The Authors Guild: Do More Than Hope

From Authors Guild Prez Roxana Robinson:

“In the meantime, it’s our hope that Hachette—in light of the loyalty its authors have shown throughout this debacle—takes this opportunity to revisit its standard e-book royalty rate of 25% of the publisher’s net profits.”

The Authors Guild has, many times in the past, voiced that ebook royalties should be raised.

So do something about it.

The AG, and Authors United, have been able to get beaucoup media attention during the Hachette/Amazon spat. They were squarely on the side of Hachette (even while proclaiming they weren't taking sides) and they waged a war for public opinion that did a decent propagandist job of demonizing Amazon.

Now the AG, and all of the bestselling authors who supported AU, need to show some backbone and integrity and use the same tactics to force the Big 5 to raise digital royalties.

Robinson is correct that many authors remained loyal to their publishers. And it makes sense that the loyalty should be rewarded. When a dog does a trick, it gets a treat.

Perhaps the treat will come, and Hachette, after suffering an 18% sales decline during the negotiations, will decide to give away even more profits by raising royalties.

If not, the days of politely waiting for this to happen, with occasional public nudges to do so, need to end, and real actions should take place.

Authors United has over 1000 signatories. If its next move was to demand authors get higher digital royalties, I'd sign on. If the AG went after the Big 5 in the media with the fervor if went after Amazon, I'd join.

We'll see if Hachette, and other publishers, realize how valuable the allegiance of their authors is by raising royalties.

If not, the AG and AU should wage a similar public campaign to the one they did against Amazon, and make the world aware that authors earning 1/3 of the digital royalties that publishers earn is lopsided, unfair, and will no lnger be tolerated.

Back in the day before they were called ebooks, and digital rights began to get mentioned in contracts, the Big 6 almost unilaterally came to the conclusion that 25% author royalties were fair.

Where was the AG and the AAR to push back? Not only were digital costs lower--no cost for production or distribution--but the distributor was essentially removed from the money chain. Rather than share this extra money with authors, publishers simply grabbed it.

I've done the math in the past. On a $25 hardcover, the author makes about $3.75, and the publisher around $5, after all production, delivery, and middleman costs (distributors and booksellers).

On a $25 ebook, an author makes $4.37, and the publisher $13.12.

How did this happen? Where was the outrage when this was slipped into all major publishing contracts?

Back in 2012 I wrote a post called The Agency Model Sucks. Here is the post again, since it is every bit as relevant.

If you're a regular reader of my blog, no doubt you've heard about the Department of Justice filing suit against five of the Big 6 publishers for collusion. If you haven't read the complaint, you should.

Personally, I don't care if their alleged collusion was illegal or not. I've been known to break laws on occasionmyself.

What I do care about is how authors are reacting to this news.

I won't point fingers, but a Google or Twitter search will show how many authors seem to think Amazon is bad, the agency model is good, and the poor Big 6 are getting the shaft.

Uh, no. That's just plain wrong.

I'm going to explain why the agency model in this particular case is indeed bad for authors. But first go read April L. Hamilton's terrific breakdown of arguments and statements erroneously defending the Big 6.

Before I begin, let's make sure we're all on the same page about what the agency model is. Here's a detailed explanation, but in a nutshell it is this: in a wholesale model, the one supplying the goods sells to a retailer at a predetermined price, then the retailer sells to consumers at whatever price they see fit.

In the agency model, the one supplying the goods gets to set the price for consumers, and then gives the retailer a set percentage (in this case 30%.)

It should be obvious that the one who sets the price has a great deal of power over the market.

The agency model by itself is not illegal. Retailers can choose to adopt any pricing structure with their suppliers as they see fit. And as I said before, I care less about the legality of this particular business relationship, and more about if it was good for authors.

And it wasn't, for this very big reason:

Under the Agency Model Authors Make Less Money

I've gone into this in detail before, but let me distill it.

Under the prior model, Amazon bought ebooks at a percentage of the recommended retail price. Then they priced them how they saw fit.

The wholesale price for ebooks was often about half of the hardcover price. So a $25 recommended retail price meant Amazon paid $12.50 for the ebook.

According to most contracts, the author made 25% of the net price the publisher received. So at the above numbers, an author would make $3.12 NO MATTER WHAT PRICE AMAZON SOLD THE EBOOK FOR.

In other words, if Amazon wanted to sell the ebook for $9.99, the author still makes $3.12.

Sell it for $5.99? Author makes $3.12.

Sell it for 99 cents? Author makes $3.12.

So what happens when the agency model comes into play?

First of all, Amazon no longer controls the price. We all know that this is BAD, because Amazon became the giant billion dollar company it is today by ruthlessly gouging customers, forcing them to pay high mark-ups at unreasonable prices.

Oh, wait a sec... Amazon doesn't do that. In fact, Amazon works its butt off trying to keep prices low. That's why so many people shop there.

Now, I've got reams of data that show lower priced ebooks outsell higher priced ebooks. My higher-priced legacy novels are underselling my lower-priced self-pub novels by 1 to 5 or worse.

In other words:

With the wholesale model, authors made more money per unit and sold more units.

If you are an author defending the Big 6 and the agency model, repeat that in your head until it sinks in.

With the wholesale model, authors made more money per unit and sold more units.

Funny thing is, publishers also made more money under the wholesale model. But instead the Big 6 decided they wanted an agency model.

Authors still get 25% of net. But net has gotten lower in almost all cases.

With the wholesale model, net was $12.50. With the agency model, net is 17.5% of the list price set by the publisher.

So the publisher sells it for $12.99, the author makes $2.27.

Sell it for $9.99? Author makes $1.74.

Sell it for $5.99? Author makes $1.04.

Sell it for 99 cents? Author makes 17 cents.

The Big 6 don't like low priced ebooks. It hurts their paper sales, and paper is the model they hold distribution power over. So once the agency model became adopted, the Big 6 kept ebook prices high.

In other words:

With the agency model, authors made less money per unit, and sold fewer units.

Is this sinking in yet? The wholesale model was better for authors. It was also better for customers, who benefited from lower prices.

So why are some authors defending the Big 6 for taking food directly out of their mouths?

