Operator: Self-Publishing 911, what's your emergency?
Author: My new novel isn't selling. I'm sure sales will pick up next month; that's why I quit my day job. But right now, well . . . the utility company just shut off my power and I can't cook my Ramen noodles.
Operator: How many copies of your novel have you sold, ma'am?
Author: At least two or three thousand by now. Amazon just hasn't posted them yet.
Operator: Ma'am, how many sales have been posted?
Author: Two. I know what you're thinking, but my mother only bought one of them.
Operator: Call your old boss, ma'am, and see if you can get your day job back. (switches lines) Self-Publishing 911, what's your emergency?
Writer: I want to self-publish but I'm afraid I'll fail and then that will be the last straw and I'll kill myself. Could you tell me what to do?
Operator: Don't kill yourself, sir.
Writer: I mean about self-publishing. Should I do it? Or should I keep enduring the rejections?
Operator: Sir, what's the title of your novel?
Writer: "All the Stories I Couldn't Sell to New York."
Operator: You need a new title, sir.
Writer: What? I can't change my title. It's the first book in a sixteen-part series.
Operator: What about titling it "All the Stories I Wouldn't Sell to New York."
Writer: Hmmmm. That's not half-bad. A little clunky, but I could work with it.
Operator: Glad I could help, sir. (switches lines) Self-Publishing 911, what's your emergency?
Reviewer: I don't want to review self-published books. They're all nothing but crap.
Operator: (sighs) Then you should review traditionally published novels only, ma'am.
Reviewer: I'm not getting any ARCs to review. The publishers aren't printing them anymore, can you believe that? What am I going to sell on eBay now?
Operator: (checking eBay Pulse page) Fake Coach handbags are trending. (switches lines) Self-Publishing 911, what's your emergency?
Writer: Okay, I'm ready to change my title. What do you think of "All the Stories New York Was Too Stupid to Buy"?
Operator: I think you need another title, sir. (switches lines) Self-Publishing 911, what's your emergency?
Editor: I've been an editor at a major publishing house for seventeen years, and without any warning at all they gave me a pink slip today. They said they don't have enough titles to justify my position anymore. No one else is hiring. What am I going to do?
Operator: Ma'am, you could self-publish a memoir about being an editor.
Editor: What? Become an author? I'd rather eat dirt.
Operator: Well, self-published authors are hiring freelance editors now, ma'am.
Editor: Does that pay anything decent?
Operator: Let me redirect your call to a Freelancer Specialist. Please hold. (transfers call, switches lines) Self-Publishing 911, what's your emergency?
Author: This awful book reviewer won't review my self-published novel. She says they're all crap and only wants printed ARCs from real publishers. So how am I going to get anyone to hear about my book?
Operator: (props head against hand) Have you created fake accounts and written any five-star reviews on Amazon.com for your novel, ma'am?
Author: I post a new one every day. How did you know?
Operator: It's my job, ma'am. Now, using the fake accounts you've created, go onto Amazon.com's discussion boards, pretend to be readers who loved your book, and gush about how good it is.
Author: Wow. That's a great idea. Thank you so much!
Operator: You're welcome, ma'am. (switches lines) Self-Publishing 911, what's your emergency?
Author: My agent has been shopping around my zombie novel for twelve months with no luck. I want the prestige of being in print, but I could publish it myself tonight in twelve minutes and start making money right away.
Operator: Which do you want more, sir? The prestige or the money?
Author: Why can't I have both?
Operator: Sir, you're not Amanda Hocking.
Author: That's not an answer.
Operator: I know. Good luck, sir. (switches lines) Self-Publishing 911, what's your emergency?
Writer: Okay, I changed my title to what you said and uploaded it to Amazon.com, but it's been three minutes and it's not selling. I'm going to kill myself.
Operator: Don't kill yourself, sir. (takes a deep breath) Have you tried offering a discount coupon on your blog?
Showing posts with label digital publishing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label digital publishing. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Thursday, July 16, 2009
VW #4 -- E-Future Part II
The winners of the VW#2 giveaways are:
BookWish: Big T, whose comment began with Thank you, Lynn. I try to use the train of thought, "Enjoy the journey, not just the destination" but faith is hard to keep.
Goodie Bag: Tamlyn Leigh
Winners, when you have a chance, please send your full name and ship-to address to LynnViehl@aol.com, and I'll get your prizes out to you. Thanks to everyone for joining in.
I. Writers of the E-Future
I often complain here about how tough it is for me to keep up with the current technology. I don't like having to get used to a new operating system every time I blow up a computer (every other year), and I am officially sick to death of having to teach myself Word all over again to cope with the latest version Bill Gates decides to dump in my lap (and hey, Bill, version 2007? It sucks.) Don't even talk to me about the slang for all this stuff; I'm still trying to figure out what the hell RSS is and why someone always wants me to feed it to them.
I'm not apologizing for this, either. I am cranky and I am maxed out on how much technobabble I can absorb at the speed of light. Enough already! Stop changing stuff before I can finish learning how to do the old version.
My frustration is really more with myself than the latest tools of our trade, however. I am an older person, and I didn't grow up immersed in technology. When I was a kid, our video games were pinball machines; if we wanted to see a movie we didn't rent or download it or buy it on DVD, we went to the theater. We didn't do math on calculators, we did it in our brains. Computers were enormous things that took up entire rooms, and belonged to fun people like the CIA and NASA and the IRS. You know what was the big technological breakthrough of my childhood? 8-track tapes (and I promise, I will smack the first one of you who asks what the heck that is.)
The bottom line is I was not born to the computer age -- I didn't actually see a personal computer until I was 26 -- and I don't think I'll ever catch up with those of you who were. That = frustration.
Despite my inadequacies as a technojunkie, I am in awe of this era -- I love living in it and seeing it unfold. I am enchanted with all the amazing things computers can do, and the way the internet has opened up the world and brought it together and interconnected us. Thirty years ago I could never have done what I'm doing right now, talking shop to people all over the world. Just think about it for a second. How many countries are represented here today? How many languages do we speak among us? Without the technology of this era, most of us would probably never have connected in any way -- even those of us who live here in the U.S.
When I was a kid, writers couldn't meet unless they did it in real life, or corresponded by letter. Whatever books I read were those I found at the library, or at the book store. There was no global community of writers. Most of us lived and worked and dreamed apart from each other, sometimes getting together with a few others in the immediate area but otherwise never crossing each others' path.
Right here, at this blog, gathered together at this post, we are the writers of the present. If you think of what the internet has done for our industry and for us just over the last ten years -- e-mail, web sites, blogs, list-servs, forums, communities, workshops, Jesus, even Twitter -- it makes your head spin. We are the first generation of the electronic age writers. Where is that going to take us, and what is it going to demand of us? How are we going to have to change to keep up? How can we play a part in shaping and influencing the E-Future?
I can tell you how we're not going to be a part of it -- by clinging to the past. If we are going to make a place for ourselves in the industry as it evolves, we have to start thinking ahead.
II. The E-book as Income Generator
I think the first instance I remember of the e-book being used as an income generator was when author Stephen King decided to play with the e-book in serial form back in 2000 by releasing The Plant exclusively online. While it didn't quite go the way he wanted it to (I think putting it on the honor system of payment might have been the problem there) it was an interesting experiment.
Today there is a growing trend of writers -- many of them pros -- who are now self-publishing their works in e-book form. In fact, self-publication has never been easier. Kindle's Digital Text Platform allows writers to self-publish for profit, as doesScribd.com with their new online store* and a growing number of other entities involved in acting as distributors for self-published e-books. Unlike King's experiment, there are also fixed price tags attached. * Note 9/3/10: Since Scribd.com instituted an access fee scam to charge people for downloading e-books, including those I have provided for free for the last ten years, I have removed this document, and no longer use or recommend using their service. See my post about this scam here.
Whether it's self-published or published by an e-publisher, the e-book usually does generate a modest but steady income for many new and established writers. The traveling booksigner/Kindle self-pubber J.A. Konrath, has reported on what he's earned, as have e- and print-published authors like Sasha White. While it can't compete with my print sales, my one and only e-book for sale, a joint venture I did last year with my print publisher, also did nicely in the first quarter.
There are plenty of online readers and readers with electronic devices out there, and they're looking for content. Self-published e-books usually have a very reasonable price tag on them, and unlike print books they're readily available and instantly accessible. As more readers come into the E-Future with their gadgets and gizmos, reading preferences are going to change accordingly. Popular authors can use the self-pub e-book platforms to bypass the snail-pace of traditional publishing to round out their income, and new names can build their reps without ever having to endure the industry's laborious and often harrowing submission and acceptance process. What's not to like about the e-book as an income generator?
