Think

Opinion pieces offering commentary on various aspects of book culture, publishing and self-publishing.

The New Money Flow

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Recently, while reading a write-up of a self-publishing nightmare, I ran across mention of something called Yog’s Law, attributed to one James D. Macdonald. Having never heard of Yog’s Law before, I clicked through and learned the following:

Macdonald is well known for his work in educating aspiring authors, particularly for his advice on avoiding literary scams. Early in his career he was asked by such an author how much he had paid to have his books published, and in response began a campaign of educating other writers about the problems of vanity publishers. As part of this campaign, he coined Yog’s Law, which states “Money should flow toward the author,” which is often quoted by professional authors when giving advice on getting published.

Less than a day later, I read this in a blog post by Richard Curtis:

The line that once sharply separated traditional publishing (“We pay you”) and vanity publishing (“You pay us”) has all but dissolved in this corrosive environment of fabulous riches.

Mere hours later I found Yog’s Law quoted a third time, in a Jane Friedman blog post analyzing the Harlequin Horizons debacle:

People like to say (and I’ve said too) that money should flow TO the writer, not AWAY from the writer.

But I can see a business model emerging where publishers work with authors in more diverse ways. What we’ve held to be sacred—that a writer should NEVER pay to publish—may change.

To be clear: there are a lot of literary scams out there, and a lot of naive writers who get taken to the cleaners as a result. Whatever work James Macdonald has done to protect writers from predatory service providers who peddle false promises is a good thing.

Understanding Yog’s Law
As maxims go, Yog’s Law is not bad. In a moment I will speak to the fallacy of Yog’s Law, and to the convenience of revisiting the rule when the publishing industry decides it wants to get in on the writer-servicing business, but as a general guideline I think Yog’s Law does what it needs to do. It tells writers that anyone asking them for money should be viewed with suspicion, and that’s correct. That this core tenet could be expanded to cover most aspects of anyone’s life does not detract from its effectiveness as a general rule for aspiring writers.  

As related specifically to publishing, Yog’s Law also describes what was, until recently, the truth. Publishers who wanted to make money as a result of book sales did not ask writers for money up front. Just as jewelers evaluate diamonds before buying, and real estate moguls evaluate land, and art dealers appraise paintings before adding them to their galleries, publishers performed due diligence on authors and their works (including future efforts) to determine whether they were worth adding to their lists. Publishers took this risk with the understanding that they would profit alongside the author only if a book did well.

That was how business was done, and that’s why Yog’s Law made sense. Legitimate publishers didn’t ask for money up front, but rather gave money to authors based on sales. Illegitimate publishers asked for money up front, meaning money flowed from authors to such publishers. A law that told aspiring writers to keep an eye on the direction in which money flowed was helpful precisely because of the modus operandi common to many of the predatory scams aimed at writers.

The Fallacy of Yog’s Law
At its most basic, however, publishing is not a question of maxims or appraisals or even authorial merit. It’s a question of cash money. Which brings me to my criticism of Yog’s Law, my criticism of the industry for exploiting Yog’s Law, and my general exhaustion with the idea that all the bad people are on the outside of the publishing industry and all the good people are on the inside praying to Daniel Webster. Because nothing about Yog’s Law deals with the fact that a pay-you-later publisher can screw authors as effectively as a pay-us-now subsidy or vanity publisher.

To begin, it’s worth noting that Yog’s Law fits quite nicely with the publishing industry’s own propaganda of love and reverence for books and authors. “Look,” the publishing industry says, “we’re not taking money up front! We’re gambling on you because we believe in you! We have faith in you! We’re not like those scummy people who ask for money in advance!”

And it sounds good. And because it sounds good this message has helped the publishing industry convince the average wannabe author that anything other than publishing with a pay-you-later publisher is a scam or — and here it gets a little ugly — an admission that the author is a vain, talentless failure.

The original spirit of Yog’s Law — the laudable let’s-keep-naive-writers-from-getting-screwed message — was hijacked so that the flow of money to other publishing sources could be kept in check, while the herd of new writers arriving in the marketplace each year could be marshaled into publishing-industry stock yards, poked and prodded for good marbling, graded, slaughtered, shipped and stocked for the convenience of the book-loving consumer.

This is what you do if there are limited resources available to your business. You try to destroy the competition and lock up those resources. Until recently, writers were the publishing industry’s only resource. Today, writers are the publishing industry’s resource and the publishing industry’s competition and the publishing industry’s new and rapidly-growing market for publishing services. (Think about that for a minute.)

It is in this context of industry propaganda that Yog’s Law breaks down. First, there’s a demonstrable need for publishing services outside of the publishing industry gates. If you have a book of family recipes, or a family history that you want to bind, or any of a thousand other works that you intend neither to sell yourself nor pitch to a publisher (meaning a publisher who doesn’t ask for money up front) you need to find someone who can make a book for you, in the same way that you might need to find someone who can hem curtains or put a patio in your backyard. And there’s nothing remotely fraudulent about anyone offering these services. (I’ll get to the fraud part in a moment.)

Second, the idea that money flowing to an author means the author isn’t being taken to the cleaners is a joke on the face of it, and only gets worse the closer you look. Think about any music-industry horror story you’ve ever heard, where musicians are cheated out of money by their own music label, and chances are that story will involve money that was flowing to the musicians. Band X doesn’t get ripped off because they paid $20,000 up front and got left in the lurch, they get ripped off because they signed a contract with a publisher that legally allowed the publisher to rip them off day and night, week after week, year after year — in some cases forcing the band to also produce new music under penalty of legal action, including loss of copyright, if the band ever had copyright to their own music in the first place.

The Money-Flow Lie
Imagine for a moment that you’re an unknown author. You sign with a publisher and your book goes to #1 forever. It never comes down. You have written a book as good as a book can be written, and everybody admits it. In less than a year your book is the only book on the bestseller list because every other writer quits the business.

Now imagine that your contract, the one you signed with the we-don’t-charge-you-up-front publisher, gives you one penny on every book sold. You had to take that contract because it’s all the publisher was willing to offer, you had six kids to feed, and you lived in an upside-down abandoned sailboat in the slimy backwaters of Chesapeake Bay. Despite the fact that you’re talented beyond measure and that money is now flowing like the Mississippi, at one penny per book your ten-million-selling blockbuster has netted you the grand total of $100,000 before taxes, agent fees, etc. When it’s all over you’ll be lucky to clear $40,000.

I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking any author who signs a deal like that is an idiot. And I don’t disagree. But notice what’s happening now. Now we’re saying that an author needs to be on guard not just against publishers who ask for money up front, but publishers who only flow money to the author. It’s not simply the case that money flow predicts or precludes abuses, as the music-industry analogy showed. And if that’s the case — if money flowing in either direction can still be fleeced from writers — what’s the ultimate utility of Yog’s Law?

Or maybe what you’re thinking is that the penny-a-copy royalty example is too unrealistic. And you’re right. I should have made it a little more realistic, so we could get bogged down in arguable concrete details instead of recognizing the blindingly obvious fact that authors can easily be taken by publishers who do not ask for money up front.

Do we really have to have a conversation about all the ways a publisher might rip off a writer? Do we need to get into the reserves-against-returns issue? Do we need to talk about publishers holding authors’ rights even after they’ve stopped exploiting those rights? What about phantom charges deducted from a book’s costs? Is there anyone on the face of the earth who really believes that a publisher cannot screw a writer just as effectively — and perhaps even for a greater total amount over the life of a contract — as a vanity publisher?

Then again, maybe what you’re thinking is that no writer would ever be caught in a contract like that if they had a good agent, and I agree. But now we’re falling so far back from our original assertion we’re assuming it’s agents who will ultimately protect writers from any publishing nightmares. While that’s certainly an agent’s job, this assumption destroys Yog’s Law completely.

The New Money Flow
The abuse of writers by con-artist agents easily rivals the abuse of writers by publishers of any stripe. To help protect naive writers, reputable agents such as Richard Curtis put the AAR together, authors’ groups like the MWA and SFWA support sites like Writer Beware, and sites like Preditors and Editors post updated information about who’s being naughty and nice to writers.

But if writers need agents to protect them from bad publishing deals of any kind, and if the process of finding a good agent is as fraught with risk as the process of finding a good publisher, then writers today aren’t facing any unique threats. In fact, the only thing that’s changing is that the stigma of self-publishing is dying at exactly the same time that the pay-you-later publishing industry has discovered there may be considerable profit in the self-publishing space.

Apart from any stupefaction at this amazing coincidence, the net effect on writers is trivial. Instead of buying into Yog’s Law and trusting pay-you-later publishers who may bleed writers through bookkeeping scams, writers now have to use the same savvy and suspicion necessary for surviving the agent-hiring phase of their careers in the dealings they have with publishers or publishing-service providers.

Which brings me to what might be called the New Yog’s Law, with apologies to Mr. Macdonald:

Money can flow in any direction you want, but it’s your job to know where every penny goes and what you’re getting for those pennies.

If you’re a writer you have to do more and know more about your own business than ever before. You have to be good at watching your pennies, good at making deals, and good at judging the character of the people you do business with. You’re also going to need good advisers, good publishing contacts and good support groups to deal with the unending parade of offers, scams, services and cutting-edge technological developments that will appear and disappear in the next decade.

The New Publishing Metric
The good news is that content distribution isn’t the only thing the publishing industry no longer has a monopoly on. The other cornerstone of traditional publishing success has been proprietary information about the industry itself, including in particular all those legendary bookkeeping tricks of the trade.

If writers are completely on their own now, and they are (and for my money always were) then it’s up to each individual writer to make sure they take care of business. But unlike days of yore, writers can now communicate in real time about what’s happening to them. And unlike, say, musicians, writers are experts at using the tools of their craft to analyze and articulate messages. In fact, in perhaps no other industry are the rank and file as smart and skilled as management at using message and language to achieve their own ends.

Just as writers currently have resources to help them decide which agents are reputable, writers can pool knowledge and experience in order to determine which publishers and publishing-service providers are reputable. Which brings us back to the Harlequin Horizons debacle, and the reason why every publisher in the world should be scared. Ten years ago, maybe even five, Harlequin would have been able to act with impunity. Now, today, it took only a day or two before the combined response of several writers’ organization forced Harlequin to change their plans.

Why did writers react so strongly and effectively? I see two big reasons that galvanized authors to action in a way that caught Harlequin flat footed.

First, Harlequin did exactly what the publishing industry has been warning authors about for years. They held out the possibility of a potential Harlequin publishing deal as a means of seducing authors into paying money up front. That’s the fraudulent stain I mentioned earlier, and one this is often used by shady vanity publishers. Rather than offer a suite of defined publishing services for various rates, such predators imply that something wonderful and magical will happen if only an author is willing to invest in themselves by throwing ten grand (or another ten grand) at perfecting their text. This opens the door to all kinds of abuses, including selling the author on high-dollar editorial services that can easily be faked.

Second, after decades in which the industry told published writers that the pay-you-later model was the one true way to define success, a publisher with the recognizable and respected brand name of Harlequin changed its tune when it realized this industry propaganda was getting in the way of profits. Unfortunately, writers who had come to believe that professional success was defined by being published didn’t take kindly to that change of heart. And I don’t blame them.

