PART 1: To Recap
So, you’ve finished your first novel. You’ve worked hard on it for over a year, sacrificing time with your loved ones and friends, giving up your hobbies and pastimes, waking up early or going to bed late — all in the pursuit of the dream. Now you’ve begun the process of submitting the manuscript to publishers, and all you’re getting is rejection letters, or worse, no response at all. At this point, you might be tempted to self-publish your novel.
Personally, I think the worst thing a new author can do is self-publish their work. There are a number of reasons why:
1. You need an editor: You become a better writer by writing every day and reading every day. You’ve heard a number of professional authors offer this advice. You’ve heard it so many times that you can recite it in your sleep. Do you know why so many professional authors insist on this rule? BECAUSE IT’S TRUE.
However, writing every day and reading every day are not the only things a developing author requires. You also need a good editor — someone who actually understands what an editor does. Someone who can cut out the bullshit in your manuscript (and believe me, there’s bullshit in your manuscript. That doesn’t change whether it’s your first novel or your fiftieth). Someone who can help you shape your work and your words. Who can help you find your voice and hone your skill and develop your craft. Even rejection letters are a part of this. If you collect ten rejection letters, and you line them up side-by-side, you will quite often find that most of the editors are touching on some similarities related to your submission. Maybe it’s a plot twist that doesn’t work or a character that seems unbelievable or a wonky plot structure. These are things you can fix. Things that will improve your work. Editorial input is vital to your manuscript. Self-publishing does not give you access to this.
2. You need a distributor: Unless you are employed by Ingram, Diamond or Baker & Taylor, chances are slim that your self-published book will end up in your local Borders or Barnes & Noble. Sure, you can act as your own distributor. But do you know how hard that is? You’ll be spending ALL of your time trying to sell your first book, rather than spending ALL of your time writing the follow-up. And that time will not be well-spent, because your efforts will ultimately prove futile. Point-of-fact: most chain stores do not carry self-published books on a national level. Sure, you can set up a signing at your local Borders, and maybe you’ll sell five copies — but that’s all you’ll sell.
Not only do you need professional distribution — you also need a professional designer: someone who can lay out your book, design a cover, choose a font, etc. Lulu.com and iUniverse and other self-publishing houses are full of examples of authors who thought they could do this… and the results are less than inspiring.
3. They’re all gonna laugh at you: Yes, self-publishing has become more commonplace, but it still carries a stigma*. That’s not your fault, and it’s not fair, but that’s the way it is. What you need to understand is that for every decent self-published novel there are 1,000,000,000 really shitty self-published novels. That’s what you’re competing against. Maybe your novel is the greatest thing since War and Peace, but in the minds of the general reading public, it’s another groan-or-giggle-inducing paranoid rant on how Princess Di was killed by the same Reptilian aliens who ordered Nixon to order Stephen King to kill John Lennon. (I am not making this up. Google it. There are people who really believe these things, and sometimes, they believe all of them at once).
If you’re writing with the ultimate goal of becoming a professional author, then you need to conduct yourself accordingly. You need to approach publishing professionally. You need to make a good impression. No matter how good your first novel is, if it’s self-published, neither you or your novel will be received fairly.
*This does not apply to comics, a field where self-publishing is often a badge of honor.
Part 2: Eggs
As a mid-lister, I make my living by writing at least two mass-market books per year, and supplementing that income with small press work, primarily targeted at the collectible market. I’m not alone in this. Most of my mid-list friends earn their livings in the exact same way. Sometimes, you get a movie option or some comic book or media tie-in work, and that helps out. But you can’t count on those. For the last decade, the way many of us put food on the table was to sell one or two novels a year to a mass-market house, and then sell a few novellas or a short story collection to a reputable small press who specialized in producing books targeted at the collectible market.
Sadly, earning a living in such a manner is no longer viable in this economy. The collectible market is in trouble for a number of reasons. Here is the Cliff’s Notes version:
There are a finite number of customers for the collectible market. Not every reader is willing to shell out $40 to $100 just to read their favorite author’s new novel. They’ll wait for the paperback or trade paperback. The customer pool for signed, limited editions of horror novels is relatively small. However, as the technological advances in publishing made it easier for anyone to start their own small press, we saw the birth of dozens of new small presses specializing in the collector’s market.