At the moment I'm sort of on the fence about selling e-books myself. Although the economy has taken its toll, I still make a decent living selling print novels, so right now I don't have the financial pressure to find additional income. E-books are more valuable to me as experimental playgrounds, where I can try out new ideas and see what the readers think, and marketing devices with which I can promote my work in print while not yelling Buy My Freaking Book in everyone's face. I don't see anything wrong with writing and self-publishing e-books for profit, as long as the writer produces a quality product and doesn't set their expectations too high. This new market is exciting, but it's still in its infancy.
III. The E-book as Marketing
After more than ten years of watching the industry, the internet and the development of e-book technology, market share, etc., I still see the e-book as the ultimate in cost-effective marketing. It has several big advantages over every other type of advertising and promotion out there, primarily in that e-books cost little to nothing to produce, and cost absolutely nothing to distribute globally. The e-book also provides the one thing readers always like: free content.
As the number of books people read seems to decrease every year, competition for book sales increases. Publishers throughout the industry are transferring more and more of the marketing responsibility for books squarely onto the authors' shoulders. So anything that can help us promote effectively while not emptying the checking account can be a huge benefit and an enormous relief. It can also give us a competitive edge over writers who are mired in the past and refuse to acknowledge that the E-Future has arrived.
Anyone who looks back over my career can see that a good chunk of my readership discovered me through the e-books I've distributed for free online. I'm not an overnight success, or a fortnight success, or even thousand and one nights success. I'm like every writer who ever got the business and didn't explode with the first novel, or the tenth, or the twentieth (which is pretty much every career writer.) To date, my first and only novel to rank in the coveted top twenty on the NY Times paperback bestseller list happened to be my 40th published novel.
I knew early on that I needed to build a readership, but I soon discovered that I had no talent or tolerance for the traditional ways of doing that. I'm not a pretty person or a gifted speaker. I'm not comfortable talking about my books. I have a terrible voice for reading out loud -- nails-across-a-chalkboard terrible. I did the con circuit for three years and utterly flopped; I never learned how to swim with the sharks or hang with the girlfriends or depend on the kindness of strangers.
What I can do -- maybe the only thing in life that I will ever do well -- is write. I write fast, and I write a lot. I write in a bunch of different genres, and I love doing it. Granted, it's not as cool as being a former beauty pageant contestant, or a 5'10 blond with great legs, or a scholar with a bunch of letters after my name, but readers seem to like it just fine. After failing so miserably at all things self-promo, it was the only thing left that I really wanted to do. I think when it comes to marketing, you should do only those things you feel comfortable doing. For me, writing was never a problem.
Several authors have tried the dandelion fluff approach of simultaneously releasing a free e-book version of their print novels, but while it's daring, I don't see that ever gaining widespread support among publishers (which will be explained two paragraphs down.) Also, it may work very well for an author who already has the most popular web site in the world (and likely makes a very nice living solely from the advertising dollars that weblog earns) but the average writer doesn't have that financial advantage -- they need the income from their work in print.
Offering free teasers and excerpts isn't enough; readers want more than a couple of chapters. What most readers tell me is that they really want something totally for free, and they don't want to jump through hoops to get it. A complete freebie minus the strings: no newsletter to sign up for, no embedded advertising, no limited-time access, no geographical restrictions. They want to be able to read it, back it up, print it out, and pass it around to their friends -- and they don't want to pay for it.
Publishers can't do this, or rather, they won't. The minute you say, "I want to give away this book for free to everyone on the planet with no strings attached" they shut you down or tune you out. I know, I've had that conversation. As it was explained to me by the head of one marketing division, if you want a publisher involved in distributing something to readers, they have to make money on it -- especially if it's available outside the U.S. I've argued until I'm blue in the face, but I've been stonewalled and ignored and told (repeatedly) that it's just the way it is with publishers.
That puts it back on us, the writers. It's not really fair when you compare what a single writer can do on their own to what can be done with the millions major publishing houses spend on marketing (but when was this gig ever fair?) I know how long it takes to write a story, or a novella, or a novel. When you give away your work, you are kissing goodbye the income you might have earned by selling it instead. The first thing we're told as professional writers is that we're paid to write. And that is correct, in the short-term scheme of things -- but not in the long-term.
IV. How the Free E-book Works as Marketing
Every time I post a free story or novella or book for anyone to have, I market directly to those readers with the absolute best advertising for my work that I've got: my work. No, I don't make any money on it. Where I make my money is from the readers who liked that freebie so much that they start purchasing the other stories that I'm not giving away for free. That's where I make my money and build my readership. And since I can't or won't do any of the other types of marketing available for authors, it's really the only place where I do spend money, not by spending it but by trading it for potential sales. I'm investing in myself when I give away original stories; I'm saying that I think my work is that good, that it will generate sales for me.
Look at it another way: how much would you pay to take out a five, ten or even twenty-page ad that shows your work at its best in a popular industry magazine read by many devoted fans of your genre? It's a ridiculous question, I know; no one but the biggest Name authors could afford something like that. Let's try another angle: how much would you pay to advertise directly to seven thousand readers who were interested in your work or your genre (this is assuming you could get their names and valid e-mail addresses for them)? How about mailing a free book to over two thousand of them, assuming again you could get their names and home addresses? I did both and it cost me a dollar.
How: to date, my free 102 page e-book novella Incarnatio has been viewed 7,615 times and downloaded 2,142 times. I wrote it, uploaded it to Scribd*, which hosts it for free, put up a link on my weblog, and that was it. The e-book sits there and attracts readers all on its own. What was the $1 for? I bought a royalty-free photo from Dreasmtime and photoshopped it to make the cover art. For one dollar. * Note 9/3/10: Since Scribd.com instituted an access fee scam to charge people for downloading e-books, including those I have provided for free for the last ten years, I have removed this document, and no longer use or recommend using their service. Incarnatio may be read online or downloaded for free from Google Docs here. See my post about this scam here.
Now show me a traditional form of self-promotion that reaches as many readers without SPAMming them for the same cost, and gives them as much content. I'll save you the trouble: you can't.
It is a risk to use free e-books as marketing tools, and I don't think it will work for everyone. It takes away from the time you could use to write stories to sell, and for writers who need more time to produce quality work, that's a big minus. You can forget about getting any significant support from your publisher; there is no money in it for them. And you can't just throw anything out there. It has to be the real deal; the best you've got to offer the reader. If you're not writing at a professional level, it can even work against you.
My advice is to start with something simple. Write a short story; the best damn story you can produce. Add your backlist, your web site URL and a little bio to the back of it. Post it on your blog, or on your web site, or ata free hosting site like Scribd. Invite readers to send you feedback. See how many hits you get on it, and what the general reaction is. You'll never know how it will work for you until you give it a try.
V. On the Electronic Horizon
Sometimes, especially during snitfests like the most recent e-publishing smackdown, I get depressed. I'm no psychic, but there are times when I can catch glimpses of the future of Publishing in what the next generation of writers are doing. I don't see it as Bradbury did in Fahrenheit 451, a future where books are burned, or Phillip K. Dick did in The Minority Report, where everyone is digitized and retina-scanned. I see storytellers working their craft in innumerable formats: print, electronic, graphic, audio, and even some formats we haven't thought of yet. I see the signs, and dream about the E-Future.
The only time I feel blue is when I watch my colleagues working so desperately to hold it off or discredit any advances toward it. Why does the industry always have to be either/or? Why can't we embrace the future while bringing into it the best of the past? I don't want to give up my print books. Like many of you, for me nothing replaces a book I can hold in my hands. Does that mean there should be no other kind of book, ever? Not at all. Everyone is not me.
Why does such an old-fashioned writer and book collector like me feels so strongly about technology, advancements in Publishing and doing what we can now to help usher in the E-Future? As if in a hundred years, any of this matter. I won't be around to know what will matter, but maybe someone who reads the electronic book version of this post in 2109 will be kind enough to answer that question (alas, the print version will no longer exist.)
I feel that a universe of wonderful things are just around the corner for writers and books. Imagine going shopping and stopping by vending machine where you can select the novel of your choice to be printed and bound, and that book pops out in a few minutes (the machine already exists.) Or turning on a video panel that plays a novel in images and sound, creating virtual, customizable characters from the story's datastream to act out all the parts (maybe the folks who designed The Sims could get in on that.) We might have books someday that we can read in our minds via a neuroprosthesis while we sleep or bathe or fold laundry (my money is on the Australians and their development of the bionic eye for the blind.) Having one book made of real paper that we can program to show us any story we want to read (LiveScribe can download whatever we write on their smart paper into a computer, so why not the reverse?)
In the future, anything is possible. Writers who want to be part of that future can't cling to what Publishing was. We can bring our traditions with us, but we also should be open to making new ones.
Maybe, if we all work together and do it right, in a hundred years someone will still be reading something we wrote today.
VI. Related Links:
For those considering self-publishing, check out Henry Baum's article Why Do People Hate Self-Publishing So Much? and Slushpile.net's post Why People Hate Self-Published Authors.
