Publishers May No Longer Be Necessary

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 License

Planning and Numbers

I have to rant for just a minute or two. I am in the middle of writing my first complete novel. After quite a bit of deliberation on the subject (and life in general), I decided to epub the book on Amazon, B&N, and the other digital media outlets. I read some blogs of authors who are adamantly against this practice citing that their epub sales make up less than 1% of their total sales margins. Now, let's look at the facts for a second or three. Each and every person that I have seen this argument from is looking at a couple of VERY skewed numbers.

1.) Their books are released in print form first. Then several months later the digital format hits the downloads. What? I can't fathom this. This isn't even a post about the fact that traditional (legacy if you must) publishing puts most new books out several months beyond their completion date. At times they even leave the contract nebulous for months after the "hand shake deal" is struck. But, back on topic, if the book is released in print first and the epub is only an afterthought, you can't really compare the total sales numbers accurately. There is too much separation of product.

2.) The more gaping flaw in this logic, is the fact that I have yet to see a single person post that their digitals sold 1% of their total sales volume that didn't have their book priced obscenely high. Come on, $9.98 for an epub, when the paper version is $9.99?!!?!!?! Really?

Let's look at the numbers on this one. You sell 100 books at $10. That's $1000 in sales which amounts to $150 in royalties for the average contract. Then you sell 1 ebook at $10, making you guessed it $1.50. Now, let's put the numbers in the right perspective. Sell that same 100 books at $10. There you go $150. Put the digital book at a much MUCH more reasonable price, say $2.99 or $3.99. Let's use $2.99 for this example. If you posted it yourself you get 70% of that... SO about $2. Sell the same amount dollar wise and you get 3.33 sales for the $10 sale OR $7 royalty. With the same 1% of total sales dollars, you end up with an extra meal at a fast food restaurant. HOWEVER, if Wal-Mart has taught us anything at all, it's that when you LOWER price, you increase total sales exponentially. You might not make quite as much per item, but your number of sales will vastly overpower that. But why settle for 15% when you can get 70% on your own.

I know my numbers are skewed some, but there is SOLID statistical data compiled by others JA Konrath for one. I know everyone cites him, but there are dozens of others.

It's not guaranteed, but the numbers just make WAY more sense to keep my digital rights and run with it. Especially since my wife has worked as a proofer/editor before.

But on a different and more personal note, my kids are awesome! My little boy hit a double today and ended up scoring. He also fielded a ball hit near him. (He plays Tball, so these things are great victories.) My youngest child is adorable, so much so that in fact an old man randomly stopped and interrupted his own conversation to tell her and my grandmother that she is absolutely beautiful. Creepy and sweet at the same time. My stepdaughter and son are both showing that they are growing into quite the young adults. At times, I know what my mother meant by the phrase, "I hope you have children just like you one day." Part compliment and part prophetic curse. Well, not so much a compliment, but oh well. My wife is amazing. She astounds me every day with her ability to clarify what I am trying to say to myself. In my writing and my life. I am very happy with where my life is and is leading. Times are tough. We struggle. But we push ahead.

If you are still reading, check out my book, Bound by Blood, it should be out on Amazon.com in late summer. In the mean time, leave a comment below.

Time to Revisit my Outline

I have finished Chapter 3 and started Chapter 4 of my upcoming novel, Bound by Blood. I just sat back down and plotted a large part of the rest of the story. This has given me a pretty strong idea of the rest of the book and the point of views that I want to pursue. I am loving the process of writing. I have been taking some time to really get to know the industry of writing as well.

My main protagonist has been a little flat, so he and I had to spend some time together over the past couple of days. I think that he, and perhaps I, have come to a better understanding of who he is and should be. It turns out that the most fleshed out character in the story has completed her part of the story by Chapter 4 except perhaps a brief return later. But she's just so much fun to write.

Lately, I have been battling the standard fears that most new writers go through. Unfortunately, I have this deep seated need for personal validation. I read through my rough draft so far and am finding some so-so wording and occasional repetitiveness. Perhaps, that's to be expected. What it sets up in my mind is the idea that I am a terrible writer. Because of this, I have been considering posting something here so see what people say about it. Not sure I have enough of a following to warrant that. Let's check, um... followers 0. So nope. But if you happen to read this and want me to post up a bit, leave a comment and I will see what I can dig up.

Either way, I will have something to post up here pretty soon. I hope to be finished with my rough draft by the end of the month. Then spend the next bit editing and looking for cover art. Marketing is a different kind of beast though. I am still working on marketing strategies. The typical Blogs, Tweets, and Facebook stuff will only get me so far without people already knowing me. If you have suggestions, chime in.