In a great post about the future of publishing, Michael A. Stackpole once again just flat calls things as they are. Worth the read, folks.
Great post, Mike!
http://www.michaelastackpole.com/?p=2547
Dean’s Short Bio
Bestselling author Dean Wesley Smith published traditionally more than one hundred popular novels and well over two hundred short stories. His novels include the science fiction novel Laying the Music to Rest and the thriller The Hunted as D.W. Smith. With Kristine Kathryn Rusch, he co-wrote The Tenth Planet trilogy and The 10th Kingdom. He writes under many pen names and ghosts for a number of top bestselling writers.
Dean wrote books and comics for all three major comic book companies, Marvel, DC, and Dark Horse, and wrote scripts for Hollywood. One movie actually saw film.
Dean also worked as an editor and publisher, first at Pulphouse Publishing, then for VB Tech Journal, then for Pocket Books. He now plays a role as an executive editor for Fiction River.
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WMG Publishing Inc. is now my major publisher of all my coming novels, collections, and short stories.
Fiction River Volumes #1and #2 Are Available!
Fiction River, an original fiction anthology magazine is available for subscriptions. Unnatural Worlds, the first volume, shiped on April 23rd, 2013 and How to Save the World shipped on June 18th, 2013.
$6.99 electronic and $15.99 trade paper editions of Fiction River volumes are available at your favorite bookseller.
Or subscribe to future issues now.
Michael’s post was fantastic.
A few things stood out for me: Just a note, a life lesson, if you will: Any time someone suggests that you don’t need to worry about something, that something is worth worrying about.
So, so true; that, from personal experience (which is a great teacher, BTW
).
The tradpub folks know what’s good for them, but they’re so overworked they don’t see the implications of what it means for everyone else. To them, ebooks are convenient because they’re editors and they hate lugging that weight of paper around. They don’t extrapolate to the rest of us—we’re not editors, after all. And why hasn’t the “ease of purchase” sunk in? Because they don’t have to buy books.
The part about editors not having to buy books was somewhat of an eyeopener for me (it makes sense, but I never really thought about it); the fact that they have e-readers, less so. But that they can’t connect what they’re doing on a regular basis to everyday readers boggles my mind; I guess it shows how insular the tradpub community can be. And I guess in their world, pricing an ebook sky high makes perfect sense.
BTW, have you seen this post by agent Rachelle Gardner? Although I haven’t read all of it, two things hit me:
I began to wonder: Who benefits from all of this? Surely not the reader, who already has thousands of books from which to choose, and who will never in a lifetime run out of choices even if all publishing were to cease today.
Not the reader? Why not? I love the idea of having even more books to choose from, because now you can get some books that defy genre pigeonholing.
For decades, as readers, it was the publishers who decided what we would read; if I remember correctly, Dean, you said the acquisitions people bought with distributors in mind?
Anyway, if readers want writers to continue a series or continue writing in a particular universe, that can be done directly; the writer doesn’t have to be at the mercy of a traditional publisher if the series doesn’t take off, and the readers get what they want.
Win-win.
What does Ms. Gardner conclude? My conclusion: This trend toward self-publishing serves primarily the writer. (Not readers and not the publishing industry as a whole.) It’s a way for writers to get their books out to an audience, to get published, and hopefully get read. It serves the writer’s need and desire. (I’m not saying this is a bad thing.)
Wow, what I concept, a way for writers to get their books out to an audience. That’s a bad thing for readers?
I don’t get this thinking. If it’s only for the writers, then why the hell do writers need readers? Isn’t the entire idea of why most writers write is to gain readers, of having the pleasure of knowing a bunch of people enjoy the fruits of your labor? If no one is out there reading a writer’s stories, why bother putting it out at all?
Sorry for the long post, Dean, but this one really got to me (in case you hadn’t noticed.
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Nancy, well Rachelle Gardner has said some really silly things over the last year, but this one tops it. You are spot on, Nancy.
Rachelle, as so many others in traditional publishing, have their heads buried so deep into worrying about what a distributor or a buyer for B&N wants, they have no idea what real readers want. None. And those of us who tend to write into a niche area with smaller reader bases are pushed out completely, and thus OUR READERS can’t find anything but the current vampire/wizard rip-off book. So by allowing us to write and publish what we want, this Rachelle person thinks that hurts readers???? Yeah, that’s clear thinking, when your head is deeply buried somewhere, your fingers are in your ears, and you are shouting la-la-la-la to keep from hearing anything that make the slightest sense.