Two DIYers tell you how to get it done for free: How To Create Your Own E-book For Free by Colin Galbraith and Create Your Own E-Book for Free by Nicholos Gene Poma.
Everyone's dream e-book: Oprah's free download of Suze Orman's Women and Money goes instantly e-platinum.
If you're interested in reader views on book promotions, check out Barbara Vey's advice in her article Author . . . Promote Thyself as well as some of the interesting comments.
Publishers Weekly cites some interesting stats in a report here on the number of on-demand and short run titles published in 2008.
Today's LB&LI giveaways are:
1) A signed set of all eight of my StarDoc novels published to date, plus the ninth, Crystal Healer, my August '09 release.
2) a goodie bag which will include unsigned new copies of:
Just After Sunset by Stephen King (hardcover)
Master of Shadows by Lynn Viehl (author-printed, signed and bound in a three-ring binder)
Halo ~ The Cole Protocol by Tobias S. Buckell (trade pb)
Wicked Ways by Donna Hill (trade pb)
The Pajama Girls of Lambert Square by Rosina Lippi (trade pb)
Wicked Hot by Charlene Teglia (trade pb)
The Missing by Shiloh Walker (trade pb)
My Prerogative by Sasha White (trade pb)
Taken by Sin by Jaci Burton
Amazon Ink by Lori Devoti
Hawkspar by Holly Lisle (paperback)
The Iron Hunt and Darkness Calls by Marjorie M. Liu
Nightlife, Moonshine, Madhouse and Deathwish by Rob Thurman
plus signed paperback copies of my novels Evermore and Twilight Fall, as well as some other surprises.
If you'd like to win one of these two giveaways, name something that you think will happen in the future of Publishing, or comment on this workshop before midnight EST on Friday, July 17, 2009. I will draw two names from everyone who participates and send one winner the set of signed StarDoc novels and the other the goodie bag.
Everyone who participates in the giveaways this week will also be automatically entered in my grand prize drawing on July 21st, 2009 for the winner's choice of either a ASUS Eee PC 1005HA-P 10.1" Seashell Netbook or a Sony PRS-700BC Digital Reader.
As always, all LB&LI giveaways are open to anyone on the planet, even if you've won something here at PBW in the past (and if anyone wants a peek at this year's LB&LI goodie room at Casa PBW, and see what's going in those goodie bags, stop by the photoblog today.)
Other LB&LI Workshop Links -- new links are being added every day, so keep checking the list for new workshops (due to different time zones, some of these will go live later in the day):
E-publishing: From Query to Final Edits and Beyond -- Authors Madison Blake, Paris Brandon, Cerise Deland, Fran Lee, Afton Locke and Nina Pierce provide helpful insights and tips on e-publishing. Today's author: Afton Locke
Writing Transformative Sex - Part One by Joely Sue Burkhart -- Any writer who has studied much of the craft at all knows that if a scene doesn’t move the story forward, it should be cut. But have you really thought about what that means for a sex scene?
Birds and Language by Suelder -- second in a series of workshops on birds that will focus on the science as well as how to adapt this information to writing.
Why You're Not Writing by JM Fiction Scribe -- Examining the reasons behind your writing block - because the identifying the 'why' of the problem is the best way of getting past it.
How-To Books that Saved My Life by Alison Kent -- a look at the three how-to books the author can't write without, and why.
Break through your fears and write! by Tamlyn Leigh -- One of the biggest obstacles on a writer's path is their fear. It can be for anything: fear people won't like their stories, fear they aren't good enough. In my workshop I want to offer tools to break through that fear, and get everyone writing!
Writing Prompt Series - Where? by Rosina Lippi -- Pick from the images supplied by Rosina and give your characters a context. You might have to rewrite What? to make it work.
Writing in the Labyrinth by Marjorie M. Liu -- Characters are people, too. And people are the story (second in a series of workshops about different aspects of writing and publishing.)
From Pantser To Plotter: How I Joined The Dark Side by Kait Nolan -- Thursday's topic: What I've Used In My Conversion (Part B)
Writing Sex Scenes That Matter by Jenna Reynolds -- Readers sometimes say they skip over the sex scenes in a book. And usually it's not because they have a problem with the sex. It could, however, be because, other than the sex, nothing else is going on. This workshop provides some suggestions on how to write sex scenes that matter and that readers won't skip over.
What eBook publishers look for: Loose Id by Midnight Spencer –- About Books, Accepted Genre’s, Sending a Proposal, Formatting your Submission, FAQ, and Contract Terms.
Left Behind and Managing Crazy by Charlene Teglia -- Sanity in a crazy business.
Epubs-wondering where to start? by Shiloh Walker -- Info for those curious about epubs and where to start.
Killer Campaigns: Podcasts by Maria Zannini -- Podcast an interview
BookWish: Big T, whose comment began with Thank you, Lynn. I try to use the train of thought, "Enjoy the journey, not just the destination" but faith is hard to keep.
Goodie Bag: Tamlyn Leigh
Winners, when you have a chance, please send your full name and ship-to address to LynnViehl@aol.com, and I'll get your prizes out to you. Thanks to everyone for joining in.
I. Writers of the E-Future
I often complain here about how tough it is for me to keep up with the current technology. I don't like having to get used to a new operating system every time I blow up a computer (every other year), and I am officially sick to death of having to teach myself Word all over again to cope with the latest version Bill Gates decides to dump in my lap (and hey, Bill, version 2007? It sucks.) Don't even talk to me about the slang for all this stuff; I'm still trying to figure out what the hell RSS is and why someone always wants me to feed it to them.
I'm not apologizing for this, either. I am cranky and I am maxed out on how much technobabble I can absorb at the speed of light. Enough already! Stop changing stuff before I can finish learning how to do the old version.
My frustration is really more with myself than the latest tools of our trade, however. I am an older person, and I didn't grow up immersed in technology. When I was a kid, our video games were pinball machines; if we wanted to see a movie we didn't rent or download it or buy it on DVD, we went to the theater. We didn't do math on calculators, we did it in our brains. Computers were enormous things that took up entire rooms, and belonged to fun people like the CIA and NASA and the IRS. You know what was the big technological breakthrough of my childhood? 8-track tapes (and I promise, I will smack the first one of you who asks what the heck that is.)
The bottom line is I was not born to the computer age -- I didn't actually see a personal computer until I was 26 -- and I don't think I'll ever catch up with those of you who were. That = frustration.
Despite my inadequacies as a technojunkie, I am in awe of this era -- I love living in it and seeing it unfold. I am enchanted with all the amazing things computers can do, and the way the internet has opened up the world and brought it together and interconnected us. Thirty years ago I could never have done what I'm doing right now, talking shop to people all over the world. Just think about it for a second. How many countries are represented here today? How many languages do we speak among us? Without the technology of this era, most of us would probably never have connected in any way -- even those of us who live here in the U.S.
When I was a kid, writers couldn't meet unless they did it in real life, or corresponded by letter. Whatever books I read were those I found at the library, or at the book store. There was no global community of writers. Most of us lived and worked and dreamed apart from each other, sometimes getting together with a few others in the immediate area but otherwise never crossing each others' path.
Right here, at this blog, gathered together at this post, we are the writers of the present. If you think of what the internet has done for our industry and for us just over the last ten years -- e-mail, web sites, blogs, list-servs, forums, communities, workshops, Jesus, even Twitter -- it makes your head spin. We are the first generation of the electronic age writers. Where is that going to take us, and what is it going to demand of us? How are we going to have to change to keep up? How can we play a part in shaping and influencing the E-Future?
I can tell you how we're not going to be a part of it -- by clinging to the past. If we are going to make a place for ourselves in the industry as it evolves, we have to start thinking ahead.
II. The E-book as Income Generator
I think the first instance I remember of the e-book being used as an income generator was when author Stephen King decided to play with the e-book in serial form back in 2000 by releasing The Plant exclusively online. While it didn't quite go the way he wanted it to (I think putting it on the honor system of payment might have been the problem there) it was an interesting experiment.
Today there is a growing trend of writers -- many of them pros -- who are now self-publishing their works in e-book form. In fact, self-publication has never been easier. Kindle's Digital Text Platform allows writers to self-publish for profit, as does
Whether it's self-published or published by an e-publisher, the e-book usually does generate a modest but steady income for many new and established writers. The traveling booksigner/Kindle self-pubber J.A. Konrath, has reported on what he's earned, as have e- and print-published authors like Sasha White. While it can't compete with my print sales, my one and only e-book for sale, a joint venture I did last year with my print publisher, also did nicely in the first quarter.
There are plenty of online readers and readers with electronic devices out there, and they're looking for content. Self-published e-books usually have a very reasonable price tag on them, and unlike print books they're readily available and instantly accessible. As more readers come into the E-Future with their gadgets and gizmos, reading preferences are going to change accordingly. Popular authors can use the self-pub e-book platforms to bypass the snail-pace of traditional publishing to round out their income, and new names can build their reps without ever having to endure the industry's laborious and often harrowing submission and acceptance process. What's not to like about the e-book as an income generator?
