With the proliferation of social media you can find blogs and articles supporting every position possible. The first thing to do when reading something is get the author’s bio. Who are they? How do they make their living? Because I would be willing to bet that whatever argument they are putting forward protects their piece of the publishing paradigm and their cash flow. I’m an author and a publisher and a teacher of writing, so I’ve seen many sides of the publishing world. I’ve had over 40 books published traditionally, ranging from ‘nice’ to ‘major’ in PW Deal speak. I’ve been bringing my backlist into print with my own company and also will publish original titles through that imprint while also submitting original titles to my agent. I’ve been sifting through all the material out there and would like talk about some general realities, as we start Write It Forward. Yes, there are exceptions to these realities, but knowing them gives you a better understanding. I’m also going to talk about some myths. My goal is to give you information to help you make your own decisions. One of the tenets of Warrior Writer, which we’ll discuss in a future blog is the need to break rules to succeed. But the first of the three rules of rule breaking is to know the rules.
- Traditional publishing is on its last gasp. Myth. The medium of the book is shifting from print to electronic, and that change will happen faster than most in the industry want to admit. Exponentially, not linearly. The brand name authors are all with traditional publishers. We’ve had a few break away like Covey and Seth Godin (note non-fiction authors with a brand). But for the near future your already established fiction authors will stay with their publishers. The business is evolving. And, sad to say, the people who are getting crunched are the mid-list authors. With fewer bookstores, less distribution and space to rack books. And with so many people self-publishing electronically, ‘real’ books are getting lost in the deluge.
- Anyone can self-publish. True. So what? There’s a big difference between producing a product and selling a product. Also, the producing isn’t as easy as most people think. Can you do a good cover that pops in thumbnail? Can you format the book for all the different platforms (Kindle, iBookstore, etc. etc.). Do you understand the pricing system and how publishing with Smashwords could actually cost you with Kindle? Has your book been copy-edited? Is the book any good? I consider the rejection rates for agents to be equal to the slush rate that is being self-published. LULU’s CEO said they want a million authors selling a hundred books rather than a hundred authors selling a million books. Good for LULU maybe, not good for authors. If you are not an already established author, with fans and a brand, I really recommend against self-publishing fiction. Work harder on your craft. Less than ½ of 1 percent of self-published books sell more than 500 copies. At iUniverse, 74 titles out of 17,000 sold more than 500 copies.
- Some can self-publish and make money. True. But you need the right mixture of certain things: backlist, quality books, people who know how to handle the technology, marketing, and be in it for the long tail. At Who Dares Wins Publishing our first month in business we made $3.15. Granted we got our first book up on Kindle at the end of the month, so it wasn’t a full month. In July, just a few months later, we made over $3,000. Our iBookstore sales are gathering steam. We also just uploaded audio of presentations to iTunes and other audio outlets. And the one royalty rate no one talks about is the 100% royalty rate for books sold at our web site that are correctly formatted for various e-readers, which also adds four figures of income. As we bring in more authors, we will expend exponentially, not linearly. The goal is to break into 5 figures a month within a year. As I wrote that, an email message popped up: a direct sale from our web site of Kristen Lamb’s We Are Not Alone: The Writers Guide to Social Media. Ka-ching for us and for her.
- Bookstores are dying. Sort of. Like publishers, they have to evolve. I see every B&N now has a Nook stand right in front. Where the discount bestsellers used to be. Booksellers, like everyone else in the business, have to innovate. Become a community center with workshops. Have niche audiences. Connect with writers’ conferences and conventions to sell books. Look beyond the brick and mortar.
- Agents and editors don’t care about quality writing, they just want the money. Yes, every agent has to go through the super-secret Tom Cruise SHOW ME THE MONEY initiation. Hey, we live in a capitalist society. We all have to make money. Agents care about the quality of the book. But they also have to consider the marketability of the book. Those black beret angsty artsy types who bemoan the masses. Well. Have fun. This is a business, which also going back to self-publishing: can you run a business? It’s been a steep learning curve for us
- eBooks with just words are not a good format for non-fiction. We’ve found our non-fiction sells much better in print than in eBook. People want the physical books if it’s a How-To book so they can refer to it. What we are going to do with our non-fiction (and some fiction) eBooks are:
- Enhanced books are here. In my current WIP, The Long Gray Line: Duty, I’m inserting maps and photos where appropriate. The story start in 1840 at West Point and goes to the Battle of Shiloh. The photos of historical characters in the story will enhance their image for the reader. The maps will keep them oriented. I’ll post on this blog once we’ve done this to let you know how it goes. For the next generation of Warrior Writer, we’re going to imbed video of me presenting some of the material. We are only limited by our ability to learn the technology.
- Traditional Publishers take care of your marketing and publicity. Excuse me while I get my hysterics under control. I asked an editor at Random House, after getting blanked on any publicity/marketing support for the umpteenth time on a series that’s sold over a million books, who they really gave their marketing/publicity to. He said their bestselling authors. More and more, publicity falls on the authors shoulders. We will have several blogs on that here in the future, it’s such an important factor.
So those are just a few of the realities we’re staring at as we Write It Forward.
Warrior Writer Tip: The Three Rules of Rule Breaking from Warrior Writer: From Writer To Published Author The paradoxical rules of rule breaking:
1. Know the rule. (Breaking a rule because you don’t know or understand it, is just being dumb)
2. Have a good reason for breaking the rule. (I ask WHY a lot in my workshops. I don’t believe there are any rules of writing—you just need a good reason why you are doing something.)
3. Accept the consequences of breaking the rule. (If it worked, you’re a genius. If it didn’t, figure out what went wrong, reboot and restart)
Next week we’ll discuss the concept of Warrior Writer because that’s at the core Write It Forward, facing the future of publishing with confidence and success.
Next appearance: Greater Seattle Romance Writers presentation on conflict and plot 11 September, Seattle.
What single thing do you think is a reality that needs to be understood and the biggest myth that needs to be busted?
