The rolling stone of small and self-publishing is gaining speed as every day goes by.
Starting on last Thursday evening and running for three days, novelist Scott William Carter and I led a discussion with a little over thirty well-published professional writers on the reasons, the art, and the promise of both electronic publishing and POD (print on demand) publishing for fiction writers.
Fun doesn’t even begin to describe the three days we called “The New Tech Workshop.” Tiring would be a understatement. We worked with the writers on the ease of doing web sites, then worked on taking a story and making sure the organization and formatting were correct, then we spent about two hours while everyone in the room built from scratch a cover for their story. Then we worked them through getting that story on Amazon Kindle. And frighteningly enough, at that point we weren’t even halfway through the three days. We talked POD, marketing, building a publishing company and so much more.
And it went from there. Lunch discussions, dinner discussion, late into both nights snacking on chips and salsa and candy and talking. Thirty-plus well-published professional fiction writers stepping into the New World of Publishing. Well, not stepping, more like sprinting into the new world.
Wow, am I tired. Wow, was that fun. Wow, am I excited about this new world writers live in.
SOME PERSPECTIVE
Back in the late 1980s and early 1990s, large publishers started to have lots of meetings about the coming electronic books. Many of the meetings were planning on what they would do to both take advantage of the new way to sell books and also protect themselves from having electronic books put them out of business.
Then nothing happened. The sky hadn’t fallen, the sales of electronic books was so small as to not even count as a fraction of a percentage.
So a few years went by, more meetings, another electronic threat seemed to hit the publishers in the mid-1990s and there were even more meetings, more worry, and then nothing happened. Again the sky had not fallen. Lots of worry and discussion for nothing.
Again the wave of fear hit large publishers in the early 2000 and more meetings and more worry and nothing happened. Nope, not a sign of any pieces of any of the sky scattered around on the floor. Electronic books were still not even a blip on any percentage of sale chart.
And yet again in 2005 the sky was about to fall, but then nothing happened and by this time New York publishers and editors were tired of sitting in meetings talking about the coming problems that were clearly never coming.
Then Amazon came out with the Kindle and by this time a jaded bunch of New York publishers just shrugged. And did nothing. Who cared if a few writers got in and put some of their own work on the Kindle? It would make no difference.
Suddenly 8% of all books sold are electronic and that number is growing, headed for that nasty tipping point of 25%. Hundreds of different reading devices were announced or coming out, and the iPad smashed into even more places. And no one should forget that the kids, the next generation of readers, love to read on their smart phones.
Oops, the sky has fallen.
At the same time as the sky was tumbling down, publishers, being tight because of a distribution system collapse decided to save money and outsource the slush and finding new authors. Things got silly and tight. And the sales forces of most publishers took over the control of what was bought, only letting in clones of the very same thing that had sold before. And many writers got tired, many writers said why bother, and many others looked around and said, “Hey, I can start my own little publishing company and get into basically the same distribution channels as the large publishers.”
Really, really, oops.
The big publishers had lost control of their main advantage, the ability to distribute books, both print and electronically to readers. For two decades the big publishers had listened to the sky-is-falling stories and nothing had happened. When the sky actually did fall, they were caught by surprise.
And then to make it worse they made stupid decisions with how they acquired the very work they needed to keep their business in business. We all hate how the airlines have made it just flat horrid to fly. No one I know gets on a plane anymore unless they just have to. Big Publishers have done the exact same thing to writers, the very suppliers of all of their product. Not a really smart idea because now, with the new technology, we don’t have to play those stupid games anymore.
Really, really, really, oops.
The New World
I glanced at one point in the workshop at the thirty plus well-published writers, many with large backlists sitting in file cabinets, and realized there were at least thirty new publishing companies in that room. Publishing companies that can get books to readers in the same fashion and in the same way as a large publisher.
To use a really bad cliche, the barn door has been opened and now can’t be closed. There is simply no way large publishers can get their distribution systems back under their control. The readers like the new ways of getting books and the writers are starting to catch a clue, mostly forced out on their own by the publishing stupidity of outsourcing the purchasing of the very books and new talent that keeps publishers alive.
So, as one longterm professional has been asking at the bottom of his letters now for six months, “What service does large traditional publishers offer writers that is worth 90% of the money?”
Large traditional publishers in trying to answer that question now have reverted to such lame answers as “We do the editing.” Or… “We have great cover designers.” Or… “We are quality control for writers.”
Okay, let me simply say this. Anyone in that room during the three days of the workshop could hire a freelance editor. (Some in that room were freelance editors, actually.) EVERYONE in that room designed and produced a professional-looking cover in two hours. And “Quality Control?” Uhhh…publishers, remember you farmed quality control over new product to a bunch of agents fresh out of college who mostly wouldn’t know a good story if it bit them. And then to top that you let your sales force dictate to top editors what can be bought. Sorry, not really believing that quality control argument anymore.