At the moment I'm sort of on the fence about selling e-books myself. Although the economy has taken its toll, I still make a decent living selling print novels, so right now I don't have the financial pressure to find additional income. E-books are more valuable to me as experimental playgrounds, where I can try out new ideas and see what the readers think, and marketing devices with which I can promote my work in print while not yelling Buy My Freaking Book in everyone's face. I don't see anything wrong with writing and self-publishing e-books for profit, as long as the writer produces a quality product and doesn't set their expectations too high. This new market is exciting, but it's still in its infancy.
III. The E-book as Marketing
After more than ten years of watching the industry, the internet and the development of e-book technology, market share, etc., I still see the e-book as the ultimate in cost-effective marketing. It has several big advantages over every other type of advertising and promotion out there, primarily in that e-books cost little to nothing to produce, and cost absolutely nothing to distribute globally. The e-book also provides the one thing readers always like: free content.
As the number of books people read seems to decrease every year, competition for book sales increases. Publishers throughout the industry are transferring more and more of the marketing responsibility for books squarely onto the authors' shoulders. So anything that can help us promote effectively while not emptying the checking account can be a huge benefit and an enormous relief. It can also give us a competitive edge over writers who are mired in the past and refuse to acknowledge that the E-Future has arrived.
Anyone who looks back over my career can see that a good chunk of my readership discovered me through the e-books I've distributed for free online. I'm not an overnight success, or a fortnight success, or even thousand and one nights success. I'm like every writer who ever got the business and didn't explode with the first novel, or the tenth, or the twentieth (which is pretty much every career writer.) To date, my first and only novel to rank in the coveted top twenty on the NY Times paperback bestseller list happened to be my 40th published novel.
I knew early on that I needed to build a readership, but I soon discovered that I had no talent or tolerance for the traditional ways of doing that. I'm not a pretty person or a gifted speaker. I'm not comfortable talking about my books. I have a terrible voice for reading out loud -- nails-across-a-chalkboard terrible. I did the con circuit for three years and utterly flopped; I never learned how to swim with the sharks or hang with the girlfriends or depend on the kindness of strangers.
What I can do -- maybe the only thing in life that I will ever do well -- is write. I write fast, and I write a lot. I write in a bunch of different genres, and I love doing it. Granted, it's not as cool as being a former beauty pageant contestant, or a 5'10 blond with great legs, or a scholar with a bunch of letters after my name, but readers seem to like it just fine. After failing so miserably at all things self-promo, it was the only thing left that I really wanted to do. I think when it comes to marketing, you should do only those things you feel comfortable doing. For me, writing was never a problem.
Several authors have tried the dandelion fluff approach of simultaneously releasing a free e-book version of their print novels, but while it's daring, I don't see that ever gaining widespread support among publishers (which will be explained two paragraphs down.) Also, it may work very well for an author who already has the most popular web site in the world (and likely makes a very nice living solely from the advertising dollars that weblog earns) but the average writer doesn't have that financial advantage -- they need the income from their work in print.
Offering free teasers and excerpts isn't enough; readers want more than a couple of chapters. What most readers tell me is that they really want something totally for free, and they don't want to jump through hoops to get it. A complete freebie minus the strings: no newsletter to sign up for, no embedded advertising, no limited-time access, no geographical restrictions. They want to be able to read it, back it up, print it out, and pass it around to their friends -- and they don't want to pay for it.
Publishers can't do this, or rather, they won't. The minute you say, "I want to give away this book for free to everyone on the planet with no strings attached" they shut you down or tune you out. I know, I've had that conversation. As it was explained to me by the head of one marketing division, if you want a publisher involved in distributing something to readers, they have to make money on it -- especially if it's available outside the U.S. I've argued until I'm blue in the face, but I've been stonewalled and ignored and told (repeatedly) that it's just the way it is with publishers.
That puts it back on us, the writers. It's not really fair when you compare what a single writer can do on their own to what can be done with the millions major publishing houses spend on marketing (but when was this gig ever fair?) I know how long it takes to write a story, or a novella, or a novel. When you give away your work, you are kissing goodbye the income you might have earned by selling it instead. The first thing we're told as professional writers is that we're paid to write. And that is correct, in the short-term scheme of things -- but not in the long-term.
IV. How the Free E-book Works as Marketing
Every time I post a free story or novella or book for anyone to have, I market directly to those readers with the absolute best advertising for my work that I've got: my work. No, I don't make any money on it. Where I make my money is from the readers who liked that freebie so much that they start purchasing the other stories that I'm not giving away for free. That's where I make my money and build my readership. And since I can't or won't do any of the other types of marketing available for authors, it's really the only place where I do spend money, not by spending it but by trading it for potential sales. I'm investing in myself when I give away original stories; I'm saying that I think my work is that good, that it will generate sales for me.
Look at it another way: how much would you pay to take out a five, ten or even twenty-page ad that shows your work at its best in a popular industry magazine read by many devoted fans of your genre? It's a ridiculous question, I know; no one but the biggest Name authors could afford something like that. Let's try another angle: how much would you pay to advertise directly to seven thousand readers who were interested in your work or your genre (this is assuming you could get their names and valid e-mail addresses for them)? How about mailing a free book to over two thousand of them, assuming again you could get their names and home addresses? I did both and it cost me a dollar.
How: to date, my free 102 page e-book novella Incarnatio has been viewed 7,615 times and downloaded 2,142 times. I wrote it, uploaded it to Scribd*, which hosts it for free, put up a link on my weblog, and that was it. The e-book sits there and attracts readers all on its own. What was the $1 for? I bought a royalty-free photo from Dreasmtime and photoshopped it to make the cover art. For one dollar. * Note 9/3/10: Since Scribd.com instituted an access fee scam to charge people for downloading e-books, including those I have provided for free for the last ten years, I have removed this document, and no longer use or recommend using their service. Incarnatio may be read online or downloaded for free from Google Docs here. See my post about this scam here.
Now show me a traditional form of self-promotion that reaches as many readers without SPAMming them for the same cost, and gives them as much content. I'll save you the trouble: you can't.
It is a risk to use free e-books as marketing tools, and I don't think it will work for everyone. It takes away from the time you could use to write stories to sell, and for writers who need more time to produce quality work, that's a big minus. You can forget about getting any significant support from your publisher; there is no money in it for them. And you can't just throw anything out there. It has to be the real deal; the best you've got to offer the reader. If you're not writing at a professional level, it can even work against you.
My advice is to start with something simple. Write a short story; the best damn story you can produce. Add your backlist, your web site URL and a little bio to the back of it. Post it on your blog, or on your web site, or at
V. On the Electronic Horizon
Sometimes, especially during snitfests like the most recent e-publishing smackdown, I get depressed. I'm no psychic, but there are times when I can catch glimpses of the future of Publishing in what the next generation of writers are doing. I don't see it as Bradbury did in Fahrenheit 451, a future where books are burned, or Phillip K. Dick did in The Minority Report, where everyone is digitized and retina-scanned. I see storytellers working their craft in innumerable formats: print, electronic, graphic, audio, and even some formats we haven't thought of yet. I see the signs, and dream about the E-Future.
The only time I feel blue is when I watch my colleagues working so desperately to hold it off or discredit any advances toward it. Why does the industry always have to be either/or? Why can't we embrace the future while bringing into it the best of the past? I don't want to give up my print books. Like many of you, for me nothing replaces a book I can hold in my hands. Does that mean there should be no other kind of book, ever? Not at all. Everyone is not me.
Why does such an old-fashioned writer and book collector like me feels so strongly about technology, advancements in Publishing and doing what we can now to help usher in the E-Future? As if in a hundred years, any of this matter. I won't be around to know what will matter, but maybe someone who reads the electronic book version of this post in 2109 will be kind enough to answer that question (alas, the print version will no longer exist.)
I feel that a universe of wonderful things are just around the corner for writers and books. Imagine going shopping and stopping by vending machine where you can select the novel of your choice to be printed and bound, and that book pops out in a few minutes (the machine already exists.) Or turning on a video panel that plays a novel in images and sound, creating virtual, customizable characters from the story's datastream to act out all the parts (maybe the folks who designed The Sims could get in on that.) We might have books someday that we can read in our minds via a neuroprosthesis while we sleep or bathe or fold laundry (my money is on the Australians and their development of the bionic eye for the blind.) Having one book made of real paper that we can program to show us any story we want to read (LiveScribe can download whatever we write on their smart paper into a computer, so why not the reverse?)
In the future, anything is possible. Writers who want to be part of that future can't cling to what Publishing was. We can bring our traditions with us, but we also should be open to making new ones.
Maybe, if we all work together and do it right, in a hundred years someone will still be reading something we wrote today.
