Quote:
Originally Posted by Liviu_5
Regarding Tor - whatever I saw until now from the people from them - editors and other employees and sadly even some though luckily only a minority of writers - is just arrogance and/or cluelessness.
I never paid that much attention to the big sf houses and editors since being so big they just publish a lot, do not have a particular identity the way Baen, Daw or Pyr have - but the recent Tor.com controversies and the "we will be ready soon with e-books" attitude soured me badly on a number of people associated with them.
They still publish some of my favorite books, but it's been a big disappointment to see this.
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Understood. Regarding that tempest over the Tor free ebook program last summer, I'll be the first to say they handled it badly. Very badly, from a PR point of view. So I can tell you, because I know (casually) some of the people involved, that while they really blew it totally in that exchange, I believe they are sincerely trying to put together a solid ebook program--and it's taking way longer than they imagined it would. Are they going about it the best way? I have no idea.
The basic misunderstanding about Tor.com probably didn't help, from a PR point of view. They never envisioned Tor.com as the public face of Tor Books. (How could they not think people would see it that way? you ask. And I answer, see, that just proves that even really smart people can really get it wrong. As if it needed to be proved.) They were trying to create a discussion and SF-lovers community that just happened to be hosted by the people at Tor. Guess they should have given it a different name.
Anyway. Regarding expectations and ebook programs (leave Tor aside), let me point again to ereads.com, which was one of the first major efforts to get out-of-print books back into print in ebook (and PoD) form. Ereads has been around for something like 8 or 9 years, and it's been an uphill struggle. I put a number of my books into the program, and some made it to market while others were trapped for years in a production logjam that only now is moving again. Have my books in that program (available on fictionwise and elsewhere, in multiformat non-DRM form) proven what a viable market this is? On the contrary, sales have been abysmal. I have yet to make a dime after expenses. Everyone here might think ebooks are great (I do, too), but publishers just getting into it might be forgiven for thinking this is a small niche market that has a ways to go before it'll be very profitable.
(Damn. I swore I wouldn't get sucked into this again.)