Could be ignorance. Could be Stockholm Syndrome. Could be they feel the need to defend the industry that made them rich or successful (though not all authors defending the agency model are rich or successful.)

The point is, no author should be on the Big 6's side here. Even those who fear that Amazon will someday become a huge monopoly that will destroy the world by offering low prices, excellent customer service, and a platform for authors to directly reach those customers.

Q: But Joe, aren't you benefiting from the agency model? After all, isn't that what KDP is?

Joe sez: Absolutely. When I self-publish, I can set my own prices. I'm able to find that sweet spot in pricing to maximize profits. I love the agency model. It's terrific if you are the content creator.

But I don't want an archaic, inefficient industry controlling the prices of the books I've written to further their own Machiavellian agenda. It's absurd that I'm the one who wrote the book, and I get 17.5% of list price, while the company setting my list price is getting 52.5%. Even worse, that company setting this list price is NOT PRICING TO MAXIMIZE REVENUE. They are PRICING TO PROTECT THEIR STRANGLEHOLD ON THE INDUSTRY which is HURTING MY INCOME.

Q: But Joe, if the Big 6 are no longer allowed to use the agency model, Amazon might also take the agency model away from self-pubbed authors.

Joe sez: I'd be happy to go into a wholesale arrangement with Amazon. As you can see by the numbers above, a wholesale arrangement can also be beneficial to authors.

Q: But Joe, what if Amazon cuts author royalties and raises ebook prices?

Joe sez: Amazon has a clear history of trying to lower prices, not raise them. Right now the Big 6 legacy publishers are the ones who want high prices.

As for Amazon lowering my royalties, as long as there is competition I doubt that will happen.

Q: But Joe, if all the Big 6 ebooks are priced low, no one will buy yours anymore.

Joe sez: I disagree. I believe I'll sell even more ebooks and make more money than I am now if all prices drop.

First of all, lower ebook prices encourage buying across the board. Low prices fuel impulse buys. People are looser with their wallets and buy more then they normally would when prices are low.

Second of all, lower ebook prices allow the entire market to grow, as higher prices are a barrier to entry for many. When we have $49 ereaders and all NYT bestsellers are $2.99, more people will adopt the technology and buy the media.

Third, we're entering a global marketplace that will have an infinite, inexhaustible customer base. We'll never run out of readers to sell to.

Fourth, at low prices, there is no competition between ebooks. Instead of spending $19.99 on the new JK Rowling, if her latest was $3.99 a reader could buy that along with five of my titles.

In the comments, some keep insisting that once legacy ebook prices drop, indie sales will drop because of competition. Here's how I see it:

Ebooks aren't cars, where the buyer purchases one that will last for years. People who read books tend to read more than one.

If you read for pleasure, and ebooks become cheaper, I predict you'll buy more. This isn't about competing.

If a customer has a $25 book budget for the month and the choice is between my new hardcover and Patterson's, that's competing for dollars.

If we're both $3.99, the reader will get both. As a species we buy in bulk and hoard, even if we never use what we buy. That's how we're wired. And if prices came down unilaterally, I predict sales will go up unilaterally because the overall pie will get bigger--because more readers will enter the market--and those readers in the market will be able to buy more with their money.

Think about your own buying habits. Or think about what stores do. When you need toothpaste, and a tube is $4.99 or two for $5.99, which do you buy? Think about the bargain DVD section at Best Buy, where every movie is $2.99. If there is more than one you're interested in, do you get both? Contrast that to the new releases, which are $19.99. If there is more than one you want you have to think about it before buying both. At the lower price, you don't think.

Now think about going to the store to buy a refrigerator and expecting to pay $1000. You're thrilled to see a model you like for $399. Do you leave the store with $601 in your pocket, or do you keep shopping because you feel you saved money and can now spend some of it?

Lower prices will be better for everyone.

Q: But Joe, it isn't a question of money. It is a question of time. If people load up their Kindles on free or cheap ebooks, they'll never have time to read them all, which means they won't buy more.

Joe sez: People are already loading up their Kindles. That hasn't precluded buying more ebooks. Readers have always had To Be Read piles. But now they're cheaper to acquire, and portable.

It's the buffet mentality I've written about before.

Q: But Joe, Amazon is the devil and wants to eat my children.

Joe sez: I simply don't understand why authors are afraid of Amazon.

Amazon wants to lower ebook prices. The Big 6 want to raise them.

Amazon has given authors more opportunity than ever before in history, allowing them to make money. The Big 6 has "nurtured" thousands of my peers into depression and poverty.

Those who fear what will happen when Amazon rules the publishing world should instead fear the cartel that currently controls the publishing world: the Big 6. Forcing the agency model has hurt authors and consumers, and that's a damn poor business model and not one I want to align myself with.

You shouldn't worry about being eaten by a lion tomorrow when there is currently a pit viper biting you in the ass. And if you're defending the pit viper, you're an idiot.

Joe sez: I wrote that blog post in April of 2012. It still holds true today.

All of the authors who supported Hachette's insistence on keeping the agency model were also supporting earning smaller and fewer digital royalties.

So do something about it. Demand that Hachette raise royalties. Demand that all publishers raise royalties.

If publishers do, that will ensure Amazon keeps royalties high in order to compete.

Authors United, the Authors Guild, and the Association of Authors Representatives, if they pooled their efforts, could make just as big a media splash as they did when vilifying Amazon. 

Don't wag your tail and docilely hope for the treat. Bite them until they give it to you.

I'll support you any way I can.

Amazon/Hachette Negotiations Finally End

Via Hachette:

Dear Authors and Agents,

I’m very happy to bring you the good news that Hachette Book Group has reached a new agreement with Amazon for ebook and print sales. While the new ebook terms will take effect early in 2015, Hachette titles will be restored as soon as possible to normal availability on Amazon, will be available for pre-order, and will be included in promotions on the site, a very positive development as we head into the holiday shopping season.

The new agreement delivers considerable benefits. It gives us full responsibility for the consumer prices of our ebooks.  This approach, known as the Agency model, protects the value of our authors’ content, while allowing the publisher to change ebook prices dynamically to maximize sales. Importantly, the percent of revenue on which Hachette authors’ ebook royalties are based will not decrease under this agreement.