So what do traditional large publishers offer that any writer in that room with their own small publishing company can’t do? How about getting the books on the shelves at Barnes &Noble? Uhh, any small publisher has the same shot as any book out of traditional publishers, since a vast majority of traditionally published books don’t make B&N shelves. And with a simple POD book through CreateSpace or LightningSource, you can get into the exact same catalogs as any big publisher for Ingrams or B&N or ID stores. Oh, yeah, don’t forget library distribution through both as well.
So I ask the question one more time? “What do traditional large publishers offer that any writer with their own small publishing company can’t do?”
Answer? In 2010, Not much.
Remember my produce analogy? (You can read it here.) Large Publishers by their very profit and loss system, must treat books as produce. They must launch them hard and fast and hope they sell well quickly, then clear the warehouse shelves for the next produce to arrive. So those Large Publishers can drive a book into many reader’s hands. That’s what they can do. And they will pay the author up front some money as well. That’s a positive. And if writers have other books published under their own small publishing companies, the shove of the Large Publisher will help the writer sell more of their own products. That is a huge plus.
So now my advice to writers is to play a balancing game. If the book looks like it might have a slot in big publishing, get it to editors. Give it a shot. If not, publish it yourself.
Getting into traditional publishing now takes either guts to send a package to editors directly or the writer has to find an agent who loves a book and knows what they are doing. And selling one book or three or five no longer means you can sell more to the publisher because the sales force, not your editor is now in charge. So keep that in mind as well. In other words, use the Large Publishers now to help you promote your own published books. Use their produce method to help shove your long term-books as well.
The Big Advantage of Selling Your Own Books and Using Big Publishers at the Same Time.
I can write anything I want and make money on it and find readers. Some of my stories and novels, long considered dead, can now find a new generation of readers. As writers, this new world has suddenly freed us up. If I have a new book, I might send it to a Big Publisher. I might publish it through a small publisher or do it myself completely. I have choices and I am no longer at the mercy of an agent or a publisher or a sales force.
I have never in all my years of writing been so excited about writing new work.
So let me say this clearly and simply. For all of you out on the front lines shouting about this new world, I want to thank you. Mike Stackpole, Joe Konrath, and others. Thank you from all of us. But I want you all to know that there are hundreds and hundreds, if not thousands of professional writers who never say anything who are jumping into this new world as well. There were over thirty professional writers in a room on the Oregon Coast for three days this weekend. Thirty writers with hundreds of traditionally published novels among them, not counting mine. And we all got a story out to readers this weekend.
And those writers are all headed home to do even more, get more of their work to their fans.
And if that doesn’t scare the Large Publishers, I don’t know what will.
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Copyright 2010 Dean Wesley Smith
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At some point, just as with the Killing the Sacred Cows of Publishing series, I will publish this series as a book. And this installment is now part of my inventory in my bakery. (Confused on that, read the Killing the Sacred Cows of Publishing post about making money with writing.) I’m giving you this small slice as a sample. I’m giving you a taste, but not selling any of the pie.
If you feel this helped you in any way, toss a tip into the tip jar on the way out of the Magic Bakery.
If you can’t afford to donate, please feel free to pass this chapter along to others who might get some help from it.
Thanks, Dean
That makes sense. Thanks!
My experience — limited — has been that some of my fans allowed as how they didn’t read ebooks, but, boy, if I did a POD, they’d snap it up.
I stuck an original novel up on Lulu.com as as POD at the same time I put a PDF on my blog for direct sales. By the time shipping was figured in, the POD cost almost four times as much as the PDF and I was making less profit per copy. Of which I think I’ve sold four at Lulu.com.
Eventually, I put that title on Smashwords and Amazon.com — and last I looked, the Smashwords automatically-put-it-on-Amazon was having problems, so I did that myself — but my blog sold thirty copies in the time that Lulu sold four.
I told readers, look, download the PDF, print it out, stick it in a clamp cover, and it’ll still cost you half what it does to get the POD version.
That cover price for POD doesn’t include the shipping, which might well run half again. If you are selling a pb novel for twelve bucks and it costs five or six to ship it, it’s going to less appealing to somebody who can pick up two or three novels at Powell’s for the same amount.
Steve, you went to Lulu, the worst of the POD publishers. That was your problem. Go to https://www.createspace.com/Products/Book/#content2 and plug in the price you would like to sell it for, then plug in your page count and trim size and see how much you would make per book. And CreateSpace is easy and owned by Amazon.com. Compared to Lulu, this is stunning and cheap and a hundred times easier. Lulu is expensive and the hardest of the three. So two years ago. (grin)
As I was rereading this thread — I’ve become VERY interested in this new world of publishing — a question occurred to me about pen names. (You hinted at it in your response to Camille.)
