The Biggest Mistakes Self-Publishers Make, Part 1

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Let’s face it – writing, publishing and promoting a book is a lot of work. Some authors pour their soul (and sometimes considerable expense) into their books and are disappointed when sales don’t materialize as they expect. In this series of posts, I’ll be discussing five of the most common mistakes that self-published authors make, along with tips on how to avoid them.

Mistake #1 – Neglecting to learn about the publishing business.

Whether you are writing to share your story or expertise with others, or to earn money, it’s important to understand how the publishing business works. Many authors devote a lot of time to writing, but they don’t take the time to understand the pros and cons of various publishing options, the financial aspects of publishing, the sales potential of their book, or how to distribute and promote it successfully. 

Publishing is a business like any other, and most authors need to learn some new skills. See my Aspiring Authors resource page for links to articles and in-depth books that will help you learn about publishing and equip you to make informed decisions about your books. 

Stay tuned for the next post in this series of The Biggest Mistakes Self-Published Authors Make. 

 

This is a reprint from Dana Lynn Smith‘s The Savvy Book Marketer. Also see part two, part three and part four in the same series, by the same author.

Self Publishing: Second Class No More?

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This post, by Terri Giuliano Long (of indiereader.com) originally appeared on The Huffington Post on 10/3/12.

Not too long ago, traditional publishers held all the cards.

If publishing houses rejected a book, its author had two choices: self-publish and bear the stigma, or put the manuscript in a drawer, forfeiting years of hard work, all the while hoping the next book would be “the one.” A plethora of legitimate publishing options—ranging from DIY self-publishing platforms to assisted self-publishing partnerships—has eliminated this total reliance on traditional houses, in effect changing the publishing dynamic. Today, empowered authors are asserting greater control over their career—and driving revolutionary changes within the industry.

Rita Rosenkranz, among the first literary agents to work with indie authors, says that in the past “because of the stigma of self-publishing very good stuff was locked out by mainstream publishers.” Literary agent Steven Axelrod, who represents self-publishing rock star Amanda Hocking, credits readers for opening new opportunities for independent authors. Readers no longer see a huge difference between self- and traditionally published books, Axelrod says. By buying books, adds Rosenkranz, and increasing their rank in the marketplace, readers vote on which books are worthy of publishing. As a result, traditional publishers are finding themselves in bidding wars for the rights to republish the very books they once spurned.

With their meteoric rise, self-published authors no longer face a categorical stigma. Many traditional publishers now view self-publishing as a great way to discover new writers, Axelrod says. A quick search of Publisher’s Marketplace, using the keywords “self publish,” turned up 40 deals in the past twelve months, many ranked “significant,” $250K to $499K, or “major,” meaning over $500K. In July, Jamie McGuire inked a “major deal” for her runaway bestseller "Beautiful Disaster"; in August, Sara Fawkes landed a “significant deal” for her USA Today bestseller "Anything He Wants". In an increasingly common sign of the times—agile publishers are altering internal processes to bring books to market quickly—Atria and St. Martin’s republished their newly acquired bestsellers in e-book format within weeks of announcing the deals.

Spurred by astounding indie success—Hocking sold a million books before signing a deal with St. Martin’s worth over $2 million—publishers have adopted “a new set of indicators,” according to Axelrod. 

 

Read the rest of the post on The Huffington Post.

New Publishing Companies Are Starting That Are Much Leaner Than Their Established Competitors

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This post, by Mike Shatzkin, originally appeared on his The Shatzkin Files on 9/24/12.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

“It’s become very, very clear to me that digital trumps print, and that pure digital, without any legacy costs, massively trumps print.” — David G. Bradley, owner of Atlantic Media, quoted in The New York Times on September 24, 2012.

The magazine business isn’t the book business, but…

For the better part of two decades, many people have seen the potential quandary the digital transition posed to big successful full-service publishing organizations. If distribution no longer requires scale, what does that mean to the companies that not only succeeded by creating distribution at scale, but which also are largely locked in to their high-cost, high-maintenence infrastructures?

This was one of my concerns when I delivered my “End of General Trade Publishing Houses” speech at BookExpo in 2007. When bookstores go away, I figured, it would become absolutely necessary but would be very hard for publishers working across audiences to adjust to being multi-niche. And it seemed to me that the big organizations built to deal with thousands of dispersed retail outlets at scale would be far too expensive to maintain when the outlets weren’t there. And stepping down the overhead level wouldn’t be easy.

