Terry Goodkind goes self-pub

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by piper28

I have to admit, one thing that I'm a little leary about with the move to self publishing for authors, is whether the editing is going to suffer. Having a book go through an editing process is generally a good thing, and I wonder how well that process is going to work for a self published author, even a big name.

I assume a self published author would be smart enough to hire their own editor.

[plib]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

You *have* heard the stories of authors dumped because one book "underperforms", right?

I have no personal experience, not being one, but the stories and names abound. Even around here.
The word is that today the BPHs have been ditching mid-list authors left and right and raising the bar on what they consider successful. (Authors with books selling 30,000 a year are no longer worth keeping, for example.)

In a one-strike-and-you're-out environment like that there is no loyalty given or expected, regardless of what BPH apologists think. It is strictly business at the BPHs, these days.

Which makes *this* recent piece relevant, I suppose:
http://kriswrites.com/2012/06/13/the...hurry-up-wait/
Quote:


It is primarily about the difference in processes and attitudes for traditional and self-publishing but in passing it does explicitly describe the state of traditional publishing and what a mid-lister can expect. The comments are interesting, too.

Again, I've seen nothing as to why Goodkind is venturing into self pub but I'm not surprised; he is neither the first nor will he be the last. In the modern publishing business (BPH style) there is no room for loyalty on either side, if there ever was.

I agree entirely. I think it's the BPH who are likely to get bitten worst. They have no compunction dropping authors who don't make them enough money. The authors who can make enough money from their own reputation have no reason not to drop the BPH, and I think many more of them may once their contracts are up. There goes the BPH bread and butter.

So what does that leave the "Traditional publishers, with their high overhead"? I think they're going to have a few problems funding that high overhead. Expecting loyalty from, or giving loyalty to, a corporation is naive, but in this case the corporations may suffer more than the individuals. Biter bit.

[fjtorres]

Hmm, a new but relevant post at Dean Wesley Smith's:
http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/?p=7124

Among a list of Trad-Pub myths, another reason why traditionally published authors might go self-pub at this time:

You write a book, you spend the years and the energy to sell it to a traditional publisher. They pay you part of the advance. You think the book will then come out. Right? Well, not so fast.

That’s right, fair myth believers. Selling a book to a traditional publisher is not a guarantee it will ever see the light of day.

I say I have “published” more than 100 books through traditional publishers in my official bio. My sales numbers of novels are even higher.

At a rough count, going quickly back over records and sadly-functioning memory, I have sold and been paid for, and sometimes written, at least seventeen novels that never got published.

Yes, 17 novels. I said that, I really did. Thirteen of them are fully written, the rest are partially written with outlines. That is not counting novels that didn’t sell but I wrote or partially wrote with outlines. There are a bunch more of those.

That’s right, I’ve written, sold, and been paid for more novels that never saw print than most writers have written in their entire careers.

Guess what? A bunch of those novels are going to be coming out through WMG Publishing this next year. Wow, after decades, all the work didn’t really go to ruin and a long-spent paycheck.

Prolific dude, ain't he?

I remember hearing, back in the day, of the odd, well-nigh legendary lost book that got bought and landed in never-pub purgatory through corporate issues; editorial personnel changes, financial retrenchment, etc but I thought it was rare. Smith is looking at something like 15% of his Trad-pub efforts ending in limbo...

I doubt he is representaive, but still...

...think of the goodies that may still be floating around, lost in drawers or whatever, waiting for *maybe* posthumous release, if at all. Big name authors, probably not, but classic mid-listers? Might there not be a few Simaks, Laumers, or Dicksons buried somewhere? It really is a new age out there in ebook land...

In the comments several screenplay writers talk of converting their optioned but never-produced screenplays into novellas for self-pub. More content incoming...

So it looks as if we not only have a flood of quality backlist titles headed our way, we have a (smaller?) tide of pre-sold but unpublished quality titles coming in, too.

Oh, he also had this to say:

But first, you all know the standard myths. But for fun, let me list the major ones here:

— Traditionally published books are cleaner and better proofed than indie books. Well, no, maybe, sometimes, but not always. It totally depends on the level of proofing an indie publisher has done on his books. It also depends on how bad the proofreader was at the traditional publisher and what level your advance was. These days, as we are through the start-up phase, indie books are often far cleaner than a traditional book.

– Traditionally published books get better promotion. Well, not really, unless your advance is way, way above six figures, and even then you are going to be doing a ton of it yourself. These days a midlist book out of a traditional publisher gets NO promotion. You do it either way.

He also talks about how, in effect, pbook distribution is going indie.
A reminder that self-pub is *not* just for ebooks.

For the traditionalists that should be scarier than even the "Name Writers" going self-pub since it preempts their emerging tactic of signing up notable self-pub titles with the promise of getting them into bookstores.

Looks like the entire publishing supply chain is coming under assault by new, small ventures.

[stonetools]

One can trawl the Internet and find all kinds of anti-publisher screeds written by authors who are dissatisfied with traditional publishers. So what?
Publishers can't respond in kind, so you hear only one side. This doesn't really prove much. In the end, most authors want to work with a publisher whenever they can-including self pubbers.
As far as Terry Goodkind is concerned, he achieved great success by working with a traditional publisher. His publisher is Tor, a branch of the evuulest BPH of all-Macmillan , who faced down Amazon and brought agency pricing into the ebook world. He is still working with Tor, BTW-He is publishing another novel through Tor later this year.
Why is he doing this book self pub? Well, it could be:

1. His editors at Tor told him this book was not up to par and he decided to that they were wrong and to put it out himself.

2. He just wanted a one off experiment.

3. This is the first step in a campaign to gradually move away from traditional publishers' "plantations" into the bracing freedom of "self publishing".

