Though I am excited to be making progress, I am tempering this enthusiasm to make certain the proper amount of time is spent on review and improvements. As much as I want to release the book to the world, I want to do it right.
While I'm not yet prepared to start giving details about the chapters, I would like to spend a moment talking about publishing. The typical publishing process is long, tedious, and unpredictable. Authors can easily spend more than a year trying to find a suitable publisher for their book. When they do find this publisher, it will take at least another 6 months for the book to hit shelves (assuming the editor does not want sweeping changes made).
While the publisher usually advances money to the author, this money is advanced against future royalties. This means if the publisher advances $10,000, the author will need to sell $10,000 worth of royalties before they see another cent. Even with a well known publisher backing them, most authors don't sell more than a few thousand copies. This means that they don't even make back their advance. The average novel is out of print within a year of it's initial release.
Traditionally, a reputable publishing house was the only way to go. Self publishing companies (often referred to as vanity publishers) often charged a lot of money up front for a run of books. The author then had to literally sell their book door to door. Self publishing doomed any chance that a book or author had of succeeding.
This has changed dramatically in the last few years. Where mass-print publishers with an army of marketers once reigned, now stand empty buildings. The publishing houses of old are driving as fast as they can towards digital distribution. Those who refused to change are now going bankrupt. Many companies are also offering print on demand- a method of publishing that allows books to be printed as they are sold, with royalties paid to the author.
Amazon's Kindle and it's digital library make up 60% of book sales on Amazon, and a substantial portion of large retailers like Barnes and Noble. Other digital distribution companies like Scribd are seeing a massive influx of traditional publishers, who are now posting professionally published works in digital formats to save money and increase their customer base.
Considering the best deal an author can get from a traditional publisher is 15% (and that is a hard limit. You simply aren't going to earn any more), the substantial offering of 50% to 80% given by companies like Scribd and Amazon make far more lucrative prospects to Authors.
What does this mean? Well, mostly it means that publishing has become worlds easier for would-be authors. Where once they could expect only rejection letters, they now receive royalties. It also makes marketing self-published books far easier. With companies like Google and Facebook allowing cost effective advertising to millions of potential customers, the only true advantage of a publisher has been eliminated.
And to be fair, that was the only true service a publisher could offer. Writers could pay a freelance editor, cover artist, printer, and make their own website. The one thing that was of great difficulty was marketing the book to large outlets and libraries. In the digital world, everyone is equal.
There are no concerns about under printing, losing shelf space, or going out of print. Everyone has the same chance to sell. In fact, an author can discount their books substantially (heck, the publisher would only pay them a $1.50 per book anyway. Why not sell it for $2?) and severely undercut a publishing house who has substantial overhead.
While the internet is no longer a new oddity in our culture, it is still a new frontier, and an excellent place for enterprising individuals to carve a living. That is, if they know where to look and are willing to commit to hard work and constant learning. The possibilities are truly endless.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post for those interested in working independently. The digital age has definitely changed what we have access to learn, and to do.
One thing I'd like to see your take on is the stigma of self-publishing. Thanks to a great amount of less than quality work being self-published, self-published books are often considered to be ones that couldn't get picked up by a traditional publisher. To further back that thought, there are no self-published books with sweeping debuts like Harry Potter or Twilight.
Naturally, I have my own thoughts on all this, but I'd like to see yours.
Take care!
//Rainy
I need to post this in two sections, since blogger counts 1042 characters as more than 1096:
DeleteHello Rainy, and thanks for your interest in my blog. I believe that the failure of self-publishing lies heavily in the misconception of writers. Literature is an industry, just like car manufacturing, chemical production, and transportation.
For an author to release a single, stand alone book is much like GM or Toyota releasing a single car. Some people may like it, but how many people want to consider a company with only a single vehicle? Authors need to build a product line or portfolio in the same way.
Producing multiple works attracts much more attention than relying on a single book or piece of work (even if it is your magnum opus). All the popular writers did not write a lot of books because they were famous, they became famous because the wrote a lot of books.
Now, don't mistake quantity for quality. Literature needs to be readable and enjoyable. But an anthology of short stories can net more attention than a single book, and both can be electronically published.