There’s no shortage of understanding of this challenge. All big publishers are looking for new ways to apply scale to gathering names, analyzing data, improving discovery, social marketing, and creating partnerships with others that can provide audience reach.

Several companies have built business strategies around the expectation that traditional publishing organizations are going to have to get smaller and change the way they staff their print value chain. Among the biggest players, Donnelley, Ingram, Perseus, and even Random House fit that description: offering a variety of ways for publishers to offload everything except the functions that are absolutely core to publishing: editorial selection and development, rights management, and marketing.

The companies that offer the print value chain solutions also have digital services, of course, but they have competitors in that space that specialize in providing what demands scale for digital publishing. The competitors tend to start their service offerings further up the workflow than those that started by focusing on scalable distribution. Two new partnerships announced last week suggest the emergence of new commercial models for publishing.

The big eye-catching announcement was that Barry Diller and Scott Rudin, both with Hollywood roots, are putting substantial investment — announced as $10 million, but they could certainly add more when and if they want to — behind a new commercial trade house called Brightline to be led by publishing veteran Frances Coady. Brightline will partner and build its books with The Atavist.

Perhaps less noticed, but pointing in a similar direction, is that agent and entrepreneur Jason Allen Ashlock has set up a new niche publishing imprint to do crime and suspense books, working on the PressBooks platform created by Hugh McGuire.

The publishing ambitions here are quite different, but the point they make about the direction of publishing’s future are very much the same.

 

 

Read the rest of the post on The Shatzkin Files.

I've Started So I'll Finish…Or Maybe Not

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This post, by Jenny Hillborne, originally appeared on the Crime Fiction Collective blog on 9/26/12 and is reprinted here in its entirety with that site’s permission.

Confession: I watch reality TV.

Some of the shows are fun to watch, although I find it often takes time to get acquainted with the cast and build any sort of connection to the players. If the first episode is weak or uninteresting, my attention drifts elsewhere and I’ll switch channels. I’m fickle, and I’m busy. I’m also not likely to come back. When a great group is thrust together, the connection starts right away and I’m immediately hooked.  

It’s the same way with books. I want instant action, strong characters, drama, and a great plot. I want to be drawn in from the first page, held to the story, and care about the cast. I’m at my most critical right after I finish a great book and start a new one. At the end of a great book, I’m vested in all the characters and don’t want it to end. This makes it tough for the next author. Like a new job, I have to get to know all the new people and find out if I like it in this world. Unlike a new job, I don’t have to stay long in the fictional world if it sucks.

Some readers persevere with a "bad" book and read it to the end. I’ve done that once; a) because the book was short, and b) because I couldn’t believe how truly bad it was. The book was penned by a well-known author and I convinced myself it had to get better. After I finished, I was annoyed with myself for wasting the time, and struck said author off my to-be-read list for good. According to the reviews, so did lots of other readers. With so many great books, who has the time? 

So, what draws me in? What keeps a reader reading?

A Big Brother series just ended in the UK. Normally, I don’t like Big Brother, but the cast in this series had all the right qualities and reinforced what I want to find in the books I read (what I expect most readers hope to find): drama, shock, great character interaction and strong personalities. Likable members of the cast brought out the better side of the uglier personalities, added humility, redeemed them for the audience, and brought a wonderful balance to the house.The mix created a good level of intrigue and excitement. It played out like a great story that held my interest. I had to know what would happen next. But most of all, what really kept me – I cared.

Instant intrigue draws me in to a book, but I’m a wriggly fish and the hook alone is not enough. What keeps my interest is the growing suspense and the character dynamics. I want to see the flaws exposed in the heroines and heroes; the virtues of the villain. I want conflict, both external and internal, humor and humility, a little chaos. I can’t identify with perfect people, not even in the fictional world. Unbelievable characters are one of the fastest turn-offs for me in books. I don’t care about them. 

Here are five reasons I continue reading a book: 

1) Hook – it’s got to be there or it’s all over from the start.

2) Immediate intrigue and growing suspense. I want to have questions as I read.

3) Character dynamics – I must care about the characters, even the villains.  

4) Volatility. I love the unexpected, especially when I’m not prepared.

5) Good dialogue. Make it believable.

 

and 5 reasons I stop (and I haven’t even mentioned typos):

 

1) Weak plot – nothing more boring.

