Why terrible 99c self-published authors will destroy the book industry!

[nickspalding]

Mmmm.

Great title for a post, eh?

Controversial, insulting and hyperbolic…

I could have gone with:

‘Why dinosaur big six publishers will destroy the book industry’

…as well of course. Either title would have served exactly the same purpose.

Read the rest of this article below.

[Alessandra Kelley]

So basically your point is grow up and stop arguing about which is the superior publishing method?

[Terie]

I'm not sure using this forum to drive traffic to your blog is appropriate.

[AmsterdamAssassin]

... but I read the blog and commented on it:

The problem with shifts in the industry like what's happening now, is that nobody really knows the effects and consequences in the long term. And since this scares the [scatological expletive] out of them, they try to get a handle on it by making predictions, categorizing and choosing sides.

The only thing I think about this is the exciting times these are for authors -- we are the least likely to suffer under all this. We're the content makers. Without content, the whole industry breaks down. So as long as the author is able to churn out content that readers want to read, s/he has nothing to worry about.

Let publishers worry about consequences and long term effects. Whatever the outcome, the authors can adjust the easiest to changes in the industry.

[shaldna]

I don't think the publishing industry is too worried.

Neither big six nor SP will bring about the end of any aspect of publishing.

No one knows how things will pan out long term, so everything said is just speculation.

[gothicangel]

Originally Posted by shaldna

I don't think the publishing industry is too worried.

Neither big six nor SP will bring about the end of any aspect of publishing.

No one knows how things will pan out long term, so everything said is just speculation.

Definitely.

Low cost self-published titles - in terms or retail/marketing psychology - mean nothing to the non-writer reader. The regular customer still sees price as a marker of quality, and the $.99 is equivalent to the bargain basket.

I do suspect that the majority of Kindle sales comes from other Kindle self-published authors. I have not heard anyone around my university or talking about self-published titles they've found on Kindle.

[John G. Hartness]

Originally Posted by gothicangel

Definitely.
I do suspect that the majority of Kindle sales comes from other Kindle self-published authors. I have not heard anyone around my university or talking about self-published titles they've found on Kindle.

Do you hear people talking often about the publishing house that a book comes from? I hear people talk about a great book, or a great new writer they've discovered, but I don't think I've ever heard a casual reader mention the publisher of a book. Could be you don't hear anyone talking about self-published titles because they aren't aware the titles are self-published. Just a guess.

[shaldna]

Originally Posted by John G. Hartness

Do you hear people talking often about the publishing house that a book comes from? I hear people talk about a great book, or a great new writer they've discovered, but I don't think I've ever heard a casual reader mention the publisher of a book. Could be you don't hear anyone talking about self-published titles because they aren't aware the titles are self-published. Just a guess.

I don't think that's what Gothic was saying.

You;re right in that, when people like a book, they talk about it. They don't generally talk about who published the book.

But when people talk about books that they have loved, if they sound interesting then folks go and have a look for them. I think Gothic was trying to say that she hadn't heard people talking about books that turned out to be SP'd.

[Medievalist]

Originally Posted by Terie

I'm not sure using this forum to drive traffic to your blog is appropriate.

It's not.

[CaoPaux]

I'm booting this to Self-Promotion, with the warning Don't Do It Again.

[nickspalding]

Originally Posted by CaoPaux

I'm booting this to Self-Promotion, with the warning Don't Do It Again.

Good grief. I only linked to my blog rather than post the whole thing here because I knew the article had bad language in it and I thought I'd get it in the neck for reproducing it on the forum. I wasn't seeking self promotion.

Maybe I should have added a comment in the article that people need to chill out as well as grow up...

Here's the whole article (bad language cleaned up so I don't get moaned at):

Why terrible 99c self-published authors will destroy the book industry!



Mmmm.

Great title for a post, eh?

Controversial, insulting and hyperbolic…

I could have gone with:

‘Why dinosaur big six publishers will destroy the book industry’

…as well of course. Either title would have served exactly the same purpose.

There’s a lot of this going round these days…

A great many people airing their (usually extremely partisan) opinions about this apparent war that’s raging between the traditional publishing industry and the self published authors out there who are taking advantage of the services offered by the likes of Amazon, Smashwords and (provided you’re in the bloody USA) Barnes & Noble.

I’ve stayed out of it and largely kept my opinions to myself - which as anyone who’s read my ‘Life…’ books will know, is extremely difficult for me.

I’ve read a lot though. Countless posts on multiple forums, either defending the position of writers who submit their work traditionally to the big six, or defending those who chose to self publish on the Kindle, other e-readers and via services like Createspace and Lulu.