The second way that many self-publishers fail at is the only real service that traditional publishers give. Marketing is absolutely vital for any company to survive. It is no different for authors. Without the ability to let the world know about your books, how are you going to sell them? Spending hours at a booth in a book store or library isn't very helpful.
The digital world is solving this problem for us. Digital sales are surpassing physical sales, so it make sense to market your works digitally as well. Google Adsense is one example of how you can set an advertising budget (as little as $20 per month) to promote your books. Facebook also has targeted advertising.
Many bookstores and libraries are interested in local authors, so making several trips across your state (assuming you live in the US) is a viable method of promoting your literature. Digital publishers such as Scribd allow for keywords and Google site crawls to get your literature into search engines. More than 90% of the literature passed through Create Space is added to the Amazon store (Create Space is a print-on-demand publisher owned by Amazon).
Keep in mind that publishing is only the first step towards becoming successful. Self-publishing requires that you do a lot of leg work to promote your works and build a reputation. Even the largest companies still promote their products and hope they sell.
As for the stigma of self-publishing, I believe it is a poor attitude displayed by a dying industry. Print houses are withering away at an astonishing pace, with major publications going to digital and print-on-demand distribution. While I don't believe printed material will go away entirely (at least, not for a very long time), there does seem to be a lot of fear behind the contempt for self-publishing.
DeleteThere may be a bit of animosity from published authors, who suffered through years of rejection letters before finally getting a chance. For someone to simply click a button and be published seems beneath them, even if the literature is at the same level. They still want the phrase "I'm published" to mean something.
And to be fair, publishers were weeding out a lot of really bad writing to find works that were (at least grammatically) readable. But the process of being accepted for publishing is a convoluted crap shoot. Anything from your political stance to the main character's religion can get it rejected, despite being well written and entertaining.
With digital publication comes instant, anonymous reviews and rating. Strangers have no reservations about hammer a book that does not live up to their expectations. The fear of spending $10+ on literature that a 3rd grader can write is being snuffed out by instant peer reviews- something that not even traditional publishers can achieve.
At this point, those who push to self-publish and promote their books are pioneers, not pariahs. It will not be an easy path to tread, but no roads well traveled are worth walking.
ad astra per aspera
"A rough road leads to the stars."
- Memorial of Apollo 1 Astronauts.
I need to post this in two sections, since blogger counts 1042 characters as more than 1096:
DeleteHello Rainy, and thanks for your interest in my blog. I believe that the failure of self-publishing lies heavily in the misconception of writers. Literature is an industry, just like car manufacturing, chemical production, and transportation.
For an author to release a single, stand alone book is much like GM or Toyota releasing a single car. Some people may like it, but how many people want to consider a company with only a single vehicle? Authors need to build a product line or portfolio in the same way.
Producing multiple works attracts much more attention than relying on a single book or piece of work (even if it is your magnum opus). All the popular writers did not write a lot of books because they were famous, they became famous because the wrote a lot of books.
Now, don't mistake quantity for quality. Literature needs to be readable and enjoyable. But an anthology of short stories can net more attention than a single book, and both can be electronically published.
The second way that many self-publishers fail at is the only real service that traditional publishers give. Marketing is absolutely vital for any company to survive. It is no different for authors. Without the ability to let the world know about your books, how are you going to sell them? Spending hours at a booth in a book store or library isn't very helpful.
The digital world is solving this problem for us. Digital sales are surpassing physical sales, so it make sense to market your works digitally as well. Google Adsense is one example of how you can set an advertising budget (as little as $20 per month) to promote your books. Facebook also has targeted advertising.
Many bookstores and libraries are interested in local authors, so making several trips across your state (assuming you live in the US) is a viable method of promoting your literature. Digital publishers such as Scribd allow for keywords and Google site crawls to get your literature into search engines. More than 90% of the literature passed through Create Space is added to the Amazon store (Create Space is a print-on-demand publisher owned by Amazon).
Keep in mind that publishing is only the first step towards becoming successful. Self-publishing requires that you do a lot of leg work to promote your works and build a reputation. Even the largest companies still promote their products and hope they sell.