If you have participated in the publishing industry over the
past 10 years or so, you have been part of one of the most dramatic paradigm
changes in the history of modern economics. If you haven't then pay attention
because I believe these changes will pervade almost all areas of business over
the next 10 years. Sit back and let me explain for a minute.
The Old Guard
For over 100 years the publishing industry has operated
under a very specific mechanism. An author will write a book. She will toil
away for hours every day. Days turn into weeks. Weeks turn into months.
Finally, when she can no longer stand the work gnawing away at her soul, she
sends it out querying agents to represent her work. She submits a few chapters
as a taste, hoping to get a bite from at least one agent. IF she is lucky and
the work is good enough and all the stars align and lightning strikes twice and
she holds her breath and is persistent enough, she will get a request for the
full manuscript. From that small group of second looks maybe an agent will pick
her up as a client. THEN, the agent will basically do the same to publishers
looking for a publisher to actually print the work.
That insane amount of work could land the lucky few a big
million dollar contract. What percent? Who knows. Chances are, if the book
sells to a publisher at all, the contract looks a bit more like this. The
author will get an advance of about $5,000. Then if that pays out, she will get
12-17% on her books from that point on, but don't count on her book advancing
out. And the agent takes a 15% cut of that, leaving the author with something
looking more like 10-15%. Most don't make out the advance, however.
The tough part about all of this is that the Big Huge
Publishing house gets to keep the rights to her books (including digital rights
and overseas rights and movie rights, etc) for nearly ever because of loopholes
in the contracts that she signed.
The New Hotness
Now, fast forward to the present. Amazon digital publishing
is HUGE. Independent authors make up a giant portion of the publishing
industry. Amazon's Kindle has been around for over 5 years and Amazon is
GROWING. Now, to be fair, the growth of e-book sales is slowing. What that
means is that the percentage by which the number of e-book sales has grown in
the past years is lessening. meaning 100% growth two years ago, 50% growth this
year, and maybe a smaller percentage growth next year. It's still growth, just
not as fast.
With Kindle Direct Publishing (self published on
Amazon.com), the author makes 70% royalties on any e-book sold with a price of
$2.99 or more and 35% on any priced under the $2.99 price point. Even more, the
author keeps ALL rights to the work. The author can change the price at any
time.
What's it All Mean?
I am sure if you are informed on the publishing industry at
all that you know there are benefits to having an agent and a
traditional/legacy publisher. If you are familiar with this topic at all
though, you know you can buy all the editing, proofing, cover design,
marketing, and print that any publisher can. In fact, you might be able to do
it for much less than a traditional publisher will take out of your earnings.
Some interesting numbers are starting to show up, and they are scaring Big
Publishing. Some of the biggest proponents are rushing to put out articles to
refute various claims being made by independent publishers. You can check some
of those numbers yourself at www.authorearnings.com and maybe you will see what
I am referring to. If you don't care to follow the link, here are the basics. A
HUGE percentage of the top 50,000 bestselling books on Amazon are written and
distributed privately by independent authors. Don't believe me or want a
different perspective, check out J.A. Konrath's post on the same numbers here.
If you are writing and don't already have a major publishing
deal, consider self publishing. But first make sure you have the basics covered
like strong writing, good editing, a great cover, and great formatting.
You can read my short stories on your Kindle today, find a
complete list here.
image courtesy: www.morguefile.com used under morgueFile
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