Throughout our negotiations, Hachette has strived to reach an agreement that is in the long-term interest of our authors, readers, and this company. The past several months have been difficult ones for the writers Hachette publishes and the agents who represent them.  We send our sincere thanks to you for your patience and support as we conducted this negotiation.  I feel strongly that this new contract reestablishes our positive relationship with Amazon, an important retailer and industry leader, and that this strong relationship will benefit the writers we publish for many years to come.

Hachette and Amazon have just issued the following joint press release:

HACHETTE BOOK GROUP AND AMAZON REACH NEW EBOOK AND PRINT BOOK AGREEMENT

November 13, 2014 - Hachette Book Group and Amazon (AMZN) today announced that the companies have reached a new, multi-year agreement for ebook and print sales in the US.

Michael Pietsch, Hachette Book Group CEO said, "This is great news for writers. The new agreement will benefit Hachette authors for years to come. It gives Hachette enormous marketing capability with one of our most important bookselling partners.”

"We are pleased with this new agreement as it includes specific financial incentives for Hachette to deliver lower prices, which we believe will be a great win for readers and authors alike," said David Naggar, Vice President, Kindle.

The new ebook terms will take effect early in 2015. Hachette will have responsibility for setting consumer prices of its ebooks, and will also benefit from better terms when it delivers lower prices for readers. Amazon and Hachette will immediately resume normal trading, and Hachette books will be prominently featured in promotions.

Joe sez: As many had guessed, this was all about discounting. As with S&S, it appears to be an agency model, but one that incentivizes discounting.

Which is similar to the KDP structure. If self-pubbed authors keep their prices within a certain range ($2.99-$9.99), they get 70%. Outside of that range, they only get 35%.

What does this mean for the publishing world?

Not much. The Big 5 are no doubt going to continue to price ebooks as high as they can to protect their paper sales. The majority of Big 5 authors will have fewer ebook sales as a result. The lucky bestsellers who are released in large paper numbers will continue to stay rich.

Now let's wait for Authors United and the Authors Guild to chime in and take credit for all of the pressure they put on Amazon to force Bezos to take the tough, hard deal he's been giving indies for several years.

Embrace Change – Guest Post by David Gaughran

Writers have it better than any other creative profession right now but it feels like we don’t appreciate our good fortune and haven’t adopted the mindset where we fully embrace change. The transition to digital is hugely disruptive – and not always in positive ways – but it’s solving a number of long-standing problems, particularly the issue of author earnings.

It’s easy to forget how bad things were before the digital revolution made self-publishing viable and gave us all more options. I was at the International Women’s Fiction Festival in Matera, Italy at the end of September. It’s a great conference in the most beautiful location and very well run, with all sorts of interesting panels and talks. It’s also refreshingly small and you get to meet everybody.

Some of the most fascinating exchanges were when authors gathered for dinner and shared experiences. Many had been through a number of publishing contracts with different houses, and most were extremely scathing about their experience. When these writers are able to go public – i.e. when they finish up their contracts, break free of things like non-compete and option clauses, and/or get their rights back – they will have some disturbing stories to share about their “nurturing” publishers.

I was at a very different conference in York at the beginning of September. The Festival of Writing is great too, but it’s aimed at newer writers who are seeking agents and publishing deals. They have some self-publishing stuff on the program, but it’s more focused on the traditional path (and also has some truly excellent craft workshops).

When looking back at both conferences, I found it very interesting that the writers who had the most experience of traditional publishing were the ones with the least interest in pursuing that path. Newer writers, who hadn’t yet seen how the sausage is made, were those in thrall with the idea of landing an agent and a publishing deal. But I think it’s fair to say that both groups shared a lot of fear about the future.

I remember Dean Wesley Smith saying a few years back that the only thing that could kill a writer’s career was giving up. Even an author who commits the most egregious sin can keep going under a new name. In other words, nothing can kill your career – except you. However, there are lots of things a writer can do to make their path much, much harder, and sometimes our own worst enemy is the three pounds of squishy grey matter between our ears.

Authors, for obvious reasons, tend to have very active imaginations. This can lead us to being quite skittish: seeing Reds under every bed and panicking at the drop of a hat. It might also explain why we cling to dogma, find various myths comforting, and happily trot out zombie memes that have died a thousand deaths. Writers are smart and creative, and can convince themselves of anything.

It makes having an in-built bullshit detector a pre-requisite for keeping your sanity and focusing on your core job: writing books and reaching readers. There are all sorts of people engaging in FUD for various self-serving reasons, but some of the most insidious untruths are the ones we tell ourselves.

Like people in general, I suppose, writers can go to incredible lengths to avoid admitting they were wrong about something, even to the point of making career-damaging decisions. It’s the exact opposite of the start-up mentality that we should be adopting in this current climate, where change is embraced and failure is treated as a learning opportunity.

We all need to continually guard against dogma. It’s easy to slip into lazy thinking when we see something being confirmed over and over again, but we should always be prepared for black swans and shouldn't attempt to reason them out of existence just because they force us to question a hypothesis which has served us well.

The one constant since I started self-publishing in 2011 has been change. It’s not just the business which is changing but also the ways to reach readers. If you embrace change, instead of being fearful, you are in a much better position to take advantage of what’s happening. But if you think you have it all figured out, and then become dogmatic about something like pricing or marketing, you will fall behind.

The authors who are growing really fast today tend to be very aggressive with marketing and are trying all sorts of crazy experiments, rewriting the rules as they go. When Ed Robertson released the fourth book in his post-apocalyptic Breakers series in August last year, he bundled up the first three books into a 99¢ box set. The series was selling well – around 30,000 copies – so I naturally thought he was nuts.

It turned out he wasn’t so crazy after all. The box went ballistic and Ed tore up his plan to only have it discounted during the launch of Book #4, keeping the bundle at that crazy low price for six straight months. The box shifted 60,000 copies over that timeframe, helping the new release sell another 15,000 copies on top of that.

By being willing to take risks, Ed dramatically expanded his audience in a short space of time. Two books later, the Breakers series has now sold well over 200,000 copies.

And it was a gamble – Ed was risking solid income from consistent sellers – but he had been watching the really smart things that Urban Fantasy author SM Reine was doing and figured it was worth a shot.

