Konrath and friends take on Turow

[fjtorres]

http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2012/0...ott-turow.html

Point by point rebutals and commentary.
Some very compelling points, especially Suzanne White's segment near the end.

You guys! Help authors reach their potential. Stop going to bat for the big guys. It's over boys. Move on out. Don't blame Bezos. Blame history. Ebooks are the future. Young people today grew up on screens. They don't know any other way. Can you really imagine you might convince the young to return to paper? It's Farenheit 451 in reverse. We are burning the books -- not because they contain information deleterious to society, but because they are unwieldy and wasteful.

[J. Strnad]

Looks like they did a pretty thorough debunking of Turow's letter. I didn't make it all the way through, but their comments did make me wonder if Scott Turow was president of the Author's Guild or the Publisher's Guild.

[Synamon]

I nodded along to the response to Turow by David Gaughran that they linked, titled Scott Turow: Wrong About Everything. I especially liked this reality check:

[Turow] This was a game-changer, and not in a good way. Amazon’s predatory pricing would shield it from e-book competitors that lacked Amazon’s deep pockets.

[Gaughran] Competitors like the most valuable company in the world, Apple? Or the internet search giant, Google? (Both of whom have far deeper pockets than Amazon.)

[sabredog]

A very, very good article. Thanks for posting a link.

[RainingLemur]

Fun read. I can't help but read each "Translation: blah blah blah..." bit with a bit of snark in my inner-narrator.

[xg4bx]

"Marketing studies consistently show that readers are far more adventurous in their choice of books when in a bookstore than when shopping online. In bookstores, readers are open to trying new genres and new authors: it's by far the best way for new works to be discovered."

i don't know who the bleep these market researchers are asking. i've discovered more authors in my year of kindle ownership than i did the past 10 years of my life. damn near entire genres pretty much exist solely in the ebook realm. horror is dead at retail. science fiction is almost dead at retail. sword&sorcery was really never even given a chance at retail. the authors and genres bookstores don't carry literally fill warehouses.

[sabredog]

Originally Posted by xg4bx

"Marketing studies consistently show that readers are far more adventurous in their choice of books when in a bookstore than when shopping online. In bookstores, readers are open to trying new genres and new authors: it's by far the best way for new works to be discovered."

i don't know who the bleep these market researchers are asking. i've discovered more authors in my year of kindle ownership than i did the past 10 years of my life. damn near entire genres pretty much exist solely in the ebook realm. horror is dead at retail. science fiction is almost dead at retail. sword&sorcery was really never even given a chance at retail. the authors and genres bookstores don't carry literally fill warehouses.

So true.

I went into a large bricks and Mortar store looking for Jim C Hines books for our daughters' Christmas presents last year. The staff had NEVER heard of the author nor were his books on their order/stock database.

Konrath was certainly right in saying that most B&M stores do not carry all genres, indeed have never carried them. So how can customers ever discover new and exciting genres when many simply are not present in store to tempt them? Specialist stores exist, complete with bearded geek behind the counter, but often you feel you are wearing a plastic raincoat all the while clutching a purchase in a plain brown paper bag when you exit the store.

I agree that in the main SF is dead in retail (with Baen and Black Library the only ones seemingly available and then only in limited numbers), Pulp Fantasy seems to have bulked out that section of a bookstore. However online, I am buying and reading more SF books than I did when I read paperbacks. There is a rich indie selection available on both Smashwords and Amazon to select from.

Around two years ago I had never heard of;

Randoph Lalonde
Evan Currie
Dan Worth
David Guyton
Thomas DePrima
Valmore Daniels

And many, many others.

It is becoming evident now that the big 6 will be forced to evolve, kicking and screaming all the way.

[xg4bx]

Originally Posted by sabredog

So true.

I went into a large bricks and Mortar store looking for Jim C Hines books for our daughters' Christmas presents last year. The staff had NEVER heard of the author nor were his books on their order/stock database.

Konrath was certainly right in saying that most B&M stores do not carry all genres, indeed have never carried them. So how can customers ever discover new and exciting genres when many simply are not present in store to tempt them? Specialist stores exist, complete with bearded geek behind the counter, but often you feel you are wearing a plastic raincoat all the while clutching a purchase in a plain brown paper bag when you exit the store.

I agree that in the main SF is dead in retail (with Baen and Black Library the only ones seemingly available and then only in limited numbers), Pulp Fantasy seems to have bulked out that section of a bookstore. However online, I am buying and reading more SF books than I did when I read paperbacks. There is a rich indie selection available on both Smashwords and Amazon to select from.

Around two years ago I had never heard of;

Randoph Lalonde
Evan Currie
Dan Worth
David Guyton
Thomas DePrima
Valmore Daniels

And many, many others.

It is becoming evident now that the big 6 will be forced to evolve, kicking and screaming all the way.

I really like the books that Abaddon puts out but finding them in american bookstores is like finding a needle in a haystack. (its odd that my favorite publishers are all british:abaddon, angry robot, solaris).

my favorite fantasy author is David Dalglish. there is no reason why he isn't on bookstore shelves instead of slogging it out in the indie scene. i think his Shadowdance series gives Brent Week's Night Angel a run for its money.

D.P. Prior is writing great, literary, 'thinking man's' fantasy/sword&sorcery. no excuse for him to not be on bookstore shelves.

Evan Currie is great and he finally seems to be getting his due thanks to amazon's new publishing imprint.