At first, this was wonderful for mid-listers, because it meant we had more opportunities to sell our work and supplement our income, and maybe our kids could eat Campbells Soup rather than Ramen Noodles. And for a while, the relatively small customer base embraced these new options. Large sums of money were paid for lifetime subscriptions and personalized inscriptions and lettered editions that would come with more bells and whistles than a box of Cracker Jack.
Then a number of things happened:
1. Too Many Eggs In One Basket: Many presses foolishly planned on moving the majority of their books through one or two booksellers, rather than opting for wider distribution or pushing direct sales. When their favored bookseller went out of business, these small presses were suddenly left with massive amounts of unsold stock and no distribution network to sell it. They subsequently went out of business.
2. Too Many Eggs: There were more books being produced for the collectible market than there were customers in the base. That was okay for a brief while, but as soon as the economy went south, sales dried up. The same thing happened to the mass-market horror genre in the mid-Nineties. There were too many books and not enough people to buy those books. This time, it has impacted the high end limited editions. People can spend $7 on a paperback and still pay their mortgage. Buying an $80 hardcover is a different prospect.
3. Too Many Eggs Expected: Many presses announced an overly-ambitious publishing schedule, promising (in some cases) ten or twenty books their first year. Some ultimately published one or two of the announced titles. Others never even did that before going out of business. Those who remained in business now face skepticism from the customer base, who are wary of pre-ordering from them, and thus, their announcements fail to incite excitement or immediate demand from those same customers. If customers aren’t pre-ordering, then revenue isn’t coming in.
4. Too Many Broken Eggs: Some of these new presses produced an inferior product that, while perfectly readable, was not of the quality that the collector’s market demands. This led to further disillusionment among the customer-base, which again, led to an interruption of revenue.
5. Rotten Eggs: Some of the customer base has turned away, not because of financial considerations, but because of personal conflicts with various publishers. However, given the relatively small size of that customer base, combined with Al Gore’s popular invention, the Internet, those personal conflicts aren’t always private. Sometimes, the conflicts are justified. Other times, they are not. Regardless, it has impacted the customer base to the point where some have quit purchasing altogether.
Part 3: “Do as I say, not as I do.”
Because there’s really no other way to title this third part…
Writing for a living is a tough gig. Yes, the job itself is easy. I’ve worked hard jobs. I’ve sweated in a foundry and shoveled dirt and hauled boxes on a loading dock and drove truck and scrubbed toilets. I even worked as a telemarketer. These are all hard jobs. Writing is hard, too, but you get to work in your pajamas and the commute is only as far as the coffee pot.
The biggest challenge of writing for a living (in my opinion) is getting paid on time and not getting fucked. A good agent can help you with these, but not all agents are good agents, and some authors (like myself) act as their own agent, which is even riskier.
Over the last six-months, the common refrain I hear from a large number of horror mid-listers is, “Christ, at this point, it would be easier to self-publish.”
And then I say, “Well, why don’t we?”
And then they say, “Because of the stigma. How can we caution new writers not to self-publish, and then turn around and do it ourselves?”
Many mid-listers are thinking it. Indeed, when I talk to people about it, the other common refrain seems to be, “Well, I’d like to experiment with it, but I don’t want to be the first. Somebody needs to start the discussion.”
So let’s do that. Let’s start a discussion.
Is it professionally acceptable for a mid-lister, with a proven customer base that purchases anything he/she writes, to dabble with self-publishing? Can someone like Graham Masterton, who has an out-of-print back list longer than my arm, bring those books out himself via Amazon’s CreateSpace and not face derision from his peers? Can J.F. Gonzalez publish a short story collection (which he can’t place with a mass-market publisher) via Lulu.com, rather than gambling on a small press who may or may not suffer from one of the things listed above? Can Nick Mamatas gather his movie reviews, self-publish them as a chapbook, and sell them to readers of his LiveJournal?
Could an established veteran like me self-publish a book that’s been professionally edited and designed, and market it directly to his or her fan base, thus getting around the distribution issues, and not be called a hypocrite?
