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Originally Posted by brecklundin
I wonder how much this actually harms the author? I really do not know what the typical deals authors have with publishers. Obviously different authors have a wide range of leverage with a publisher. But if an author is somewhat established aren't they usually given and advance against future sales? I ask because I dunno...
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With the big print publishers, almost all authors, even new ones, get an advance against royalties. What varies is the amount. In some genres, I think the average for new authors is $5,000 -- with some getting less. And geting paid royalties after that can take ages. I recently read about a mass market print publisher that paid royalties 14 months after publication.
But many authors are desperate enough to sign up for a "deal" like this because at least they get distribution into bookstores. Do people really think an author that desperate is going to be able to negotiate details about e-book releases and formats with their publisher?
Quote:
Originally Posted by brecklundin
Still I feel the consumer is the loser if these sort of reviews become the norm as peer reviews were once an excellent source to gauge a product. These days with angry "getting even" reviewers combined with paid reviewers, the systems are becoming less relevant every day.
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I agree. I love reading negative reviews on Amazon because so many of the glowing reviews are from people like Harriet Klausner or from people who say "It's great wow wonderful" without backing up their claims. But many of the negative ones have become just as useless. Imagine my frustration when I click a one-star review, hoping to read about the plot or writing (gee, what a concept
), only to learn that it got a one-star review because somebody didn't like the format and never read the book.
It reminds me of an angry reader I "met" on-line years ago, who gave a book a one-star review and flamed the author over my mailing list, other mailing list, and even various author boards because she thought the author was "ignoring" her at a booksigning. (It sounded more like a misunderstanding.) In the "review," she admitted that she threw the book at the author and walked out, so she clearly never read it. Amazon took it down within days. But Amazon had better service back then, and they were better at taking down "protest" reviews.
Also, I'm pretty sure Amazon has review guidelines that the reviews must actually be about the content of the book. But they aren't as good about as taking them down anymore.