Implicit in all this, of course, is the internet, which provided the means for the instant analysis and information sharing that galvanized authors to quick action. Again, the internet is not simply a new avenue of distribution that allows authors to move past traditional publishing-industry gatekeepers, it’s a critical information pipeline that functions in the same way. Because writers have access to shared real-time information, controlling messages in the way that the publishing industry has long been accustomed to becomes almost impossible.

In the end, Harlequin’s crime wasn’t that they tried to move to a new business model. Harlequin’s crime was that they hypocritically betrayed a whole generation of professional writers just to make a buck. Meaning the same buck that slick vanity and subsidy publishers have been trying to make all along. Once again, this pretty much puts to rest the idea that publishers love and revere writers.

As Harlequin found out, the internet puts a premium on trust. Those publishers and publishing-service providers who prosper going forward will treat trust as a critical metric in their dealings with authors. They will do this by providing honest services at a fair price, and by letting competition determine the winners. Everyone else will eventually fail.

 

This is a cross-posting from Mark Barrett’s Ditchwalk site.

Interview With Association of Independent Authors Founder Leigh Cunningham

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The AIA is an organization recently founded for the benefit of indie (self-published) authors. To find out what this new group is all about, and what it has to offer indie authors, Publetariat interviewed AIA founder Leigh Cunningham.

1. What is the AIA?
 
The Association of Independent Authors is a not-for-profit organization representing and advancing the interests of independent authors. Our vision is that independent publishing will be the preferred, first choice for all authors.

2. How is the AIA different from the Independent Book Publishers Association and the (mainstream) Author’s Guild?
 
The IBPA is a trade association of independent publishers. Its mission is to advance the professional interests of independent publishers.
 
The Author’s Guild is restricted to authors published by an "established American publisher." Self-published works and works published by subsidy presses do not qualify an author for membership of Author’s Guild.
 
The Society of Authors in the UK only recently amended its eligibility criteria to allow for self-published authors, but entry is subject to sales results, which is not the case for authors published through an established publisher.
 
The AiA in contrast has a singular focus on independent authors. Every resource in our community is relevant to authors who publish their own work, either in their own name or under their own imprint.
 
 
3. What are the benefits of membership in the AIA?
 
There are hundreds of thousands of independent authors, all doing the same thing, individually. A key function of the AiA is to facilitate the sharing of information and resources so that members can avoid the mistakes made by others. Since authors generally have limited budgets, our members can direct those funds to opportunities that will generate the desired outcome whether it is sales or publicity.
 
Another priority of the AiA is to improve the quality of self-published works. Our members are serious about ongoing improvement as a writer, and development as a business professional. We offer genuine, honest feedback on writing, cover and interior design, and market strategies, in a supportive community environment.
 
Members also receive discounts on an array of services relevant to independent authors including marketing, PR, video book trailers, magazines and courses.
 
 
4. Must a writer have self-published in order to join?
 
We have two levels of membership. An Associate is someone who is in the process of arranging the publication of their own work, or one who plans to publish their own work upon completion of that work. A Member is someone who has arranged the publication of their own work either under their own name or under their own imprint.
 
Unpublished authors (Associate members) require different services, information and resources to published authors who are looking to distribute, promote and sell their work. This differentiation allows us to tailor services to each member type. It also means members can communicate directly with others who are in the same part of the writing or publishing process.
 
5. Many mainstream-published authors are now going "indie" by self-publishing works for which the rights have reverted to them, or for works not yet signed over to a publisher, yet still have mainstream books in print. Will these authors be able to join the AIA?
 
Absolutely! We would love to have them along as they epitomize the vision of the AiA, like self-published poet, Chrissie Gittins. Having had success with her first two collections under her own imprint, Chrissie decided to self-publish the third collection because the contract terms offered by publishers did not compare to the rewards and benefits of self-publishing. Opportunities previously beyond the reach of self-published authors, for example global distribution channels, are now accessible, and of course, e-books break down all barriers. We expect therefore, that more and more authors will choose the independent path.
 
 
6. Will the AIA be taking public positions on issues that affect its membership (e.g., DRM, Text-To-Speech on Kindle books, etc.), and if so, will members have input to those positions?
 
We will definitely take public positions on issues affecting our members, for example, we support Amazon’s position regarding the price of e-books. We support the moves by publishing houses to establish self-publishing entities. The term "vanity publishing" has no relevance today – it is a business model that responds to the changes that technology has brought to the publishing industry. Publishing houses are already moving away from offering author advances. It’s only a small step from this to asking authors to invest in the success of their own work.
 
Our members will always have an opportunity to comment on issues affecting them, which is why the AiA community revolves around our forums, groups and community blogs.
 
 
7. What does it cost to join the AIA, and are there any other specific requirements for membership?
 
During the month of February, our inaugural month, the AiA is offering complimentary first year membership. Registrants can use promo code " COMP " to take advantage of this offer.

The regular, annual subscription rate is USD50 for Associates and Members, and there are no application fees. Membership is open to any author who has, or who is planning to publish his or her own work. Our annual subscription compares favorably with similar trade organizations, for example, Author’s Guild is USD90 and IBPA is USD175. The Society of Authors in the UK is GBP90 per annum (USD140)
 
We also have Consultant members, and following a request from a bookseller, have added a new category for Booksellers. Consultant members offer valuable information and resources to our members, which is posted in their Group forums and blogs. We plan to work closely with bookseller members to help them with the issues they are facing as much as they might offer opportunities for our individual members.
 
 
8. What does the AIA have planned for its inaugural conference in 2012?
 
The conference will address issues specific to independent authors. We will focus on the business side of writing as our members, as independent authors, effectively run their own businesses. This stream will include topics related to marketing, PR, sales, distribution, finance, etc. Additionally, as one of our goals is to improve the overall quality of self-published works, there will be streams for the technical aspects of writing and book design.
 
There is a detailed online survey on our website for members to complete, the responses to which will guide us in identifying the west-coast destination, the program, and speakers for the conference.
 
 
9. Where can Publetariat’s audience go to learn more about the AIA?
 
Our web site at http://www.independent-authors.org/ or they can contact us directly at info@independent-authors.org

pictureLeigh Cunningham is a lawyer by profession, but most of her career has been spent as a senior executive for two membership organizations. She also worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers as Director, Operations & Finance, Asia.

In addition to her law degree, completed with honors, she has three masters degrees: an MBA (International Management), Master of Commerce (e-commerce major) and a Master of International Trade and Investment Law. 
 
Leigh sees the AIA as a merger of her past professional career and her new career as an independent author. She hopes to use her business background and education to help other independent authors improve their capabilities as businesspeople, and to use her experiences as a self-published author to guide and strengthen the publishing plans of others.

 

Interview With Read An Ebook Week Founder Rita Toews

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Read an Ebook Week is coming, March 7-13, and it has a lot to offer indie authors, small imprints and readers alike. Herewith, we present an interview with event founder Rita Toews.

1) What is Read An E-book Week, and what was its genesis?
 
Read an E-Book Week is an event to educate the public about electronic reading, and to promote the individuals and entities involved in all aspects of the experience – from the authors who create the books to the technology in the e-readers.

 
In 2003 I was looking for a way to unite e-book authors under a banner that would help them promote their e-books. I registered Read an E-Book Week with Chase’s Calendar of Events and encouraged authors to use the week to educate the public about e-books in general – thereby creating a market for their own e-books. Authors were encouraged to: approach publicity venues and offer to be interviewed, set up displays in libraries, offer to do readings in schools, and to generally spread the word.
 
2) How many years has this event been running? 
 
This will be the eighth year for Read an E-Book Week. The first few years were very low-key as I figured out what worked and what didn’t. The last few years were very successful.
 
3) Do you feel Read An E-book Week has been effective in raising awareness of, and interest in, ebooks? 
 
I think so. People have to hear about a new idea three times before it even registers in his or her mind. When something like a new way of reading books comes along the initial reaction is "There’s nothing wrong with the old way." So on top of having to introduce the idea, e-book authors had to break down the scepticism and barriers to electronic books in people’s minds. I think we’ve done a pretty good job. 
 
4) How can authors and small imprints partner with Read An Ebook Week to help promote their books while promoting the event? 
 
It’s very easy to partner with Read an E-Book Week. The website is a clearing house of events happening during the week. To partner, an author or publisher just has to offer a free e-book on their website, and host a banner linked back to the Read an E-Book website. We in turn will list the partner on the REBW website with a link back to the author or publisher. Anyone visiting our website can explore the participating partners list and visit those that catch their eye. Last year some partners reported 4,000 visits during the week.  
 
5) The upcoming Apple iPad has been rumored for many months to be a possible Kindle killer. Do you feel the ebook market needs an "iPod for ebooks" to truly break through to a level of market acceptance competitive with print, or are the challenges not specific to a device/platform? 

 
I don’t think the challenges are specific to a device/platform. In 2003 e-book fans wanted a device that was affordable and would allow them to read e-books comfortably. Now there are so many ways to read e-books that one device isn’t going to dominate the market. Actually, the most popular way to read e-books is on a mobile phone. A phone serves more than one function, is easily carried, and is a device that many people have with them all the time. It’s there when a person, even one who may not be a regular reader, has some spare time and decides to read. 
 
A dedicated e-book reading device such as a Sony or Kindle is something that a person has to make a conscious decision to have at hand when they want to read. It’s a device an avid reader would use – out at an appointment, or on vacation.
 
What is an iPad? Is it a small computer? An e-book reader? It’s too big to slip into a pocket or purse. It’s too expensive to forget at the Doctor’s office, so it will probably be used at home or in the office. This may be a product with an identity crisis. 
 
At this point, I think the challenges for e-books to break through to a level of market acceptance competitive with print are related to price, not device.  
 
6) Mainstream authors such as Martin Amis, Ian McEwan and Stephen R. Covey are signing Kindle book deals directly with Amazon or go-betweens such as Rosetta Stone, cutting their print publishers completely out of the equation. Do you think this is the beginning of a bona fide trend, and if so, what are the larger implications for the trade publishing industry?
 
I really feel the interest in e-book by mainstream authors is the beginning of a trend. Publishers have resisted e-books for many years, fearing the new format would cut into their profits. Authors on the other hand are looking for profits, which are hard to come by in the traditional publishing formula. To them, e-books are a way to increase their profits. If traditional publishers continue to dig their heels in about e-books more authors are going to claim the e-rights to manuscripts and sign their own deals, cutting the publisher out of the equation.
 
7) Where do you stand on the $9.99 ebook question? Can publisher moves toward higher pricing succeed in making the $9.99 price point a memory, or will their strategy backfire?
 
$9.99 for an e-book is a high price. When a reader looks at $15.00 and more they will go elsewhere – perhaps to the independents. If a reader wants a specific book they may wait until it’s being cleared out. I’ve seen popular paperbacks at discount stores for less than $10.00. 
 
8) There are strong differences of opinion about the future of print and electronic books. Some predict e will inevitably overtake print, as CD has overtaken vinyl, to the point where print books will become the province of purists and collectors only. Others think print is here to stay and e will never become a very significant factor in trade publishing. Still others foresee a world in which the two format types will co-exist and serve different needs or audiences. What is your opinion?
 
In my opinion, the two will co-exist. There is a place for print and a place for electronic. Infant’s books are definitely a place for print, as are art books and reprints of classics. Electronic works well for travelers who would bring a lot of books with them, as well as for fiction that is popular at the time but will not become a classic. Anything that changes constantly is also well-suited for e-books.  
 