If you aren’t familiar with SM Reine, she had been making big plays likes this for a while, with astounding results too. I guess they both figured they were fast writers and, even if things went horribly wrong, they had plenty of books in the pipeline to juice their numbers again.

As my writing speed increases – I've graduated from very slow to merely slow! – I’m becoming less conservative. Having more titles out gives you more options with your marketing. It makes you less emotionally attached to each individual book. You start thinking more in terms of what increases revenue overall than what a particular title has sold.

In other words, it gives you room to fail. When you can afford to lose, you can afford to gamble. And the prizes are going to the risk-takers.

I’m taking a bit of risk this week myself. I only launched the new edition of Let’s Get Digital in mid-September and it was pulling in good money at $4.99, but I’ve already put it in a discounted box set.

It’s called The Indie Author Power Pack: How To Write, Publish & Market Your Book and it also contains Write. Publish. Repeat by Sean Platt & Johnny B. Truant and How To Market A Book by Joanna Penn, as well as some exclusive content too.

We’ve launched the box with the explicit aim of hitting the New York Times Best Seller list. We could easily fail, but I think we gain just by making the attempt. And if you want to check out the box set, you can pick it up at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple and Kobo for just 99¢ (saving you $16).

The tech companies which are taking over publishing have a totally different mindset to risk-averse publishers. They embrace change and aren’t afraid of failure. They innovate and iterate until they hit on the process that maximizes revenue. They work on a model of abundance, instead of one of scarcity. And it’s the mentality we should adopt too.

In short, don’t be afraid to take risks. The potential upside is enormous.

Joe sez: There's a lot of wisdom here. 

The difference between being wise and being smart if sometimes you have to stop being smart in order to be wise.

I call this phenomenon digital thinking. Examples of analogue thinking abound in this business. Pricing ebooks higher than paperbacks is analogue. Windowing titles is analogue. Pre-orders for books that are already finished, that's analogue (as soon as it is done it should be made available to buy and download).

Digital thinking means looking at how things have changed and adjusting accordingly. Here's a quickie example. Way back in 2009, I used Amazon DTP to self-publish the novels that the Big 6 had rejected. I priced these at $0.99, as a favor to fans. My idea was to use them as a loss lead, which would then make readers seek out my more expensive paper titles. Imagine my surprise when these started to make money. Very soon, they were making more than my print royalties. So I began to experiment with price, which was risky considering there was no data to look at to anticipate what might happen. Raising prices, when a product is selling well, is a risky thing to do, and there was no precident for it. But I gave it a shot. And it worked.

 For a while, I was convinced $2.99 was the sweet spot for novels. And it was, for a while. Then I took a chance and tried $3.99 and liked it, and have stuck with it for about two years, putting titles on sale regularly via BookBub.


Reading David's post makes me realize I haven't taken any big pricing chances in a while. So why not give it a shot?

After you buy your $0.99 copy of The Indie Author Power Pack: How To Write, Publish & Market Your Book (buy it RIGHT NOW) please consider buying two of my bundles, each reduced from $9.99 to a mere $0.99.

A box set of my first three Jack Daniels thrillers, Whiskey Sour, Bloody Mary, and Rusty Nail, is now $0.99 on Kindle. 

A box set of my first three Jack Kilborn horror novels, Afraid, Trapped, and Endurance, is now $0.99 on Kindle.

These are six novels that sell well at $3.99 each. Am I cutting my own throat here? Does this seem like a stupid thing to do?

Yes. Yes it does. And that's how a person becomes wise. I can only guess how this experiment will work. Could go badly and I lose a lot of money. Could jack up my sales and give my backlist a boost.

But I won't know what will happen unless I try it. 

I'll post the results as they come in.

Agents Behaving Badly

Joe sez: Super-agent Andrew Wylie, in what seems like a conscious effort to make sure he never gets another query letter, addressed the Toronto Festival of Authors and taught them all about hyperbole.

“I believe with the restored health of the publishing industry and having some sense of where this sort of ISIS-like distribution channel, Amazon, is going to be buried and in which plot of sand they will be stuck, [publishers] will be able to raise the author’s digital royalty to 40% or 50%,” he said. “Writers will begin to make enough money to live.”

I have a few contacts at Amazon, so I asked them for a response, but they were too busy beheading innocent people to reply.

The amount of stupid that Wylie fit into that single sentence is commendable. I'll deconstruct.

1. The publishing industry's health will never be restored. They're middlemen whose value-added services cost too much for the majority of authors.

2. Updating Godwin's Law for millennials by using ISIS instead of Nazis is proof-positive that Wylie needs to shut the fuck up. When you sink to alarmist language and the appeal to fear fallacy, you've lost.

3. Publishers are already making gigantic profits on ebooks. They could raise author royalties right now, they don't have to wait for Amazon to be buried.

4. Amazon is not going to be buried. Certainly not by the Keystone Cops-like bumbling of the Big 5.

5. Writers don't need the Big 5 to make a living, thanks to Amazon. But it's adorable that Wylie thinks an extra 15% (going from 25% digital to 40%) in royalties will be enough for authors to quit their day jobs and suddenly make enough money to live.

Hey, here's an idea. Agents charge 15%. If Wylie is concerned about the livelihood of authors, he can just forgo his commission. Then all of those poverty-row authors can move to Beverly Hills.

“The publishing industry, up until now has cowered and whined and moaned and groaned and given Amazon pretty much everything they want. Now I think that’s going to stop. …Hachette to their great credit drew a line in the sand,” he said. 

They whined and moaned and illegally colluded and got caught. Hachette's "line in the sand" is holding out to protect its paper oligopoly, at the expense of its authors.

Amazon is an innovator. They created the online store readers want to shop at, and the device readers want to use. The publishing industry, blinded by decades of absolute power, didn't think its authority would ever be challenged. The result? Impotence. Amazon doesn't need Hachette, and Hachette will never be able to take sales away from Amazon.

Wylie can throw his public tantrums declaring he's still relevant, but he's going to wind up another disintermediated middleman.

Speaking of, from agent Scott Eagan's blog: Self-published authors - Please Quit Picking Fights!

A few years ago, Scott did a stupid post supporting Harlequin on an issue which has recently become a class action.