Understand, I like seeing my books in stores. My ego is such that I get a vicarious thrill out of running across my latest novel in an airport kiosk. I’ll continue to write and sell to the mass market because I enjoy it, and more importantly, because the majority of my readership prefers it, price-wise. And I’ll continue to publish the occasional limited edition collectible as long as the market allows. But with that collectible market in such turmoil right now, and with a family to feed, is experimenting with self-publishing an acceptable alternative? Or would I be run out of town on a rail?
I’m not just asking for me. There are a number of other mid-listers who, right now, are saying, “Oh, good. Keene asked the question so I don’t have to.”
The discussion is open. All viewpoints will be welcomed and heard, provided you don’t behave like a douche. If possible, I’d like to keep the discussion here, in the comments section, rather than seeing it spread all over Twitter, Facebook, and various other Blogs and message boards, thus diluting the conversation and opinions.
Welcome to 2010…
Thought-provoking post (and enlightening comments). Thank you!
This is a great conversation, and I think I should chime in since Brian was kind enough to mention my CreateSpace book, The Corruptor as sort of a prelude to this topic. I am certainly not in any position to give anyone advice on how to be a professional writer- and with my track record, if I did, you should do the exact opposite, but I can give my observations concerning the benefits and pitfalls of self-pubbing(printing) as I understand them. (I’ll use CreateSpace as an example since that is what I am using)
1) Self pubbing (like CreateSpace) will not do anything to establish a career as a professional writer for those who wish to be one. PLease review the cogent remarks from the established writers for validation.
2) However, if one already HAS an established career and fan base, this venue (along with KINDLE) has the potential to garner some untapped revenue.
From my own brief example- my capital outlay for CreateSpace was 35.00. I am able to purchase my 12.00 list price book for less than 5bucks. I know the reasonable extent of my out of hand audience so I am not commiting any extra money to buying on hand copies of my book that wont sell. FOr 12.00 cover on Amazon, I get about 3 bucks royalty.
I’m not planning on doing any actual promotion until March (for personal reasons).
And keeping in mind that all the money I make on this book is going to Nothingbutnets.net (so go buy it! or make a direct donation!),
since Dec. 1 about 50 nets have been purchased as a result of the CreateSpace sales. SO it can, and is, working for me. But I had a specific goal in mind for The Corruptor when I chose to go with CreateSpace. And my goal was not to establish a career or crow about the next big must read thriller from someone no one has heard of. I know that those goals are unrealistic especially via a self-pubbed route. Knowing, as a writer, what you hope to realistically accomplish with your work, and what will make you happy is essential.
In the end, self-pubbing can put some coin in your pocket if you have the fanbase who will utilize it (but this will only work once if you dont put out a good product-thats another missive). And if your an amateur like me, it’s a pressure free venue for making your work available.
But if you want to create a career as professional writer, or create an audience for your work- CreateSpace and self-pubbing isn’t to your benefit.
I am only a reader and have great respect for anyone who is willing to the put the time, heart and energy into sharing their stories. To me a story or a book is a very intimate glimpse into an author’s thoughts. I always feel privileged to be a part of that journey especially if the story makes an impact. That being said, I have found over the years, as a fan of horror, book stores (Barnes and Noble and Borders etc) have such a small limited selection. I must be an optimist because I continue to go back over and over and usually leave disappointed. Most of my purchases are done online and through Amazon. I have discovered some very gifted writers whom I am now extremely loyal to. With Ebook and Kindle the cost is affordable and I am always willing to take a risk or chance. Self published or not I hope that if an author has a story to tell that he/she find whatever means necessary to tell the tale.
I don’t think putting out a backlist or even a collection of previously published short stories in a collection is self publishing. These are works that have already been accepted and edited through traditional sources and are just being reprinted.
Some people are hung up with POD = self publishing and Brian did a great post years ago explaining the difference. The printer is irrelevant as long as you know how or have someone that can do editing, layout and a cover. If you don’t, the most some printers will tell you is that it looks messed up and should be redone. The key (assuming the print and binding quality is consistent) is the find the cheapest per unit cost. Distribution deals are also a serious consideration.