2) Poor motive or no motive. If the book fizzles, I’ll never read another by the author.

3) Unnecessary filler and long clumsy sentences. Okay, that’s two. Both drag me out of the story.

4) Unanswered questions. You can string me along for a while, but give me my answers.

5) I can’t identify with either the characters or the story. Most fiction is grounded in some kind of truth. I want to relate to what’s happening. 

I’m not as patient as I once was. If I’m not at least partially vested within the first two or three chapters, I’m done with the book, and probably the author. What makes you continue reading? And what makes you stop?

 

Twitter for the Absolutely Terrified Newbie Author

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Twitter just gets bigger and bigger. It’s amazing how often we’re hearing about tweets during the current election cycle, for instance. It’s really the perfect medium for getting the word out quickly, making a point, poking your opponent while they are still in the middle of a speech, or complaining about NFL refs.

Twitter is also an amazing resource for authors who want to market their books online.

But it’s not just book marketing, Twitter is so much more. Over the last few years we’ve seen this groundbreaking “micro-blogging” service transform into a worldwide communications utility. Twitter has played a major role in revolutionary struggles and social transformations.

Closer to home, Twitter has become a preferred method for celebrities, corporations, customer service departments, software developers, food trucks, dry cleaners and political movements to stay in touch with followers, customers, colleagues and fans.

Sometimes tweets can seem cryptic, but they are just as often illuminating, ironic, pointed, funny, or melancholy. Really, the only limitation of the utility of Twitter seems to be its 140-character limit.

I really enjoy Twitter and have been an avid user for several years. It has brought tens of thousands of visitors to my blog, allowed me to meet and get to know colleagues and readers around the world, helped me arrange writing and speaking opportunities. Oh, it’s also a lot of fun.

To get you started (and hopefully get rid of that terror that may be keeping you from diving in), I’ve put together this little primer on using Twitter.

Getting Started in 3 Easy Steps

Here’s how I would suggest you get started if you’re one of those people who is simply terrified of Twitter, or if you “just don’t get it.”

  1. Go to Twitter.com and sign up. You’ll need an email address, and you’ll get to pick your Twitter ID in the process.
  2. Fill out your profile and upload a photo of yourself so you look presentable to the rest of the Twitter world.
  3. Find some people to follow. Use the search field at the top right of your Twitter home page to enter a name or subject that’s an interest of yours, or that you write about. You’ll get a whole screen full of messages on the topic. Click the name of anyone who looks interesting, then click the blue “Follow” button.

Okay, relax, the hard work is done. Your next task is to listen. Keep reading the messages posted by people you are following, and follow new people who are also interested in the topic.

Once you start following people, Twitter will suggest other users to you on your home page. Follow them too. You can always “unfollow” them later if you like.

Many of the people you follow, by the way, will “follow you back.” That’s okay, you don’t have to worry about them until you start putting out messages of your own. But you’re not going to do that until you’re completely comfortable and feel safe.

After you’ve opened your Twitter account, spend some time listening, then dive in. You can make of it whatever you like. The ideas here will help you get started. Oh, and send me a tweet, I’ll be happy to respond.

Essential Twitter Basics

To use Twitter, you need to know some basic concepts. If you understand these, you’re ready to become a Twitter user.

Follow/Unfollow—On Twitter, you follow people you’re interested in. This means that every time they post a Tweet, it will show up on your home page, in your “timeline” or “stream.” Likewise, if someone follows you, they will see the tweets you post.

Tweet—A message you send via Twitter. Tweets are limited to 140 characters and can include links to websites or other resources. You can’t style these tweets, they are all just plain text.

Re-Tweet (or RT)—Broadcast a tweet by another user to your own followers. You can do this by clicking the “Retweet” button that appears when you hover your cursor over a tweet on Twitter, or by using the RT button in many programs that work with Twitter.

More on retweeting

Modified Tweet (or MT)—A tweet that’s been modified in some way before being re-tweeted.

Twitter ID (or Handle, username, etc.)—The name you create for your account when you set it up. Your Twitter ID always starts with an “at” sign (@). For instance, @BarackObama is the Twitter ID for the U.S. president. Pick this carefully, you’ll be using it for a long time.

Lists—You can create lists of other Twitter users and you get to control who is on each list. These are used only for reading the tweets by people on the list; you can’t broadcast just to one specific list. Lists are incredibly helpful in managing your Twitter feed so you can concentrate on one subject at a time.