With trad publishing, which only allowed the average writer to publish one book a year under one name, it was advantageous to writer to publish under multiple names.
But in this new world, wouldn’t it be wiser for a writer who has decided to self-pub to publish everything under one name? Yes, I know that if you write in different genres you don’t want to “confuse” your readers. I’m not sure that’s really a problem — or was ever a problem.
Didn’t writers who wrote in multiple genres publish under different names so that the BOOKSTORES wouldn’t get confused. “Gee, I wonder where to put this Orson Scott Card chick-lit novel?” But if you’re an indie writer publishing ebooks, don’t you tell Amazon and the others online companies what genre your story is? Therefore, there’s no real confusion. I indicate if my story or novel is horror, or romance, or whatever. And therefore, a reader browsing the sf/f part of Amazon won’t ever get my sf/f novels “confused” with my Christian fiction novels (for example).
But since some readers read across the board — and since other readers will follow an author beyond genre — wouldn’t it make sense just to publish EVERYTHING under one name?
The reason for this question is because I’m thinking about how to “market” yourself. I agree fully that a writer needs to spend time writing, not marketing. Yet, aren’t you still trying to build up a reputation? Wouldn’t it be better to have one interactive blog (like this one) than trying to maintain three or four?
Or am I over thinking things? How many readers follow the online presence of their writers?
Just thinking out lout now . . . but I still wonder about the wisdom of publishing under more than one name in this new world.
Jeff, wow are you full of myths. Sorry to be so blunt but you said, “With trad publishing, which only allowed the average writer to publish one book a year under one name, it was advantageous to writer to publish under multiple names.” Heavens man, have you walked into a bookstore lately? A few genres might want only one book in that genre per year, or two, but for example if you write romance they LOVE writers who can do four or five books a year, and most genres like two at least. Not sure where you got that idea.
As for your question, Jeff, why would you think that ANYTHING but quality storytelling would help you sell books????? I am just puzzled at that. You must believe that publishers make bestsellers out of some poor idiot who can’t string two sentences together and because they (the publisher) promoted them MILLIONS of readers are too stupid to not buy them. Uhh, no, readers are very smart. Thankfully. Promotion by writers is a myth. Only thing that a writer can do to help sell books is write good stories and then write more and more of them. That’s it. You need to take that myth out and just shoot it. Sorry to be so blunt. Write, sell, write, sell (either to traditional publishers or online), write, sell and so on and so on. That’s how it is done.
Oops. I think I meant “promoting” in my last post instead of “marketing.” Either way, I meant that continual pushing of a novel with book tours and signings and radio interviews and so forth. What the trad pubs make a writer go through.
Jeff said, “What the trad pubs make a writer go through.” Ughh, Jeff, you have been listening to far too many myths. No publisher will force you to promote, and no where is it in a contract unless you are stupid enough to sign one that requires you promote, AND THEN THEY PAY FOR IT. Promotion or marketing are the same thing and both are just flat silly. If you sell to a small press, they might ask you to help in some promotion, but never a big publisher unless you are making HUGE advances and then they pay. Wow, I remember dealing with this myth somewhere along the way or did I just imagine that. I’ll check and if I didn’t, maybe it’s time I fly at that one again, clearly.
Hey Dean. Like I said before, I like the directness of these conversations. No room for misunderstanding.
I can’t tell you exactly where I heard all those myths, but I remember hearing them from different pro’s writing in different genres.
I suppose my question wasn’t so much about what sells fiction, but, rather, the practicality of using different pen names if one is writing in different genres.
Now that I try to think of any concrete examples to give, I can’t think of any. Hmmm…?
At any rate, THANK YOU for helping me see clearly. Once again.
Dean, I’d like to ask you to clarify your position that authors with traditional publishers don’t need to market. I’m sure that nobody *forces* an author to do his own marketing. It’s obviously not in the contrasts. But with big publishing houses like Simon and Shuster dedicating entire sections of their webpage to marketing resources for authors, it seems pretty clear to me that the publishing houses are putting pressure on authors to do their own marketing.
So what exactly do you mean that it’s a myth? It’s one thing to disagree with them and say that author marketing doesn’t sell books and an author’s time is better spent writing (and that might be true), but unless these websites are forgeries, you can’t deny that some publishers do want authors to help with marketing.
Here’s the simon and shuster website. http://simonandschuster.biz/author-resources/tips-for-promoting-your-books
And another blog post from someone working in the sales department of a publishing house, saying that authors are highly encouraged to participate in marketing. http://pimpmynovel.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2010-10-14T10:00:00-04:00&max-results=7
And another blog post from an editor at Wiley. Again “Book publishers expect authors to take charge of their own online marketing.”
http://www.alanrinzler.com/blog/2008/07/20/publisher-to-author-web-marketing-youre-on-your-own/
Livia, valid question, but alas it is a myth.