9) Along those same lines, some industry watchers theorize that the ebook is now in its infancy, and the current, predominant model of static text ebooks is just a phase to be superseded by a totally new model of enhanced ebooks and ebook "apps". Many ebook consumers say they would prefer not to have the distractions of embedded links and videos, yet enhancing ebooks may be the only way for publishers to justify higher pricing for them. How do you predict things will shake out in this area?
 
This makes me wonder what the monks, who hand-lettered and gilded each page of their lovely books, thought of books produced on a Gutenberg printing press. Change is hard. Is a book with links and videos a book at all or a form of entertainment?
 
Images and a few links would not be a distraction to me. After all, images in printed books add to the reading experience. When it comes to video and audio embedded in a book — that stretches the definition of a book a bit too much for me. 
 
Publishers may say they need to include the "add-ons" to justify the higher prices for e-books but that may not be so. It does cost a lot to produce a good quality e-book. The vetting of the manuscript, editing, formatting, advertising – each step costs the same whether the final product is in print or electronic. The cost of the paper, shipping and storage are saved when producing the electronic copy. It’s estimated those costs are about 12.5 percent of the average hardcover retail list price. That’s not a large figure. 
 
But there’s another way to look at e-book pricing. Do the people who buy e-books buy the expensive print books? E-books may reach an audience that print books don’t — meaning that each e-book sold is an added sale to the publisher. A sale they wouldn’t have had if the book were produced only in print.  
  
 
10) What do you say to the author or small imprint who/which has elected not to release books in electronic format due to an assumption that e is too small a piece of the market to matter? To the author/imprint who/which is holding back on e and waiting for the dust to settle on pricing, DRM and related issues? 

I say they are missing out on sales and the e-book reader’s goodwill. For any business to succeed they have to give their customer what they want. If one business doesn’t, the customer will go to the business that does.

 
11) Where can Publetariat’s audience learn more about Read An Ebook Week, and can you offer links to any general online resources for good, up to date information about what’s happening with ebooks and related technology?
 
Read an E-Book Week is located on the web at www.ebookweek.com The website has a host of information about reading and publishing e-books, as well as information on various e-book reading devices. Readers should also visit the Supporters page and the E-book Store page for a fantastic choice of free e-books during Read an E-Book Week.
 
There are a number of current on-line resource sites on the web. I would highly recommend Teleread and Mobileread.  The mobileread forums are really informative.

 

[Publetariat Editor’s Note: once again, Smashwords will be sponsoring Read An Ebook Week, with special discounts on Smashwords titles. Indie authors with books listed on Smashwords can learn more about how to participate here.]

Authors Can Be Stupid: A Brief Note on Self-publishing

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This post was written by Michael A. Stackpole. It originally appeared on his Stormwolf website on 2/8/10, is reprinted here in its entirety with his permission, and is the seventh installment in his series on common myths and distractions in authorship and publishing. The first installment is here, the second is here, the third is here, the fourth is here, the fifth is here and the sixth is here. 

It strikes me that in long essays, certain facts get lost. I wish to break them out here.

1) The purpose of writing for commercial distribution (electronic or print) is to make a profit. This means you have more money coming to you than you have flowing away from you. As with any business, you may have some start-up costs. Create a budget. Set aside an amount of money which you do not need, and use that for your business. Create a business plan, analyze the avenues for generating income. Hit those which have minimal costs and higher payoffs first, and work your way down. If ever you tell yourself, “Well, this won’t cost me that much,” stop. Do not do that thing. Once you start making rationalizations like that, you are being foolish.

Once you are foolish, you will soon be penniless.

2) My support for self-publishing in these discussions has been for digital publishing and digital publishing alone. It is true that I have mentioned services like Blurb.com where one can do a limited run (10 or less) copies of a book. I have used Blurb.com and the like for extremely short runs of books which I can bring to signings. This is so I have an inexpensive item for people to buy when they come up to the table and say, “I don’t have anything for you to sign.” I am fairly confident I can move ten copies of such books over a convention season, so I’ll be making a profit (see point 1). Never print more books than you have pre-sold. Volume discounts for printing don’t mean anything when the excess inventory is sitting in your garage.

3) I do not believe that even digital self-publishing is easy. I believe it is simple, and there is a world of difference between those two things. Establishing your own business is hard work. If you don’t put that work in, you will not reap the benefits of your business, pure and simple. To me, spending twenty hours scanning and preparing a novel for ebook publishing is “negligible,” because it’s only an expenditure of time. In my opinion, time is cheap compared to the money that will be returned by that effort. But then, I don’t own a television, so I may have a bit more time on my hands than others. Everyone will decide whether or not they will spend the time to enter the digital marketplace. I tend to think the cost of not entering is the greatest of all, but I expect others will disagree with me.

4) Publishing in the digital age is about more than files, formats, devices, DRM and shopping-cart software. It is about using new media for locating, building and sustaining an audience. In business, companies gear their publicity expenditures to accomplish one of three things: Customer acquisition, customer retention, and customer re-acquisition. Everything you do when it comes to new media should fulfill one or more of those criteria. All three would be nice.

I heartily recommend the book Crush It! by Gary Vanyerchuk for his discussions of using new media to find and build your audience and brand.

5) There is no get-rich-quick-scheme. You will be working your tail off. (This is the reason most of us get those chairs with the pneumatic lifts in them. As our butts get smaller, we have to raise the seat.) While doing the marketing and file prep and website coding may be tough, it won’t be nearly as tough as the writing itself. But once you’ve done the difficult work, you owe it to yourself and your work to get it out to your audience in a manner that lets them support you in your efforts.

6) Established authors do not have a leg up on new authors in this digital world. My previous post on The Myth of the Established Author makes my feelings very clear on this point. Those who would dismiss everything I’m saying because I have been previously published would do well to read that essay. They might also want to consider the following: it may not be the fact that I’ve got a following that allows me to be successful in the digital age, but that my experience in the pre-digital age is what allows me to see the ways to profit in the post-paper era.

7) One last point, which goes back to the first: money flows to the author, not from the author. Whenever anyone offers you a deal, ask yourself, “What’s in it for me?” If you can’t see a return in one or more areas as affects your career, it’s probably not a deal that works in your favor. People get taken by all sorts of scams simply because the scammer offers you an opportunity that is too good to pass up. One such is publishing a novel which, deep down in your heart, you know is not of professional quality. It might be close, but it isn’t there yet. Don’t let your desire to be published prompt you to open your wallet and give money to someone who promises you the moon, but can’t even deliver a moon-pie.

Whatever you do, do not trick yourself or allow others to trick you into believing that self-publishing—especially of print books in any quantity beyond a dozen copies—is the way to make you the next J. K. Rowling. Writing is not easy. Getting good at it takes years of hard work. Do the work. Do it on the writing. Do it on the business side, and the promotions side. Learn as much as you can and then, and only then, can you make the correct decisions about when and where to invest your time and (extremely reluctantly and penuriously) a tiny sum of money.

Learn from the mistakes of others. A garage full of books will not pay your mortgage. A solid, profitable business will.

 

©2010 Michael A. Stackpole

Michael A. Stackpole is a New York times Bestselling author with over forty novels published including I, Jedi and Rogue Squadron. He was the first author to have work available in Apple’s Appstore. He has lectured extensively on writing careers in the Post-paper Era and is working on strategies for authors to profit during the trying time of transition.

 

Avast Ye Lubbers, And Hear Ye Me Pirate Tale of Two Clicks!

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Over the weekend, a certain woman who shall remain semi-nameless—I’ll call her May—was confronted with the choice between committing piracy and…well, going without. While her story centers on a couple of music files, the larger issues it raises are equally applicable to ebooks. So hang in there, this really does have some bearing on matters of authorship and publishing.

May has been waiting for two specific, favorite old music tracks to become available for sale in digital format for many years. Both songs are from British artists, and the albums on which the tracks were originally included have been out of production for years. Kind of like a book the publisher has allowed to go out of print.

May started by checking iTunes, Amazon’s mp3 store, eMusic, and every other legitimate digital music vendor site she knows of to see if the tracks were available for sale. They weren’t, so she used each site’s contact form to request them. Months and years passed, and the tracks remained unavailable on vendor sites.

So she did periodic internet searches, just in case some new vendor might show up with the tracks on offer. She also checked the artists’ websites for any updated information from time to time. Every time she did these things, she’d spend half an hour or more on the necessary research; she really wanted those tracks, and she wanted to get them legitimately. And every time, she’d come up empty-handed. Except for the many links to pirated mp3s of the files she wanted, of course.

Those links were always there, right at the top of any search results, putting the tracks tantalizingly close. And sometimes, she’d follow one of those links to see if the tracks were really there, in their entirety, and in a high-quality file. They were. And on most of the web pages she found, the tracks were downloadable with a simple right-click/Download As command combo. No need to be a semi-hacker, or subscribe to a bit torrent service, or sign herself up for a file sharing network. Just two mouseclicks, and she’d have those songs she’s wanted so badly for so long. But every time she went on this reconnaissance mission, she’d resist the temptation of those two mouseclicks. Until this past weekend, that is.

This past weekend, she decided she was finished wasting her time and energy on the search. In frustration, she joined the ranks of the many consumers who eventually come to feel it’s the publisher’s or producer’s own fault if she downloads pirated copies, because they failed to offer her a reasonable, legal alternative.

She might’ve gone to a reseller site, like eBay, to purchase the CDs upon which the desired tracks originally appeared, this is true. But is it reasonable to expect her to spend somewhere around $10 each for the CDs, plus shipping costs, when she only wanted one track off of each? And while it may be a simple case of guilty rationalization, was she wrong to conclude that since purchasing a used copy would not benefit the artists or producers of the tracks, doing so was no better for the artists and producers than downloading pirated copies?

Now, imagine if May had been on the hunt for an ebook instead of these two music tracks. Imagine further that the book in question is out of print—though not yet in the public domain—, and neither the publisher nor the author has elected to make it available in electronic formats. May could purchase a used copy of the book from any of a number of resellers, but this won’t put any additional royalties in the author’s pocket, or send any money the publisher’s way. And May really prefers ebooks to hard copy books; she’s bought a Kindle or Sony Reader, and intends to make the most of her investment by limiting her book purchases to e whenever possible. If you were in May’s place and found yourself two clicks away from obtaining the desired book in e format, what reason would you have to resist those two clicks? What reason has the publisher or author (in a case where rights have reverted) given you to resist those two clicks?

Taking this a step further, let’s imagine the book in question is still in print, but only in a hardcover edition. May faces the choice between paying $25-30 for a ‘dead trees’ version, or two mouse clicks to get the book in the format she wants for free. May doesn’t want to cheat the publisher or author out of their due, but she can’t afford to spend that much money on a book. So she simply crosses that book off her wishlist, and while she has every intention of keeping an eye out for an electronic edition, life goes on and in a matter of days she’s forgotten all about the book. In the end, she never buys a copy at all.

In yet another scenario, imagine the ebook is made available, but only at a pricetag of $14.99, and with DRM that will prevent May from moving the ebook among her various devices. Furthermore, if May “purchases” the $14.99 ebook, she won’t really own a copy of the book at all. She’ll own a limited license to view the book’s content on one specific device, only in the format specified by the publisher, and that license is subject to recall under numerous circumstances. If the publisher becomes aware of any copyright irregularities, or if May gets into a dispute with the ebook vendor site on an unrelated matter, for example. Alternatively, she can buy the paperback for $13.99 and have a physical copy that she keeps in perpetuity, or can lend to others, or resell when she’s finished with it.