He was torn to shreds on Passive Voice, so I didn't really need to weigh in. Though I did comment that Scott deleted his contentious post.

I've written a few contentious posts in my day. Integrity prevents me from deleting them. If I'm wrong, I apologize, I don't try to erase evidence. Especially since, with the Internet, evidence can't be eradicated. The Wayback Machine is an easy way to read the blog post Scott erased.

Scott taught me a valuable lesson. He's the reason why, when I fisk someone, first I make sure the Wayback Machine caches the post so now Scott can't ever delete it.

Don't drink and drive. Don't get into a land war in Asia. And don't post shit on the world wide web hoping you can erase it later.

So what's Scott up to?

Scott: I was talking to one of my clients this weekend and she was saying how her chapter had a guest speaker who was once again preaching the line, "Fire your agents and fire your editors! Do it yourself!" I have to say, since RWA this year I am getting pretty irritated at this mantra we are hearing from authors out there.

Joe sez: I have an agent, and a film manager, and several editors. While I have heard the "Do it yourself" argument preached a lot by writers, I don't know of any writer who feels they don't need an editor. And those with agents, assuming the agents are good (i.e. making the writer money) have no reason to fire them. On the contrary, my agent assists me in self-publishing.

There's a mantra suggesting writers fire agents? News to me,and seems unlikely, but let's pretend there is such a mantra being chanted so incessantly that Eagon had no choice but to blog about it.

The self-publishing movement, by definition, disintermediates many publishing professionals, including agents who aren't savvy enough to keep up, and editors at legacy publishing houses. Naturally, this can seem threatening. If you own a dairy farm, and all the cows decide they can sell their own milk and no longer need you (and they're treated better to boot), you're in deep trouble.

Scott: Look, there is room for everyone. If you have this desire to self-publish then go for it! No one is stopping you!

Joe sez: Stopping? No. It's a free country. Trying to dissuade with disingenuous blog posts? I see that happening. In fact, that's what Scott is doing here.

Scott is an agent. Let's say he's a good agent, with many happy clients. I can assume that many of his clients, and many writers what want to be his clients, read his blog. He's a successful industry pro. Why shouldn't they listen to him?

Well, perhaps they shouldn't listen because Scott's one-sided polemic begins with a sketchy premise (there's a lot of authors preaching a mantra that they should fire agents and editors), then yells "No one is stopping you!" in the way a parent would yell, "Go ahead and play with matches and see what happens!" Then he descends into this nonsense:

Scott: I think what a lot of these authors are missing in their argument is that not everyone wants to take this approach.

Joe sez: I agree. The Authors United signatories are an example.

Scott: Not everyone has the knowledge of the business.

Joe sez: One of the first things my agent did was teach me some basics about the business, so I had some knowledge. Then I learned more on my own, because I thought it wise to try to understand the business I was in. You know, so I could protect myself, make informed choices, and because I'm an adult and don't want to be treated like a baby who needs someone to look out for me.

Or, to put it in the world's shortest skit:

Advisor: Don't worry about money! That's what you hired me for! Better to stay blissfully unaware of the business and focus on your art!

MC Hammer: If you say so...

Scott: Not everyone has an already built in following from their careers in traditional publishing.

Joe sez: How many times do I have to debunk this tired meme?

Scott: And yes, when we talk money, not everyone has the cash to pay for: an outside editor, a cover artist, a marketing manager... and so forth.

Joe sez: Lots wrong here. First, name a start-up business that requires no money. Second, you can get some great deals on covers and editing as a self-publisher, barter for them for free, or even learn to do certain things yourself. Third, getting an agent isn't free (query letters, travelling to conferences, buying all those How To Get An Agent books) and there is no guarantee an agent will accept you, or a publisher will buy your book if an agent submits it.

Scott: When I talked to my author about this, it was interesting to hear a few facts that might have been missed by those in the audience:

Joe sez: Okay, so we have hearsay, and then we jump to remote viewing and mindreading what the audience missed...

Scott: The speaker WAS previously published and already had a following.

Joe sez: And many self-pubbed successes weren't previously published and had zero following before they became successful. Prove causality.

When I got my rights back from my publishers, I sold more copies than my publishers did. My "following" didn't buy my same books twice. These are new readers, and being previously published didn't matter to them.

Scott: The author was spending a lot of her own money to take care of things normally covered by a publisher.

Joe sez: I did signings, a lot of marketing, and a shitload of traveling that my publisher never covered.

Since self-pubbing, I've spent a lot less money tending to my career.

Scott: The author was spending close to 100 hours a week on the career just to keep it afloat.

Joe sez: Wow! Fourteen hours a day, seven days a week. What a work ethic!

Skepticism aside, show me ANY writer, indie-pubbed, legacy-pubbed, or hybrid, not working to keep their career afloat.

Scott: When this first idea came out, there was indeed a huge fight (or maybe just a verbal war) between those who wanted to go on their own and those that wanted the traditional approach.

Joe sez: The only fight I've ever seen is those who want choice, and those who preferred not having a choice. I blog to inform writers, not to fight with agents or publishers or other writers. But while informing writers, I sometimes need to take agents, publishers, and other writers to task.,

Scott: But in recent years, that war has seemed to shift to a more one sided approach. The editors and the agents on the traditional side have pretty much stopped. No, this is not because, what I do believe some would think, "they realized they were wrong." Instead, they realized there was a place for everyone.

Joe sez: Which is why your post is called "A Place For Everyone" and not "Self-Published Authors Please Quit Picking Fights!"

So apparently you're an agent who hasn't "pretty much stopped" taking sides in this "war". Your post is fueling the war by complaining about indie authors who you claim are fueling the war.

Scott: For myself, I have always thought of this like those people who decide to sell their home on their own vs. those who want to use a real estate company. If you have the time and the resources, and you understand property law and finances, then go for it. Sell your own house. But you know, there are still people out there who would prefer to leave the selling of their home to those in the business.

Joe sez: Well, if realtors took 15% of the sale, and they sold my home to a buyer who paid me 25% of the current market value, I'd probably look into learning property law and finances.

Scott: Now, does this mean if you sell your home one way or the other you make more money? Absolutely not! Everything is on a case by case basis. Sometimes a person selling a home on their own can indeed make a bigger profit. Sometimes they won't.

