Joe Konrath: Has He Changed Your Life Or Not

[Robin O'Neill]

A couple years ago I republished one of my backlist books in paperback. It was a good exercise in learning how to format and all the other elements required. Unless you are prepared to do a lot of work and invest a lot of money in publicity, trying to emulate dead-tree publishers is a very steep hill to climb.

Last year I put that same book on Smashwords as another experiment but I was busy with a book contract so I let it drop for several months. It wasn't until I found Joe Konrath's blog that I began to see the realistic possibilities in ebooks and began focusing all my attention on digital. So much so that I withdrew the Disconnected book from the publisher considering it at the time. If this book was still with them, I would still be in limbo without an answer/a contract and I would be about 2 years away from publication if they said yes.

Joe Konrath is an inspiration and because I have sent so many of his posts to my friend, she's turning her back on her publisher (who has been nothing but vile to her) and is now embarking on her own digital journey.

Robin

[DaringNovelist]

Joe Konrath HAS changed my life.

I was thinking about this just today. He didn't do it by himself. I hadn't heard of him in October when I started a push to get my mystery writing career back in gear. I started a blog that was to act as a continuous "novel dare" to keep me on track, and I have to give some credit to that for my pretty continuous contentment ever since.

But Konrath supercharged me. Because no matter what - no matter if I succeed well or not - everything I write now has a purpose. With traditional publishing, you were supposed to write the first book of a series only, until you hit the one that a publisher is interested in, and then you abandon everything else and hope sometime to get back to it.

Now I can actually write more and better because I don't have to worry about prioritizing what I do - except where I want to follow up a success.

I've barely slept since I discovered his blog in March.

Camille

[BVLarson]

I think he has. He had the guts to go into something unknown early, then talk about it (loudly) without worrying about offending NY. I can't think of another author who comes close to doing what's done in this area. The vast majority are ignoring ebooks or rolling their eyes at them.

[ASparrow]

To be honest, no, though he's a good writer and I admire his accomplishments. He has no relevance to how I write or approach indie publishing. No offense intended, just adding my take.

[Robin O'Neill]

Joe hasn't changed my writing but he certainly has changed the way I think about cover art. His experiences so boldly presented to the rest of us, have changed the way I feel about publishing. Like you, Camille, I've been uncomfortable with the expectations or requirements of traditional publishing, which I've been in my entire adult life. Tradpub is dying from the inside out, the rot has been there for many years. I always place the mark at the time when multinational conglomerates took over--it became not just business but Big Business. I'm relieved to be out from under it.

I still have a mystery series being marketed by my agent. Carolyn Reidy told a group at the seminar just a couple weeks ago they're not buying anything by anyone they haven't already published. I expect I will be taking the series digital by the end of the year.

And ASparrow, no offense taken. How could it be?

Robin

[Scott Nicholson]

I spent a few years after my last contract expired trying different things, dumping the agent, and generally spinning wheels (though writing all the while) and saw how much more cynical the industry had become since I had broken in. Agents who don't respond, editors only looking at agented work, agents sneering and laughing at writers in their blogs and tweets. An incestuous system. (And, no, I am not a NY hater, I just understand how the business works and why they make the decisions they do).

I'd been tinkering with some POD for a backlist title but it all looked somehow clumsy. How was I going to get that sucker in a thousand bookstores? It was around about December I really started paying attention to reality--I was too steeped in the old-school indoctrination. NEVER SELF-PUBLISH!

It was hard to make that leap at first. Then I realized no one was going to do it for me. Joe's blog definitely inspired me to get into it with more intensity and not be ashamed. And it was as easy as click click click. And then the success was instant. It was so easy and rewarding, I kept waiting for someone to tap me on the shoulder and say "Who are you fooling? You CAN'T do it your way!"

Yes, I can. I can believe in my vision. You can, too. I think that's what Joe is saying, too.

Scott

[Robin O'Neill]

One thing you mention that rings very true for me, Scott, is the nearly complete lack of professional courtesy exhibited now toward writers by both agents and editors. Most of them deserve what's coming-- which is their utter extinction.

That said, I have a very nice man as an agent now and I'm glad he's off trying to sell things to tradpub for me while I take care of my own things.

Robin

[David.Niall.Wils]

My agent is also helping me walk the line. In fact, I launched an indie publishing venture, Crossroad Press and even found a new niche helping not only get out of print books back into circulation for others, but creating high-quality audio books for distribution...and all still very "indie".

[L.J. Sellers]

He has definitely changed my long-term thinking about publishing and how best to make money and stay in control. I'm not abandoning my print publisher, but I'm looking at my back list and have decided to focus on e-books with high royalties that come straight to me.
L.J.