Or she can click her mouse two times and get the ecopy she wants, with DRM stripped, for free. Could you blame her for feeling the publishers’ excessive pricing and limitations on the ebook edition justify a decision to go the two-clicks route?

Observe and learn: this is how well-meaning, otherwise honest consumers are lured—some might say pushed—into piracy. Most consumers want to do the right thing. They want authors to be rewarded for their hard work. They want publishers to earn a fair profit on their products. But they also want reasonable prices, and the same flexibility and functionality they’d get with a hard copy book.

Publishers and authors who think raising the prices and restrictions on ebooks will work because readers will have no other choice are forgetting about those two mouseclicks. And the many justifications they’re giving consumers for making those two mouseclicks.

No publisher or author would have much to worry about with respect to ebook piracy if they would just give readers what they want, within reason. The criminal element that cares nothing for compensating content creators is a small group that will always find a way to steal content no matter what you do. But that group’s ranks are being joined by guilty, reluctant ‘pirates’ every day. This new type of pirate isn’t out to hurt authors, and in fact would probably be very happy to “pay” a reasonable price for pirated copies through the use of a donation button on authors’ websites. But of course, this would still be illegal and would likely put the author in hot water with his or her publisher.

Publishers: other than complaining about how wrong and unfair it is, what are you doing to address this situation? To make a legitimate, legal option both available, and more attractive, to consumers than a free ebook that’s just two clicks away? Because at the point where your choices with respect to ebook pricing and restrictions look more unethical to the consumer than their own choice to download a free, pirated copy does, you’ve lost the sale.

And Authors: if the only thing standing between you and giving your readers what they want is a publisher, have you considered the possibility of retaining your e-rights and releasing ebook editions of your work yourself? I’ve provided a free guide for publishing to the Kindle on my website, and there are many for-hire services that can do it for you. This is impossible for works already under contract, but is it a move that might make a whole lot of sense for your unpublished works, or works for which rights have reverted back to you?

April L. Hamilton is the founder and Editor in Chief of Publetariat. This is a cross-posting from her Indie Author blog.

Authors Can Be Stupid: The Myth of Multiple Sales

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This post was written by Michael A. Stackpole. It originally appeared on his Stormwolf website on 2/3/10, is reprinted here in its entirety with his permission, and is the first in a series we’ll be reprinting in the coming days.

I’m not going to name any names, but as we move into the digital era, there is a spurious argument that gets brought up from time to time by authors who really ought to know better. It pretty much points out that a) most of us are not good dollars & cents kinds of folks and b) why publishers have been able to convince a lot of authors that the digital age will be an apocalypse that will destroy them and their standard of living.

The discussion centers around epub, the ebook format that all major readers, including the forthcoming iPad, use (the exception being the Kindle). Supporters of epub and publishing in it maintain that if they buy a book once, they should be allowed to transfer it onto any new devices they get. So, a story purchased now, will still be readable on a device manufactured twenty years from now, assuming epub survives that long.

A number of authors have stood up and announced that having an eternal format is a bad thing. Their rationale runs like this: if a reader buys a physical book he loves so much that he reads it until it falls apart, and buys another, they get paid again. With epub books, it’s buy once and never have to rebuy. Therefore, epub sales are going to cut into their income. And they get lots of other authors nodding in agreement.

So let’s break this little myth down.

1) While some authors do have books that does get read so many times that they fall apart, this is not a common phenomenon. We’d all love to think it is, and we cherish readers who tell us they had to buy another copy of a book because they read the previous to death, but the ratio of repurchase to one-shot readings is pretty darned low as nearly as I can tell.

2) A repurchased book, right now, nets the author 10% of the cover price. Let’s say that’s 80 cents on an $8.00 paperback.

3) Under the current agency model, that same $8 epub book will net the author $5.60. (And even with the publishers taking half the electronic money if they’re selling the book, It’s still $2.80 due the author.)

4) Now, since I wasn’t a math major, someone might want to check my ciphering here, but it looks like the purchase of any epub would cover 3.5 to 7 purchases of a physical book. So epub and digital publication, even though it’s only going to be a one-shot, will make the author substantially more money unless this author is someone who, with everything he turns out, has people buying four or more copies of each book. (Doesn’t happen, unless you have a PAC that purchases your books in bulk for contributors.)

Some folks, who want to get absurd, could point out that if we forced repurchase of ebooks (through proprietary software choices and device-linked DRM) we could make that huge cut each time an ebook is bought. But this is assuming your book is worth repurchasing. Since most books are read-once and shelved, loaned, discarded or resold, this just isn’t a realistic argument by any stretch of the imagination.

Authors can, when hoping they have a winning lottery ticket, miss the fact that there’s plenty of money right at their feet. They’d do better to scoop it up steadily, than waiting for that jackpot that just ain’t going to come their way.

©2010 Michael A. Stackpole 

Michael A. Stackpole is a New York times Bestselling author with over forty novels published including I, Jedi and rogue Squadron. He was the first author to have work available in Apple’s Appstore. He has lectured extensively on writing careers in the Post-paper Era and is working on strategies for authors to profit during the trying time of transition.

Character Developing Thoughts (Fictional Characters, That Is)

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The Helpfulness of a Data Base Bible

Previously, there have been comments and discussions here about the importance of characters to the story. They are intrinsically linked. Humans are interested in stories that include other humans (sci-fi excepted). A good story should have interesting, believable characters. So how do you make them that way?

My very good friend, Jacqueline Simonds of Beagle Bay Books, put a name to a convenient data base practice I use by calling it a “Bible.” As a story line begins to form in my mind, I begin to imagine the types of people who have parts to play in the story. I assign roles to them and start thinking up names. As I do this, I use a simple Works data base to begin keeping their aspects straight in my mind. There is no hard and fast requirement for that data base’s structure; however, you might want to include some of the following:

  • Roles
  • Names and nick names
  • Relationships to others
  • Sex (both actual and balance of attributes)
  • Age
  • Hair, skin, eyes, tattoos, scars, etc
  • Height
  • Build
  • Fitness
  • Education and training levels
  • Vocal aspects (accents, region, tone, pitch, quirky ways of talking, etc)
  • Personality
  • Social ability
  • Special Skills
  • Noticeable and hidden strengths
  • Noticeable and hidden weaknesses
  • Handicaps
  • Motivations (why the person does or doesn’t do certain things)
  • Thinking quirks
  • Moral strengths and weaknesses, religion, or the lack thereof, mentors, and centers of influence
  • Habits
  • A possible short resume if applicable
  • Comments about where he or she fits in the plot line

No, you don’t have to use all of these, or you can also include other factors if needed. Remember, this is a working aid to help you, the author. Such a Bible can help your characters come alive for you and your readers. You don’t have to use all the stuff you write down and not all characters are equally important. You may want to include a lot of detail for your major characters, perhaps less detail for characters who make only short appearances in the story, and practically no detail for very minor characters

Names

Try to be realistic. Don’t be too cutesy with names such as Dudley Doright. Try to be accurate as to regions, nationalities, and ethnicities. I have had to include folks from various Middle Eastern countries, India, Pakistan, and China. To help me find appropriate names for these characters, I went to Wikipedia articles specifically on names and how and why they are formed in these specific cultures. I also Googled typical male and female baby name lists by culture.

Names can become very Freudian. Jacqueline Simonds content edited my first two mysteries. (She’s very good, by the way and I highly recommend her at http://www.beaglebay.com/contact.html ) She pointed out that every significant female character in the male protagonist’s family and close relationships had been given a name beginning with the letter “S.” After all that writing and rereading, I had never noticed it. It was an easy fix with global find and replace tools, but it was also unsettling to have it brought to my clueless attention.

Balance in All Things

Be very careful here. It simply isn’t realistic for a character to be all good or all bad. That is such a temptation, especially with the villains, but, people are more complex than that. In fact, when comparing a protagonist (hero) with an antagonist (villain) you may discover how much they have in common. What sets them apart in their respective roles are the choices they make and the actions they take. “There but for ___would go I.” These are the details that make a story so interesting. Getting down to the motivations of those light or dark sides makes for keen psychological studies.

Flexibility of Characters

Finally (no, there is no room here for a be all, end all treatise on this subject), are the degrees of flexibility in the main characters. The arc of the story is driven by what happens to and by characters and what they learn and how they change. Most readers are hoping to see characters that rise from the ashes of debacle, to overcome their weaknesses, their problems, and their challenges. No character should be perfect; however, characters that find the courage and wisdom to rise above adversity are preferred. I hate a story where nobody wins, all are destroyed, and nothing is learned except that life sucks. Sorry, that is neither entertaining nor uplifting to me. Of course, I’m just an old, set-in-my-ways man who knows what I like. And, well crafted characters I love.

This is a cross-posting from Bob Spear‘s Book Trends blog.

What You Steal

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The Premise
A month ago I engaged in an interesting conversation with Luke Bergeron on his blog, mispeled.net, about copyright law. My interest was prompted in large part by Luke’s incisive generational examination of the question of piracy.

Here’s how Luke initially framed the issue:

The real issue goes beyond digital piracy to copyright itself. Now, I don’t believe that digital file sharing, even of copyrighted materials, is theft. That’s probably a generational thing, but we’re gonna do our best to suss out as much meaning as possible. Keep in mind, this entry is a fluid conversation, so comment if you wanna participate.

So, theft seems to me like it is inherently defined by the taking of something from someone else, depriving them of it. Theft is a physical concept, based on a starvation economy, that there is a finite amount of resources to go around, and possessing resources means someone else will not possess them.

Last week I read a post on The Millions called Confessions of a Book Pirate. On the subject of piracy the confessor had this to say:

In truth, I think it is clear that morally, the act of pirating a product is, in fact, the moral equivalent of stealing… although that nagging question of what the person who has been stolen from is missing still lingers.

Two days ago I read a post from Marian Schembari on Digital Book World, called
A Gen Y Reaction to Macmillan’s Piracy Plan. In her comprehensive rant, Marian had this to say about piracy:

I’m not condoning piracy (sort of), but if major publishers are only going to look at the “legal” side of things and spend precious time and money fighting the inevitable, they are going to crash and burn.

I’m poor, I understand technology, and I guarantee I can find any book online, for free, in 10 minutes or less. You can delete and sue all you want, but at the end of the day the internet is a wide and limitless place, meaning it’s a waste of time, money and energy to fight it.

In response to Marian’s post, Debbie Stier of HarperStudio/HarperCollins wrote a post on her company blog, congratulating Marian for stating her overall case regarding Macmillan, and for giving insight into the Gen Y perspective.

Here’s the bottom line for me — whether you agree or not with Marian Schembari’s views on piracy, she has given us a glimpse into the psyche of a Gen Y reader. I appreciate her honesty. I believe this is a gift. I think we should listen.

I agree with Debbie. We should listen. But then we should reply.  

The Response
To do any less is to treat Marian and Gen Y and Luke and anyone else who shares their views about piracy and content theft with condescension. We don’t pat seasoned peers on the head for showing us that they can put sentences together. We read those sentences, unpack them, take them apart — even hack them to bloody pieces — to see if they hold up.