VI. Related Links:
For those considering self-publishing, check out Henry Baum's article Why Do People Hate Self-Publishing So Much? and Slushpile.net's post Why People Hate Self-Published Authors.
Two DIYers tell you how to get it done for free: How To Create Your Own E-book For Free by Colin Galbraith and Create Your Own E-Book for Free by Nicholos Gene Poma.
Everyone's dream e-book: Oprah's free download of Suze Orman's Women and Money goes instantly e-platinum.
If you're interested in reader views on book promotions, check out Barbara Vey's advice in her article Author . . . Promote Thyself as well as some of the interesting comments.
Publishers Weekly cites some interesting stats in a report here on the number of on-demand and short run titles published in 2008.
Today's LB&LI giveaways are:
1) A signed set of all eight of my StarDoc novels published to date, plus the ninth, Crystal Healer, my August '09 release.
2) a goodie bag which will include unsigned new copies of:
Just After Sunset by Stephen King (hardcover)
Master of Shadows by Lynn Viehl (author-printed, signed and bound in a three-ring binder)
Halo ~ The Cole Protocol by Tobias S. Buckell (trade pb)
Wicked Ways by Donna Hill (trade pb)
The Pajama Girls of Lambert Square by Rosina Lippi (trade pb)
Wicked Hot by Charlene Teglia (trade pb)
The Missing by Shiloh Walker (trade pb)
My Prerogative by Sasha White (trade pb)
Taken by Sin by Jaci Burton
Amazon Ink by Lori Devoti
Hawkspar by Holly Lisle (paperback)
The Iron Hunt and Darkness Calls by Marjorie M. Liu
Nightlife, Moonshine, Madhouse and Deathwish by Rob Thurman
plus signed paperback copies of my novels Evermore and Twilight Fall, as well as some other surprises.
If you'd like to win one of these two giveaways, name something that you think will happen in the future of Publishing, or comment on this workshop before midnight EST on Friday, July 17, 2009. I will draw two names from everyone who participates and send one winner the set of signed StarDoc novels and the other the goodie bag.
Everyone who participates in the giveaways this week will also be automatically entered in my grand prize drawing on July 21st, 2009 for the winner's choice of either a ASUS Eee PC 1005HA-P 10.1" Seashell Netbook or a Sony PRS-700BC Digital Reader.
As always, all LB&LI giveaways are open to anyone on the planet, even if you've won something here at PBW in the past (and if anyone wants a peek at this year's LB&LI goodie room at Casa PBW, and see what's going in those goodie bags, stop by the photoblog today.)
Other LB&LI Workshop Links -- new links are being added every day, so keep checking the list for new workshops (due to different time zones, some of these will go live later in the day):
E-publishing: From Query to Final Edits and Beyond -- Authors Madison Blake, Paris Brandon, Cerise Deland, Fran Lee, Afton Locke and Nina Pierce provide helpful insights and tips on e-publishing. Today's author: Afton Locke
Writing Transformative Sex - Part One by Joely Sue Burkhart -- Any writer who has studied much of the craft at all knows that if a scene doesn’t move the story forward, it should be cut. But have you really thought about what that means for a sex scene?
Birds and Language by Suelder -- second in a series of workshops on birds that will focus on the science as well as how to adapt this information to writing.
Why You're Not Writing by JM Fiction Scribe -- Examining the reasons behind your writing block - because the identifying the 'why' of the problem is the best way of getting past it.
How-To Books that Saved My Life by Alison Kent -- a look at the three how-to books the author can't write without, and why.
Break through your fears and write! by Tamlyn Leigh -- One of the biggest obstacles on a writer's path is their fear. It can be for anything: fear people won't like their stories, fear they aren't good enough. In my workshop I want to offer tools to break through that fear, and get everyone writing!
Writing Prompt Series - Where? by Rosina Lippi -- Pick from the images supplied by Rosina and give your characters a context. You might have to rewrite What? to make it work.
Writing in the Labyrinth by Marjorie M. Liu -- Characters are people, too. And people are the story (second in a series of workshops about different aspects of writing and publishing.)
From Pantser To Plotter: How I Joined The Dark Side by Kait Nolan -- Thursday's topic: What I've Used In My Conversion (Part B)
Writing Sex Scenes That Matter by Jenna Reynolds -- Readers sometimes say they skip over the sex scenes in a book. And usually it's not because they have a problem with the sex. It could, however, be because, other than the sex, nothing else is going on. This workshop provides some suggestions on how to write sex scenes that matter and that readers won't skip over.
What eBook publishers look for: Loose Id by Midnight Spencer –- About Books, Accepted Genre’s, Sending a Proposal, Formatting your Submission, FAQ, and Contract Terms.
Left Behind and Managing Crazy by Charlene Teglia -- Sanity in a crazy business.
Epubs-wondering where to start? by Shiloh Walker -- Info for those curious about epubs and where to start.
Killer Campaigns: Podcasts by Maria Zannini -- Podcast an interview
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
VW #3 -- E-Future Part I
The winners of the VW#1 giveaways are:
AlphaSmart Neo: NinaP
Goodie Bag: Kristen S., whose comment began with Wow, all I can say wow as I copy it so I can print at hubby's comp.
Winners, when you have a chance, please send your full name and ship-to address to LynnViehl@aol.com, and I'll get your prizes out to you. Thanks to everyone for joining in.
I. Say Hello to the E-Future
The world has changed pretty dramatically since I got into the Publishing biz in 1998, and even more so than when I began seriously pursuing publication in 1989. Twenty years ago everyone carried pagers, not cell phones; the cordless phone was just getting big. A few years later people started playing on their new home computers with a service called Prodigy, where folks from all over the U.S. could get together and discuss their interests on community bulletin boards (if you ever stopped by Prodigy's poetry forum, you might have even caught me critiquing formal verse and discussing what a bitch it was to compose a villanelle that didn't sound like one was a schizophrenic off their meds.)
A couple of years after that I turned pro and graduated to the internet, which coincided with the first of the e-publishers opening their doors for business. It caused a lot of uproar, most of it bad. Print published authors began sniping at the e-published authors. E-published authors fought back for their right to be recognized as part of the Publishing community, both online and off. The insults flew back and forth, bylaws were re-written, friends and enemies were made, and somewhere in the middle of the second or third wave of hostility I unplugged and retired to my ivory tower for a year, where I wrote for print publication and gave away other stories in electronic format to my online readers. While I wasn't much of an e-activist in those days, I was one of the first generation of e-published writers (I just used mine as marketing.)
Today you'd be hard-pressed to find an author who isn't published in electronic format. Yes, while many print-published authors take great pleasure in broadcasting how little they think of e-publishing, with the growing popularity of e-readers like Kindle and Sony and the rising demand for electronic books, publishers are rushing to release print novels simultaneously in multiple e-formats. You can throw a rock at the Big Name table at any crowded writers' conference and always hit an author with e-books (not that I'm suggesting you do that.)
Likewise, many e-published authors are also having their novels and stories released in print. The last time I was at a chain book store, titles from e-publishers like Ellora's Cave and Samhain had their own book case. While I don't care to see authors segregated like that, there are now plenty being released in "traditional" print who got their start in the biz writing for e-publishers or who are still publishing e-books with them.
The lines have blurred, the walls are slowly being torn down, and today everyone has e-books on their mind. While some feel this is like letting barbarians through the gate, Rome isn't being sacked, ladies and gentleman. It's being saved and rejuvenated and brought (even when it's dragged, kicking and screaming) into the 21st century. What writers and publishers have to do is not decide if e-publishing is legit or not; that's already been decided by the readers. What we have to do is educate ourselves on electronic format, understand how fast this segment of the market is growing, and make a place for ourselves into this brave new digital World of Publishing's E-Future.
II. Major Publishers
Major publishing houses are beginning to jump on the e-book bandwagon, and while that's not surprising, how they're adapting to this new format (or not) often is. It seems that while traditional publishers are happy to rake in the growing heap of bucks generated by e-books sales, some don't seem to understand this segment of the market very well. From what I've observed, their attitudes range from "this is a temporary fad" to "this isn't worth my time" to "this will make us a quick buck" to "this is the end of the world."
I think the three gargantuan problems publishers have with electronic format are control, pricing and distribution. Keeping e-books from being pirated is a concern, just as is preventing print books from being shoplifted, but Publishing's answer to this -- DRM, or Digital Rights Management, which prevents the buyer from copying or printing out the e-books they buy -- is in my opinion unnecessarily harsh and restrictive. The one reason I still don't buy many e-books is because DRM prevents me from printing them out on paper. For anyone like me who wears heavy-duty corrective lenses and has a hard time reading for a long period from a computer or e-device screen, that simply kills the sale.
