Not long ago I wrote a blog about how authors were the gatekeepers of publishing, and I still think they are in that they control the quality of the writing, but the ultimate gatekeepers are readers. The ones who buy books. No author can survive without readers. They pay our bills. They are the arbitrators of success by investing their time and, more importantly, their money.
With all the confusion going on in publishing right now (the NY Times just had an interesting article on how Amazon is a quickly growing presence), it comes down to this simple equation that has been ignored for decades in publishing (note how the Amazon exec says almost the same thing): Writers produce the product, readers consume the product. At Who Dares Wins Publishing our motto is: Lead, follow or get the hell out of the way.
Publishers for too long focused on distributing to consignment outlets, aka bookstores, rather than selling to readers. Now that they no longer control distribution for eBooks, that’s changed drastically. Readers are free to find whatever books they want and could care less if Random House published it or Godzilla. They care about the quality of the writing and the quality of the book. No reader ever walked into a bookstore and said “Give me the next Random House.”
The bottleneck now, as I noted two blogs ago is finding the writers and books that readers like. Placement is critical. A good author that a reader can’t find, isn’t going to last long.
With this in mind, a group of authors who have had the acknowledgement of readers via sales (the ultimate determiner), by selling at least 100,000 eBooks, and most having had great success also in print, have banded together to form Readers Rule.
Right now we have bestselling authors:
J Carson Black
L.J. Sellers
Joe Nassise
Ruth Harris
And moi, Bob Mayer.
We’ve put together a web site that we’ll be expanding soon with bells and whistles such as giveaways. Right now though, you can quickly get an idea of what each author writer on their individual pages which also have direct buy links to Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
This is just a beginning of the rise of the Author. We know how valuable readers are.
In essence: Readers Rule.
Congratulations on your individual achievements as well as the new venture. I look forward to following you all!
Great idea, and I can’t wait to see how you succeed. Here’s my question. In order to protect paper sales, the Big 6 have left ebook prices high. One of these days, you have to figure they’ll drop prices by household-name authors and compete at the same price points as indie authors. If that happens, a big indie advantage disappears.
I was pleased that Ruth Harris joined forces with Anne R. Allen on her weekly blog. This endeavor sounds even more intriquing. I look foward to following this link … excuse the cliche … but … rock on
I’m a bit confused. I mean, great for all of you who have sold this many books. That’s an incredible accomplishment. However, is this a website to only further promote already best-selling authors? Or is it supposed to open up the path to other good writers who just haven’t been found yet by using the power and influence of best-selling authors? Or something else? I didn’t see any details on the website about the purpose of it.
There’s nothing confusing about it. It’s a web site where authors who have worked hard over the years and achieved a level of success are banding together to, yes, further promote themselves. It’s not a web site designed for writers, but for readers.
A big problem right now in the world of “promoting” for authors is that it’s very incestuous– authors promoting to other authors. We’re trying to reach readers.
While the theory of using “power and influence” to help writers who haven’t been “found” is a nice one, it’s unrealistic. One the hardest parts of publishing to accept is this Catch-22. I mentioned it two blogs about about how publicity departments in the Big 6 only promote authors who have become bestsellers. Why? Because they can’t “make” a bestseller. It becomes.
I think the concept is fantastic. You’re linking the two most powerful forces in the book world. I’m sure it will go brilliantly.
I think it’s a great idea too. May it be as successful as you.
About bloody time. As a reader–not a writer–I’ve felt alone and superfluous on this site. Glad to see you’re getting around to acknowledging the readers. Not all your named writers are equally high on my list, but I hope that this IDEA at least catches on.
Not crazy about the design of the site, though. It’s cold. Yes, it’s red, but it’s cold. Go figure. Ask Jen. She’ll know how to make it more welcoming.
All of this means: Good idea, Bob, and best wishes on its success.
Bonus points: Now that you have a site for readers, I won’t be dragging my carry-on into this place. Win!
Congratulations on being part of Readers Rule, Bob! It’s exciting to see a new gatekeeper popping up that’s actually created by readers! Hope I make it into Readers Rule someday.
Bob-Love the idea. Been trying to organize my “group” of fellow indie writers along same line. I think I’m the only MBA/banker/former biz owner. Need to get more to think with both sides of brain.
Scott- Not sure that big 6 dropping e-book prices will “eliminate” indie advantage. In fact, I think it will acknowledge that the e-books of “big house” authors and quality indie/small press authors are equivalent. Big 6 will lose their “cache” pricing.
I agree. Right now, having a low price carries a certain stigma at least with some readers. We will be helped by that disappearing.
Bob, I checked the website and the design is really nice. Best of luck with it.
Great Idea, Readers Rule. Well done, all… Lead, Follow or get the hell out of the way.
Lead On!
Lizzi
There are only a hand full of authors who get the majority of the spotlight. The top 5% of NY and a handful of indies who have made headlines. In between them are tons of very talented authors who have been doing their best to make a living and support their families on their chosen career–their writing. Regardless of how these authors are published its the readers who are the key to their success (besides a quality a product).
We’ve always believed that the future for the midlist authors is these like authors banding together. Readers rule, and other organizations is one way to do this. We started WDWPUB and Write It Forward with this in mind and readers rule is no different.
There is power in numbers for sure. I think it’s a great idea and may well take off.
Very cool. Looks like another site to add to my Favorites list.
Great idea. Surely others will follow suit. I’d like to see a STRONG and REPUTABLE e-book reviewer site come out… also more websites that are split by genre, that would list new and well reviewed indie authors. As a break out novelist who tried the legacy publishing route, I am finding there are not enough hours in the day to talk about this new trend- and certainly too much for one person to handle navigating this uncharted path.
I hope it works for you and I do think the concept of creating a site for readers to find good indie authors is a good one. But, if you’ve already sold 100,000+ books, haven’t you already been ‘found’? I guess those who have sold less (1,000+) and haven’t been ‘found’ by many yet, need to start their own website for readers. Great idea.
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I’d like to qualify for READERS RULE. Uh…could you buy about 9,000 of my middle grade ebooks? They’re only .$99.
Oops. Missed a couple numbers…meant 99,000! Also, please send coffee.
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