Here are the facts. When you go into a partnership with a publisher to get your book to readers, you sign a contract. In that contract you have certain duties like making sure the manuscript is finished and rewrites and such, and you license certain rights to the publisher for their purposes. (I am being very general CE, please give me a break (grin).) The publisher’s duties are to produce and promote your book and get it into distribution channels. That is what they sign to do. Promotion will depend on the size of the book of course.
So here comes a decade of writers who start believing the myth of self-promotion and the publishers are constantly getting questions about it, so they make up a web site for the authors who want to do it, to help them.
Do these promotions by the author make any difference in a fifty thousand book print run? No. So why do publishers do it? Simply put, because the myth forced them to do something. Honest, that’s the way it works.
I was standing in a hallway in a publishing office in New York and my editor and another editor were laughing about how an author (not me) wanted to do a tour. So they set the author up for a three city tour which of course would do NOTHING to sell any more than maybe fifty to a hundred more books. But it was cheap to keep the author happy. Then one editor laughed and looked at me and my editor said, “Don’t worry, Dean would never want one of those mercy tours.” Yup, behind the scenes editors call such things mercy tours to keep authors happy. These days it is just cheaper to put up web sites, pat the authors on the had and say “Here you go, knock yourself out” and walk away.
It does no good, never has with big traditional publishers. Those are just facts. Figure the math yourself if you don’t believe me, or go do it yourself and keep track of every book you manage to sell. Then look at your first royalty statement to see what percentage of the total sales came from all your promotions and tours and book signings. You will never do it again, I promise.
But that said, what should an author do to help out their publisher? Have an active web site. That’s critical these days so people can find your books and your earlier books by links through your web site. Do a local signing in an ID bookstore to support a local bookstore. Not for your sales, for the store. Announce your book on your social sites every so often, talking about it in different ways that make it sound interesting.
All that takes only a few moments and is fun. Anything beyond that is a myth and a waste of time.
Livia, all that said, if you really want to spend the time and the money instead of writing the next book, knock yourself out. Makes no difference to me because, to be honest, promotion doesn’t hurt other writers, just keeps writers who don’t like to write busy. Harsh, but alas true.
And if you sold to a small press, then sometimes some certain types of promotion can work to help the small publisher. But that is a different topic. There you are trying to improve the sales on a thousand copy print run and fifty sales makes a difference. With a fifty thousand print run, fifty sales won’t budge anything or make any difference.
Laura and I are just going to have to disagree on one little point. I have NEVER seen an author pushed promotion campaign make any difference with a traditionally published (large publisher decent print run) novel. A 50,000 print run is hard to move with some signings and such. You have to sell 500 copies to just move it one percent. And selling that many copies THAT WOULD NOT HAVE SOLD ON THEIR OWN ANYWAY, is darned tough. $7.95 mass market paperback, you get 6% of that, so for every one you sell you get in return 48 cents. Which means you have poured into your account with the publisher exactly $240.00 toward replaying your advance. If anyone thinks they can sell 500 copies of a book for under $240 expenses please let me know how.
Again, I am fine with web sites and helping on the social media, if you do it professionally. No issue. Beyond that I stand by my belief (until proven otherwise) that in 2010 self-promotion of a large published book is a waste of time 100% of the time. You are always better served to write the next book. My opinion. Be my guest if you would rather go around promoting your old book written two years ago than write the new one, but no real writer I know likes to do that.
Thanks for the clarification Dean. In that case, I think we were just disagreeing about definitions. As a child of the Internet age, things like book tours don’t even enter my realm of consciousness when thinking about marketing, and I do agree that they are remarkably inefficient. I think of marketing as having an effective web presence (and I do mean effective, as in having a place where readers can find you and your other books, and *not* as in tweeting about your breakfast or blogging about your cat). Two of the three posts I mentioned in my previous comment dealt specifically with online presence. So I disagreed when you said that author marketing was a myth. But you actually do believe author websites are important, so nevermind.
Jeff wrote: “I meant that continual pushing of a novel with book tours and signings and radio interviews and so forth. What the trad pubs make a writer go through.”
Jeff, this isn’t something publishers “make” anyone do. And, in general, if the publishing organizes any of this for a writer, the writer is very, VERY pleased, beacuse it means the publisher is really investing in promoting the book. Which is a big deal, because it means they consider it potentially very profitable, which means that the author has the potential of building a castle with 8 bathrooms if the publisher is right.
But since not that many books are perceived as potentially profitable enough to make the expense of promoting them to that extent (it’s expensive to send an author on a multi-city tour of signings and interviews), it’s rare to be asked to do it. And they -ask-, they don’t tell.