There seems to be no industry standard for pricing e-books, and even with the so-called safeguard of DRM, some traditional publishers are putting a hefty $ tag on books in electronic format. I think this is short-term profit greed in a market that is thriving and by its very nature in line to be one of the primary publishing platforms of the future. I'm not sure why the industry isn't seizing the opportunity to use reasonable pricing to generate more sales, but high prices don't result in making readers throw away their devices to run back to buying only print novels. I think it encourages pirating, because why would anyone pay $25.00 for an e-book you can download for free off a bootleg site?
I've already read a couple of online confessions from consumers who have admitted downloading pirated copies of books, so pretending it's not happening is naive. Also, remember that bootleggers aren't interested in making profits off the e-books; they get their money from advertisers who pay them in accordance with how much traffic they draw to their site (which they generate by setting up their rules to basically allow anyone to store pirated copies on their sites.) While the justice system does their best to prosecute a few people and make them into scary examples of why you shouldn't bootleg, no one can ever police all these sites, not even the authors of the works being pirated (pirated copies of my print novels show up about once a month on the internet -- and that's the ones I can find or that someone alerts me to. This past weekend some pinhead tried to sell them on eBay.)
Distribution, the third wrench in the works, is not a problem for the publishers, but is becoming a real headache for me and many other writers who have a substantial readership residing in countries other the U.S. Many major publishers continue to restrict sales of e-books to the U.S. and Canada only. This is sabotaging sales and profits, because one of the great benefits of having a book in electronic format is that it can be shipped in any quantity around the globe to any spot at zero cost. Zero! No matter if you send ten or ten million copies of The DaVinci Code to Tokyo, the cost of shipping them is nothing. Try doing that with print novels.
Rather than seeing the cost-efficient advantages of digital books, major publishers seem determined to try and force the market into adhering to strategies and standards of a business model that was never meant for electronic format. Treating an e-book like a print book is not only inappropriate, it's a little ridiculous. If major publishers are going to be competitive in the E-Future, they have to let go of the mentality of the past and start evolving and adapting to the demands of the present.
III. E-Publishers
I don't think it's as bad as it was ten years ago, but there is still a major stigma involved in being an author who e-publishes as opposed to being published in print by a major publishing house. On behalf of all intelligent and informed professional writers, I apologize for this. They won't let me be in charge of that or things would be a lot different for the e-published authors.
I hope industry perceptions will change as the e-market continues to grow, and e-published authors will stop being automatically assigned to the lowest rung on the biz ladder. Some of the most promising and talented writers I've discovered got their start in e-publishing, like my blogpal Shiloh Walker and my groupblog ringleader Sasha White. To say all e-published authors are inferior writers is like saying all black people should sit in the back of the bus. It's beyond ignorant.
That said, I can't endorse every e-publisher on the market; there are some companies out there that writers should avoid entirely. If you're considering submitting to an e-publisher, the best advice I can give you is to do the legwork and educate yourself. A writer should never sign with an e-publisher before they check out the company thoroughly and nail down all the details. Some of my veteran e-published friends are holding workshops this week on e-publishing; you can start by picking their brains.
To find the right e-publisher, you also have to do the research. If there is an e-publisher whose books you like, check out their submission guidelines and what they offer as payment to their authors. eBook Crossroads has a Directory of ePublishers, as does FictionAddiction.net; Predators & Editors maintains a massive directoryof all publishers along with their recommendations for or against them.
E-published authors are beginning to form their own independent writer organizations, like EPIC, but there are still plenty who are trying to fit in with the old orgs, like Espan. Because so many writer organizations don't have offer decent information on e-publishers, writers have formed their own watchdog groups; some that offer valuable online resources like AbsoluteWrite.com's Bewares and Background Checks forum, Erec (Erotic Romance E-Publishers Comparison site) and Piers Anthony's Internet Publishing site which provide the latest information on the business operations of small e-publishers and presses. Be sure to visit these sites to check and see if the e-publisher you're considering is under scrutiny for any author scams or unfair business practices.
IV. E-Readers
Before you read a word I have to say about them, do stop by Midnight Spencer's LB&LI e-book workshop from Monday, as she has a fabulous, comprehensive list of features and details on a bunch of current e-reader models.
For all that Oprah has done for Kindle, I think the e-reader market is still in a state of flux. At the moment it seems to bouncing between Kindle and Sony, but that could change as soon as someone makes a better/cheaper/more convenient e-reader. It'll probably be a lot like the mobile phone market, with lots of new models offering more and more cool apps and stuff duking it out until a clear leader rises to the top of the heap. My money is on Sony; they seem to be more in touch with the market than Amazon is (inserting ads in e-books? Ick.)
If you're a reader who is shopping for an e-reader, you need to read up on the pros and cons inherent to each model. Fictionwise has a slightly outdated FAQ-type list of Reading Software and Devices. CNET has just published a buying guide for e-readers while Consumer Reports has the lowdown on the new Kindle DX. FreshTech has updated their comparison between the Kindle 1 and Sony E-Reader. But neither Kindle nor Sony has a guaranteed chunk of the e-reader market, as Sarah Rotman Epps reports on some interesting e-reader developments over on the Forrester Blog.
I haven't invested in an e-reader yet because they're not really designed for handicapped users like me (too many buttons for my arthritic fingers, too heavy and/or awkward to hold.) I hope that changes sometime in the future, because of all the readers who can benefit from an e-reader, disabled folks should surely be at the top of the list.
V. E-book Power
I know some of you still aren't convinced as to why writers should even care about the E-Future. You're focused on print publication, and that's all that matters to you: the traditional publishing career.
But while you're planning to become the next front-of-the-bookstore darling, consider a few figures: it’s estimated that in 2008 electronic books netted $1.1 billion dollars, up 68.4% from $67.2 million netted in 2007; and that’s almost double the $54.4 million sold in 2006.* Reports are already being compiled about e-book sales in the first quarter of 2009, and they’re looking very good. While that’s not as dazzling as the $24.3 billion dollar bottom line for the entire industry, compare it to adult hardcover sales dropping 13% and adult mass market sales down 3% percent in 2008.**
I had those front-of-the-bookstore dreams (don't we all?) but from the start of my career I also kept an eye toward the the future. In addition to being a writer, I'm also an e-publisher. Didn't know that, did you? But I am and I have been since 2000, when I self-published my first e-book. The difference between me and all the other e-publishers is that I only publish my own original stories and novels (all of which are exclusive to the internet and have not been published anywhere else) and I distribute them for free, something I consider to date the most effective form of marketing I've ever done.
To say I don't profit from giving away my e-books for free would be like another author saying it doesn't pay to go to reader conferences or hold booksignings. Over the last eighteen months over two hundred thousand readers have viewed and/or downloaded e-books from my free virtual library onScribd.com.* So when was the last time you marketed directly to two hundred thousand people who were interested enough to come looking for your work, and how much did it cost you? Didn't cost me a dime. *Note 9/3/10: Since Scribd.com instituted an access fee scam to charge people for downloading e-books, including those I have provided for free for the last ten years, I have removed my free library from their site, and no longer use or recommend using their service. My free reads may be read online or downloaded for free from Google Docs; go to my freebies and free reads page for the links. See my post about this scam here.
P.S., for everyone who still thinks Scribd.com is just some hokey e-book pirating site, you should really watch this interview over on BusinessWeek. They just signed a nice deal with Simon & Schuster to sell 4500 e-books direct to their visitors for them, and with 60 million readers visiting the site every month (at present, that's more than The New York Times gets at their site, according to the BusinessWeek.com interview), I imagine they're soon going to become a major industry player.
Tomorrow we'll talk about how we writers can become more active participants in Publishing's new electronic age, different ways to use digital publishing to create new markets and expand existing ones, and where our choices might take us. Because the E-Future isn't coming tomorrow or next month or next year, guys. It's already here.
VI. Related Links
Bookworm is an "experimental platform for storing and reading ePub-format books online."
Keep your head above water with Nancy Nivling's article It Ain't Easy: Navigating the Rapids of E--Publishing.
Scribd opens new market for online texts.
If you're thinking about investing in a Kindle, I recommend reading Tim O'Reilly's rather brilliant take on Kindle's E-Future.
*Stats source: Simba Information BPR April 2009
**Stats source: American Association of Publishers via MediaBistro.com.
Today's LB&LI giveaways are:
1) A eBookWish -- any e-book or combination of e-books of your choice available to purchase from an online e-publisher or e-publisher's bookseller, up to a combined max cost of $30.00 U.S. (or if the e-bookseller has a gift certificate for $30.00 available that I can purchase and send via e-mail to you, that'll work as a substitute.)
2) a goodie bag which will include unsigned new copies of:
The Pajama Girls of Lambert Square by Rosina Lippi (hardcover)
Master of Shadows by Lynn Viehl (author-printed, signed and bound in a three-ring binder)
Animal Attraction by Charlene Teglia (trade pb)
The Missing by Shiloh Walker (trade pb)
Primal Male by Sasha White (trade pb)
Round the Clock by Dara Girard (paperback)
Red Fire and Red Kiss by Deidre Knight (paperbacks)
Pleasure Unbound, Desire Unleashed and Passion Unleashed by Larissa Ione (paperbacks)
Hawkspar by Holly Lisle (paperback)
The Iron Hunt and Darkness Calls by Marjorie M. Liu
plus signed paperback copies of my novels StarDoc and Evermore, as well as some other surprises.
