More Authors Start Their Own E-book Store

[Sonist]

Originally Posted by David.Niall.Wils

... It's like listening to a band live and realizing they sound NOTHING AT ALL like the studio, produced version of their sound.

DNW

This is the most apt comparison I've heard

[Kali Yuga]

Originally Posted by K-Thom

Consider a joint website run by thriller/suspense writers with the likes of Tom Clancy, Robin Cook, Mary Higgins Clark and others. As a reader you'd have a certain trust in the quality of that site, right?

Sure. But the reality is that these individuals have had the financial wherewithal and clout to start their own vanity houses for decades, similar to the Beatles' launching Apple Music or Led Zeppelin with Swan Song Records.

And yet, this never caught on with authors. Why? I presume it's because prominent authors don't feel like they're getting screwed, and actually value the contributions of their publishers. They probably also can't be bothered doing all the grunt work.

Originally Posted by K-Thom

Now consider this site offers newcomers a chance to publish their first novel. Revised, of course. Nothing right out of the keyboard.
Such a site would play the role of a gatekeeper, and you definitely wouldn't need a publisher for it.

Actually, the site will basically turn into a combination publishing house and retailer. So you're just re-creating the same basic system but with different players.

The people running the site would also be inundated with a flood of submissions, and just wading through that massive slush pile costs money. Traditional publishers don't want to see unsolicited manuscripts anymore; these days, no agent = snowball's chance in the Sahara of getting published via traditional means.

Also, the economics of this particular model are almost utterly unworkable. Most first books don't sell well at all; most authors need to be nurtured, and it can take several books for a genuine author to find an audience, let alone the strengths and weaknesses of their style. If it's going to work, you're either going to have to take the crumbs from a lot of little plates (Scribd et al, who may not even be making a profit, I have no idea really) or lock the author into a contract.

Or to put it another way: Between dedicating resources to writing and marketing a book by a proven best-selling author, or a no-name writer with no track record and little chance of success, which one is the smarter economic bet?


IMO, these type of self-publishing outlets are really only going to work for people with very low sales expectations, or at best people who can exploit a fairly targeted niche.

[guyanonymous]

None of this is going to happen over night.

It's only recently that ebooks have gotten any mainstream attention. For that reason alone, it's only recently that they are becoming a market worth catering to. As the ability to make $ from ebooks increases (and way down the road surpasses?) while pbooks decreases, we'll see more authors breaking the bonds of publisher-addiction.

The printing, distribution etc of a book aren't worth the hassle for most authors (too much space and time/logistics required).
D
oing the same with an ebook involves significantly less hassle (almost a setup-and-forget relative to long-term-warehousing/distribution of pbooks, possible for one person out of home for the most part) as are the costs.

We'll see more dedicated portals for selling electronic media yourself as well - be it as part of a larger coalition of artists or a single creator and those will be increasingly simple to use.

The publishers will have to offer a lot more to grab the interest of future authors - as even the big ones decide taking on sales/distribution themselves realized it's worth doing...something that generally can't be said with pbooks.

this has been a set of predictions by guystrodamos!

[David.Niall.Wils]

Well, the Kings and Grishams and Rices of the world are getting millions of dollars in advances...they keep that no matter if the book tanks. If they open on their own, blow it and lose their readership, they get nothing. It's not too surprising that the people at the top have not branched out...particularly as all of this formatting and publishing and worrying eats into writing time. This I can tell you for certain...

[K-Thom]

particularly as all of this formatting and publishing and worrying eats into writing time

Yeah, it's a shame, isn't it? As soon as you plan to be independant, there's so much work to do that only a small part of it is left for the creative process ...

Actually, the site will basically turn into a combination publishing house and retailer. So you're just re-creating the same basic system but with different players.

With a different approach. The writers would retain all of their rights. And, yes, you could call it a publishing house ... - of the authors, by the authors, for the authors.

In general that's some solid arguments of yours, Kali Yuga. For me the important part is, different approaches are conceivable. If they do work out at all, time and trial and error will tell.

When seven of the most popular comic book artists left Marvel in '92 to form Image Comics they didn't change the world of comic books.
But they changed the way the "big two" (Marvel and DC) were treating their inhouse artists with better contracts and more creative rights from this moment on. Image itself may be considered a failure. But they did a lot to improve the conditions for fellow artists and writers.
And created a platform for new talents.

[Sonist]

Originally Posted by K-Thom

....Consider a joint website run by thriller/suspense writers with the likes of Tom Clancy, Robin Cook, Mary Higgins Clark and others. As a reader you'd have a certain trust in the quality of that site, right?
....

:r ofl::rof l:
:r ofl:

[K-Thom]

Glad we had a new supply of smilies delivered on Friday ...