More on Twitter lists

Direct message (or DM)—A private message you send to another user who is following you. No one else can see a DM. If you are following each other, you can carry on a completely private conversation this way.

By the way, when you follow people sometimes you’ll get a Direct Message from them instantly. These are automatic and I think most users avoid them. Don’t feel obligated to respond.

More on DMs

Trends (trending)—Twitter’s software robots watch what people are talking about and select the top 10 subjects at any moment, displaying them on your home page.

More on trending

Hashtags—A way to indicate that a tweet is part of a larger conversation or related to a specific topic or event. Hashtags are also really useful for filtering the stream of tweets to see those specific topics. They have a pound sign (#) followed by a word or phrase with no spaces within it.

Hashtags for writers

Profile Picture (or Avatar)—A clear, professional and friendly photo is usually the best to start off with.

Bio—The most crucial part of your profile, you want to use the 160 characters allowed to say something meaningful about your work and your interests.

Blocking—If you don’t want to unfollow someone, you can simply block their tweets, it’s easy. See the link for instructions.

More on blocking users

Mentions—When you are referenced in someone else’s tweet, using your @Twitter ID.

.@ (Period before a user’s Twitter ID)—If you tweet in reply to another user, your tweet will begin with that users Twitter ID, which starts with the “at” sign (@). Twitter may not send this Tweet to all your followers since it considers it a more or less “private” conversation. If you want the reply to go to all of your followers, put a period first.

More on “dot syntax”

Okay, Now What?

None of this will tell you what to do when you want to start publishing your own tweets. But watching the people you admire, and the people who seem to have a lot of followers will show you one very important thing.

Those who seem most successful on Twitter share lots of useful, interesting or amusing resources from other people. Interspersed will be tweets about their own content, books, or other projects.

If you do the same, you will also be popular. I think about 3 or 4 tweets from other people to every 1 of your own is about right for most people.

But listen as long as you like before you start tweeting. Here are some more resources if you’d like to delve deeper.

More Twitter Resources to Help You Get Started

10 Steps for Authors Who Want to Get Started on Twitter
Twitter Help Center Twitter Basics
Mashable’s Guide to Twitter
Twitter: Top 5 Ways to Find Your Tribe
Your 10-Step Plan for Becoming a Twitter Star
Metadata for the Tweeps: Using Twitter Hashtags

 

This is a reprint from Joel Friedlander‘s The Book Designer.

The Five Stages Of Grief Following The Publication Of One's First Book

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This post, by Misha Angrist, originally appeared on The Awl on 10/1/12. Note that it contains some strong language.

 

1. DENIAL

 

• "Sorry, Mom, I can’t talk long. Terry Gross is likely to call at any time and I imagine will want instructions on how to pronounce my name."

• "Everyone knows that Amazon rankings are a total joke. I mean, I could give a shit. But you and everyone else in our extended family did buy seven copies each at 5:22 a.m. EST just like I told you, right?"

 

• "And those Nielsen BookScan sales numbers are clearly off by one decimal place. Maybe two."

• "I need to be at Barnes and Noble right when it opens. What? No reason."

• "Book reviews, on the other hand… EXTREMELY IMPORTANT."

• "No, I’m still weighing ‘The Daily Show’ versus ‘Colbert.’ Say hi to Dad."

• "If they want to low-ball me on the film rights, that’s fine, but in that case I will need a piece of the back end and final say on casting. I feel strongly that in the interests of verisimilitude, I should be played by a hairy Jew from Pittsburgh. But of course he will have to be filmed in a way that makes him look a foot shorter."

 

2. ANGER

 

• "There are four people at my signing, Mr. Cantankerous Independent Bookseller, counting you and my wife and the barista/palm reader. You can’t even be bothered to show me how to work the microphone that I don’t need?

• "You know I spent most of my advance at your store, right?"

• "Blog blag blargh. @Twit tweet twat."

• "ME ME MOI. AHEM. HELLO!"

• "This fetid gasbag of a person you invited on the same radio show to antagonize me? It is totally working."

• "What the hell does it look like, Holmes? I am BUILDING MY BRAND."

• "It’s spelled A-N-G-R-I-S-T. That’s like ‘angriest’ without the ‘e.’"

 

3. BARGAINING

 

 

Read the rest of the post, which includes details on the latter three stages, on The Awl.

