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:
Quote:
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.
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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 tide of pre-sold but unpublished quality titles coming in, too.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:
Quote:
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.
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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.