Debbie’s right that it took courage for Marian to express her opinion, but the fact that Marian can express an opinion is not what’s important. It’s the resulting process of engagement — the conversation that takes place following the assertion of that opinion — that matters. And here I mean to single out not Gen Y but Gen X and the Baby Boom generation. Replacing wisdom and knowledge with the measuring of intelligence and facts may facilitate competition, but we lose something in that egocentric trade. While it’s true that some lessons have to be learned by each individual in each generation, it’s not true of all lessons. More importantly, it’s not true of the process of critical thinking itself, where critical thought can compound over time to produce generational benefits. (See also: penicillin; democracy.)

I also don’t think anyone should capitulate to generational opinion simply because a certain percentage of any generation has its fingers in its ears. If that was the right course of action we’d still have segregation in this country. It’s true that a certain percentage of every generation really does want to steal simply for the sake of stealing, but that doesn’t mean we should throw Marian and Luke or anyone else out with the Gen Y bathwater. What we should do is engage in a conversation so we can pass on the benefit of whatever meager wisdom we’ve accrued, while also testing our own assumptions. What’s happening with digital content is new in a very real way, which means we all need to talk this through.

I’ve stated my views on the question of piracy and content theft here and here. I’ve made the case that stealing is stealing: if it’s not yours, and it’s not being given away free, and you end up with it, then you stole it — and that’s true whether it’s a physical object, a digital file, or an idea.

But I also understand that it’s hard to make this case to Gen Y when massive corporations like Google are attempting to steal copyright authority from millions of authors covered by existing law. If Google can simply make a deal with another group (the Authors Guild) which obligates all authors under copyright to opt out of that deal, why can’t Marian make a deal with Luke to borrow his entire CD collection — and implicitly require the recording artists to opt out by imposing effective DRM? More to the point, is Google actually stealing anything when they scan a book and make it available online? Shouldn’t we actually applaud Sergey Brin for preserving the cultural history of Earth from fire and flood?

And speaking of the Amazon/Macmillan knife fight this past weekend, wasn’t Amazon actually stealing control of Macmillan’s products by selling those products at a price lower than Macmillan wanted? And even if they were, wasn’t that good for consumers? Didn’t it make books cheap?

The Conversation
My point here is that making Marian and Luke and Gen Y feel great about themselves because they can walk and chew gum at the same time congratulates them for meeting an absurdly low bar. These are serious people expression serious ideas and opinions. What they want is to be taken seriously, and to demonstrate the ability to think things through, and we should want that for them as well.

Look again at the conversation I had with Luke on his site. Look at the seriousness with which he engaged on the issues. That’s somebody who wants to know, and that’s someone who should be part of this conversation because in ten years Luke may be writing the books our grandchildren read. Or he may be setting public policy. Or leading a fight against a critical erosion of civil rights.

Why should Boomers and Gen Xer’s take the time to do this? Well, if you’re a consumer or consumer advocate, you can help Marian and Luke see that there are useful arguments against DRM that do not excuse theft or piracy as a cultural or generational right. Likewise, if you’re in publishing you can help Marian and Luke see that even though someone like Cory Doctorow is passionate about anti-DRM politics, his reasoning is a fraud*.

All of which would mean we could get on with the more important matter of finding a workable solution to the problems of piracy and DRM, as well as address the massive generational transition that is currently clouding both of those issues. I want Marian and Luke not simply to be assertive and confident, I want them to be smart and right and to prove to me that they’re right. I want them, in ten or twenty years, to be able to take apart the charlatans they run across, for their own benefit, for my benefit, and for their benefit of society. But they’re not going to be able to do that if we refuse to engage them on the merits of their ideas.

The Question
In the DRM debate the obvious point we need to engage on is the premise stated throughout the above quotes: that copying digital content is not stealing. If Gen Y is wrong, it needs to be proven through argument. If they’re right, the same requirement holds. It’s not enough to just say that theft is inevitable or that it can’t be stopped any more than it’s enough to say that it’s immoral and wrong. Both sides have to argue the case on the merits.

The reason this is important is precisely because these issues have never been dealt with before. Ownership questions regarding digital content and theft are so new as to be without precedent. While applicable laws have been added to the books, those laws, like all new laws, are an opening salvo in what will probably be a long-running legal debate. As with laws that used to exploit or abuse members of minority groups, new laws covering digital content may simply be an attempt by established forces to stop right from trumping wrong. Then again, they may actually protect individual rights and be good for society as a whole.

I think Marian and Luke are interested in being part of the answer to these questions. I don’t think they’re asking for a free pass. When they ask what is being stolen if someone takes possession of a copy of a digital file, they’re asking a serious question. And to their credit I think it’s exactly the right question to ask.

We all agree that stealing a can of beans from a grocery store is theft, for two reasons. First, there’s a can of bean missing from the store. Second, we have a can of beans in our hands that we didn’t pay for. On the other hand, when we copy a digital file the original file is still there, and we don’t actually have a new object in our possession. So what’s actually being stolen?

The problem here is that asking what is being stolen almost compels a response that describes a physical object. It’s the same problem you run into if you try to define right and wrong by asking if anyone got hurt. It implies physical injury or physical loss, yet I think we all agree that PTSD or emotional trauma can be as damaging as a broken arm. Just as someone can be hurt emotionally, economically and in ways other than through physical injury to the body, the theft of digital content may involve stealing things that are not physical objects.

To see why, let’s look at two situations in which, as with digital content, we see no physical object being appropriated. Maybe by looking at non-digital examples we can gain some insight into what a person is being deprived of if we avail ourselves of a copy of their digital content.

First, let’s say you live in an apartment complex. Across the hall your retrograde neighbor still has the local newspaper delivered each morning. You also know that he sleeps until noon. If you get up each morning and take his paper into your house, read it, then carefully reassemble it and put it back in front of his door, was anything stolen?

Second, let’s say you’re a huge RHCP fan. You know they’re playing at a nearby venue, but you don’t have the money for tickets. You gripe to a friend, who says he knows how to sneak in without having to pay. The concert takes place as scheduled, nothing is different except that you and your friend are there. Was anything stolen?

The answer in the first example is that you stole a service you didn’t pay for. The people who made the newspaper and delivered it were paid by your neighbor to make the contents of that paper available to him on a certain schedule. Even though you didn’t disrupt that deal, you profited yourself by not having to pay for delivery. In doing so you not only saved yourself money, you also denied the creators of the paper the right to control their content in a way that they determined, and that’s true even if you would not otherwise have paid to read the paper yourself.

In the second example you stole an experience. Everyone around you had to pay for that experience, but you got it free. You didn’t alter the experience by stealing it, and you didn’t leave with anything in your hand, but in the same way that you denied the newspaper creators the right to control their product, you denied the band the right to control the experience it created.

Are these examples convincing? Maybe, but maybe not. If the assumption is, as Luke first stated, that only objects can be stolen, then neither of these examples holds any weight precisely because they don’t involve the theft of objects. But I think there might be another way to show that they do involve theft.

As is usually the case when downloading digital content, in neither of these instances did you ask anyone for permission first. You had the social approval of your friend when you sneaked into the venue — which is analogous to the social approval provided by content pirates themselves — but you didn’t call the manager of the venue or the band’s manager and ask permission to sneak in, just as you didn’t call your neighbor or the newspaper and ask if it was okay to read the paper without paying for it.

The reason you didn’t do this is because you knew that they would mind, even if you yourself are convinced that you’re not doing anything wrong. Free newspapers and free concerts are announced as such: that’s how you know they’re free. Things that have prices attached to them, whether you agree with those prices or not, are not free. You can steal them — meaning you acquire them at no cost — but you can’t take them and not pay for them and then say you didn’t steal them any more than you can walk into a store filled with physical objects and declare them all free.

And you know this. And you know you know this. And I know you know this.

My Answer
Which means we’re not only having a conversation about theft, we’re also having a conversation about power. And that’s maybe the most important part of Marian’s post. It’s her declaration that Gen Y can’t be stopped, and she may well be right. At least, I don’t think anyone outside Gen Y can convince Gen Y not to strip the countryside bare.

What I am hopeful of is that Gen Y itself may recognize that there is a long-term cost to redefining content theft as legal, ethical, or even socially acceptable behavior. I’m also hopeful that it will ultimately be members of Gen Y who make this case to their peers. But none of that is going to happen (or happen soon) if we don’t engage the issue first. Today, right now, the obligation is on those people who believe that copying digital files without permission is theft to make that case. To that end the most important thing that can be said about piracy is that it is theft. There can be no equivocation on this point, because equivocation amounts to permission.

What Gen Y needs to be thinking about now, while they have all this power — and they do have an incredible amount of power — is that they are not simply exercising that power today. They are establishing a set of rules that everyone is going to have to live with in the future, and that includes their children. One day, maybe not too far down the road, Marian or Luke will have kids of her own, and those children may decide to create something (and it’s all going to be digital at that point). Maybe they’ll even try to start a small collective of artists and make a go of it in business, but that’s not going to be economically possible if the cultural norm says that copying digital content is not stealing.

Great generations aren’t great because they get away with whatever they can get away with. They’re great because they aspire to more than the minimum standard the law requires. To each member of Gen Y, and to anyone who is wrestling with the question of content piracy, I would simply say that you need to answer this question yourself, and to think about the long-term consequences of the answer you choose.

Don’t pass the buck and let someone else do your thinking for you. Luke isn’t doing that. Marian isn’t. Even the mysterious pirate confessor isn’t. Be your own compass. When civilizations do break down — as we’re seeing now in Haiti — ethics may become relative. But making ethics relative when there is no emergency simply reverses the equation, engineering a breakdown that would otherwise not have taken place.

If a crime is inflicted on you in the forest and no one can hear you scream, it’s still a crime. Even if nobody will ever know that you stole an MP3 or a e-book by downloading it from a website, it should matter that you know. And you should want it to matter, because the only people it really doesn’t matter to are sociopaths and psychopaths.

Doing the right thing takes more guts than flexing your generational biceps or kicking a corrupt corporation in the groin. It’s easy to take something for nothing, and Marian’s right that you can almost certainly get away with it. The odds are long that anything directly punitive will ever happen to you as a result of content theft.

The problem, however, is that you’re not just stealing content and you’re not just stealing from someone else. You’re also stealing from yourself.

This is a cross-posting from Mark Barrett‘s Ditchwalk. Also see Luke Bergeron’s response to this post on his mispeled.net site.

*opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Publetariat or its other contributors.

Google Book Promotion: 5 Easy Ways

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This post, from Bob Baker, originally appeared on his Bob Baker’s Full-Time Author Blog in September, 2009.

If you think this is going to be about search engine optimization, a Google AdWords campaign, or Google Book Search … think again. Here are five things Google offers that you should consider using to connect with readers and promote your books:

1) Display your live event schedule with Google Calendar. Most people use this popular feature for personal appointments and scheduling. But you can also choose categories on your calendar to make public — and even embed them on your web site … AND make it easy for people to add your events to THEIR personal calendars. Visit this page for more details.

2) Help fans find your public appearances with Google Maps. This popular application is the next best thing to having a GPS system in your car. You can use it to find places you drive to, of course. But a really smart idea is to include Google Maps links to each event you speak at, not just the venue address.

Sure, fans can "map it" themselves. But why not save them a couple extra steps and provide a direct link? Learn more about Google Maps here.

Tip: Look up a venue address on Google Maps yourself first. Then click on "Link" just to the right of "Print" and "Send" to get the code.
 