Finding Your Writing Process

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This post, by Mistina Picciano, originally appeared on The Oolong Inkwell on 9/23/12.

For any aspiring novelists out there, how many books do you have on how to write a novel? At least a dozen are sitting on my shelf, with a handful more taking up space on my Kindle – all mocking me. I probably subscribe to the same magazines that you do, and I’ve read many of the same articles that debate the merits of outlining versus “pantsing,” or discovery writing.

All these resources have led me to one conclusion: no one can tell you the best way to write your novel.

Not really surprising, is it? After all, creativity is such a personal endeavor.

Guess what? Even writing your novel won’t necessarily tell you the best way to write your novel. It may, however, offer some valuable tips to point you in the right direction.

Trial and error… and error

My current novel project is not my first. It’s not even my second or third. It’s number four—the first not born during National Novel Writing Month.

Because of Chris Baty’s brilliance, I’m the proud parent of two very rough, completed novel drafts and 37,000 words of another novel that was my favorite writing project ever—before this current novel.

Given the nature of the assignment (50K in 30 days), all were generated via the pantsing method, which made sense since this was how I had produced all other fiction work.

Thus, I always assumed that I write best using the discovery method.

However, I suspected that something was awry when reading Stephen King’s On Writing the second time around. He described his revision process, which appears to consist of maybe three passes through the complete draft. Sure, he’s Stephen King, and he’s literally been writing longer than I’ve been alive.

As I started tackling the task of revising my first novel draft, I realized that I was going to need way more than three or even six passes. After a couple of false starts, I found myself roughly 120,000 words into the second draft—with no end in sight.

Back to the outlining board

 

 

Read the rest of the post on The Oolong Inkwell.

11 Practical Ways To Stop Procrastination

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 This post, by celestine, originally appeared on Lifehack on 6/3/12.

You have a deadline looming. However, instead of doing your work, you are fiddling with miscellaneous things like checking email, social media, watching videos, surfing blogs and forums. You know you should be working, but you just don’t feel like doing anything.

We are all familiar with the procrastination phenomenon. When we procrastinate, we squander away our free time and put off important tasks we should be doing them till it’s too late.  And when it is indeed too late, we panic and wish we got started earlier. The chronic procrastinators I know have spent years of their life looped in this cycle. Delaying, putting off things, slacking, hiding from work, facing work only when it’s unavoidable, then repeating this loop all over again. It’s a bad habit that eats us away and prevents us from achieving greater results in life.

Don’t let procrastination take over your life. Here, I will share my personal steps which I use to overcome procrastination with great success. These 11 steps will definitely apply to you too:

  1. Break your work into little steps. Part of the reason why we procrastinate is because subconsciously, we find the work too overwhelming for us. Break it down into little parts, then focus on one part at the time. If you still procrastinate on the task after breaking it down, then break it down even further. Soon, your task will be so simple that you will be thinking “gee, this is so simple that I might as well just do it now!”.For example, I’m currently writing a new book (on How to achieve anything in life). Book writing at its full scale is an enormous project and can be overwhelming. However, when I break it down into phases such as – (1) Research (2) Deciding the topic (3) Creating the outline (4) Drafting the content (5) Writing Chapters #1 to #10, (6) Revision (7) etc, suddenly it seems very manageable. What I do then is to focus on the immediate phase and get it done to my best ability, without thinking about the other phases. When it’s done, I move on to the next.
     
  2. Change your environment. Different environments have different impact on our productivity. Look at your work desk and your room. Do they make you want to work or do they make you want to snuggle and sleep? If it’s the latter, you should look into changing your workspace. One thing to note is that an environment that makes us feel inspired before may lose its effect after a period of time. If that’s the case, then it’s time to change things around. Refer to Steps #2 and #3 of 13 Strategies To Jumpstart Your Productivity, which talks about revamping your environment and workspace.
     
  3. Create a detailed timeline with specific deadlines. Having just 1 deadline for your work is like an invitation to procrastinate. That’s because we get the impression that we have time and keep pushing everything back, until it’s too late. Break down your project (see tip #1), then create an overall timeline with specific deadlines for each small task. This way, you know you have to finish each task by a certain date. Your timelines must be robust, too – i.e. if you don’t finish this by today, it’s going to jeopardize everything else you have planned after that. This way it creates the urgency to act. My goals are broken down into monthly, weekly, right down to the daily task lists, and the list is a call to action that I must accomplish this by the specified date, else my goals will be put off.