Joe sez: Actually, writers will always make better royalties by self-publishing. And they'll keep control over their rights, cover art, title, editing decisions, how often they publish, what they publish next, etc.

But you're right, Scott. Sometimes someone hits the jackpot with a big legacy deal and makes a lot of money.

If you're a writer whose goals involve landing a legacy deal, go for it. But unlike Scott, I encourage you to learn everything you can about all aspects of this business, including the odds that you'll land a huge legacy deal. Visit www.authorearnings.com for lots of good info.

Scott: The issue here is that it all depends on a lot of different variables.

I don't want anyone to think that right now, I am doing everything I can to "save my job as an agent." Nope, that is far from the case. My authors are doing really well!

Joe sez: That's good to hear, Scott. We indies post our sales figures a lot. I certainly don't expect you to name names, but maybe you can encourage some of your authors to post their earnings to show how well they're doing. You're obviously doing well by them, and their disclosures would help other authors make informed decisions about their careers.

Scott: What I am saying is that if you are a person who wants an agent. If you are a person who wants to take the traditional publishing approach, please don't let those other authors discourage you from taking the approach that works for you.

Joe sez: I'd really like to see some link to some author, somewhere, saying, "Fire your agent!" because they want to self-pub instead.

My agent has assisted me in self-pubbing. On the contrary, I've seen agents drop writers when those writers began to self-pub, or agents who wanted a piece of the self-pub money without doing anything to help.

I won't name names--it isn't my place. But if you're a writer whose agent dropped you for self-publishing, feel free to leave a comment. Ditto if you're a writer whose mantra is "Fire your agent!"

Scott: Just remember to really listen to the variables the author is using when they talk of their successes taking that self-pub approach:

Are they selling their back lists from traditional publishers?

Joe sez: Doesn't matter.

Scott: Are the using this as a supplement to an already existing writing career?

Joe sez: Doesn't matter. But, for the record, when publishers still owned my backlist, those royalties were supplementing my already existing self-pub career.

Scott: Are they still bringing in royalties from those traditional publishers?

Joe sez: Doesn't matter (unless they're considering hiring a lawyer to get those rights back).

Scott: How many outside resources are they having to pay (editors, cover artists, etc.) are they having to pay.

Joe sez: This should be compared to, "How much is the legacy publisher charging you for these same services?"

Scott: I think the only thing I want to leave you with today during this slight rant is:

...There is room for everyone. You have the permission to take whatever route you want to take with publishing. And just because someone isn't taking YOUR approach, it doesn't make them wrong!

Joe sez: There are no wrong approaches. The fact that we have a choice, and we can look at the value-added services that agents and editors provide and decide for ourselves if they're worth the costs, is a good thing.

Beware anyone saying you don't have to learn this business. You do. If you were applying for a job, you'd research the company. If you were investing in a stock, you'd check its history. If you want to make money writing, you have to do more than just write. The more you learn, the more you can refine your goals, and the better your decisions will be.

Scott: P.S. And Romance Writers of American and other larger publishing groups - Please remember to continue to support those who don't just want to self-pub!

Joe sez: Writers should support one another. Period. We're all in the same boat. We all need to row.

But I'm not seeing any damaging talk or actions coming from indies. The Authors Guild, Authors United, and prominent authors like Patterson, Turow, Robinson, Preston, and Colbert are the ones spreading harmful nonsense.

Agents can also spread harmful nonsense. When writers look to industry pros like Eagon and Wylie for guidance but only see hyperbole, Amazon-bashing, and imaginary mantras, writers aren't learning the truth.

We all have bias. We all have agendas. Mine is to help authors.

Wylie and Eagon are agents. Their agenda should also be to help writers.

In the examples above, are they being helpful?

Twelve Shades of Self-Promotion

Joe sez: When I heard my frequent collaborator, Ann Voss Peterson, was involved in a new box set with a group of high-profile authors, I was intrigued. Both by the content (I just bought a copy and you should to) and by the way they've gone about promoting the set, which may involve the most marketing I've ever seen done by indie authors.

So here's Ann and her partners in crime to discuss Twelve Shades of Midnight.

Ann Voss Peterson (The School): Thanks, Joe!

I’m involved in a twelve-author anthology called Twelve Shades of Midnight that was released today, October 28th. A lot goes into a project like this one. From putting together a list of authors, a concept, and a brand, to writing, editing, and formatting the stories themselves, to finding affordable ways to promote, the process is a little mind boggling.

So I’m going to let my fellow Twelve Shades of Midnight authors tell you about some of the things we did. Here's the woman who started it all, Robin Perini.

Robin Perini (Night of the Jaguar): The amazing rise of Indie Publishing has created a dynamic landscape for writers, and a wonderful opportunity to experiment. I’m lucky enough to have quite a few friends in the writing world, and over the last few years so many have explored all the options. Be they Hybrid, Traditional or Indie, choice abounds.

While I write romantic suspense for two publishers, I had created a paranormal world that I wanted to explore. And I wanted to stick my toe into the Indie world. With the day job and contracts, time was precious, and I knew the learning curve would be steep. What better way, than to pool resources with some of my friends and work on an anthology? So I asked around, and amazingly enough, not only was there interest—there was a lot of interest. 

My goals were pretty straightforward: 

1) Learn as much as I could about Indie Publishing (the process, the business, the technical aspects, the marketing). 

2) Cross promote with other authors. 

3) Explore new and different ways to increase discoverability for all of us.

4) If we hit a list, that would be a plus.

Because Learning and Cross Promotion were the two main goals, to start, I considered a multi-genre project. In the end, that seemed distracting, so we decided to focus the anthology on Adult Paranormal Romance Novellas, but not just any novellas, never-before-released works. I also wanted to bring in several circles of readers to see if we could tempt readers to try out someone they may not have read before.

We ended up with four major circles: Paranormal Romance Authors, Urban Fantasy Authors, Romantic Suspense and Thriller Authors (Category and Single Title), and Young Adult Authors coming from the traditional, hybrid and indie world. We have three NYT bestsellers, several Amazon bestsellers, and even more award winners.

We also have a range of tones from horror to zany; as well as a range of sensuality (hot to sweet). We’ll see if this was a good idea as we gain feedback.