If you'd like to win one of these two giveaways, name an e-published author you've enjoyed reading or comment on this workshop before midnight EST on Thursday, July 16, 2009. I will draw two names from everyone who participates and send one winner the goodie bag and grant the other the eBookWish.
Everyone who participates in the giveaways this week will also be automatically entered in my grand prize drawing on July 21st, 2009 for the winner's choice of either a ASUS Eee PC 1005HA-P 10.1" Seashell Netbook or a Sony PRS-700BC Digital Reader.
As always, all LB&LI giveaways are open to anyone on the planet, even if you've won something here at PBW in the past (and if anyone wants a peek at this year's LB&LI goodie room at Casa PBW, and see what's going in those goodie bags, stop by the photoblog today.)
Other LB&LI Workshop Links -- new links are being added every day, so keep checking the list for new workshops (due to different time zones, some of these will go live later in the day):
E-publishing: From Query to Final Edits and Beyond -- Authors Madison Blake, Paris Brandon, Cerise Deland, Fran Lee, Afton Locke and Nina Pierce provide helpful insights and tips on e-publishing. Today's author: Nina Pierce
Writing Transformative Sex - Part One by Joely Sue Burkhart -- Any writer who has studied much of the craft at all knows that if a scene doesn’t move the story forward, it should be cut. But have you really thought about what that means for a sex scene?
Birds and Flight by Suelder -- first in a series of workshops on birds that will focus on the science as well as how to adapt this information to writing.
How-To Books that Saved My Life by Alison Kent -- a look at the three how-to books the author can't write without, and why.
Break through your fears and write! by Tamlyn Leigh -- One of the biggest obstacles on a writer's path is their fear. It can be for anything: fear people won't like their stories, fear they aren't good enough. In my workshop I want to offer tools to break through that fear, and get everyone writing!
Writing Prompt Series - What? by Rosina Lippi -- On the basis of an image supplied by Rosina, write out the primary conflict between your two characters in dialog form.
Writing in the Labyrinth by Marjorie M. Liu -- first in a series of workshops about different aspects of writing and publishing.
From Pantser To Plotter: How I Joined The Dark Side by Kait Nolan -- Wednesday's topic: What I've Used In My Conversion (Part A)
What eBook publishers look for: Samhain Publishing by Midnight Spencer –- General Submission, Royalty and Contract, How to Submit, and Samhain Frequently Asked Questions.
Epubs-wondering where to start? by Shiloh Walker -- Info for those curious about epubs and where to start.
Killer Campaigns: Trading Cards by Maria Zannini -- How to create trading cards featuring your novel's characters
AlphaSmart Neo: NinaP
Goodie Bag: Kristen S., whose comment began with Wow, all I can say wow as I copy it so I can print at hubby's comp.
Winners, when you have a chance, please send your full name and ship-to address to LynnViehl@aol.com, and I'll get your prizes out to you. Thanks to everyone for joining in.
I. Say Hello to the E-Future
The world has changed pretty dramatically since I got into the Publishing biz in 1998, and even more so than when I began seriously pursuing publication in 1989. Twenty years ago everyone carried pagers, not cell phones; the cordless phone was just getting big. A few years later people started playing on their new home computers with a service called Prodigy, where folks from all over the U.S. could get together and discuss their interests on community bulletin boards (if you ever stopped by Prodigy's poetry forum, you might have even caught me critiquing formal verse and discussing what a bitch it was to compose a villanelle that didn't sound like one was a schizophrenic off their meds.)
A couple of years after that I turned pro and graduated to the internet, which coincided with the first of the e-publishers opening their doors for business. It caused a lot of uproar, most of it bad. Print published authors began sniping at the e-published authors. E-published authors fought back for their right to be recognized as part of the Publishing community, both online and off. The insults flew back and forth, bylaws were re-written, friends and enemies were made, and somewhere in the middle of the second or third wave of hostility I unplugged and retired to my ivory tower for a year, where I wrote for print publication and gave away other stories in electronic format to my online readers. While I wasn't much of an e-activist in those days, I was one of the first generation of e-published writers (I just used mine as marketing.)
Today you'd be hard-pressed to find an author who isn't published in electronic format. Yes, while many print-published authors take great pleasure in broadcasting how little they think of e-publishing, with the growing popularity of e-readers like Kindle and Sony and the rising demand for electronic books, publishers are rushing to release print novels simultaneously in multiple e-formats. You can throw a rock at the Big Name table at any crowded writers' conference and always hit an author with e-books (not that I'm suggesting you do that.)
Likewise, many e-published authors are also having their novels and stories released in print. The last time I was at a chain book store, titles from e-publishers like Ellora's Cave and Samhain had their own book case. While I don't care to see authors segregated like that, there are now plenty being released in "traditional" print who got their start in the biz writing for e-publishers or who are still publishing e-books with them.
The lines have blurred, the walls are slowly being torn down, and today everyone has e-books on their mind. While some feel this is like letting barbarians through the gate, Rome isn't being sacked, ladies and gentleman. It's being saved and rejuvenated and brought (even when it's dragged, kicking and screaming) into the 21st century. What writers and publishers have to do is not decide if e-publishing is legit or not; that's already been decided by the readers. What we have to do is educate ourselves on electronic format, understand how fast this segment of the market is growing, and make a place for ourselves into this brave new digital World of Publishing's E-Future.
II. Major Publishers
Major publishing houses are beginning to jump on the e-book bandwagon, and while that's not surprising, how they're adapting to this new format (or not) often is. It seems that while traditional publishers are happy to rake in the growing heap of bucks generated by e-books sales, some don't seem to understand this segment of the market very well. From what I've observed, their attitudes range from "this is a temporary fad" to "this isn't worth my time" to "this will make us a quick buck" to "this is the end of the world."
I think the three gargantuan problems publishers have with electronic format are control, pricing and distribution. Keeping e-books from being pirated is a concern, just as is preventing print books from being shoplifted, but Publishing's answer to this -- DRM, or Digital Rights Management, which prevents the buyer from copying or printing out the e-books they buy -- is in my opinion unnecessarily harsh and restrictive. The one reason I still don't buy many e-books is because DRM prevents me from printing them out on paper. For anyone like me who wears heavy-duty corrective lenses and has a hard time reading for a long period from a computer or e-device screen, that simply kills the sale.
There seems to be no industry standard for pricing e-books, and even with the so-called safeguard of DRM, some traditional publishers are putting a hefty $ tag on books in electronic format. I think this is short-term profit greed in a market that is thriving and by its very nature in line to be one of the primary publishing platforms of the future. I'm not sure why the industry isn't seizing the opportunity to use reasonable pricing to generate more sales, but high prices don't result in making readers throw away their devices to run back to buying only print novels. I think it encourages pirating, because why would anyone pay $25.00 for an e-book you can download for free off a bootleg site?
I've already read a couple of online confessions from consumers who have admitted downloading pirated copies of books, so pretending it's not happening is naive. Also, remember that bootleggers aren't interested in making profits off the e-books; they get their money from advertisers who pay them in accordance with how much traffic they draw to their site (which they generate by setting up their rules to basically allow anyone to store pirated copies on their sites.) While the justice system does their best to prosecute a few people and make them into scary examples of why you shouldn't bootleg, no one can ever police all these sites, not even the authors of the works being pirated (pirated copies of my print novels show up about once a month on the internet -- and that's the ones I can find or that someone alerts me to. This past weekend some pinhead tried to sell them on eBay.)
Distribution, the third wrench in the works, is not a problem for the publishers, but is becoming a real headache for me and many other writers who have a substantial readership residing in countries other the U.S. Many major publishers continue to restrict sales of e-books to the U.S. and Canada only. This is sabotaging sales and profits, because one of the great benefits of having a book in electronic format is that it can be shipped in any quantity around the globe to any spot at zero cost. Zero! No matter if you send ten or ten million copies of The DaVinci Code to Tokyo, the cost of shipping them is nothing. Try doing that with print novels.
Rather than seeing the cost-efficient advantages of digital books, major publishers seem determined to try and force the market into adhering to strategies and standards of a business model that was never meant for electronic format. Treating an e-book like a print book is not only inappropriate, it's a little ridiculous. If major publishers are going to be competitive in the E-Future, they have to let go of the mentality of the past and start evolving and adapting to the demands of the present.
III. E-Publishers
I don't think it's as bad as it was ten years ago, but there is still a major stigma involved in being an author who e-publishes as opposed to being published in print by a major publishing house. On behalf of all intelligent and informed professional writers, I apologize for this. They won't let me be in charge of that or things would be a lot different for the e-published authors.