BV Larson is another great indie sci-fi/fantasy author who is finally getting his due thanks to amazon publishing.

there's so many good, hard working authors that are just utterly ignored by mainstream publishers because they're writing in non-trendy genres. if my reading selections were left solely to whats on bookstore shelves i'd be hurting for new books/authors.

and when i was buying my books at bookstores i never gave space opera/military sci-fi or sword&sorcery a second look.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by xg4bx

"Marketing studies consistently show that readers are far more adventurous in their choice of books when in a bookstore than when shopping online. In bookstores, readers are open to trying new genres and new authors: it's by far the best way for new works to be discovered."

i don't know who the bleep these market researchers are asking. i've discovered more authors in my year of kindle ownership than i did the past 10 years of my life. damn near entire genres pretty much exist solely in the ebook realm. horror is dead at retail. science fiction is almost dead at retail. sword&sorcery was really never even given a chance at retail. the authors and genres bookstores don't carry literally fill warehouses.

They must be "Marketing Stusies" done by publishers. And about as accurate as any other study done by any other "interest group" studying their own "product".
Most book stores only carry a small amount of the books that are available. Used book stores have a larger selection than retail book stores. And now you can find a larger selection of DTBs online through sites like Abebooks than you can in your local used book store.
In my experience, especially with Mobile Reads, readers of ebooks are much more likely to try other genres, new authors and to read books they would not have discovered in a retail store. I know I have.
Apache

[darryl]

Thanks for the link. The critique of Turow's arguments is devastating, both in your link and in the further link to David Gaughran's post. I have read some of Scott's books and enjoyed them. It is sad to see him adopt this approach.

I suspect that Scott and other well established authors may ultimately suffer from Agency Pricing of EBooks. At least one of the fears of the large publisher's has come to pass. I suspect most readers are simply not prepared to pay a paperback price for an ebook, let alone a hard cover price. I for one am not. This leaves readers with a number of choices. Some will reluctantly pay the prices sought. Others will resort to piracy, many perhaps regretting that the author will not receive anything, but feeling no such sympathy for the agency publishers. Probably the larger group will discover indie and other non-agency pricing authors. Let's face it, the variety of ebooks on Amazon alone is staggering, the categorisation and search options make it easy to find possibilities, and the prices from $0.99 make it inexpensive to sample new books and authors to replace those who continue walking with the Dinosaurs. And for those agency authors you simply must read, there is the library, or the option of waiting until the prices do come down with time. And, as above, whilst you wait there are plenty of alternate options to choose from.

[anamardoll]

I find that assertion interesting. Probably they were trying to contrast "bookstore browsing" with "internet searching" where in the former you waltz into a bookstore with a paycheck burning a hole in your pocket and in the latter you go to Amazon, search for a single title, buy and leave.

But it's silly because many people walk into bookstores for a single title, buy, and leave; and many people browse online stores for lots of titles.

Also, I continue to be frustrated that TradPubs think that everyone on earth is able-bodied, privileged, and geo-locationally ABLE to waltz into a mega-store any time they want. /side-rant

TL;DR: I doubt the veracity of this "study".

[monkeyluis]

Originally Posted by xg4bx

"Marketing studies consistently show that readers are far more adventurous in their choice of books when in a bookstore than when shopping online. In bookstores, readers are open to trying new genres and new authors: it's by far the best way for new works to be discovered."

i don't know who the bleep these market researchers are asking. i've discovered more authors in my year of kindle ownership than i did the past 10 years of my life. damn near entire genres pretty much exist solely in the ebook realm. horror is dead at retail. science fiction is almost dead at retail. sword&sorcery was really never even given a chance at retail. the authors and genres bookstores don't carry literally fill warehouses.

Totally agree.

[monkeyluis]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

I find that assertion interesting. Probably they were trying to contrast "bookstore browsing" with "internet searching" where in the former you waltz into a bookstore with a paycheck burning a hole in your pocket and in the latter you go to Amazon, search for a single title, buy and leave.

But it's silly because many people walk into bookstores for a single title, buy, and leave; and many people browse online stores for lots of titles.

Also, I continue to be frustrated that TradPubs think that everyone on earth is able-bodied, privileged, and geo-locationally ABLE to waltz into a mega-store any time they want. /side-rant

TL;DR: I doubt the veracity of this "study".

I browse on amazon all the time. I'll just click around looking at different titles, read reviews, maybe do some google searching on an author. More than I've ever done at a bookstore.

[JSWolf]

I've found authors I now like that I never read or knew existed because of free eBook giveaways.

[TimW]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

I find that assertion interesting. Probably they were trying to contrast "bookstore browsing" with "internet searching" where in the former you waltz into a bookstore with a paycheck burning a hole in your pocket and in the latter you go to Amazon, search for a single title, buy and leave.

But it's silly because many people walk into bookstores for a single title, buy, and leave; and many people browse online stores for lots of titles.

Also, I continue to be frustrated that TradPubs think that everyone on earth is able-bodied, privileged, and geo-locationally ABLE to waltz into a mega-store any time they want. /side-rant

TL;DR: I doubt the veracity of this "study".

Those are salient points. I recently visited Joseph-Beth Booksellers and browsed for a bit. It's over an hours drive from home so I don't visit often. While my sciatic nerve screams at me, I'm flipping through a book with an interesting cover. I'm not sure if I want it. I'm wishing for some reviews to pop in my head. I check the blurb on the back cover: "It's great! S'wunderful! Changed my life!" Okay, not helpful. Rather than chancing the $20, I erred on the side of caution. For me, the bookstore can no longer be the primary source for "trying new genres and new authors." Twenty years ago (when I was younger!), it certainly was.