Mostly, we have an amazing group of generous writers who were willing to dig right in and take a chance with new and different ideas.

And we are taking a chance. We put together an anthology that is priced at 4.99 with 12 novellas between 20k and 50k words.

The stroke of midnight ushers in many things. From hijinks and mischief to danger and evil, romance is the magic that binds these paranormal novellas together. Join 12 bestselling and award-winning authors as they explore the different shades of midnight in exclusive, never-before-released stories.

Liliana Hart - THE WITCH NEXT DOOR 

Darynda Jones - A LOVELY DROP 

Shea Berkley - DARK SECRETS: STONE COLD DEAD 

Dakota Cassidy - WITCHED AT BIRTH 

Claire Cavanaugh - MIDNIGHT RENEGADE 

Rachel Grant - MIDNIGHT SUN 

Trish McCallan - SPIRIT WOODS 

Angi Morgan - BODYGUARDS IN HEELS: HIT AND RUN HALLIE 

Robin Perini - NIGHT OF THE JAGUAR 

Robyn Peterman - SWITCHING HOUR 

Ann Voss Peterson - THE SCHOOL 

Jenn Stark - GETTING WILDE 

AVP: The $4.99 price is a risk. Most box sets are priced at 99 cents. However, ours was different than most in two important ways. None of the content in this set has been released before, and it will be exclusive to the set for a substantial period of time. And since our main goal was to introduce ourselves to other authors’ fans, we wanted to encourage those who buy the set to actually read some of the stories. So after a lot of debate, we decided to take a chance on the $4.99 price point. Will it work out the way we hope? We have yet to see.

There were other things we had to focus on before we began writing our individual stories, namely exactly what we were going to write and how we were going to approach selling it. Luckily we had some authors on board who were willing to take on this challenge.

Jenn Stark (Getting Wild): Participating in the 12 Shades of Midnight anthology has been a terrific experience. Although I'm traditionally published under two other pen names in YA fiction and romance, I was thrilled to have the chance to launch a new series among such amazing authors!

Branding this anthology was admittedly a challenge, as we had 12 authors each at very different stages of the publishing journey--from completely new names to fan favorites to USA Today and NYT Bestsellers. We also had significantly different "heat" levels of each romance, from mild to steamy hot. How do you make the most of what you have to offer? In our case, we opted to feature two of our most well-known authors on the cover first, then follow with the rest of our group in alphabetical order. The cover imagery was a bit more of a challenge, and we went through two versions, trying to find the right mix of "sassy" and "paranormal" while being true to all of the stories in the set. In addition, each author is creating her own cover for her story, which when viewed together really showcase the novellas' unique styles. Then, we added special features within the novellas to tie the tales together. For example, in each novella you'll find a reference to another story within the set, as well as the name "Max Midnight" and the time of midnight featured prominently. Finally, we've done promotion around the question "What shade of midnight are you?" to underscore the diversity of our stories and how each offers something different for readers.

http://www.playbuzz.com/angimorgan10/what-shade-of-midnight-are-you

I’ll let Shea go into more detail on how we came up with using the name Max Midnight.

Shea Berkley (Stone Cold Dead): This is my first foray into the world of boxed set that has original, never-before-seen stories. In fact, many of us had never been in a boxed set before (blind leading the blind), but that didn’t stop us. Wanting the endeavor to be a success, we asked the question that caused a bit of excitement, and it was this: How we could make the stories more interactive for our readers? One way was to use a name that would appear in each story…Max Midnight. The way the name appears and used is up to each author. Some have been very creative in its use, making it a game to find out what Max Midnight refers to. The name hunt has no ulterior meaning other than to add a bit of fun to our readers reading experiences as they move through each story.

AVP: We had extra help experimenting with branding ideas from Naomi Raine who is an artist and designs websites (like this one for author Rachel Grant). And much of this planning was done before we wrote the stories.

Now, the biggest part of project was (of course) the writing itself. We each wrote a story that included the elements Jenn and Shea described, but other than that, we could do whatever we wanted, as long as it included a romance and at least a hint of the paranormal. Sometimes a few outside requirements can actually spur creativity, as author Trish McCallan discovered.

Trish McCallan (Spirit Woods): When the idea came up to have everyone include a character named Max Midnight as an Easter egg in their story, I’d just started the first draft. At first I planned to write in a throwaway character. But that plan went out the window the moment I introduced the mysterious golden retriever that Spirit Woods revolves around. From the moment the dog leapt on stage he was Max Midnight. And his name alone twisted the story in a direction I had never planned. The dog became a superhero, at least in the heroine’s eyes, saving her life not just once—but twice. But even more interestingly, the circumstances surrounding the dog’s name ended up spawning three brand new storylines in the Spirt Woods’ World. So that one little Easter egg, meant to connect all the novellas in the Twelve Shades of Midnight Box set, also ended up connecting the first three novels in my Spirit Woods’ World.

AVP: Next came editing, and each of us dealt with our own stories. Many of us already have our team in place. In traditional publishing, there are four basic steps to editing a book, and I use all four when producing my self-published work.

Developmental editing is where you deal with the big picture; character development, plot structure.

Line editing is about the writing itself, sentence structure, paragraph structure, finding the most effective way to tell the story.

Copy editing is about the details like grammar, fact checking, continuity of names, descriptions, time lines, punctuation; all the picky things that might pull a reader out of the story.

Proofreading is the final stage, a close review of everything to catch mistakes that were missed or introduced by the other editing stages.

No book is ever perfect, but it’s important to make your content the best it can be. I trade developmental editing, line editing, and copy editing with my team of experienced author friends (you might know one of them whose initials are JK). I then hire a proofreader to catch anything we might have missed (a couple of suggestions would be Blue Otter Editing and grammar.rulesAtoZ@gmail.com ).

Jenn Stark and Rachel Grant used Linda Ingmanson (catalyst8@aol.com) , Jenn says, “She offers two rounds of content editing, plus a proofreader (separate person). I was very pleased with her work!”

After editing was complete, we sent all twelve stories to the ever-so-lucky Rachel Grant.