 

 

Read the rest of the article, which includes 8 more tips for fighting procrastination, on Lifehack.

How To Get Book Reviews

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This post originally appeared on the Alliance of Independent Authors site on 9/19/12.

Trying to get readers to write a review is like getting your two-year-old child to take a horrible-tasting medicine, says ALLi member and regular contributor, Giacomo (Jim) Giammatteo. But it is possible and it is worth it.  In the first of a three-part series on reviews, he explains how he gets more than twenty reviews a month.

The Process of Getting Reviews

I launched my book in mid April 2012. Since then I have managed to get seven editorial reviews, 77 reviews on Amazon, and another 44 reviews on Goodreads. No matter how you look at it, that’s a lot of reviews (more than 20 per month) so how do you get that many reviews?

I can tell you it’s not by having a big family. I didn’t have my wife write one (mostly for fear of what she’d say) and I didn’t have either of my sons write a review. A few family members did write reviews—the ones who read the kind of books I write. And guess what, one of those reviews was not a five star. (Yeah, I know. Tough family)

For what it’s worth, here’s the secret—work your butt off and put in a lot of time. Here are my suggestions.

  • Your Book—In the back of your book put a statement about how important reviews are, and ask the readers to please leave a review. Don’t ask for a good review, just an honest one.
     
  • Internet—Spend time scouring the internet for sites that review books, and then send out emails asking them to consider your book for a review. There are a lot more sites than you might think. (I am in the process of putting together a comprehensive list of reputable review sites, so check with me in a few weeks if you’re interested.)
     
  • Bloggers—This one is perhaps the most important. Do your research. Find the bloggers who read and review in your genre. Follow their instructions and guidelines. Most of them have their policies posted on the site. Read them. Did I mention, Read the Review Policies?

  • Make sure you send your book to reviewers who are interested in your kind of book. I made this mistake, resulting in three of my worst reviews. These reviewers were appalled at the violence and use of language in my book. I don’t blame them; it was my fault. I should have done more checking.

  • Giveaways—

 

 

Read the rest of the post on  the Alliance of Indepedent Authors site.

Are Apps The Future Of Book Publishing?

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This post, by Alex Knapp, originally appeared on Forbes on 3/30/12.

We’re at the dawn of the tablet era now. Earlier this month, Apple sold 3 million of its new iPad during the opening weekend, with some analysts expecting over 60 million of the tablets to be sold worldwide. What’s more, e-book readers are selling even more briskly than tablets. People are using those e-readers, too. On Amazon.com, books for its Kindle outsell its paper books.

What’s more, the explosion of e-books is putting pressure on publishers between demands for price cuts on one hand, and competition from independent authors like Amanda Hocking, who earned over $2 million selling e-books on her own before signing with a major publisher.

It’s no surprise, then, that publishers are turning to the app as a possible product for books moving forward.  This has led to another movement towards enhanced books, particularly as apps for iPhone, Android, and other tablets. Are tablet apps the book of the future? In order to find out, I talked to authors, publishers, and app programmers, and read more than a few book apps.

The Varieties of E-Book App Experiences

Perhaps the most wildly divergent book app I’ve encountered so far is Chopsticks, which is another Penguin book, but one that’s vastly different than their amplified editions. It’s described as a novel, but it’s vastly different than a traditional novel. As you turn the pages, you aren’t confronted with a traditional narrative, but rather interact with different pieces of the lives of Glory, a teen piano player, and the boy who moves in next door. The story’s told through newspaper clippings, pictures, songs, and more.  It’s a rather fascinating way to tell a story.

 

 

Read the rest of the post on Forbes.

The New World of Publishing: Pricing 2013

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This post, by Dean Wesley Smith, originally appeared on his site on 9/14/12.

 

Yup, I am going back into the pricing wars one more time. Why would I do that? Simply put, I’m nuts. And again, things have changed all over the map, so indie pricing of ebooks needs to be talked about.

Again.

All over the news sources right now are articles about the settlements going on with the government and major publishers on the agency pricing issues. Some of it is very complex, most of it will not make much difference at all to most indie publishers.

However, some changes will happen in pricing of ebooks.

Since this is not a legal blog and I will do my best here to not get too deep into the silliness of the boring details. In fact, let me say this. If you are interested in the details of all the legal aspects of the pricing lawsuits, followThePassiveVoice.com. He does wonderful takes with great opinions on the different aspects of the battles.