I think I’ve now read and digested enough to come to the following erudite, considered and well thought out conclusion:

The entire thing is horse pooey poos.

At some point (I’m not sure when. I must have been getting a Starbucks when the meeting was called) lines were drawn in a battle that shouldn’t exist.

In one army are the writers who defend the status quo of traditional publishing, and on the other are the independent writers who chose to self publish.

Wars are generally started between two sides that have opposing ideologies and disagree on important points of view. The most popular probably being summed up as: “My god’s better than yours, you big nasty man.” “No, he isn’t and here’s a sword in your guts to prove it.”

Writers on the traditional publishing side of this particular conflict want to be successful and earn a decent living as a writer, appealing to an audience with their work. On the other hand, writers on the self publishing side of this particular conflict want to be successful and earn a decent living as a writer, appealing to an audience with their work…

Anybody else see a problem here?

In the past few months I’ve seen some real bile, vitriol and hate being thrown about from both sides, with things getting very personal: people banned from forums, awful reviews left of books to destroy sales, derisory and inflammatory comments left on blogs… it just goes on and on.

Seriously… grow the fudge up, the lot of you.

The business of writing is hard enough to manage without authors turning on each other because of some fatuous difference of opinion over who’s method of delivery is better.

One side defends the big six, the other defends Amazon. I’m sure all seven of them couldn’t give a flying fudge how many writers support their practises and delivery methods, providing the profits keep rolling in – which they do and always will. They might get worried if one day all writers start singing from the same hymn sheet though…

You think for one split second the people out there in the book reading audience gives a poo poo about all this? Of course they don’t. They don’t care how a book gets into their hands, as long as it’s a good book they want to read. They are the ones who hold the power - and always have the final say. Not publishers or authors or retailers.

Yes, the traditional publishers have dragged their heels when it comes to ebooks and are over-charging for them – and yes there is an awful lot of absolute poo drops being self published every day and slapped up on Amazon for 99c, but does any of that really matter?

It sure as hell doesn’t to me. I’d rather worry about making sure I’ve written the best book I can for an audience that I hope will enjoy my work.

And you know what? I will continue to submit my work to traditional publishers AND self publish other work to the Kindle - because I don’t believe the two are mutually exclusive. A writer should explore every avenue open to them to get their work read by an audience. There’s your ‘new world order’ as far as I’m concerned. That’s the change in mentality sorely in need of adopting.

People bleat on about the future of the publishing industry being either dominated by independent self published authors or traditionally published authors.

Jeepers Cripsy… can’t it just be dominated by authors period, no matter how they chose to get their books in to the hands of the reading public?

Yes, things have changed in publishing with the advent of the Kindle and its counterparts, and the industry is swimming in uncharted waters these days, but whatever happens people will still buy books (wherever they find them) provided said book is good enough to warrant their time and money.

I firmly believe that the authors and publishers who refuse to be a part of this ridiculous argument will be the ones who succeed in the new business model. Those who embrace the new technology - while at the same time appreciating the worth of traditional publishing practises - will be the ones who make the most money, shift the most copies and have the biggest audience share.

I’d very much like to be one of them.

How about you?

Nick.

[CaoPaux]

Originally Posted by nickspalding

Good grief. I only linked to my blog rather than post the whole thing here because I knew the article had bad language in it and I thought I'd get it in the neck for reproducing it on the forum. I wasn't seeking self promotion.

And it would still have been booted to Self-Promotion.

Maybe I should have added a comment in the article that people need to chill out as well as grow up...

Congrats, you just earned yourself three days to do the same.

[Medievalist]

Originally Posted by nickspalding

In the past few months I’ve seen some real bile, vitriol and hate being thrown about from both sides, with things getting very personal: people banned from forums, awful reviews left of books to destroy sales, derisory and inflammatory comments left on blogs… it just goes on and on.

Maybe it's because people like you who just discovered publishing and book production in the last six months feel inspired to pontificate by the sudden rush of endorphins from Dunning-Kruger.

1. Epublishing and self-publishing are not new. Self-publishing has always gone hand-in-hand with commercial publishing, right back to the eighth century and the first for-profit scriptorium.

2. Epublishing has a commercial history that dates back at least to 1992; the big six all have been involved in epublishing and selling commerical ebooks. The Kindle just made it more common.

3. The people on AW who are knowledgeable about self-publishing and ebooks tend to be people who have been doing it for years; that includes the owner, a good half of the mods, and any number of the writers. We're just over the rah-rah aspects of it. Ebooks are just another container; self-publishing is just another method.