Rachel Grant (Midnight Sun): I originally offered to format the Twelve Shades anthology because having an in-house author do the formatting meant we could be flexible with authors delivering their final files on different dates, instead of having to wait until all 12 were complete and send them off to a formatter who would need plenty of lead time. With a group of this size, sometimes plenty of lead time isn’t possible. :)

Some stats on the project:
Novellas: 12
Chapters: 165
Pages (Word, single spaced, TNR 18pt): 1,468
Words: 384,718

Clearly, formatting a multi-author set like this is daunting, and there is no way I would have considered attempting it if I hadn’t found my new love, Legend Maker. Legend Maker is for Mac computers only (sorry, PC people). Prior to Legend Maker, I did a fair amount of hand-coding, using find and replace in Word to get a document ready for HTML, which I edited in Textmate, then converted to epub and mobi using Calibre. The necessary hand-coding for a set of this size using my old system would have made my head explode. But thanks to Legend Maker, I was able to skip much of the fussy hand-coding, working with HTML in Textmate, and Calibre conversion. Tagging headings and scene breaks is a snap when using Legend Maker (and I’m especially grateful the Twelve Shades authors were FABULOUS and marked their chapters and scene breaks just like I asked them to). When a document is properly formatted, it’s simple to run through Legend Maker and create the epub and mobi files. No head explosions. I even still have hair.

Worth noting: I had issues with the italics in some files, because Word can be aggravating and pushy by replacing styles you don’t want replaced, but once I discovered the issue, I was able to run a document compare and search on italics, to see what had been lost. The problem I had was a Word issue, not a Legend Maker issue, and now that I’m aware of it, I will always run a compare as a final check when formatting.

A stylistic choice I made for the set was to use the moon from the cover to decorate chapter headers and mark scene breaks. It’s a great way to pull the set together with one image, plus it gives a nice polished look. It’s insanely easy to insert graphics (and Legend Maker handles graphics very well) but it does increase file size (and therefore delivery costs in Kindle). An added benefit when it comes to marking scene breaks is that breaks can land anywhere on an ereader, depending on the user’s settings, meaning a blank line can easily be missed if it falls at the bottom or top of a screen, causing confusion if the reader misses a cue to a POV or time shift. When choosing a graphic, make sure it will look good on black, white or sepia backgrounds, because tablet readers support all those choices. I prefer .png files because they have transparency, but .mobi files don’t support transparency (while .epubs do), so for some graphics you may want to go with a .jpg to ensure it will have a white background in Kindle. If you’ve purchased the set from iBooks, be sure to check out our title page and those moons on a black background.

AVP: Of course, after the writing was done for us (and the writing and formatting for Rachel), we still needed ideas to get the word out about the anthology in a cost-effective way. We set up preorder pages on all the retailers and promoted the project on our own, using the box set cover (more on that below) and the individual covers we had made for our stories. Here’s mine, done by the fabulous Carl Graves.

Kindle --> http://amzn.to/12UJqYf

Nook --> http://bit.ly/1FQMhQU

Kobo --> http://bit.ly/1zdog4N

iBook --> http://bit.ly/1yEap4q

We also put together some group promotions, and I’ll let the authors in charge tell you about those.

Angi Morgan (Hit-and-Run Hallie): I’m traditionally published and always looking for inexpensive ways to promote and connect with readers, so I brought some of those ideas to the 12 Shades project. I cohost a readers blog, Get Lost in a Story, and arranged a three day blog stop with fun questions about each author. I also arranged for a week-long promotion on Just Romantic Suspense with two authors each day featuring their books and fun blog. (You can also see our advertisement that we created from pieces of our cover.) I take advantage of my husband’s professional skills as a video engineer for all my trailers. I’m very lucky that I can work with him and he has the same vision for my trailers and marketing ideas. So not only is he cheap, he keeps at it until I love it. Here’s the trailer he put together for Twelve Shades.

Dakota Cassidy (Witched at Birth): Each of us had a hand in pulling together and launching the anthology. While Robin Perini handled corralling all of us, I cornered my awesome BFF Renee George like a raccoon in a dark crawlspace and begged her to make us a hot cover, and Robyn Peterman's amazeballs buddy Debby Pence did some awesome memes for us.

Also, as a team, Robyn and I took charge of the Facebook launch party--which is no surprise because we’re the two most likely to create the loudest noise and make the most visible mayhem. We spent an hour on the phone carefully organizing (read talking over each other with our ideas and laughing), and thinking up ways to keep things running as smoothly as possible. Planning in advance is crucial.

Robyn Peterman (Switching Hour): Robyn here! I agree and corroborate everything Dakota said. Now for my two cents.

Do launch parties really work to get a book noticed?

Yes and no. Most of the time the people there are already fans and are going to buy the book anyway. The real benefit of a launch party is the sheer amount of extra marketing you get on Twitter, Facebook and other social media outlets. Prizes can motivate fans to share out the ass and this is a good thing. Dakota and I are anal and run these suckers with military precision. If you're going to do one, you should have all your links and posts sitting on your desk top. You will most likely lose at least three fingers while typing like a maniac during the party and you will be blind for four hours after it ends.

AVP: Curious how a launch party works? The Twelve Shades of Midnight launch party is set for October 29th from 6pm to midnight, EDT. Here’s the Facebook page.

And that about wraps up the project. We set up preorder pages at all the retailers, and the book was released on Tuesday, October 28. Now we wait to see how it does. One of the great things about self-publishing is the freedom to try new things and determine your own career path. And someone who knows a lot about doing just that is Twelve Shades of Midnight headliner, bestselling indie author Liliana Hart.

Liliana Hart (The Witch Next Door): Ultimately, I began self-publishing because I had stories to tell and I wanted people to read them. I’d gone through the traditional hoops for several years, but things weren’t happening the way I wanted them to. I knew I could write and that there was a market for the stories I wanted to tell. So I started self-publishing and have loved every minute of it. Hard work pays off, and self-publishing is a lot of hard-work, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Now I love the control and the freedom it gives me to tell the stories I want to tell without limits or rules. I love being in control of my career and being able to make changes if I need to. I'd be writing whether I made money or not--I did for more than a dozen years before my career took off. Writing is in the blood and I have to tell the stories in my head, but it's nice that I can live out my dreams and make a living at it too. Not many people get to realize their passions. I'm very blessed and grateful to my readers.