My opinion is pretty much with other people who have followed these lawsuits. Pricing for customers of electronic books will go up as this settles out over the next few years. Even with stores discounting some titles, ebook prices really can’t do anything else but go up.

There are a number of good sides of this for writers.

First, it means authors who are publishing through traditional publishers will get more money per sale because publishers will make more money from increased prices. And they do pass on, sometimes, a tiny fraction of that amount.

Second, if indie publishers are smart, they will bring their prices up slightly, but stay under the traditional discounting ranges. I will talk about this before, but it will make us all more money.

Some Basics

 

 

Read the rest of the post on Dean Wesley Smith’s site.

Ebook or Paper?

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This post, by Deborah Reed, originally appeared on the New Wave Authors blog.

Ebook or Paper? How much longer will we need to debate this question? 

As a previously self-published author I have to say that the ebook is responsible for starting my career. Without it I’m not sure I’d be where I am today. In fact, Jeff Bezos just showed a taped interview with me at the Amazon press conference two weeks ago. Here is a link to an edited version of what was used. Keep in mind I’m Deborah Reed—Audrey Braun is the pen name I use for mystery/thriller writing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaXR6ew3vwg 

For the reader, there is no denying the convenience of an ereader. Being able to carry thousands of books with you wherever you go, not to mention purchase a new book no matter where you find yourself, is a gift to readers everywhere. I don’t know about the other ereaders (though I suspect they are the same) but Kindle owners are reading 4.6x more now than before they owned a kindle. This is great news for writers, too. 

There is also the price point to be considered. A significant gap in price exists between paper and electronic books. During difficult economic times the ebook is not only more convenient, it’s more affordable, even when you factor in the price of the ereader. From a writer’s perspective, a more affordable book is also great news. It is far easier and more profitable to sell 10,000 copies of a novel priced at $4.99 or less, than it is to sell 100 copies of a book priced between $9.99-$25.99. Lower price means the author has a better chance to build a larger readership and make a better income at the same time. 

One very important point I want to make is the fact that print books eventually go out of print, and long before that they are removed from bookstores due to limited space, sent to a warehouse, and if they’re not purchased by a certain time they are literally destroyed. An ebook will never go out of print. Readers will always be able to find older, more obscure books with a simple search, and begin reading them immediately. For authors this is a huge factor in sustaining a career. A book that came out years ago can suddenly be made relevant again, by something as simple as being featured in a discounted deal of the day or week or month.  

 

Read the rest of the post on the New Wave Authors blog.

How To Read A Publishing Contract

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This post, by Stroppy Author Anne Rooney, originally appeared on Stroppy Author’s Guide to Publishing.

So, you’ve got a contract – congratulations. Now it’s time to argue about it. Here is the whole series of posts on how to read a publishing contract. The series works through one of my publishing contracts, clause by clause, explaining what it means and what you should argue about. You can see it as a series of lessons in how to be stroppy, or in how to protect your professional and financial interests.

Every so often, I’ve included a clause from a different contract. This means we can cover mutually exclusive positions, such writing for royalty and writing for a fixed fee. It might be useful to work through your contract comparing it with this one. Yours may be very different, but a lot of the same issues will be covered.

Don’t assume your contract is non-negotiable. And don’t be so pathetically grateful the want to publish your book that you accept any outrageous terms they offer you. Publishing is a business and no matter how friendly and reassuring your editor, they want to make as much money out of the deal as they can.

Don’t take any notice of arguments like ‘we never use that clause’. If they don’t use it, it doesn’t need to be there. If ‘it’s just the standard contract’ you say that’s fine as a starting point but now you are going to make it suitable to you and your book. If they say ‘no one has ever objected before’ that means either they’re lying or no one has read the contract properly and taken a professional approach. So  – put your angry eyes in and let’s look at that contract!

Introduction to the series and preamble to the contract

Delivery of the manuscript

Illustrations 

Permissions 

 

Read the rest of the post, which includes links to posts that cover over 20 more contract sections, on Stroppy Author’s Guide to Publishing. 

Spelling and Grammar Comics From The Oatmeal Will Sharpen Your Skills And Make You Laugh

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The Oatmeal is the wonderful site that features clever, informative and insightful comics. Perhaps you’ve heard of the Nicola Tesla comic there that attracted enough attention to allow The Oatmeal’s owner, Matthew Inman, to raise over a million dollars to fund a Tesla museum? 