4. You kids git offa my lawn.

[scope]

Call me dumb, but I find it hard to tell when people are talking about paper SP'ed books and digital ebooks.

Of course the industry in going through a series of changes. No one doubts that. Yet I read post after post about how great this is for writers-that includes me. That we can now upload our own ebooks and have an opportunity to be successful. That we can SP effectively. And so on. While I don't disagree with all of this, I certainly take it with a very large grain of salt. Ebooks, maybe somehow, someway, with very limited success - but only for a very few. SP'ing, forget about it. What I don't read is that trade publishers of all sizes are more than aware of what's going on and that they are in the midst of adapting and making changes to the way they do business. I don't think we should take the cart before the horse. As an independent writer and ghost writer I only want what's best for me and my fellows. However, my belief is that in a very short time publishers will change their profiles and once again "own" the effective ebook and paper book markets. I'm for us, the writers, but I just can't delude myself, although I'd be delighted to be proven wrong.

Just my 2 cents.

[gothicangel]

Originally Posted by shaldna

I don't think that's what Gothic was saying.

You;re right in that, when people like a book, they talk about it. They don't generally talk about who published the book.

But when people talk about books that they have loved, if they sound interesting then folks go and have a look for them. I think Gothic was trying to say that she hadn't heard people talking about books that turned out to be SP'd.

Yes, thank you. That is exactly what I meant to say.

[Medievalist]

Originally Posted by scope

However, my belief is that in a very short time publishers will change their profiles and once again "own" the effective ebook and paper book markets. I'm for us, the writers, but I just can't delude myself, although I'd be delighted to be proven wrong.

I think they pretty much do, given the tendency of successful self-published ebook and self-published print authors to move to commercial publishing.

I do think that we'll see, for the next ten years or so, established print commercial authors with erights from legacy publications move to co-ops and other do-it-yourself production and distribution models.

In some cases, this is a mistake; a number of my very favorite authors are producing dreadful ebook versions of print books. They are ugly, poorly formatted, and often, nothing more than text dumps.

[movieman]

Originally Posted by Medievalist

I think they pretty much do, given the tendency of successful self-published ebook and self-published print authors to move to commercial publishing.

Is there really such a tendency? Of the three high-profile self-publishing authors I'm aware of who've made such deals -- Konrath, Eisler and Hocking -- at least two said they're still intending to self-publish most of their books, and only one is going with an established publisher for the books they don't self-publish.

[Medievalist]

Originally Posted by movieman

Is there really such a tendency? Of the three high-profile self-publishing authors I'm aware of who've made such deals -- Konrath, Eisler and Hocking -- at least two said they're still intending to self-publish most of their books, and only one is going with an established publisher for the books they don't self-publish.

You're probably looking only at recent self-published ebook fiction authors; I'm looking at a number of self-published print authors as well, especially niche non-fiction books.

In the scholarly / academic world, and in the world of cook books, there's been a steady stream of authors moving from self-published print to commercial print.

In terms of scholarly/ academic / non-fic, the ease of digital layout and ms. preparation for authors who, in the past, were expected to produce camara-ready copy, means that they can produce a small print run via POD at a price that isn't quite as horrific in comparison to a similar novel; a scholarly monograph can easily cost $40 to $80 in terms of non-digital printing methods, and POD allows the same limited press run to cost c. $20 to $25.

In terms of cook books, digital cameras mean much lower costs for color photography, and computer pre-press and layout tools, never mind the templates offered by Lulu and similar sites, make a cook book much more popular--and cook books are a niche of niches.

[movieman]

Originally Posted by Medievalist

You're probably looking only at recent self-published ebook fiction authors; I'm looking at a number of self-published print authors as well, especially niche non-fiction books.

Oh, agreed: I'd expect most self-published non-fiction authors to jump at a decent publishing contract. I was assuming you were referring to fiction.

[Vaguely Piratical]

Originally Posted by Medievalist

for-profit scriptorium.

I really want to start a vanity press called For Profit Scriptorium. I don't actually want to run it, or be involved with it in any way. I just want it to exist

[Medievalist]

Originally Posted by Vaguely Piratical

I really want to start a vanity press called For Profit Scriptorium. I don't actually want to run it, or be involved with it in any way. I just want it to exist

I've actually used that for a name, (we very briefly released digital manuscript facsimiles) also, worked for a friend's ebook/multimedia production company called Full Court Press

[Vaguely Piratical]

Originally Posted by Medievalist

I've actually used that for a name, (we very briefly released digital manuscript facsimiles) also, worked for a friend's ebook/multimedia production company called Full Court Press

Then all is write with the world.