09:59:54.303-05:00Barry said: "And regardless of how one system...Barry said: <i>"And regardless of how one system or another might favor Scott Turow or how it might favor Joe and me, which system, on the merits, is likely to deliver more benefits to more authors and readers overall?"</i><br /><br />My best guess is robust competition among the middlemen for the products of the suppliers (writers) and the sales to consumers (readers) will deliver the most benefits. <br /><br />If one entity gets in a position where it doesn't need to robustly compete that entity will be able to extract concessions from the suppliers and raise prices for consumers. <br /><br />The real question is what will create and maintain the most competitive environment where several middlemen can thrive and compete with one another so that suppliers have several viable buyers for their work and consumers benefit from lower prices?Mark Asherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13758940020912520294noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-18905789290927300432012-03-25T15:57:57.417-05:002012-03-25T15:57:57.417-05:00You are so right, not for nothing this guy is a co...You are so right, not for nothing this guy is a complete asshole, he's supposed to represent AUTHORS, not publishers, the members need to fire his ass...Joe Renzohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09431661734736792839noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-63009042302277789382012-03-24T09:10:31.283-05:002012-03-24T09:10:31.283-05:00I know you're going to come back and say it wa...I know you're going to come back and say it was perfectly reasonable to address Monsanto on consumer pricing only because you were addressing Scott's comment of "Look, if what they’re into is maximizing profits, then if they were to have a monopoly there’d be no rationale not to use the monopoly power to increase prices to consumers. That is historically what monopolies do. There is plenty of precedent for that. It’s only rational to fear what they’re going to do with this accumulation of power."<br /><br />But justifying a monopoly on one positive factor when there are so many negative factors is flawed. Additionally, this is a long game, both for Monsanto and Amazon. Whose to say where Monsanto is at in its game of conquest? So, even then, on a price only factor, we can only say how it is now, today, not next year or a generation from now.Wicked Christahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04149535712743098092noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-10776508698255627132012-03-24T09:00:20.877-05:002012-03-24T09:00:20.877-05:00re subtopian article (http://www.google.com/url?sa...re subtopian article (http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CD0QFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fissuu.com%2Fthesubtopian%2Fdocs%2Fsubtopian_2&ei=3c5tT57nF8ecgwf_tsBr&usg=AFQjCNHst323FCNPexfH7uu5QB9umzvHcw) -- that has as many holes in it as my lace panties.<br /><br />Re monsanto -- Joe, Monsanto was about the worst example you could have used. Yeah, prices are still low but find some farmers to discuss Monsanto with. The writer to writer argument on Amazon is not about end user prices, it's about how the content creators are treated. It's a bad argument to raise Monsanto as an example of a monopoly and only address the consumer end when they are so very (dare I say) evil on the producer end. (And even on the consumer end when you look beyond price.)<br /><br />http://current.com/tags/85538011_monsanto/<br /><br />For the record, I'm not worried about Amazon screwing me over on what % it will give me, etc. There are too many ways to deliver content now, with cost of entry for new distribution platforms so incredibly low that there's no putting the indie beast back in its cage. :-)Wicked Christahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04149535712743098092noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-17671562667479727872012-03-23T19:29:47.848-05:002012-03-23T19:29:47.848-05:00Hey, I don't know how well you get around the ...Hey, I don't know how well you get around the internet but I just read a column in subtopian magazine on issuu.com and it was all about how ereaders aren't going to take over the world. it seems like there was a pretty interesting arguement in there.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-57092783808507938812012-03-22T16:44:04.186-05:002012-03-22T16:44:04.186-05:00For me, the most risable statement in Turow's ...For me, the most risable statement in Turow's interview is this:<br /><br />"New authors traditionally are nurtured by bookstore personnel, especially in independent bookstores. These people literally hand sell books to their customers, by saying, “I’ve read this. I think you’re going to love it.” Not to mention the fact that a bookstore is a small cultural center in a community. That’s definitely a loss.<br /><br />Again, my concern is for the sake of literary diversity. If the rewards to authors go down, simple economics says there will be fewer authors. It’s not that people won’t burn with the passion to write. The number of people wanting to be novelists is probably not going to decline — but certainly the number of people who are going to be able to make a living as authors is going to dramatically decrease."<br /><br />What a crock! I'm a self-pubbed indie. I'm not making a living writing, but that was never my goal. I am published, thanks to KDP, Pubit and Smashwords. People have read my stuff and I like to think more will in the future. In Scott Turow's world, I'd still be pitching queries to agents and accumulating rejections. I don't see a nurturing independent book store owner in my future. I'm willing to trust the free market. If my writing is good enough and I apply myself to marketing then I just might increase my sales. That will never happen in Turow's elitist, snob-infested world.DCShttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03125613995070496696noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-52611239901736941132012-03-22T15:34:05.393-05:002012-03-22T15:34:05.393-05:00Had the misfortune to meet Scott Turow once. I ha...Had the misfortune to meet Scott Turow once. I have never and will never pick up another book with his name on it. He may be a smart man but he needs to get out more.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-34067257730987641652012-03-21T21:33:17.079-05:002012-03-21T21:33:17.079-05:00@ J. Tanner: "Conversely, whatever the facts ...@ J. Tanner: <i>"Conversely, whatever the facts of the case, the Justice Department’s notion that we should fear a book publishers’ cartel is borderline absurd, on par with worrying about price-fixing in the horse-and-buggy market."</i><br /><br />ROTFLMAO<br /><br />Neilwannabuyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04297458705683991405noreply@blogger.com