Ebooks in 2015: Trends and Forecasts

[conan50]

Here is the sort of thing I'm talking about regarding the future:
http://www.greenwichtime.com/local/a...be-6054503.php

And this describes the challenge for authors:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-c...b_6200508.html

Edit, added link.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Nabeel

The type of industrial production that you're describing sounds like a recipe for intellectual suicide.

PS - Sorry - can't get the 'quote' facility to work.

No worries.
That level of production isn't "industrial", that is actually typical for established professional writers. Even under tradpub rules is isn't hard to find authors doing two *big* titles a year with each of two separate publishers and a handful of shorts on the side to keep busy.

"Industrial" would be one of the monsters in Robert Silverberg or Dean Wesley Smith territory.

I'll see if I can dig up a column I ran into recently about "pulp speed writing".

Edit: check the comment here:
http://www.thepassivevoice.com/12/20...ng-pulp-speed/

And at the source:

http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/the-n...ng-pulp-speed/

Historically, a lot of writers under-produced what their talent might have allowed for lack of a market because of the bottlenecks in publisher schedules and shelf space.

Just look at Silverberg's *pseudonymous* titles, in addition to his output under his own name:

http://www.majipoor.com/pseudolist.php

Now that is industrial writing.
And the actual pulp writers of the 30's were even more prodigious.
Walter Gibson could put out 10,000 publication-ready pages, er... words a day at his peak.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_B._Gibson

[rkomar]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

And the actual pulp writers of the 30's were even more prodigious.
Walter Gibson could put out 10,000 publication-ready pages a day at his peak.

Pages!? One word per page?

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by Quexos

Maybe this is a good time for authors to start worrying more about creating a piece of art and less about the millions of dollars that will put them on a pedestal to be worshipped and treated like demigods?

If I was a writer with a family to feed or even a cat, I would not spurn the big or even little bucks. Most authors do not aspire to change the world, or live like indentured servants for the good of society, any more than a lawyer, an accountant, pizza delivery guy or a grocery store clerk, who are more often paid better for their efforts.

Helen

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by rkomar

Pages!? One word per page?

Oopsie.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

If I was a writer with a family to feed or even a cat, I would not spurn the big or even little bucks. Most authors do not aspire to change the world, or live like indentured servants for the good of society, any more than a lawyer, an accountant, pizza delivery guy or a grocery store clerk, who are more often paid better for their efforts.

Helen

Exactly.

That is why I expressly used the term "professional author".
As in full-time. A 40 hours a week, self-employed professional much like a doctor, lawyer, or electrician or whatever.

Different people write different things for different reasons but when your one and only job is writing, you write. If a job comes in for a movie novelization with a 60 day deadline, you do it in 60 days. If an editor needs a 10,000 word short story in a rush you do a short story on schedule.

The new reality is that professional authors are no longer depending *solely* on the slots of tradpub to make a living. As long as they're not handcuffed by corporate contracts they can supplement or replace tradpub work for selfpubbed work and make a living that way.

And if that writer happens to be one you like and follow, that means more good reads more frequently. A win-win for the people that matter most.

[pwalker8]

[QUOTE=Nabeel;3037843]"

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Neither are the prolific authors limited by the publisher's schedules.

And there's a lot more of those than people realize: an experienced, disciplined author can easily put out 2000 (publishable) words a day which, working just 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, comes out to six 80k novels a year."

I've written eight books. On a good day I can write one thousand, even two thousand words. But I need to review and revise these words later. And I certainly can't keep writing that quantity of words for more than three or four days in a row.

The type of industrial production that you're describing sounds like a recipe for intellectual suicide.

PS - Sorry - can't get the 'quote' facility to work.

There are actually writers out there who put that many books. Most of the time they are called hacks, just churning out verbage without regard to quality. I bought books by some of them. There are a few quality authors who are able to generate a lot of works. Issac Asimov wrote or edited some 500+ books in his life, but he's very much the exception to the rule. A prolific quality author might kick out a couple of books a year, but even they tend to hit dry spells over time.

If you look at most quality authors, there just aren't that many who can put out more than 3 to 4 non pulp style books a year and it has nothing to do with the evil publishers' schedules.

[eschwartz]

Well, that is 4-8 times better than they can do on the publishers' schedules...