Herewith, we share links to The Oatmeal’s excellent grammar comics, which are also available for purchase as posters (purchase options are listed on the site).

 

Ten Words You Need To Stop Misspelling

Flesh Out An Idea vs. Flush Out An Idea

When To Use i.e. In A Sentence

How To Use A Semicolon

What It Means When You Say Literally

How To Use An Apostrophe

The Three Most Common Uses Of Irony

 

 

Konrath's Sales [an update]

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This post, by J.A. Konrath, originally appeared on his A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing blog on 9/21/12. In it, Konrath shares his latest, cumulative book sales figures, both self-pub and "legacy" (mainstream-pubbed) titles, in both hard copy and ebook formats.

While this is useful information that definitely bolsters the argument in favor of going indie, it’s important to remember that Konrath’s numbers are exceptional, in part because he didn’t begin to self-publish until after he was well-established as a mainstream-published author. Konrath also has many, MANY titles in print. 

 

So I’m working with an incredible woman who is an MS Office tutor. She knows Excel like she wrote it herself.

Over the past few weeks she’s been compiling my sales data. ALL of my sales data.

For the very first time, I have total counts of all my sales from every platform. My legacy titles, Amazon published titles, and everything I have on KDP, Nook, Smashwords, Overdrive, Createspace, Kobo, Sony, and Apple.

And now I’m going to share those numbers with you.

These are based on my 8 legacy titles (the Jack Daniels books, Afraid, Timecaster) and my 40+ self-pubbed titles (which include 6 solo novels, 3 collaborative novels–Flee, Draculas, and Serial Killers Uncut, and the rest shorts and compilations and collaborations).

So what are these numbers? (For fun, compare them to my numbers from 2009.)

EBOOKS

Since 2004, I’ve sold 126,366 legacy ebooks, earning me $130,916 (prior to 15% to my agent.)

Since 2009, I’ve sold 632,501 self-pubbed ebooks, earning me $912,138. Some of that is shared with my collaborators, but not the lion’s share by a longshot.

 

The majority of the money I’ve made on ebooks are on six of my novels, The List, Origin, Disturb, Shot of Tequila, Endurance, and Trapped. These six novels–all rejected by legacy publishers, have sold 362,783 copies, earning me $600,501.

I’m not at liberty to discuss the sales of my Amazon published books, Shaken and Stirred, because Amazon prefers I don’t. But I’ll say that I’ve sold more ebook copies of Shaken and Stirred in less than three years than my eight legacy titles of sold in ebooks in eight years.

PAPER

My eight legacy titles have sold 60,993 hardcovers, 190,213 paperbacks, and 9828 trade paper since 2004, earning me a total of $264,527.

I’ve used Createspace to make my self-pubbed books available in print. Since 2010 I’ve sold 12,711 self-pubbed paper books and made $37,519.

Again, can’t talk about Shaken and Stirred. Shaken, released first, did pretty well in print, as this was when Borders and B&N carried copies. Now Borders is gone, and no brick and mortar bookstore will touch Amazon pubbed paper books, so Stirred didn’t do as well.

TOTALS

Since 2004, I’ve sold a combined ebook/paper total of 387,400 legacy books, earning $395,443, or $336,126 after my agent’s commission. This includes all advances. That’s $42,015 per year. Not bad, but anyone who is a longtime reader of this blog knows how much I busted my ass to sell that many, and how much I spent on promotion and travel. If I took home $30k any given year, I’d be very surprised. It was usually less than that.

Since 2009, I’ve sold a combined ebook.paper total of 645,212 self-pubbed legacy books, earning $949,657. That’s $730,282 on my own, and another $109,687 for my share of my collaborations, for a total of  $839,969. That’s $210,000 a year, average.

Stirred has made a little more money than Shaken, due to Blake Crouch’s brand, but I had to split that money with him. Again, I’m not disclosing how much I’ve made, but I’ve made more on Shaken than I have on any one of my legacy titles. This is the reason I continue to sign with Amazon publishing, and why at the end of this year I’ll release three books with them, co-written with Ann Voss Peterson, Flee, Spree, and Three.

However…

Some of my self-pubbed novels have made more money than Shaken.

Now my calculations don’t take certain things into account, including: 

 

Read the rest of the post on A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing.