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Originally Posted by pwalker8
There were some points that I agree with and other points that I disagree with. He seems to think that publishers view books as widgets, which I strongly disagree with.
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Why, do you think they are in the business for the sake of art?
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He says that you should understand the contracts and go into the contract negotiations with open eyes. I very much agree with that. (note, that's why smart authors hire literary agents who understand contracts).
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Agreed.
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He says that writers who go with traditional publishers are risk averse and I disagree with that. I would say that writers who go with traditional publishers are those who understand what the publishers bring to the table and value it.
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Some of them, yes. Some are stuck in the old mindset that they are utterly dependent on the charitableness of their prospective publishers. e.g. new and inexperienced authors, or tradpub veterans.
And that is precisely the problem.
There are indie champions who have contracted their pbook rights to tradpubs and done quite well, no one is suggesting that you cannot get a good deal from tradpubs, merely that you will have to fight for it (and have something special on the table).