Will publishing move to the middle?

[Rich_D]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

I disagree that dedicated readers are too expensive for casual readers, and that multi-use devices aren't ideal as readers. As a user of a multi-use device (a smartphone), I can attest to the fact that they are easy to use and very readable. Anyone who doesn't want to pay $200 for a dedicated reader (and some will soon cost less than that) can easily use a multi-function device instead.

I can see bookstores not disappearing, but morphing into a different kind of store that allows visitors to peruse digital or special paper versions of the books, then conveniently download them to their reader of choice or print them in-house. Since they won't carry as many physical books, they will likely shrink in size, to fit into any medium-sized storefront. This will likely happen over less than a decade's time.

Hopefully these stores will be impartial to source, as opposed to selling only Big Pub labels... that will depend on licensing agreements and leverage, and influenced by successful indie novels (so, hopefully, there will be a lot of those!).

I agree that they'll have to change their model eventually, but not for another generation or two.

I read for years on my T/X. It was o.k. but I still read as many paper books as I did ebooks. Now that I have my nook, I will read far fewer dtb.

The casual reader will look at a $100 ereader as 10 paperbacks and most of them don't care about carrying their library around with them. Multi function devices are terrible in the sun, poolside, beach or bench at lunchtime.

That's not even taking in the people who like to sniff their books...

The big publishers are going to fight tooth and nail to keep things the same, and once they do start to change, it will be baby steps.

[Rich_D]

Originally Posted by L.J. Sellers

Rich, my e-books are on Kindle, B&N.com, Fictionwise and others ($2.99). Thanks for asking.
L.J.

Thanks LJ, I'll give em a look-see!

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by L.J. Sellers

Rich, my e-books are on Kindle, B&N.com, Fictionwise and others ($2.99). Thanks for asking.
L.J.

The only place I seem to find them is Amazon.

[Kali Yuga]

Originally Posted by L.J. Sellers

I've been reading about new publishing start-ups with a different business model: no advance, bigger royalties, small POD digital print runs, and e-books published at the same time with competitive pricing. ... I think this is a sustainable, reader-friendly model that could be successful...if it gets the distribution.
What do you think?

My feeling is, it isn't going to be nearly as successful as some people hope or expect.

Like it or not, people still like hits; and many writers and artists want to make hits. That system may change a bit -- e.g. some of the current major players may get killed, new ones will appear, niche markets may operate a little differently -- but it is likely that the system will still be dominated by big companies with substantial resources.

As the cost of publishing and distributing a book bottoms out, the amount of books in the "Internet Slush Pile" (i.e. books that no publisher wanted to back) is steadily increasing. As a result, there is already a massive number of borderline unreadable books that the average person or a book reviewer is unlikely to want to wade through.

Plus, this isn't quite as big a change as it might seem, since POD and self-publishing options have been around for quite some time.

Another way to put it is, in a "no advance, high royalty" system almost all of the costs and responsibilities get pushed back onto the artist. The less the publisher/distributor provides, the more skills the author needs to pay for or earn.

For some -- particularly authors who already established some sort of following, and manage to get their ebook rights back -- it might work out. However, in those cases a lot of the heavy lifting (particularly the editing) was already done. Unpublished writers, not so much.

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by Maggie Leung

I read about this about a year ago. I don't know how successful it's been:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009...chine-launches

Damn, someone got to invent one before me. I think if it hasn't taken off within a year, either it's not up to much or they are asking too much for the books.

[J. Strnad]

Mr. Ploppy wrote: "What does the publisher do for the 50% that they charge you?"

Simply being published by someone who screens the work they publish is a big advantage. Your work is now in the company of others and will be judged, in part, by that company. And it gives the potential buyer assurance that somebody, somewhere, for some reason saw enough merit in your work to represent it.

Risen gained a lot of "cred" when it went from self-published to professionally published under the Pinnacle imprint. I got the thrill of walking into a bookstore and seeing my book on the shelves (and getting to turn it cover-out!). That lasted for six months, and then it was gone for six years, unavailable in any format. The print publisher only now seems to be gearing up to sell ebooks, and they seem to be following the print book pricing.

I could self-pub Risen again, but I think I'll get more than twice as many sales through a publisher. Which may mean four books instead of two, but my primary goal is just to keep it available.

Jan

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by J. Strnad

This electronic copy of Risen: A Supernatural Thriller is a gift. Please feel free to print it out and to pass it on...in fact, I hope you do! Keep in mind that I still retain all rights, including the right to publish Risen as a tree book and, of course, film rights and all that.
Jan

Does that still stand now that you have a "real" publisher? What, if any, changes did the publisher make to it (other than just fixing spelling mistakes)?

[J. Strnad]

Ha! If that free copy is still around, have at it! I applaud your diligence!

Pinnacle didn't change a letter, as far as I know. When Time/Warner published Risen as a POD, I noticed some odd formatting errors that truncated certain paragraphs. But the Pinnacle edition seemed to be okay.

I've rewritten Risen for the new publication through Ghostwriter Publications. I killed off a character who previously survived, spared someone who previously died, and changed the ending. These changes came about after working on a screenplay of the book and deciding that some of the revisions were actually for the better. And in going through it, I revised here and there. I'm an inveterate rewriter.

But basically it's the same as the free version from way back when. I know...more than you wanted to know.

[mr ploppy]

Once you put something on the internet it is almost impossible to remove it. What sort of deal do you get with Ghostwriter? I bought some books from them a while ago and wasn't overly impressed with their service so I doubt I will buy any more. I don't see that they are offering anything you wouldn't get DIY.

[Scott Nicholson]

I was published by Pinnacle, too. It was a fair deal but like building a house on sand. It's hard to build an audience when your books don't stay available.

Kali, those are solid thoughts--the only point where I would disagree is I think making a working-class income as a fiction writer is a lot more realistic now. True, you do need the skill set, but major publishers expect the authors to create and drive the consumer audience anyway, so why not get most of the revenues? The next step is to get your readers to buy directly from you--it's amazing how many fewer sales you need when you are getting 100 percent instead of 50 percent or 25 percent (which most Big Six are paying) or the 6 to 8 percent you make on a paperback royalty.

Scott

[mr ploppy]

There's an interesting interview with someone who recently moved over to the dark side here:

http://darkwolfsfantasyreviews.blogs...vid-moody.html

and another here where his reasons for doing so are explained a bit better:

http://www.omnivoracious.com/2009/04...vid-moody.html

[J. Strnad]

Ghostwriter is non-exclusive, so I can put up a website and sell directly if I want to. But I don't, really.

Scott, I was satisfied with Pinnacle as far as they went, but I don't know that they did any promotion at all. I had to print and mail out my own ARCs, and even though the ABA was in L.A. the year Risen came out, they wouldn't sponsor me to go...would've cost, like, $75. Andrews and McMeel sponsored me, though, and I got to stop by and say "Hey"...wearing an A&M badge. I couldn't even get a sales statement from them, just a curt "It hasn't made back its advance." I really have to wonder why they bothered to publish Risen at all with so little faith in it.

Now it looks like they're building an ebook store, but the prices aren't discounted over the pb price, as far as I could tell from a brief glance.