I do think that for new works, it is more of a grey area. Assuming the writer has access to a good editor and has access to a layout person, then sure it can be done and the end result may be no different than going through a 3rd party publisher. The challenge I see with this is that in this relationship, the editor and layout person will be working for the writer instead of a separate publisher. No matter how these people try, they will always have a harder time telling the writer that is directly paying them that something needs to be tweaked, changed or deleted. I believe that without an external review and the dynamic that creates for the editing process that quality will slip. Even currently successful mid list writers could be tempted to influence or argue with an editor they pay, and put out product that is less than what it could have been.
If maximizing profit is a goal, then I like the idea of several mid list writers pooling their resources in a limited liability partnership. A group can negotiate cheaper printing costs than one person due to the larger volume, and if it is set up properly, peer review could take the place of 3rd party validation for new works.
I’ve been following the discussion with interest and appreciate the various viewpoints. One thing that keeps getting repeated is that this might work for a writer with “an established fan base.” Thtat, of course, begs the question – what do you consider an established fan base? 100 readers? 500 readers? 5000 readers? I’m curious to know what folks had in mind when they used the term…
Hey big Bri, I can totally dig where you’re coming from. I’ve written 30 plus short stories and almost 4 novels and I’ve never been published by anyone (that’s right folks, never made a penny, but I’m still writing. So either I suck, or I haven’t been discovered yet.) Piss on my situation though(for now at least), but the fact is that I think most authors are grossly underpaid and I don’t even know what you fortunate mid-market authors make, but whatever it is it ain’t enough. Not for the entertainment value derived from a book. (Hey, my opinion only, but by God, without stories there ain’t shit as far as entertainment goes!) Fact is though, that whenever a new novel comes out by,: Brian Keene, Gord Rollo, Robert Dunbar, Michael Laimo, Deborah Leblanc, or any horror author that gets my adrenaline pumping I walk straight to the counter and buy it! So stick that where it belongs publishers or corporate fucks with a $ sign up their ass! I know money is the bottom line, but (Hello!) the bottom line is the writer, the author, the sage, the grandmaster. The one who creates and ultimately entertains! Sincerely, Todd Wittenmyer. Author of: The Scronger, The Vulnerable Gods, The House of the Gods, and Graysun and the Colored Rain.
Joe brought up a good point. I believe an established fan base needs to be 1,000+ hardcore fans. Not just casual readers, but fans who buy everything you write and tell everyone they know about your books.
Eric Enck did it. He’s a published author with a NY publisher. I saw in shocklines a discussion about him. His first publisher, TW Publishing is an independent publisher, and now sells a million titles a year. http://www.teriwoodspublishing.com
And he went on to start Snuff Books http://www.snuffbooks.com
If he can do it, I’m sure you can being he only had a modicum of success.
Haven’t read all of the thread yet, but figured I’d poke my head in here just the same. I think that authors are better off if they can form a relationship with *one* reputable specialty press to handle both side projects and limited editions of their NY published works, as appropriate. That way, the author has someone to help build his readership, can negotiate a good royalty rate as his or her most ardent fans discover the relationship between the press and author, and, best of all, the author doesn’t have to worry about the pitfalls of new relationships with many new presses.
Fifteen years in, this model continues to work for SubPress. It’s one I recommend wholeheartedly to both authors and publishers alike.
As an added benefit, it saves a lot of time and effort the writer would spend in learning a new skill set.
Best,
Billl
Disclosures, since they seem to be germane to some: I’m a reader, write for a living (though as head of communications at a colossal business — so am I a WRITER writer?), have a big salary, buy some collectibles, and pretty much buy all Brian sells. Not all, but close to it.
Thoughts:
1. It’s not hypocrisy if you’re established. You counseled people not to begin their careers with vanity presses, Brian. This logic foots.
2. The term “self-publishing” is inaccurate, if not bankrupt. The meaning of the term that’s stigmatized is actually “to publish vainly.” We’re not talking about doing that. This is a business conversation about distribution channels — specifically, direct distribution*.
3. You already offer direct distribution. I bought both a newsletter and a lifetime subscription directly from you. You design, lay out and print the newsletter yourself — or, through your personal network. I also read your directly-distributed blog, which includes a serialized novel.