Personally, I think (1) most likely, although many folks here like (3).

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Hmm, a new but relevant post at Dean Wesley Smith's:
http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/?p=7124

...

Yep, just read that one this week. Good words/advice.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Yep, just read that one this week. Good words/advice.

Both him and Kris Rusch run pretty good web sites with regular nuggets of insight that steer clear of the emotionalism of other sites. Mind you, the emotional sites are amusing but if not as useful if you're interested in seeing where the entire business is going instead of where its been.
I've also been checking out The Passive Voice lately. Not so much the posts, which are interesting in and of themselves, but for the comments.

Lots of familiar authors to be found at all three sites.
They make good counterpoints to the apologists' screeds.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by Shaggy

I assume a self published author would be smart enough to hire their own editor.

Maybe, but what will the author do if the editor say the book need a lot of re-writing? Do the re-writing or hire another editor?

[GeoffC]

Available all platforms is a good thing - now where from? and free of geographical restriction? would be my next questions.

[John F]

Another author's comments:

http://indiereader.com/2012/06/how-a...saved-my-life/

The link was from the front page of Amazon.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by John F

Another author's comments:

http://indiereader.com/2012/06/how-a...saved-my-life/

The link was from the front page of Amazon.

Excellent!

"...
And then one day I got yet another rejection letter and instead of blaming myself and my clear lack of creativity, I got angry. Really, really furious. It clicked for me that I was not the idiot here. Publishing houses were. The silly reasons that they gave me for why my book was useless made me see very clearly how completely out of touch these houses were with readers. I knew, I just knew, that I’d written a book with humor, heart, and meaning. I’d written something that had potential to connect with an audience. As much as I despise having to run around announcing how brilliant I supposedly am and whatnot, I also deeply believed in Flat-Out Love. I knew that editors were wrong.
...."

[fjtorres]

#14 Paid Rank in the Kindle store at $3.99.
4.4 stars out of 5 with 436 reviews, 318 flat-out 5 star reviews.

I'd say she was "probably" flat-out right to bet on herself.
But that's just me.
(I don't earn a living through traditional publishers.)

Top-most review at Amazon:

This ebook was fantastic with virtually zero flaws (even down to the grammar, spelling, punctuation). I loved the story and the characters and the author's creative use of technology as a way to further enhance the plot. It's been a loooooong time since I've read a YA book where I was as emotionally invested in the characters and the outcome as I was intellectually. The characters are incredibly three-dimensional and I was rooting for them from the get-go (especially Celeste and Matt). And how refreshing to find an author who presumes the intelligence of her readers and isn't afraid to challenge them with some truly excellent word play and smart humor.

Sometimes, authors have to bet on their own vision, regardless of what others say.
Even if they name isn't James Joyce.

[stonetools]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

#14 Paid Rank in the Kindle store at $3.99.
4.4 stars out of 5 with 436 reviews, 318 flat-out 5 star reviews.

I'd say she was "probably" flat-out right to bet on herself.
But that's just me.
(I don't earn a living through traditional publishers.)

Top-most review at Amazon:


Sometimes, authors have to bet on their own vision, regardless of what others say.
Even if they name isn't James Joyce.

It's great that she bet on herself, and I wish her all the best but then you don't hear from the 9 other writers who also bet on themselves and wrote the same kind of book and did all the self-pub yada yada -and flopped badly and went into debt over it.

You also don't hear from the ones who kept ongoing and had the 15th publisher bet on them. Then you get the acknowledgement thanking Random House or IPG for "saving their life".

The good thing is that there are more options now but its still going to require persistenceand talent. A bad thing-even those without talent can now get published and obscure the truly talented.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by stonetools

It's great that she bet on herself, and I wish her all the best but then you don't hear from the 9 other writers who also bet on themselves and wrote the same kind of book and did all the self-pub yada yada -and flopped badly and went into debt over it.

Exactly. Publishing is betting or a kind of lottery. So of course there will be winners using different methods. But the interesting things is which method that gives most winners.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by tompe

Exactly. Publishing is betting or a kind of lottery. So of course there will be winners using different methods. But the interesting things is which method that gives most winners.

How about the one that gives the best returns to the mid-listers?
Stephen King and James Patterson and the rest of the royalty of the publishing world will get paid no matter what.
But the mid-listers? The journeymen 30,000 unit sellers getting dumped? The authors with a long series and declining sales? The genre writers looking to branch out?

They may have no other choice than betting on themselves if they actually want a *chance* to make a living at writing.

The environment is changing; those that adapt stand a better chance of surviving.

It doesn't *have* to be a lottery!

[stonetools]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

How about the one that gives the best returns to the mid-listers?
Stephen King and James Patterson and the rest of the royalty of the publishing world will get paid no matter what.
But the mid-listers? The journeymen 30,000 unit sellers getting dumped? The authors with a long series and declining sales? The genre writers looking to branch out?

They may have no other choice than betting on themselves if they actually want a *chance* to make a living at writing.

The environment is changing; those that adapt stand a better chance of surviving.

It doesn't *have* to be a lottery!

Actually it "DOES" have to be a lottery.
Nobody knows for sure what's going to a hit-which is why you want someone to share the financial risk of putting out a book if you can possibly arrange it.
Heck, its the reason why our plucky young self-pub heroine tried 14 publishers before she tried self-publishing.
Its the reason why mid-lister Barry Eisler went for a trad pub contract-advance and all- with Amazon Publishing.
Its the reason why mid-lister and very tech -aware author Charles Stross is sticking withTor Publishing-a branch of BPH MacMillan.
Its the reason why every successful self-pubber opts from a trad publishing contract when one is offered.
Now that our PSPH has proved herself, what are the odds that she will make the same choice once a BPH comes calling?