Read the rest of the post, which includes three more Google Book Promotion ideas, on Bob Baker’s Full-Time Author Blog. Bob Baker is the author of 55 Ways to Promote & Sell Your Book on the Internet, among several other how-to books for indie authors and musicians. Learn more about Bob Baker by visiting his website.

Death and Taxes

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Ah yes, the only two things that are certain in life are death and taxes. While I hate to harsh anyone’s holiday season mellow, this is something to which we U.S.-taxpaying authors need to pay attention, especially at this time of year.

Let me open by saying I am not a tax professional and nothing in this [post] should be construed as professional tax advice. For that, you must consult a professional tax preparer.

I just want to share some information and get my readers thinking about tax issues now, before the end of the year, when there’s still a possibility of making some changes to alter your tax situation and when the deadline for paying your personal income tax is still about four months off.


Is Your Royalty Income Being Reported to Tax Authorities?
By U.S. tax law, as of this writing (see Guide to Information Returns section), if you’ve earned $600 or more in income in a given tax year from a given source (e.g., employer, Createspace, Lulu, Amazon), the company or person who paid you that money must report it to state and federal tax authorities so the authorities can tax it as income. The minimum threshold for reporting at the state level may vary from state to state, so that’s something you’ll need to look up for your specific state of residence, and/or the state in which you do business as an author.

At the federal (IRS) level, if the amount of money from a given source is less than $600, neither you nor the payor MUST report it to taxation authorities, but those authorities prefer that ALL income is reported regardless of the amount. Again, we’re talking "as of this writing"; since tax regulations are subject to change, this is something you’ll need to verify on the IRS site or with a tax preparation professional if you’re reading this post months after it was published.


Amazon, Createspace & Booksurge Reporting Policies: Here’s The Scoop
Based on my experience with Amazon and Createspace in prior years, I’ve previously stated that neither entity will report the proceeds of your book sales on the Amazon or Createspace site(s) unless you’ve earned at least $600. Since Booksurge is now merged with Createspace, and Amazon has stepped up other reporting requirements and seems to be generally getting its federal reporting ducks in a row, I decided I should look into the matter once again before the end of the year.

I just spoke to a Createspace representative, and an Amazon representative, regarding their IRS reporting policies. If you sell your books on the Createspace site or on Amazon’s U.S. site, this information is applicable to you. If you sell through other outlets, such as the Lulu store, or another bookseller, you will need to contact that outlet directly to get clarification on their tax reporting policies. Here’s what I was told:

Amazon and Createspace (which now includes Booksurge) will both report ALL your earnings on book sales through their online stores to the IRS as income, regardless of whether you meet the $600 minimum reporting threshold or not. They are within their rights to do this, and the IRS prefers that payors report ALL payee income regardless of the amount, so don’t go hating on them for it. They will report this income on a Form 1099, also known as 1099-misc (for miscellaneous income). 1099 income is income that has not had any tax withheld, so you must be prepared to pay tax on this income when you report it on your annual tax return (both state and federal).


What If They’ve Reported Less Than $600?
There’s a bit of a wrinkle here though, in that if the income shown on a given 1099 is less than $600, as of this writing IRS rules don’t require you to report it on your tax return. This puts anyone with a 1099 form for less than $600 in a tax quandary. Theoretically, by law, you are not required to report it. But the tax authorities will learn about it when they get their copies of the 1099. You have two options here: either report the income on your return and pay the income tax on it (the safest, most conservative route), or consult a tax preparer for further, expert guidance.

I’ve always reported all my 1099 income, regardless of the amount, because I’m terrified of getting into trouble with the IRS and when in doubt where such matters are concerned, I always go the most conservative route. I may very well be paying taxes I don’t have to, but this is just the way I’ve chosen to handle things. In discussing the matter with my CPA, he’s agreed with me that while I’m not strictly required to report the income on a 1099 if it’s less than $600, doing so helps to validate any write-offs I wish to take for writing-related activity in a given year.


Why Report A 1099 That Shows Less Than $600?
If you’ve got one or more 1099s that each show something less than $600 and opt not to report any of them on your tax return, but you’re attempting to write off expenses related to your authorial activities, this may well raise a red flag in the tax authorities’ analyses because you’re writing off expenses without reporting any income. This makes it harder for you to prove you’re running a legitimate business and are entitled to expense write-offs, and generally makes you look suspicious in the eyes of tax authorities. Red flags can lead them take a closer look at your return. And at your prior returns. This is why I choose to report everything, but your tax preparer may advise you to handle your situation differently.


Improving Your 2009 Tax Picture
As to the matter of changing your tax situation before the end of the year, there are two major things to think about here: maximizing your legitimate expense claims, and minimizing your reportable income (where it’s both possible and legal to do so).


Maximize Expenses
Maximizing your legitimate expense claims just means that if you’re intending to invest in some goods or services that constitute legitimate tax writeoffs for you as an author (check with the IRS or a tax preparer for guidance on what constitutes a legitimate tax writeoff), doing so before the end of the year will increase your reportable expenses, thereby decreasing your net income and the tax you must pay on that income.

So if you plan to hire a professional editor, buy more promo copies of your book, book travel or pay registration fees for a writer’s event you’ll be attending next year (like the Author Workshop Cruise – shameless plug!), or something similar in the near future, you might want to consider paying for those things by December 31 in order to include the expenses in your 2009 tax return. It’s generally a good idea to book travel and pay event registration fees as early as possible anyway, since doing so usually gets you a discounted rate.


Minimize Income
Options for legally, legitimately minimizing your reportable royalty income are not as numerous, as you don’t have total control over how many people buy your books or when. However, you do have some degree of control, at least where promotion and marketing campaigns are concerned.

If you’ve been planning a big launch for new book, or a renewed promo push for an existing book, delaying your plans till after January 1 will put all the income you earn as a result of such activity solidly into your 2010 tax year. Of course, you must balance the desirability of minimizing your 2009 reportable income against the desirability of jumping on the holiday shopping gravy train at a time when you know lots of people are doing lots of shopping. If it looks to you like you can sell a lot more copies before December 31 than after, you may elect to just take the income tax hit.

Also, if you’re in a position to receive any other author-related income (e.g., advance on a book or manuscript you’ve sold to a publisher, speaker fees, etc.), if you can afford it, you may want to consider asking if the payor can wait till after January 1 to cut those checks.

Bottom line: be prepared, plan ahead, and when in doubt, consult a tax pro.


This is a cross-posting from April L. Hamilton’s Indie Author Blog.

Promotion Plans

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This post, from MCM, originally appeared on his 1889.ca site on 12/2/09 and is reprinted here in its entirety with his permission.

I should make a FAQ for publishers who want to help me “go legit.”  It would be funny, I bet.

Recently, I had some contact with a medium-sized press that wanted to take one of my older titles and re-print it “for a much bigger audience.”  They were very courteous and seemed well-intentioned, but there were more than a few stumbling blocks to overcome.  One was a request for a promotion plan. 

This appears to be standard fare in the publishing biz, and the lack of a solid plan appears to irritate editors.  Let me tell you, it irritates me even more.

So to all prospective publishers looking to scoop up a popular self-published or web fiction property, here is what you need to ask yourselves: what are YOUR promotion plans?  How much are you going to spend, where is it being spent, and what are the expected results?  I want to see a solid plan that I can sink my teeth into, or I’m going to have doubts that you can deliver.  Get that together, and THEN contact me.

See, I already market well to my audience.  When I release something new, it’s well covered.  Your job is to spread the word further than I can do myself.  If you want ME to do that, then it assumes I CAN.  If I CAN, then I have to ask why I would need you involved at all.  So I can get a smaller royalty?  I think you miss the key element of “value proposition”… the, uh, “value” part.  And please, don’t suggest I spend my own advance on it.  I’m not your marketing department.  If you need help in that area, I have a rate card I can send you.
 

MCM is the author of The Vector, which io9 called "a gripping, scary viruscore tale." He’s best known for his books The Pig and the Box, Dustrunners: Typhoon, and TorrentBoy: Zombie World, as well as RollBots, a Saturday morning cartoon airing worldwide.

Show Me The Money, Bitches

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At the end of the day, I can be a very pragmatic and mercenary individual. Some people deeply admire this about me, some think it makes me a bitch or naive. But it is what it is. When I was a little kid, I wanted to be a published author. I wanted my book to be on bookstore shelves and I wanted to be famous. 

At that time, I believed that everybody who had a big publisher publishing their books, who had a book on bookstore shelves, was making a living doing it. Hell, even into adulthood as I started to seriously begin the undertaking of writing novels I still believed this.

So naturally, in the beginning I was all about traditional publishing for myself. I read all the standard magazines and books and knew all about how to query an agent. I was confident I was one of the smart ones because I wasn’t like these other little boob wannabes who were sending in their submissions on pink scented paper and telling the agent that their grandmother loved it and their grandmother’s dog took a nap on it which meant that the dog loved it too.

At some point I don’t know how or why, I started to wake up. I mean let’s be real here, this may not be the truth for everyone, but I am not working my ass off to give up control of my work and get paid shit for it. Period. dot com, dot net, dot org. It just ain’t happening. I don’t really care what everybody else is doing, or what the socially approved standard path is, or what is “respectable.” “Socially acceptable” has never paid a single person’s bills.

I think my eyes were opened when I started talking to a published author on LiveJournal. It was my first actual back and forth real written contact with a published author and I was thrilled that she’d taken time out of her glamorous life to help me. (Though later when I decided to self-publish, she heavily encouraged me not to cause I wouldn’t make any money self-pubbing, but on to that in a minute.) I won’t mention this author’s name because I’m not dragging her into my diatribe, and I admire her and her writing very much, but suffice it to say, her posts were candid enough that I could read between the lines.

Even though she had a major name brand publisher that we’ve all heard of, she still had a full-time job and wasn’t able to live solely on her writing income. This gave me considerable pause. As I studied more, and read between more lines of what authors were saying and specifically what they weren’t saying (the exact dollar amount of their advances), I began to realize that this author was in no way unique.

I felt like I’d been Mary Kay’d. I might need to explain that reference. When I was eighteen I signed up to sell Mary Kay. I was lured in with the promise of the pink car. I knew I was motivated and could sell things and surely I could have the pink car. But once I was inside I started to see all the downfalls of multi-level marketing and why most people can’t make a living at it. And why the pink car, was not going to be a part of my future most likely.

It seems this is the same thing that has gone on forever in the publishing industry. Hopeful writers believe at first they’ll make a living just by being published by a big name publisher. Then once they’re in, they realize they need to have a backlist first (though please explain to me how an author can gain any traction in this way when so many times they only can manage to keep 2-5 books “in print” at any given time. I prefer a treadmill that makes my ass smaller, thanks.)

Then of course the realization starts to sink in that MOST published authors, including many who have reached that pinnacle, the NYT Bestseller list, are not making a living doing this. Only those with huge prolific outputs that are fairly successful along with the famous ones, are making a living doing this. (And I really just don’t want to put out more than one novel a year on average. I want to put out better quality books not more of them. And normally quality suffers with quantity. We’ve all seen it happen.)

Once I learned these financial realities, I was off the trad train. Fuck that. If I’m going to make peanuts, I’m keeping full creative control. I’m going to be able to approve or deny my cover. I’m going to pick how my book is laid out, and how it’s marketed and distributed. I’m picking the formats. I’m picking the editors, I’m titling my own books. (i.e. I’m not coming up with a great title just to have someone’s marketing department shoot it down and rename it.)