4. To the discussion of “sure, if the cover is good”: Cover art is bad at the small presses, even for expensive editions. I don’t know if I’m breaking kayfabe by acknowledging this, but it’s true. That makes direct production/distribution an opportunity to _improve_ on small press distro.
5. It sounds like a collective is the way to go if you mean to make direct distribution a regular practice. This will help share both risk and rub (the first by having partners, the second by exposing your buyers to others’ products.)
6. The key to a successful product is that it delivers an emotional experience. This is the single filter a customer’s brain uses to differentiate between legitimates and pretenders, from what’s to be coveted and what’s to be disdained. Your direct distributions have made the emotional connection so far largely on the power of your personality. You can continue to do that (which I bet is energy-intensive). Other directly-distributed stuff must have an emotional component — it’s an event, a special encounter, a reveal, unique. If you directly distribute without that component, you risk getting dumped on the road side with the vainly published, if only because most people will assume that’s what you’re doing.
Jason
* This is relative, I know. The only “real” and total direct distribution is if you pulp a tree from your land, make your own paper and ink, and hand-deliver your manuscript to me. Let’s not do that. By “direct” let’s say I mean, “more direct than mass market.”
I’m firmly in the camp where being self-published (actually, in most cases, “self-printed”) is (generally) okay for NON-fiction, and if you’re going to do it for fiction you had better then have some kind of established readership to support your smaller, riskier enterprises and your “resurrected” out-of-print books.
(But, then, if I were at that level, I’d just go and create my own small press and take it from there.)
Good thoughts, all. I had been out of the e-book loop because I didn’t think people would read on tiny screens. Then I started following what JA Konrath (above) was doing, releasing his older titles, even the unpublished ones. After a publisher holds your rights for years while the book isn’t available, or never gets around to publishing, you want to do everything you can to keep it alive.
I put “The Red Church” out for Kindle on Jan. 1, along with a novella “Burial to Follow” that was in a CD anthology. I was able to set my own price, use my UK-version cover, and even though I’m not a techy, spent only a few hours learning about formatting and then uploading the book. I set my own price, at $1.99, and have not marketed it at all besides a few Amazon forum posts. But already it’s earning free money after being dead for years. As Jon Merz pointed out, I get my money the next month, not nine or twelve months later, with 15 percent out, and that’s assuming I earn out the advance. But most importantly, I get new readers. That’s why I wrote the book. I still believe in it, and when formatting it, I got excited about it all over again. That’s the feeling I want to share. Plus, I make more per copy than I did on a mmpb.
I also released it for Smashwords, which distributes through a number of outlets like B&N. Right now I don’t want the hassle of setting up a print version, though I had considered Ingram’s LightningSource, which could make it available for distribution.
MarkJohnson pointed out that this type of thing could ultimately affect relationships with the industry, but I believe if you’re doing well enough to get noticed, then you’re either increasing your value or proving that maybe the publishing industry SHOULD be watching you–because NY doesn’t know a thing about e-book pricing, or else it is being deliberately disingenuous to protect traditional product.
Right now, though, Kindle is the only way I’d consider it, because it is simple, the money comes right to me, I can add any bonus material I want, and, really, unless you are one of the 100 or so top writers, you’re doing all the promotion anyway. I did take the original proof file (I matched my computer file to the paper proof version so it would always be ready for later-in-life needs), so I had a clean copy.
I am so confident that I can sell more copies of “The Red Church” this year than my publisher will sell of “They Hunger” that I started a competition with myself, tracking the sales. At this point, with little shelf presence, I have the exact same playing field–an Amazon product page.
I just hope I get sales rolling before all those big authors realize they can put their own backlists up at virtually no cost, set a low price, and have money streaming straight to them. Agents and publishers are really scared by this scenario. It’s not the future yet, but in the meantime, why not?
I’ll skip self-pubbing original work for now. At the newspaper, I get way too many horrendous PA and Xlibris titles, but I could see a future where there was some sort of vetting agency, not really a “publisher” but an organization that gives a stamp of approval, similar to the way vintage comics are graded.
As far as what my peers would think, it wasn’t even a consideration–I care way more about what I think than about what anyone thinks of me.