I hope industry perceptions will change as the e-market continues to grow, and e-published authors will stop being automatically assigned to the lowest rung on the biz ladder. Some of the most promising and talented writers I've discovered got their start in e-publishing, like my blogpal Shiloh Walker and my groupblog ringleader Sasha White. To say all e-published authors are inferior writers is like saying all black people should sit in the back of the bus. It's beyond ignorant.
That said, I can't endorse every e-publisher on the market; there are some companies out there that writers should avoid entirely. If you're considering submitting to an e-publisher, the best advice I can give you is to do the legwork and educate yourself. A writer should never sign with an e-publisher before they check out the company thoroughly and nail down all the details. Some of my veteran e-published friends are holding workshops this week on e-publishing; you can start by picking their brains.
To find the right e-publisher, you also have to do the research. If there is an e-publisher whose books you like, check out their submission guidelines and what they offer as payment to their authors. eBook Crossroads has a Directory of ePublishers, as does FictionAddiction.net; Predators & Editors maintains a massive directoryof all publishers along with their recommendations for or against them.
E-published authors are beginning to form their own independent writer organizations, like EPIC, but there are still plenty who are trying to fit in with the old orgs, like Espan. Because so many writer organizations don't have offer decent information on e-publishers, writers have formed their own watchdog groups; some that offer valuable online resources like AbsoluteWrite.com's Bewares and Background Checks forum, Erec (Erotic Romance E-Publishers Comparison site) and Piers Anthony's Internet Publishing site which provide the latest information on the business operations of small e-publishers and presses. Be sure to visit these sites to check and see if the e-publisher you're considering is under scrutiny for any author scams or unfair business practices.
IV. E-Readers
Before you read a word I have to say about them, do stop by Midnight Spencer's LB&LI e-book workshop from Monday, as she has a fabulous, comprehensive list of features and details on a bunch of current e-reader models.
For all that Oprah has done for Kindle, I think the e-reader market is still in a state of flux. At the moment it seems to bouncing between Kindle and Sony, but that could change as soon as someone makes a better/cheaper/more convenient e-reader. It'll probably be a lot like the mobile phone market, with lots of new models offering more and more cool apps and stuff duking it out until a clear leader rises to the top of the heap. My money is on Sony; they seem to be more in touch with the market than Amazon is (inserting ads in e-books? Ick.)
If you're a reader who is shopping for an e-reader, you need to read up on the pros and cons inherent to each model. Fictionwise has a slightly outdated FAQ-type list of Reading Software and Devices. CNET has just published a buying guide for e-readers while Consumer Reports has the lowdown on the new Kindle DX. FreshTech has updated their comparison between the Kindle 1 and Sony E-Reader. But neither Kindle nor Sony has a guaranteed chunk of the e-reader market, as Sarah Rotman Epps reports on some interesting e-reader developments over on the Forrester Blog.
I haven't invested in an e-reader yet because they're not really designed for handicapped users like me (too many buttons for my arthritic fingers, too heavy and/or awkward to hold.) I hope that changes sometime in the future, because of all the readers who can benefit from an e-reader, disabled folks should surely be at the top of the list.
V. E-book Power
I know some of you still aren't convinced as to why writers should even care about the E-Future. You're focused on print publication, and that's all that matters to you: the traditional publishing career.
But while you're planning to become the next front-of-the-bookstore darling, consider a few figures: it’s estimated that in 2008 electronic books netted $1.1 billion dollars, up 68.4% from $67.2 million netted in 2007; and that’s almost double the $54.4 million sold in 2006.* Reports are already being compiled about e-book sales in the first quarter of 2009, and they’re looking very good. While that’s not as dazzling as the $24.3 billion dollar bottom line for the entire industry, compare it to adult hardcover sales dropping 13% and adult mass market sales down 3% percent in 2008.**
I had those front-of-the-bookstore dreams (don't we all?) but from the start of my career I also kept an eye toward the the future. In addition to being a writer, I'm also an e-publisher. Didn't know that, did you? But I am and I have been since 2000, when I self-published my first e-book. The difference between me and all the other e-publishers is that I only publish my own original stories and novels (all of which are exclusive to the internet and have not been published anywhere else) and I distribute them for free, something I consider to date the most effective form of marketing I've ever done.
To say I don't profit from giving away my e-books for free would be like another author saying it doesn't pay to go to reader conferences or hold booksignings. Over the last eighteen months over two hundred thousand readers have viewed and/or downloaded e-books from my free virtual library on
Tomorrow we'll talk about how we writers can become more active participants in Publishing's new electronic age, different ways to use digital publishing to create new markets and expand existing ones, and where our choices might take us. Because the E-Future isn't coming tomorrow or next month or next year, guys. It's already here.
VI. Related Links
Bookworm is an "experimental platform for storing and reading ePub-format books online."
Keep your head above water with Nancy Nivling's article It Ain't Easy: Navigating the Rapids of E--Publishing.
If you're thinking about investing in a Kindle, I recommend reading Tim O'Reilly's rather brilliant take on Kindle's E-Future.
*Stats source: Simba Information BPR April 2009
**Stats source: American Association of Publishers via MediaBistro.com.
Today's LB&LI giveaways are:
1) A eBookWish -- any e-book or combination of e-books of your choice available to purchase from an online e-publisher or e-publisher's bookseller, up to a combined max cost of $30.00 U.S. (or if the e-bookseller has a gift certificate for $30.00 available that I can purchase and send via e-mail to you, that'll work as a substitute.)
2) a goodie bag which will include unsigned new copies of:
The Pajama Girls of Lambert Square by Rosina Lippi (hardcover)
Master of Shadows by Lynn Viehl (author-printed, signed and bound in a three-ring binder)
Animal Attraction by Charlene Teglia (trade pb)
The Missing by Shiloh Walker (trade pb)
Primal Male by Sasha White (trade pb)
Round the Clock by Dara Girard (paperback)
Red Fire and Red Kiss by Deidre Knight (paperbacks)
Pleasure Unbound, Desire Unleashed and Passion Unleashed by Larissa Ione (paperbacks)
Hawkspar by Holly Lisle (paperback)
The Iron Hunt and Darkness Calls by Marjorie M. Liu
plus signed paperback copies of my novels StarDoc and Evermore, as well as some other surprises.
If you'd like to win one of these two giveaways, name an e-published author you've enjoyed reading or comment on this workshop before midnight EST on Thursday, July 16, 2009. I will draw two names from everyone who participates and send one winner the goodie bag and grant the other the eBookWish.
Everyone who participates in the giveaways this week will also be automatically entered in my grand prize drawing on July 21st, 2009 for the winner's choice of either a ASUS Eee PC 1005HA-P 10.1" Seashell Netbook or a Sony PRS-700BC Digital Reader.
As always, all LB&LI giveaways are open to anyone on the planet, even if you've won something here at PBW in the past (and if anyone wants a peek at this year's LB&LI goodie room at Casa PBW, and see what's going in those goodie bags, stop by the photoblog today.)
Other LB&LI Workshop Links -- new links are being added every day, so keep checking the list for new workshops (due to different time zones, some of these will go live later in the day):
E-publishing: From Query to Final Edits and Beyond -- Authors Madison Blake, Paris Brandon, Cerise Deland, Fran Lee, Afton Locke and Nina Pierce provide helpful insights and tips on e-publishing. Today's author: Nina Pierce
Writing Transformative Sex - Part One by Joely Sue Burkhart -- Any writer who has studied much of the craft at all knows that if a scene doesn’t move the story forward, it should be cut. But have you really thought about what that means for a sex scene?
Birds and Flight by Suelder -- first in a series of workshops on birds that will focus on the science as well as how to adapt this information to writing.
How-To Books that Saved My Life by Alison Kent -- a look at the three how-to books the author can't write without, and why.
Break through your fears and write! by Tamlyn Leigh -- One of the biggest obstacles on a writer's path is their fear. It can be for anything: fear people won't like their stories, fear they aren't good enough. In my workshop I want to offer tools to break through that fear, and get everyone writing!
Writing Prompt Series - What? by Rosina Lippi -- On the basis of an image supplied by Rosina, write out the primary conflict between your two characters in dialog form.
Writing in the Labyrinth by Marjorie M. Liu -- first in a series of workshops about different aspects of writing and publishing.
From Pantser To Plotter: How I Joined The Dark Side by Kait Nolan -- Wednesday's topic: What I've Used In My Conversion (Part A)
What eBook publishers look for: Samhain Publishing by Midnight Spencer –- General Submission, Royalty and Contract, How to Submit, and Samhain Frequently Asked Questions.
Epubs-wondering where to start? by Shiloh Walker -- Info for those curious about epubs and where to start.
Killer Campaigns: Trading Cards by Maria Zannini -- How to create trading cards featuring your novel's characters
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