I am not your commodity.

I belong to me. My words, thoughts, feelings, and art belongs to me. And I will create it, package it, and distribute it the way I see fit. The ONLY people that matter in this equation outside of myself, are my readers. Not the talking heads in the publishing industry. I don’t need a publisher to get my words in front of readers. I don’t need a publisher to make a little money. And I certainly don’t need the drama, politics, and headache of the whole treadmill if I’m only going to discover that the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for most is fool’s gold.

With authors doing so much of their own marketing now, and fewer people buying most of their books in brick and mortar bookstores anyway… with so little money on the table for most even after years of grueling work and many books… exactly what the hell could possibly be in it for me besides external validation from the other writers and the “publishing industry” as a whole? Why is that validation worth my soul? It isn’t.

So many discourage those who want to self-publish with the warning: “You’re unlikely to make money self-publishing.” As opposed to what option? And how are we quantifying the phrase “making money” here? Because a tiny bit of money is still a tiny bit of money even if your publisher handed it to you.

Will I “make a living” self-publishing? Well… that’s hard to answer because I’m thinking inside a different box. I have the MPC-mentality (multiple-profit-centers.) My “business” is basically finding every way in which I can make money from my writing and making use of it. This includes writing websites that I monetize, selling fiction in print and ebook, selling nonfiction/infoproducts in print and ebook, copywriting, a bit of freelance work, and any other ideas I come up with.

This little mini writing empire is on a 10 year plan, of which I’m in year 2. Some of the plates I spin are more for passion than for profit, like fiction. But considering the fact that I can keep my ENTIRE backlist in print, I’m writing a series, and I keep ALL the profit and not just a royalty, the concept that I could “make a living” just from fiction in ten years isn’t so outside the realm of realistic that I can’t even entertain the possibility.

I do understand that writers are part of a community and in some ways I purposefully alienate myself from this community. But at the same time, most of the politics and drama is unnecessary to my life. And I always get burnt because what I’m saying is not what people want to hear. Even if I say it nicely and temper it with many caveats. I have my own tune, my own plan, and I’ll follow it succeed or fail. But what I won’t do is jump on a treadmill that to me isn’t worth the small payment at the end.

Self-publishing, even if at the end of the day I make little money, IS worth it to me, because it’s MINE. There is a pride of ownership there. Even if it’s not considered as socially acceptable yet as say opening a flower shop, it’s not like I’m running a brothel here. Social attitudes will catch up (and if they don’t you know I’m still doing it, because that’s just me.)

And on the money issue. KEPT has sold 2,500 copies on Amazon and has had 15,000 readers otherwise in the past year. It’s only a dollar on Amazon because they wouldn’t let me give it away for free. It was initial test marketing, not a money-making enterprise. Nevertheless, I’ve already in one year made more in royalties from the novella on the Kindle than I likely would have been paid as a first-time author, had I had my novella accepted for a print anthology.

I don’t write “for the money.” But if money wasn’t any piece of the motivation for me, I would just give all my work away for free. What is the point of selling it for profit if you don’t intend to actually MAKE a profit? I intend to make a profit. There is no crime in this. But I realize I can’t make a profit worth my time inside the standard publishing system. Your mileage of course may vary and it’s okay if it does. I don’t require a bunch of bobble-head yes-men in my life. You can disagree with me and I won’t call your momma names.

So yes, self-publishing for me is a business decision and a personal decision.

Also, just in case you think I’m talking out of my ass and can’t possibly know anything cause I haven’t been inducted into the standard publishing system, here are some posts for you to chew on… two traditionally published authors, both saying basically the same things I am, they just draw different conclusions for their own lives (i.e. not self-publishing), and say it a little differently. But it’s the same bottom line truth.

More on the reality of a times bestseller

The Big Lie

[Publetariat Editor’s note: also see this post from author Kimberly Pauley, in which she shares some of her financial details, and some other authors do likewise in the comments section.]

This is a cross-posting from the weblog of Zoe Winters.

November Novel Writing Month

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Na No Wri Mo Sounds like words to an African tribal dance if I didn’t know better. In 2007, I read about this National Novel Writing Month contest which takes place in November. This contest has been happening since 1999. Thanks to the internet the amount of contestants, called NaNoers, went from 21 in 1999 to 94,000 in 2007.

This year I decided to check into the details. The contest is free to enter. At the end of the month I would have to have fifty thousand words to finish in the contest. Then in December the novel can be edited and polished. A winner is picked from the entries. There is a list of writers that have had a novel published after entering it in this contest.

From what I read the authors are winging their story. They aren’t expected to know where the novel is going, but every day just pick up where they left off. Don’t worry about a chapter by chapter plot synopsis or an outline. This approach to writing is not new to me. It’s the way I approached all my books. The secret is in going back to rework the story, edit and polish it into a work you can be proud to have your name on.

On a whim I entered the 6th of November. So I was already five days behind which worried me. I tried to tell myself two thousands words a day doesn’t sound like a lot for me. Once I made up for those six days that is, fifty thousand words should be no problem. Little did I know that this would be one of those months when I would be gone at least half of the thirty days. Little things have gotten in the way of my writing a novel like a wedding, book signing, dental visits and now Thanksgiving.

Several November days, I spent most of the afternoon emailing libraries in Iowa, Missouri and Pennsylvania to let them know about my two Amish books listed in Ingram Distribution Catalog. In the email I mentioned that I had an online bookstore that all my books can be purchased from, thinking that libraries could go to the website to look at the books. Maybe even buy books from my site.

Quite an undertaking to do that many emails when I realized how many libraries there were in each state. Made me glad for copy and paste. For Iowa, I mentioned that I lived here. As for Missouri, I had emailed the libraries last year when I published my Civil War book which is a fact/fiction book based in Vernon County, Missouri. Maybe they will remember me. Maybe not. I’ve been told many emails about new books target libraries. As for Pennsylvania, residents buy my Amish books more than any other state. One theme that was on most library sites in that state was the fact state funding had been cut for libraries which meant their budgets had to be reduced. This didn’t sound like a good time to be advertising books for sale, but my self published, paperback books are inexpensive compared to books from publishers that are sold in bookstores. Perhaps, a library’s reduced budget would be a reason to buy my books. Now I wait and see. If I have any luck with these libraries, I still have 48 states to go.

　

There’s something to be said for incentive. Being in the NaNoWriMo contest has given me that. I had the story line all plotted in my head for some time but advertising and starting the new website had kept me from getting started on the book. Now I am well under way. Maybe not far enough along for NaNoWriMo, but looking forward to releasing it sometime next year.

Thanksgiving is upon us. As with many family gatherings, relatives have to travel. We go to Marion to my younger brother’s for lunch. As usual, he has barbecued turkey on the menu. Not such an undertaking the way he does it. The grill is in the garage out of the wind. There’s a thermometer inserted in the turkey that transmit to a sensor in the kitchen so he can watch the rising temperature. Once or twice, my brother runs outside to check briefly just to be on the safe side. The rest of the time he is visiting with us and watching a parade.

For the evening meal, we rush forty miles or so from Marion to Belle Plaine to my husband’s mother’s house for another big meal. Sometimes I think it was a mistake to put Thanksgiving and Christmas so close on the calendar. We no sooner get our appetites back from Thanksgiving and Christmas comes with more food. Come to think of it. We are truly blessed and should count our blessings every day. We have our families close and plenty to eat.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving and travel safe. I’ll be back next Tuesday.

　

　

　

　

　

More on The Reality of a Times Bestseller

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This post, from Lynn Viehl, originally appeared on GenReality on 11/6/09 and is reprinted here in its entirety with her permission. In it, she explains why it’s possible—perhaps even typical—to be a multiple-NYT bestselling author and still not be rich, nor even necessarily be entirely self-supporting. It’s a sobering wakeup call for all those aspiring authors who think if they could just sell that first novel, their careers would be set and their financial futures would be secure.

Back in April when I posted and discussed the royalty statement for Twilight Fall, my top twenty New York Times mass market bestseller, I promised I would post the next royalty statement that came in for the book. That arrived this week, so today I’d like to take a look at that and share some thoughts on how the book performed in the eleven months since the initial release.

[Publetariat Editor’s Note: if you’re not familiar with royalty statements, it will be helpful to read Lynn’s post from April before continuing with this one.]

First, the actual statement, which you can view here.

As before, the only thing I’ve blanked out is Penguin Group’s address. This statement represents the sale period from November 30, 2008 through May 31, 2009. It was issued on August 18, 2009 and I received it on November 2, 2009.

On the statement my publisher reports sales of 7,550 copies and returns of 10,812 copies. The publisher released credits of 21,140 copies or $13,512.69 from reserves held against returns, but at the same time reserved credits against another 13,790 copies or $8,814.57, which reduces the credit adjustment to 7,350 copies or $4698.12.

Total sales for the novel now stand at 89,142 copies, minus returns of 27,479, for net sales of 61,663 copies. My credited earnings from this statement was $2,434.38 with no money due; it will probably take another six months to a year for the novel to earn out the last of my $50,000.00 advance.

So how much money have I made from my Times bestseller? Depending on the type of sale, I gross 6-8% of the cover price of $7.99. After paying taxes, commission to my agent and covering my expenses, my net profit on the book currently stands at $24,517.36, which is actually pretty good since on average I generally net about 30-40% of my advance. Unless something triggers an unexpected spike in my sales, I don’t expect to see any additional profit from this book coming in for at least another year or two.

One thing I didn’t mention in the last post is whether or not my sell-through, advance, and royalties are typical of an author with a top twenty Times mass market bestseller. Very few authors offer up their numbers, and even when they do they either go the anonymous survey route and/or don’t post statements, and publishers rarely give us any information at all, so it’s difficult to know. But based on my estimation of comparitive print run sizes, placement, distribution and a couple of other factors, I’d say no; my numbers overall probably run lower than most of the other authors on the list (of course if any other Times bestseller authors out there want to post their royalty statements, we’d all love to see the real numbers so we can establish a range.)

Speaking of comparisons, the publisher’s portion of sales on this book has grossed them around $453,839.68. I don’t have any hard figures on the publisher’s net, so I can’t give you the bottom line there. If I had to make a guess, I’d say they probably netted around $250K on this one.

What I’m taking away from this statement: returns were about what I expected; booksellers have been keeping these books on the shelves due to steady sales, and that helps.

My export sales are up, and they’re now constituting about 10% of my total sales, which is great. I’ve been reaching out to overseas readers for a couple of years now via blog promotion and I’m seeing a growing return on that investment. I’d love to see some foreign rights sales so that more of my readers could have the books in their native language, but unfortunately that doesn’t happen very often, and I can’t do anything about it because it’s all decided and handled by the publisher.

My income per book always reminds me of how tough it is to make at living at this gig, especially for writers who only produce one book per year. If I did the same, and my one book performed as well as TF, and my family of four were solely dependent on my income, my net would be only around $2500.00 over the income level considered to be the U.S. poverty threshhold (based on 2008 figures.) Yep, we’d almost qualify for foodstamps.

I finished this novel’s series in January of this year with the seventh book, which debuted eight spots lower than TF on the Times extended list. I’ve since moved on to writing a spin-off series, the first book of which is Shadowlight, which debuted at #17 on the Times list, two spots higher than TF. Shadowlight is now my bestselling novel to date.