Kevin Kelly of Wired Magazine has this theory about fan base:
“A creator, such as an artist, musician, photographer, craftsperson, performer, animator, designer, videomaker, or author – in other words, anyone producing works of art – needs to acquire only 1,000 True Fans to make a living.”
His article about 1000 True Fans can be found here: http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2008/03/1000_true_fans.php
Also depends on why you’re doing it. I know some writers who aren’t expecting to make a living from writing but still do it just because of the pure pleasure and fun of telling stories. Doesn’t mean they aren’t seroius about what they write, but they would just rather enjoy it and make their living at a 9 to 5 then turn writing into their 9 to 5 which they think will make the act of writing more a “chore” and less exuberant. Therefore, self-publishing might be good for them just to get a kick out of seeing themselves in print and let some family and friends in on it.
As for art, I agree mostly but my favorite cover of any book I got last year was a self-published book called Family Business; the author got an actual artist to do an illustration that I thought was killer.
Sell advertising on your books. Back cover, wherever.
Sounds like if you go with a E-Format on some of your backlist ,your in easy money. I think if you go with a POD route on your reprints you do Ok little more work for yourself this way! With both Format E/POD I would put legnhty forwords or afterword and extras to help increase sale! …Original stuff would be more work but with a higher sale if done right i.e advertise, advertise, advertise. So get the word out and you’ll do just fine.
I agree that this is a great post, and an interesting conversation. However, I do feel the need to point out one thing that’s being missed and frequently brought up. Self publishing poetry is an abysmally bad, terrible idea — if you ever want to be taken seriously by other poets and the legitimate publishing sphere around poetry — which is also small press, academic press, and New York City houses — whether it’s your small chapbook/broadside publisher up to a press like the University of Pittsburgh, Graywolf, Ecco, or Penguin. Just like how genre publishing looks down at self-published horror, fantasy, and sci-fi novels, much of the poetry establishment treats self published poets as clueless novices. And most of the times that is exactly what they are.
Take a moment to browse the poetry section at Barnes and Noble (yes, they do have one). There, more than any other place in the store you see established writers rubbing book covers with iUniverse and Publish America. Everybody from the mega poetry “brand names” like Maya Angelou and Robert Bly to some of the more lesser knowns (to people outside poetry) like Frank Bidart, Marie Howe, and Paul Guest to Blue Mountain Arts greeting card hacks can be found there. And you know what, I have yet to see a self published book of poetry on those shelves that is actually of any quality.
But then again, it gets back to a few drums I often beat publically. A lot of people who claim to write poetry don’t know a whole lot about it, as a genre, a literary heritage, or a cultural phenomenon. But, yet somehow, it’s okay to pen a bunch of navel gazing drivel, self publish it, and call yourself a “poet” because you’re talking about “feelings” and such.
I don’t want to be somebody who takes a crap on somebody because they wanted to collect their personal writings together into one volume. If that fulfills an emotional need, good for them. But the instant it gets marketed to me as “poetry” … well then.
Oh, and before somebody scrambles all over themselves to point out “Walt Whitman self-pubbed leaves of grass” I was meaning this and the 20th century and the phenomenon of ignorance to contemporary poetry by a lot of self publishing poets.
And, also, I realized that my comment is about self publishing in general, not the crux of what Bryan was asking in his post. I don’t see it as self publishing in an exact sense if you’re republishing a reprint that has gone the other route first. Personally, I think there are a lot of older titles by veteran writers I’d love to see back in print. T.M. Wright instantly comes to mind.
I’ve considered going the Kindle or CreateSpace route for some of my previously published short stories or maybe a short story collection. I believe that a number of my comics fans would be interested in some of my short stories, if not an entire book of them, and this might be a simple way for me to have something a little different to sell at conventions. I’ve also considered using CreateSpace to put together a scriptbook (again primarily to sell at comic conventions). In both cases, I have specific goals in mind and a specific purpose, and it’s easier for me to guess how many copies I’d sell based on previous experience.
I’m not sure if I have the time to “do it right,” though, so I haven’t really pursued it.
