Quote:
Originally Posted by bgalbrecht
I think you're unfairly pinning the blame on the author. I've asked several SF authors about their incomplete series, and in every case, the publisher of the original series chose not to buy the next book in the series, and they were unable to find a new publisher for the series. Finding a new publisher for an incomplete series is really hard if the rights haven't reverted back to the author, and even if the rights have reverted, it's still hard.
|
Series and traditional publishers I can live with as that is very often not the author's choice. Or as with the WIZ series where the author's ill health ended his writing career.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bgalbrecht
Perhaps in the modern age of self-publishing, there is enough potential sales for authors to finish their series as self-published (e)books, especially if they get the rights back for the rest of the series, but a lot of mid-list published authors only write the books for which they get an contract and an advance because it's a guaranteed income. I think authors earning a decent living via self-publishing is a recent development, though, and it's probably harder to do than making the same amount by selling their books to a publisher.
|
The self-published authors are the ones I was referring to. From my discussions with several self-pubbed authors, if you can build up a following (and that is a fairly big IF), you can make a decent living off less sales than a traditionally published author but you will be doing a lot more of the work. You can also churn out more books per year than a traditional publisher would consider publishing which can also help to boost your income.
Now read one of those books which comes complete with the now traditional advertising at the end for other books. Read the sample chapter for the next book in the series. Wait a while and notice the publication date for that next book has passed. Email the author and get informed that the sales numbers for the series were not as good as desired so nothing other than the teaser chapter was ever written. If the series was written so each book could be read as a stand-alone, it's not so bad but when Pauline has been left tied to the tracks, the train is inbound and that's all she wrote... Did I mention cliffhangers are not my favourite endings?