And when I say -ask-, I mean that, yes, a writer can say know. I know a writer, for example, who said know for several years in a row because she was busy raising children and caring for ill parents and writing as fast as she could, and she just couldn’t add ONE MORE THING to her schedule. The publisher understood, but they asked every year–and when the kids were old enough to be left alone for a couple of weeks, she finally said yes and went on tour.
Jeff wrote: “With trad publishing, which only allowed the average writer to publish one book a year under one name, it was advantageous to writer to publish under multiple names.”
Jeff, although there are some individual/specific instances a publisher night only want one book per year from a writer, for at least as long as I’ve been in the business (22 years), publishers have looked very =favorably= on a writer being able to deliver more than one book per year. And for the past 5 years, there’s been genuine pressure on many writers to deliver at least two books per year (sometimes three) to a publisher.
And contrary to being advantageous, it would be a bad idea to publish under more than one name in the same genre. (When it gets done, usually it’s because there’s been a business problem with regard to using the same name.) If readers loved your last romance novel, you certainly want them to know that you next romance novel is by the same writer; name consistency is a key factor in that.
Jeff wrote: “I suppose my question wasn’t so much about what sells fiction, but, rather, the practicality of using different pen names if one is writing in different genres.”
This is one of those things for which there is no Right Answer. Genrerally, it has LONG been assumed that a writer should use different names in different genres. As you noted, that’s always had a lot to do with shelving; so that if Orson Scott Card wrote a chicklit novel, it wouldn’t get mistakenly shelved with sf on the automatic assumption that, because OSC wrote it, it MUST be a chicklit novel.
There are other reasons, too—such as genre-to-genre prejudice. Speaking from personal experience, sf/f readers, for example, tend to assume romance writers can’t write—or, at least, can’t write sf/f. So I’d advise using the same name for both genres, because it could be a handicap. When readers see several romance novels –alongside- several science fiction novels when they enter an author’s name in Amazon… there’s a good chance, if they’re science fiction writers, they’ll click away from that author without making a purchase, convinced it’s someone not worth reading.
In a similar vein, a pen name can be a market cue which will steer readers correctly and avoid pissing them off. (And there’s no point in saying “but they can read what genre it is! they can read a review! they can make an informed choice!”—because plenty of them won’t. For a very good example of what I mean, go take a look at the Amazon reader reviews for THE EXILE, a graphic novel by Diana Gabaldon. It’s full of negative reviews by angry readers who expected it to be a narrative/text/standard novel and are shocked! SHOCKED! that it’s a graphic novel. Even though all packaging, marketing, blurbs, promo, positioning, etc. made that so crystal clear you’d think even a reasonably precious cocker spaniel would have figured it out.) And needlessly pissing off readers is a thing to be avoided.
On the OTHER hand… Neil Gaiman is an example of someone who’s been tremendously successful using one name across a variety of platforms: adult fiction, children’s books, graphic novels, nonfiction, screeplays, etc. To the extent that his name –is- his brand; which is an ideal situaton for a writer, i.e. that anything you put your name on FAVORABLY alerts your readers. But as in the above example with Gabaldon, where a noticeable percentage of readers are PISSED OFF that they’ve bought a graphic novel because her name is on it… this is an unpredictable phenomenon. (Albeit, not one that’s really hurt Gabaldon, either, since THE EXILE made #1 and the NYT graphic novel bestseller list two weeks in a row.)
All of which is a long way of coming back to my original statement (g): There is no Right Answer. And there may never be one. it’s a judgment call, and a preference. For example, is the author’s voice, style, and sensibility so strong and consistent that it will remain the key attraction for readers across genre and format boundaries? Or not?
All all of that was really sloppily written, because it’s late and I’m tired, and I don’t proofread anything I don’t get PAID to write. So some of it may be a tad confusing…
Livia, for the past few years, a LOT of writers I know have talked a whole lot about experiencing a LOT of pressure from publishers to self-promote.
I can’t address this myself, because I have no experienced it. Quite recently, before presenting my next book to the sales force of a major conglomerate, my editor said, “Do you have a website? They’re really into writers having websites now.” Yes, I have a website.
And that’s the sum total of the “pressure” I’ve experienced from publishers to self-promote. (In fact, whenever editors have asked if I’m going to a major convention, and I say, no, I don’t really like conventions, they say something like, “Good for you. Stay home and write.” Or: “I don’t either. Wish I didn’t have to go, either.”)
The same editor above said the sales force also like it when writers blog. I said I don’t blog and explained why (multiple reasons, but the primary one is: I’m compulsive and undiscplined, so I would spend too much time blogging and not enough time writing my contracted work)–my editor promotly said, “Okay, DO NOT BLOG.”
But I do know that some of my friends have really gotten the hard sell from their editors or publishers to do a lot more self-promo. I also know, though, that some writers get a phone call like I did (“Do you have a website or blog? I need to know what to tell the sales forces.”) and interpret that as PRESSURE–whereas I just interpret it as a question. I also believe that the biggest pressure to self-promote comes from other writers. Writers fret and kvetch and kvell and strategize and gossip and plan and attend day-long seminars and research articles and spend money (sometimes JAW-DROPPING amounts of money) on self-promo.
I don’t agree with the assertion that none of it works. I think -some- of it works… but I also think there’s no way of knowing what will work, and there’s too often no way of verifying what DID work. I also think that in most cases of something taht really worked, the results can’t be reliably reproduced by doing the same thing.
Or, to quote the old adage, only half of all advertising works… but nobody has ever figurd out which half.
The few examples I can think of are in romance, which is probably why Dean isn’t familiar with them, since that’s my (early) background but is not his.
To give a very well-known example (but one which is also 20 years old), Brenda Joyce was a midlist historical romance writer whose first 2-3 books (like most books) got low advances, low print-runs, and made no ripple or splash. Joyce came from money, and she used about $40,000 of it on a national promotional campaign for her next book. This made her a national bestseller in Waldenbooks (on which stores, IIRC, she particularly focused), which was a major romance sales outlet in those days. Her advance levels increased substantially and she soon became a NYT bestseller. (I don’t remember the details of the promo campaign now, but I do remember that it involved hiring a male model, doing a photo shoot, and printing promo posters and bookmarks–back when that was a brand new idea–nationally. I don’t remember what other things she did.)
Which is an example of why one of my caveats was that, even when you know something that someone did that worked, it can’t necessarily be duplicated. One thing that very few of us can duplicate, for example, is the amount of money that Joyce had available to invest in her promo campaign. The other thing is efficacy. Joyce’s investment was, in any case, a risk–there was always the possibility that she’s blow the money, rather than reap tremendous benefits. Until after the fact, there was no way to know. But another KEY element here was that… once she had done this once, it was no longer a brand new novelty thing. Within a year, dozens (possibly hundreds) of romance writers were printing erotic/suggestive bookmarks by the thousands and mailing them nationwide. It never again had the effect it had in Joyce’s case. (And, as per other parts of the discussions on this blog, another VERY key element is that Joyce maintained a prolific writing schedule for years afterward, delivering book after book for the readers who’d become her fans during that promo campaign.)
Sherrilyn Kenyon’s rise to bestsellerdom has been attributed to the elaborate website she built and maintained to promote her Dark Hunter series. The normal pattern is that readers get interested in a writer and go to her website to see what else she’s written; in this case, it was said that people were getting interested in Kenyon’s website, then buying the books as a result. This is a bit less verfiable than the Joyce example, since Kenyon was already a very prolific writer with (IIRC) rising sales. But all the discussion I heard of how her website was driving a surge in her sales was how -I- first heard her name, at any rate; and she did thereafter make the NYT list for the first time (and has been on it many times since). (This was also back… oh, 2001? 2002? (I’m basing it on where I know I was living when I first saw the website.) IOW, when writer websites were mostly not very creative or elaborate. Kenyon’s was–and that, too, is a phenomenon that can’t really be duplicated, since by now, LOTS of websites are elaborate. (Additionally, Kenyon was and remained a VERY prolific writer, building readers the old fashioned way–by releasing book after book after book.)
(I just looked for it, and though it’s changed since the last time I saw it–which was probably back around 2002 or 2003–it’s still there: http://www.dark-hunter.com)
I know several writers who’ve done some very elaborate promos which they say have helped their sales. (I have no opinion on the matter one way or the other.) I also know writers who’ve spent a tone of money… and don’t have any evidence that it helped at all. I also know writers who are very discinplined and businesslike about how much time they invest in promo and social networking; and while they believe in doing it, I again have no opinion on the matter.
What I know about myself is that on occasion when I have money to spare, it’s -always- earmarked for something a lot more concrete than expensive promo (such a replacement for my self-imploding competer, my dead car, medical bills, a vacation, etc.); and when it comes to setting aside time for social networking, etc… I’m (did I MENTION?) undiscplined and compusive, so my goal is always to spend LESS time online, not MORE (and I know myself too well to think I’d stay in control if I got heavily involved in promo–because, like almost ALL things, I find promotional tasks MUCH easier than crafting fiction, so I would unquestionably use it as an avoidance technique, i.e. “Well, I’m not writing my book, but I -AM- =WORKING=, you know…”).
Personally, for me (and other people’s mileage varies, and that’s fine), and as I wrote in a draft of an upcoming NINK column (about why I’m much less interested in doing convention appearances than I used to be), I am convinced that the most valuable thing I can do for my career is write my next book and my next and my next, and the OTHER most valuable thing I can do for my career (which my long-suffering editors would ALSO really like me to do) is to increase my delivery pace–so that I can get two books new per year, every year, consistently into the market.
Laura said: “I am convinced that the most valuable thing I can do for my career is write my next book and my next and my next, and the OTHER most valuable thing I can do for my career (which my long-suffering editors would ALSO really like me to do) is to increase my delivery pace–so that I can get two books new per year, every year, consistently into the market.”
On that we are in total agreement.
And yup, I knew all about the romance side of promotions and how they used to take doughnuts to truck drivers and all that. It worked for the early adaptors. For a short time. No evidence at all it works today that I can find, but married to a romance writer, I do know about all the romance things and how this self-promotion myth got started in the romance field. But I do agree completely with your final statement, the best thing is to write the next book. Also my belief completely.
BTW, just to emphasize, although having a large sum to spend on a very professional national campaign 20 years made a difference in Joyce’s career (and whether or not it was repaid by earnings on that book–which, in fact, was probably the case, given how well that book sold and how long it stayed in print–it was CERTAINLY repaid over the long haul, given how high her advances and sales immediately thereafter climbed and remained), money itself isn’t the “answer.”
I know a writer who spent about $17,000 on promotion 4-5 years ago. Subsequently told me, in retrospect, it was a complete waste of money. (And it was my distinct impression that if three TIMES that money had been spent on the same plans… it would all have still been wasted. The problem was NOT that a larger sum was needed.)
So money isn’t the key.
Nor, necessarily, is being the FIRST to do something. In one of my favorite examples of a “clever” promo campaign that was certainly the first of its kind… and a complete wipe-out… When a top-of-the-charts Irish band called The Boomtown Rats (which was Bob Geldof’s band, before he became -Sir- Bob Geldof due to his activism) was trying to break into the US market in the 1970s… Their brilliant promo idea was to send a dead rat with a copy of their new record to hundreds of radio stations. Yes, really. Which brillinan promo idea is usually credited for being the reason hardly anyone in this country ever heard of the Boomtown Rats. (g) (The doomed promo plan–original, it MUST be admitted!–is recounted in Geldof’s autiobiography, IS THAT IT?)
So one of the reasons I tend to take a lean approach to promo is that I don’t really want to gamble my time or money on something that is THAT unpredictable–particularly given that I already gamble my ENTIRE self-supporting career on something as unpredictable as publishers and readers!
J.A. Marlow wrote me with these comments and said it was fine to put them up.
“Very good points on the other kinds of fears this new era brings. Some of it definitely applies to traditional publishing, as well. Have you thought about a new post about creating business plans focusing on this new model? The one you already have can be modified (and the basics are the same), but I would be interested to see if you had any new thoughts on things to include.”
J.A., actually working on a post about a business plan in this new world. Of course, every business plan will vary since we are all different, but I do have some general suggestions I will put up at one point.
But the post I just put up about combining POD publishing and traditional publisher submissions might start down that road unless someone can punch some holes in it.
Livia,
Considering how cheap and easy it is to have an effective website (maybe not a dazzling one that has the whole town talking; but an effective one), and how much a large portion of the population relies on the internet for information, I think it makes no sense at all for a professional writer does NOT have a website these days. (Barring one bestselling writer I know who, due to having had a very serious stalker problem, chooses to have no web presence at all. But that’s a special circumstance.)
I think an easily-accessible website listing available/current titles and upcoming titles is such a self-evident thing, and so easy and so LITTLE time/money consuming, it just makes no sense to me when a writer doesn’t have (and MAINTAIN) a website. I mean, what an easy, simple, and effective way to make information about your current and upcoming books available to ANYONE IN THE WORLD with internet access! And what a naive and silly oversight NOT to take advantage of that easy opportunity to make sure your readers know what books of yours they can buy!
Great discussion, Dean and Laura. Very enlightening.
Jeff V.,
A lot of this discussion, especially the discussions of tons of amateurish junk being dumped on the market, reminds me of another recent development: YouTube. Nobody believes me when I say this, but I think it’s true: YouTube has killed off a major segment of the TV audience. People argue: “But most of the videos there are so amateur.” To which I have four answers:
1. And TV these days is fine art? Some of it’s very good, sure; but a lot of it is crap.
2. Amateur work can be amusing and entertaining. People overlook a lot when you make them laugh or cry. Especially if it’s free. The best YouTube video I ever saw was produced by a high school film club. Their production values weren’t high, but those kids were INVENTIVE. (YouTube has since pulled it, I suspect because they used Smashing Pumpkins music without a license.)
3. Amateurs today have tools pros would’ve given their right arms for 20 years ago.
And 4. Look at the numbers. I’m not saying TV is dying, but YouTube is indisputably sucking up time that 20 years ago would’ve been spent in front of the TV.