But this has gotten me thinking again …
Have you looked at the profit margins for two of the biggest self-publishing services right now, lulu and Createspace? It’s better with Createspace than lulu, but the basics are that you can price a book at what you wish while keeping it affordable. Sounds great, until you factor in that you have to pay one or two editors (at anywhere from $10-$20 per 1K or words) to go over it and then pay an artist to design the image and layout of your cover and that comes out of the sales before you start actually seeing profits from your book. If you factor in those costs with the price of the book on top of the take the self-publishing service takes (pretty much the same cut as a mmpb publisher for only half the work) you are getting into territory that is prohibitive. Your collectibles buyer market will buy collectible books for $30-$40 a pop or more because the product they were buying was quality and not something they could find on the shelves of the local bookstores. Those kind of buyers won’t necessarily buy a TPB for that price. Part of the problem with the self-publishing services is the issue of quality; pages missing, upside-down pages, missing text or ink smears and these aren’t problems caused by the author but by the printer. No one is printing off a few copies to make sure it’s coming out right before they print up a hundred or a thousand copies because they are printed individually and thirty or forty different authors a day. A few dozen crappy copies go out and you have the same problem you mentioned about the collectibles market.
Then onto the cost of promotion. With a fanbase like yours it’s not that much of an issue unless you want to widen your fanbase to increase sales so you can pay off those services you hired to help get it done right before the book hit print. You want to start seeing profit after forking out three grand or more for editing and artwork. The harsh reality of self-publishing is that it’s not generally a good way to make money without putting out money and doing a lot of what your mmpb publisher does behind the scenes. If you want some good reading material google The Celestine Prophecy. That is a self-publishing success story. The author had already sold hundreds of thousands of copies before being bombarded by offers from publishing houses and sold a million copies after appearing on Oprah. I think the best think to do would be to do serious research on success vs cost of individual self-publishers and ask around at your current publishing houses in regards to how self-publishing might affect your relationship with them.
Best wishes if you do get into it. I’ll probably pick up a copy if it’s under $20.
I like the idea of a writer whose backlist has gone out of print self-publishing and selling them directly to fans. That, to my way of thinking, is the perfect use of the POD services.
However, self-publishing new material… Might that not lead to some writers bypassing the usual editorial process? I’ve seen a lot of work by pro-writers before an editor has polished it, and it’s not as good as one might expect. I’d need to be reassured that the words are of the same quality I’d get from a reputable publisher before shelling out my hard-earned cash on a self-published title.
Hello!
Just my 2cents….but as long as you did a nice job making it a truely nice collectible, I see no problem with trying self publishing. Seems like more of the profits would be yours to keep. You may or may not be rediculed by your peers, but I wouldn’t know about that part. Ask them….you know them.
(Ask Coop….if he says not to give a fuck, then don’t…this life is for you anyway. Can’t care too much of your peers opinions anyway).
Jade
Hey Brian.
Here are some points that seem to be jumping off the page:
1) Fans will buy your work regardless of the pipe it travels.
2) Tim Lebbon says: “Don’t release Ishtar… you don’t want to explain poor sales the next time you’re talking business with the big boys.
3) John Shipp says: “If you don’t swing the bat, you’ll never hit a homerun.”
4) A.P Fuchs & Carlton Mellick III are saying, “Do it, but don’t go cheap, easy and fast (Lulu & CreateSpace), turn it into an occupation, because in the end you’ll earn more money (assuming you don’t lose money not writing that next book).
5) Colum says: “Start a super group.”
6) Ron Clinton backs that up, pointing out United Artists.
7) Jon F. Merz says: “I made 10 grand. How do you like them apples?”
I’m going to say this:
If you want to become a publisher, listen to A.P. and Mellick.
If you want to run an organization, listen to Colum.
If you want to stick extra money into your pocket without a million headaches, listen to your fans, Tim, John & Jon. Here’s why:
If you release one of your early books on CreateSpace, you won’t have to talk numbers with the big boys, you fans will still buy it, you might hit a homerun, you might stick an extra $10,000 into your pocket, it won’t turn into a big, time gobbling headache, and––because CreateSpace signed with Ingram––Borders & Waldenbooks (and whoever else) will be able to stock the title.