What it boils down to is that you never know. I won’t find out for another six months how well Shadowlight initially performed or if TF will earn out in the next six months, which keeps me from obsessing over my sales. Either the books sell or they don’t; I have zero control over whether or not they appear on any list. My focus has to be on the writing (and Carrie did an excellent post this week to celebrate her series anniversary and to discuss excellent reasons to focus on the work; check it out when you have a chance.)

The overall response to the last statement I posted in April was quite positive and supportive, especially here at Genreality. A few places elsewhere, not so much. Several times since April I considered forgetting all about this follow-up post because I knew if I did it I’d be painting another great big target on myself, and no one wants to volunteer for that kind of duty. But I did promise my writer friends and you guys that I would do this, and I keep my promises. So I will duck and dodge one more time.

I know how important writer dreams are — sometimes they’re the only thing that keep us going — but I think they also have to be tempered by facing reality. To me, sharing an uncomfortable truth is better than perpetuating a myth. I know Publishing will never rise up to meet our expectations, but fiction belongs on the page, not in what we tell each other. Otherwise we risk becoming characters uttering lines of dialogue instead of working writers helping each other make good decisions.

So there you have it. If you’d like to share the info, please do; a link back to this post in return would be appreciated. If you’d like to express any gratitude, you can buy one of my books (or if my work doesn’t appeal to you, buy a book written by one of my blogmates. They’re all very talented folks.) And if you have any questions about the statement, let me know in comments.

[Publetariat Editor’s Note: "comments" link will take you back to the original post on GenReality; scroll down to read, and add to, the comments there.]

Ebook Drama Roundup

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There’s been a lot of hang-wringing, railing, theorizing and punditry about ebooks lately: pricing, devices, formats and DRM. Here’s a roundup of just a fraction of the buzz.

On October 23, Crain’s New York Business ran a piece entitled Analysts Warn Booksellers Of E-Peril. Sounds pretty melodramatic, but as it turns out, all the worrying and worst-case-scenario discussions can affect stock prices. The article ran within a few days of the launch of Barnes & Noble’s "Nook" dedicated ereader, and according to the article, "The shift from digital to physical books will ultimately hurt traditional bricks-and-mortar book sellers, analysts said Friday…" The article goes on:

The company could become a major player in the digital book business, but that actually may speed the downward trend in its revenue and profit, said Credit Suisse analyst Gary Balter, who rates the company "underperform."

As the math currently works, each sale through a Nook is not just unprofitable but potentially replaces a higher-margin sale at stores," Mr. Balter wrote in a client note Friday. One obvious risk is that downloading books reduces the need to go into stores, he said.

Yet there’s a tiny ray of sunshine for B&N stock holders, in that the sale of Nook devices will temporarily increase B&N’s revenue picture. But that’s not necessarily a good thing for all the rest of us. On his Publishing 2020 blog today Joe Wikert wonders, Is the eReader Financial Model Upside Down?, saying:

I won’t buy a Kindle edition of a book that’s more than $9.99.  Why?  Besides the fact that I’m a cheapskate, I guess I’m still bitter about paying almost $300 for an original Kindle, so I expect to "make it up" with cheaper content.  I wonder how many others like me are out there.

I’d say quite a few.  Look at the Kindle book bestseller list.  Even though there are plenty of Kindle editions priced above $9.99 they rarely make the bestseller list. In fact, as I type these words 14 of the top 25 have a price of $0.00, one is $0.01 and the rest are at or below $9.99.  I only found three books in the top 100 priced above $9.99. Three."

Why can’t a device vendor go with more of a cell phone model, where the low price of the device is subsidized by the longer-term commitment to buying content?

According to Max Magee’s piece, Follow the Money: The ebook Pricing Wars, which ran on The Millions on May 28 of this year, Wikert is on target:

You’ve likely heard about Kindle owners who have balked at the idea of spending more than $9.99 for an ebook. With the Kindle going for $359, many Kindle owners have decided that their willingness to pony up the big bucks for the device was their side of an implicit bargain. In return, there is an expectation that ebooks will come at a discount to their physical counterparts, allowing Kindle owners to recoup their investment in the device over time. Any sign that this bargain is falling apart has been met with resistance by Kindle owners…

Okay, so publishers and consumers alike have a lot of financial concerns about ebooks. But what about the authors? J.A. Konrath has recently begun publishing some of his work for the Kindle himself, and on October 13 he posted a surprising comparison of Kindle Numbers: Traditional Publishing Vs. Self Publishing on his A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing blog. His conclusion?

My five Hyperion ebooks (the sixth one came out in July so no royalties yet) each earn an average of $803 per year on Kindle.

My four self-pubbed Kindle novels each earn an average of $3430 per year.

If I had the rights to all six of my Hyperion books, and sold them on Kindle for $1.99, I’d be making $20,580 per year off of them, total, rather than $4818 a year off of them, total.

So, in other words, because Hyperion has my ebook rights, I’m losing $15,762 per year.

Konrath is so pleased with his Kindle self-publishing results that’s he’s now beginning to dabble in iTunes ebook apps as well. Sounds pretty good if you’re an author, until you take a gander at Henry Baum’s piece, Ebooks are a Disaster, posted on Self-Publishing Review on November 4. Henry says:

I spent a long time designing the interior of my book – choosing fonts and font-sizes, etc. – only to have to delete all of that when creating the ebook. Given that people already chide ebooks for being a pale comparison to printed books, having an ebook be so different from the printed text is going to slow down converts to the platform.

The process of duplicating his interior formatting to the extent possible proved to be such a hassle that he eventually hired B10 Mediaworx to do the formatting for him, but even then it was no slide on ice. He adds:

We had a time of it, though, because the epub file wasn’t revealing the italics – which isn’t just a formatting problem, but an actual content problem. Italics can change the entire meaning. Turns out – after many emails sent back and forth – that the desktop version of Stanza does not work as well as the iPhone app, which actually does reveal italics in the epub file.  One example of the many possible ways that ebook formatting can go awry.

Unfortunately or fortunately for authors, depending on how you look at it, static text ebooks are just the tip of the digital book delivery iceberg. Last month I interviewed Al Katkowsky about the success of his iTunes book app, Question of the Day Book, and you’d have to be actively avoiding publishing news to avoid hearing about the Vook. Publetariat contributor Joanna Penn wrote about it on her The Creative Penn site on October 4th in a post called What is a Vook, and How Will It Change Publishing?

Publishers Simon& Schuster launched 4 ‘vooks’ last week, a combination of book and video to create a new medium for the reading/watching experience (video on What is a Vook here).

They are available in the Apple app store for the iPhone and are aimed at handheld devices, although are not compatible with the Kindle or Sony e-reader as they don’t do video. You can also buy them at Simon & Schuster’s website.

Following a video clip of Vooks in action, Penn notes:

  • There are opportunities for new sources of revenue for both publisher and author. The authors are getting ebook royalties (whatever that means!) but Jude Deveraux wrote her novella in 6 days and then worked with a film-maker. This is clearly not the 5 years Dan Brown took to write “The Lost Symbol”! These vooks may not replace the mainstream novel but they could represent a smaller, short story based product that could make authors money in between novels.
  • The ‘vooks’ have launched on Apple’s app store, and so the possibility of creating one as an indie author is there. This week I am interviewing Winged Chariot, who publish children’s books on the App store. I will be asking them how to create an app and will be posting more on this. I am determined to have my books as iPhone apps, but not for a huge price. I’ll let you know what I find out!

So authors, perhaps especially indie authors, have a brave new world of publishing opportunity at their feet, but it’s a world that demands that authors have either the techno-savvy to develop their own book "products", or the money to hire out for techno-savvy. Now if only we could get a handle on Digital Rights Management (DRM), that process whereby publishers and device providers collude to prevent consumers from sharing, moving, and generally doing whatever they want with their purchased ebooks.

The Nook ereader device introduces a new wrinkle in that discussion: ebook sharing. On October 25, Medialoper’s Kirk Biglione wondered, Is Book Sharing Really a Threat to Publishing? 

Although ill-named, the Nook is a worthy competitor to the Kindle, offering a number of features not found on the Amazon device, including LendMe, a feature that allows for controlled sharing of ebooks. While the sharing feature comes with a number of limitations, it would appear to be a small but important step towards making DRM-restricted content slightly more flexible for consumers. There’s just one problem — publishers want no part of the Nook’s LendMe feature.

Publishers Lunch reported last week (registration required) that many large publishing houses have indicated that they won’t participate in the LendMe program.

Later in the article, Biglione adds:

What Unnamed Publishing Executive seems to fear most is a sense of consumer entitlement. If consumers have the right to share ebooks now, they’ll expect to have that right until the end of time. Never mind the fact that consumers share print books all the time…If the history of digital media has taught us one thing it’s that media companies see the digital future as an opportunity to exert extreme control over how consumers use and interact with content.

It seems reasonable for publishers to want to protect their livelihood, but they may be barking up the entirely wrong tree if  a recent report out of Norway on the music-buying habits of filesharing pirates is to be believed. As reported by Ars Technica on April 20 of this year:

Researchers examined the music downloading habits of more than 1,900 Internet users over the age of 15, and found that illegal music connoisseurs are significantly more likely to purchase music than the average, non-P2P-loving user.

As a legalized version of file sharing, LendMe may have the potential to actually spur more ebook sales. And ebook sales are most definitely on the rise according to quarterly reports by the Inernational Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF). On January 21st of this year on the Smashwords blog, Smashwords founder Mark Coker says of the quarterly report for period ending December 2008:

The IDPF today reported ebook sales were up 108% for the month of November, 2008 compared to the same period a year ago…

Dig beneath the surface, and the numbers are striking. Ebook sales are surging while the entire trade book industry suffers a decline…

For the five years between 2002 and 2007 (Click here for data, opens a PDF), overall trade book sales averaged an annual increase of 2.5% (lower than inflation, which means unit sales probably decreased), while ebooks for the same period turned in a 55.7% average annualized increase.

Granted, the robust sales growth for ebooks was off of a tiny base to begin with. But…fast forward to October of 2008, the date for which year-to-date sales are reported on the AAP web site , and you see overall trade book sales for the first 9 months of the year were down 3.4% while ebook sales were up about 58%. So the rate of ebook sales accelerated during the first 9 months of 2008 compared to the previous five years.

More interesting, for the month of October the AAP reported overall trade book sales suffered a 20% drop in the year over year monthly comparison, while ebook sales accelerated to 73% growth.

It seems that what we’ve got here is a mix of good news and bad news caught in a whirlwind of flux and guesswork. In the final analysis, I think there are only three things that can be said of ebooks with any certainty:

1) Digital books are here to stay

2) Publishers will not succeed in realizing the full potential of digital books until they can better comprehend the potential of the numerous media available to produce digital books, and consumers’ expectations of both the media and media providers

3) We have yet to see the best or final incarnation of the digital book; in the Vook and today’s ebook apps, we’re witnessing the infancy of a new type of book that is much more about dynamic content than it is about any specific delivery system (and we’re not just talking electronic files and gizmos – paper bound between two covers is a content delivery system, too)

Whether you’re a publisher, author or reader, you have a stake in the future of digital books and your opinion is no less valid than those of anyone quoted here. So, what do YOU think?