Does this new world help writers? Yup. A lot. We are finally out from under the controls of those trying to sell to chain store buyers instead of readers. Does this new world help readers? Yup. Just ask one.
And one more thing. For the last two decades, New York and then lately agents, seem to think they know what readers, all readers want. And if not enough readers want it, they won’t give it to them.
In other words, when the monopoly was in effect, they, meaning agents and New York publishers, started to really believe their own hype that they were the only ones who could tell readers what they wanted.
Indie publishing is now letting readers decide what they want. And that scares hell out of traditional publishers and the agents who serve them.
I actually saw that same post. I replied to it – respectful but dissenting in my opinion – but SOMEHOW my comment never appeared….
The gist of it was that I am really – despite what some people think – not so stupid as to not be able to pick what I like. The idea that a bazillion books for download on Amazon will overload my pea sized brain is like saying their is so much porn on the internet I’ll never able to find a site with substance.
And yet, here I am.
I have hundreds of channels with thousands of shows to watch on cable TV and yet somehow stupid ol’ me finds Jeopardy every night and Football every Sunday (well maybe not this year!)
Gardner’s post was insulting to say the least. She, however, is firmly in the ‘NY published it so it is therefore good’ camp. Anyone who follows Dean or Mike or Laura Resnick or the like should know by now that published by NY simply means ‘someone thought it might make $$. We all also know that NY publishing’s batting average isn’t exactly great.
Gardner seems to think that we are all idiots that need her to be a gatekeeper. Will most self-pubbed books make tons of money like Hocking and Konrath?? Hell no. But most traditionally pubbed books don’t beat Stephanie Meyer either. So where is the harm in me selling my book through Smashwords?? Am i hurting someone? Does the fact that my book never got the stamp of approval from an untrained, unlicensed agent mean anything?
It only does to said agents who will miss out of 15% of anything I might make. Since Gardner seems to think I suck simply because I want to self-pub, and will sell nothing, I am at a loss as to why she cares what I do. If my sales = 0, she has not lost a potential client.
More likely, this agent sees the tide turning and has nothing to offer the new world of publishing. She will be one of those left by the wayside or turn to being a publisher herself and make a living off 50% of some fool’s money because there are a million wannabes who don;t bother educating themselves.
So to sum up the above – who cares what a clueless person thinks?
I saw that comment, too, and really anytime I hear “but but self publishing is bad for READERS” I want to, I dunno, smack something. Self-publishing is for writers? Maybe writers who want to “have written” yes, but they aren’t hurting anyone by having their book online. But writers who are writing stuff that people want to read, how is self-publishing a selfish endeavor? Or rather, how is it any more selfish than any other publishing?
I think it’s safe to say that everyone here was a reader before they were a writer, yes? We write because we know what we like to read. And, at a bookstore, it was never a matter of “being vetted” or “proper editing” that made me pick up a title. It was the blurb that made me curious or the story that sounds awesome. It’s ridiculous, to me, that a person who (genuinely) loves to read can’t tell, pretty much immediately, if they would or wouldn’t like a book by the cover, the blurb, and the first chapter.
So, yes, it’s insulting to hear that I can’t figure out what I want by myself. Maybe I don’t have the rest of my life figured out, but darnit, I know what I like to read!
Self-publishing has been awesome for me, as a reader. I love my e-reader. I discovered how much I enjoy novellas and shorter novels, which until recently were harder to find. I constantly find new authors just by being online, checking out links and blogs.
Woah. I went a bit ranty-like, there. My apologies. I am really glad you steered me towards Michael’s blog, there’s a lot of good information. PassiveGuy’s, too!
Dean, thanks for this.
And you ought to look at David Zelsterman’s guest blog, The Myth of Publishing.
http://bit.ly/jm5aMs
Chuck, that blog by David is great! Thanks for sharing it.
This passage in David’s post really stood out for me:
“If you look at most of the big names in crime fiction today—Michael Connelly, James Ellroy, Dennis Lehane, George Pelecanos—none of these authors would’ve survived in today’s environment. They all needed years to develop their readerships, yet new authors now aren’t being given that luxury.”
I just started publishing my own work, and I only have five titles up under my real name. Right now, I’m focusing on creating inventory rather than promoting my work. And sometimes I get so nervous and frustrated that I don’t have the spectacular sales some people report. Then I read something like this, and it reassures me that moving along slowly, with the stories I really believe in, is a valid way to go.