And… the buyers in those stores know who you are. Hell, if you spent a day firing off emails to those buyers, the title would likely have a resurgence. Worst case scenario, the book doesn’t sell. Big deal. At least you didn’t waste much time, or money, or put a question mark into that next business meeting. At least you stepped up to the plate and took a swing.
But what do I know?
I’m drunk.
James, that’s sound drunk writing, the way I did with about four novels. I agree it’s perfect for out-of-print works that were published through traditional means (assuming the author has a clean copy of all the changes). Having edited a number of books, and seen early-draft work, there are some sloppy pros out there–go to Stephanie Meyer’s Web site and see what she posts for millions of eyeballs–I wouldn’t let my daughter read it.
The resurgence theory makes sense, but then there’s the same question of why books get bumped off the shelves in the first place. Limited space. New products. Midlist authors are squeezed between the flood of this month’s releases and the stacked bricks of Twilight, Potter, King, Koontz, Brown, and Janet Evanovich.
Ebooks don’t have this problem. But right now ereaders are skewed toward thrillers, SF, technofiction and Christian fiction, based on my observations of the past few weeks. I’ve been brainstorming lots of ideas about this new frontier, but believe it or not, I think the ebook window is really only about 5 to 10 years, and then everything can be stolen so easily that writers will face the problems of musicians, except we can’t give concerts (unless we’re Brian Keene, members of SMASH-CUT, or the few other authors who have a true cult following).
I don’t think reading will be dead, and I think there will be bookstores and paper books and ebooks. But I think there will be a ton of other things as well. A new type of storytelling no one’s figured out yet (this from trying to squeeze comic books onto the current ereaders–can’t even imagine what a phone screen would do to them).
I guess the larger issue is self-reliance versus needing “the big boys,” as Tim called them. At what point do you need big boys if you’re a big boy yourself? I keep thinking how Stephen King put out The Plant and seemed scared by the power he had…he couldn’t even finish it. I think the prospects were too unmooring. Practically everything he’d built his career on had shifted with a few strokes of the keyboard. And this was, what, 10 years ago?
JA Konrath is the perfect example of a writer who became the new industry–feet in both worlds. I think the major publishers were a little intimidated by what he was doing so they jumped on his bandwagon before it left without them. Scott Sigler, Dave Wellington, Cory Doctorow, others. And they are not even a real heavyweights on the order of King-Koontz-Patterson. Makes you wonder.
Beautifully said, Brian. Intense read…and well thought out. I couldn’t agree more.
I’m a little late posting on this thread. By the way Brian, great discussion. If I might add a little more fuel to the fire it would be about the possible future of publishing. In September of last year my novella, The Haunting of Sam Cabot, was published by the small press, Damnation Books. Since then, Kindle sales have outrun hard copy sales by nearly twenty to one. I think it’s telling. For the most part I don’t think readers care where their content comes from as long as they get to read something new from their favorite authors. We live in an instant gratification society. Kindle is fast and cheap, and I know from some of the letters I’m getting that new readers are more apt to take a chance on something new if they don’t have to spend an arm and a leg. Well, there’s my two cents.
As far as you’re personal concerns about backlists and such, well. You don’t need advice from me. Seems you’re doing quite well without it. Keep putting out those fine reads. I don’t think it matters who publishes your work, just make it available and it will sell.
The more midlist horror stories I hear, I think the print bottom will fall out except for bestsellers–maybe two years, maybe 10 years. But the bottom will fall out of ebooks when there are 20 million different titles available (that’s within reason, since there were a million new titles last year). Even now it’s hard enough to stand out in a sea of bobbing flotsam.
Scott Nicholson
I’m always so late on these – I stumble in from Twitter. I just wanted to add that I search your name on B&N Ebooks at least once a week. If something was added there I would buy it in a heartbeat, I don’t care who publishes it. And if something was self published anywhere that was compatible with my Nook I would figure out how to make it work.
You’re the only author I still buy paper for.. everything else is all digital from now on.
ps- I would also buy Deluge when it is finished!
Complete agreement with everything, and well-put, besides…
An author with an established fanbase and out-of-print stuff, or new stuff that’s been professionally edited, is perfectly justified to self-publish in the current climate.
For new authors; forget it…