[Robin O'Neill]

I got a royalty statement today for a Complete Idiot's Guide I did several years ago. In the last 6 months I made $3.37 and still "owe" them something over $16,000 for the advance before I start making money. I was also told by the local librarian that someone stole this book off the shelves and try as they might, they couldn't find a way to replace it. In other words, it's not available anymore so no further chance to make $. (They should try an amazon seller, I'm sure there are copies of the darn thing around.)



This may be a system that works for multinational conglomerate publishers but it obviously does not work for me. I can envision a time when many writers will feel like Joe and say no thanks to tradpub in order to have more control of their career, their work and won't have to deal with insane demands and expectations from editors.

Maybe Nora Roberts and Stephen King can churn out a couple extra books a year to cover for the writers staying away in droves.


Robin

[J. Strnad]

I couldn't get a sales report out of my publisher. They just said, "It hasn't earned back its advance" and wouldn't tell me what the sales were. To know that it hadn't earned back its advance, they would have to have figures, right? So why not share them with the author?

Also, their lawyer was the rudest person I've ever corresponded with, answering the simplest inquiry snidely and dismissively. I remember, after having no contact with them for two or three years, I wrote offering to BUY back the rights to my book. I figured that they weren't doing anything with it, they might welcome the chance to get a good chunk of their advance back. The lawyer wrote back that I had no right to ASK for the rights back!

After that, I just let the clock run out and the rights reverted, they got nothing.

[LeeGoldberg]

No, my friend Joe hasn't changed my life. But he has opened my eyes to the potential presented by the Amazon Kindle for mining the untapped revenue in my backlist.

My out-of-print books were earning me nothing, they were just forgotten relics of my past, gathering dust in the garage. But thanks to Joe's inspiration and great advice, I discovered those out-of-print books still have plenty of value.

I've also learned from his promotional/marketing skills and discovered the greatest benefit of the e-book...the ability to make adjustments on-the-fly, to not be married to things like the book title or cover art. By changing the titles and cover art on some of my old books, I reinvigorated their sales potential. It was something I never would have considered if Joe hadn't bet me that he could boost the sales on those books if I let him change the titles/covers.

But I fear that too many bad writers, wowed by Joe's success, are going to put their swill on the Kindle because they see it as a short cut to a pot of gold...which it isn't.

It's a big mistake to self-publish a book that isn't up to professional standards. Just because you can self-publish, doesn't mean you should. And I'd hate to see Amazon become inundated with rejected manuscripts from the publishers' slush piles. Often there's a good reason those books were rejected by publishers, editors and agents... because they sucked. Putting them on the Kindle doesn't make'em suck any less.

Lee

[Robin O'Neill]

Hi Lee (I'm a Monk fan and WGA member)

The issue of bad writing is troublesome but it's everywhere anyway and probably always has been but now it's going to be like a fire hose instead of a sprinkler. You're addressing this like a professional. You have been in enough story meetings and butted heads enough times so that you can edit yourself. You've accomplished so much that it's not about ego.

When a newbie comes to this--"Everyone thinks they have 1 book in them" as my ex used to say and actually still does--all critical analysis departs. It's so thrilling, it's so wonderful and what they have to give to the world is so fantastic, why slow down and reflect? Why take advice? Why even send the thing through the grammar checker? Unfortunately it's human nature that people must learn through their own experiences. So they'll learn and hopefully readers will find the right books.

Back to Joe, it was your discussion that prompted me to change the cover of one book, then change the title, and change the cover again. I love this aspect of digital publishing. What I'm doing now is taking one of my backlist books and essentially rewriting it so it will lead into a sequel I would never have dreamed of before this year. It was a YA. Is it still a YA if I advance the characters in real time as many years as have passed between the original publication date and now? They're adults with very adult issues. I told my agent this week no one would consider publishing this but me. It's off-genre, way off. It's only my time in exchange for personal artistic satisfaction.

How many things I've wanted to do over the years and one agent or another said in response to it "I don't handle that." DashingBooks, my publishing "company", will.

Robin

[AnnaM]

I appreciate Joe's candor about his experience with pricing and sales on Kindle store. His blog advice has benefitted me greatly.

[M T McGuire]

Originally Posted by Robin O'Neill

Hi Lee (I'm a Monk fan and WGA member)

I told my agent this week no one would consider publishing this but me. It's off-genre, way off. It's only my time in exchange for personal artistic satisfaction.

How many things I've wanted to do over the years and one agent or another said in response to it "I don't handle that." DashingBooks, my publishing "company", will.

Robin

I have no agent, but I'm in the UK. There are about 10 here who are prepared to take on sci-fi or fantasy and since I'm not famous for anything else, I think it's realistic to assume that nobody is going to take a punt on my book but me.

I don't know much about Joe but I'm following the e-book route (mainly) so it sounds like I need to check him out. Big time!