But there’s another answer: some very well-polished stuff DOES make it to YouTube. Not just clips from the TV shows and whatnot, but quality original work. And always, always with that ubiquitous URL where you can “learn more”: in other words, get a sales pitch to buy their other works.
So I want to propose another answer for you, in part because I may try it myself, and I’d love to hear feedback from more experienced folks here. It’s the teaser. Not exactly a new idea, but here’s how I might see it working, based on numbers from Amazon’s Kindle DTP program. (I don’t know the precise pricing for other platforms.)
1. Write a large collection of stories you’re proud of. Heinlein used to say “Once you’re in orbit, you’re halfway to anywhere.” Similarly, if you have a large collection of quality stories, you’re halfway to publishing them somewhere. But you’re asking — and certainly I’m asking — about stories that MIGHT be quality, but are seriously untested. Let’s assume you’re taking Dean’s “believe in your stories” to its extreme, and you’ve decided you just want to go straight to the readers.
2. Create or commission 3 different but related cover designs: a simple design, a standard design, and a deluxe design. For instance, the simple design might be a spaceship; the standard design might be the same spaceship launching missiles; and the deluxe design might be that ship and another ship in battle.
3. Pick out what you believe is your absolute best story, and set it aside.
4. Divide the remainder into two “piles”. Put mostly the shorter stories in Pile A, mostly the longer ones in Pile B; but mix it up just a bit, so there are a couple of longer stories in Pile A.
5. Convert every story in Pile A to PDF, HTML, any format you can. If the format includes a cover, use the simple cover (with different titling for each, of course). These are your teasers. Make sure every story has a page with URLs for all the stories. That page can be very honest, since people appreciate honesty: “This story is free. Some of these other stories are free, too. They’re free because I hope you like them enough to pay for the others.”
6. Convert every story in Pile B to Kindle format. Everything in Pile B gets the standard cover (with different titling, of course). Again, make sure every story has a page with URLs for all the stories, including the free ones.
7. Convert the entire collection INCLUDING the story you set aside in step 3 to Kindle format. This gets the deluxe cover. Also include the page of “Where these stories can be found.” Yeah, the guy who has this already has all these stories; but when he wants to recommend one to his friend, he can just send the URL for that story.
Make sure you do a decent table of contents, which seems to be where a lot of Kindle books fall flat. Also include any framing material if you want to tie these stories together. Maybe include a prologue and introductions. Think hard on this: some readers hate them, but sometimes they’re my favorite parts of the book.
8. Distribute everything in Pile A anyplace that’s willing to take them. These are your teasers, so you want them anywhere people might find them. And certainly put them in PDF on your own site.
9. List everything in Pile B on Amazon for $0.99 if it’s under 3 MB, $1.99 if it’s under 10 MB (but try not to have anything 3 MB or above). These are their minimum prices for these ranges. On these prices, you’ll earn 35% royalty on list, so roughly 35 cents (or 70 cents).
10. Unless your stuff is classic, savvy readers may object that $0.99 is a lot to pay for a short story. After all, an issue of Analog or Asimov’s is only $3 for subscribers, $5 newstand. For that, they get (from the current Analog) 3 novelettes, 4 short stories, 1 science fact article, and 6 columns. That’s rougly $0.35 per piece for newsstand, and $0.21 for subscribers. And those are pieces selected by Stanley Schmidt, a trusted editor. $0.99 for your unknown shorts doesn’t compare.
But that’s why you list the collection on Amazon for $2.99. It’s a bargain for them: they get some large number of stories — including the Pile A teasers reformatted for Kindle, the deluxe cover, AND a story not available elsewhere — for the cost of three short stories. It still doesn’t have Stanley Schmidt’s imprimatur, but it’s in the right ballpark on a per-story price basis.
Meanwhile, you enroll that collection in the Amazon 70% program, meaning you get 70% — $2.09 — for US and UK sales. So you’re getting the equivalent income of 6 of your Pile B stories, even though the customer is paying the price of only 3. Win-win! (Outside US and U.K., you get 35%.)
11. By the time you’ve gone to this much effort, maybe take it to CreateSpace for a POD. It seems like you’re more than half way there.
12. If you’ve done everything right and manage to earn a readership, see Dean’s recent post on using your POD to market your book proposal.
It seems to me that this covers a lot of bases. Your free teasers get you readers. If your ego is anything like mine, that alone has some value. It doesn’t pay any bills, but a warm fuzzy ego is a happy ego. And if they draw attention, you can sell collections. Meanwhile, if consensus builds that “Ah, most of this is crap, but these two stories are good,” you still have a chance for those stories to sell individually. Some readers may do the math and think $0.99 is too much for a story; but for a lot of people, $0.99 is “practically free!”
I eagerly await holes getting shot in this plan; but if I’ve learned anything from Dean’s past answers, I’ll bet he tells me, “Might work. You should try it and see. What do you have to lose?”