Long live the book… A view on the publishing industry

Given the subject of our posts this week – our opinions of the publishing industry – I thought it might be a useful idea to revisit an earlier post I had placed on my own blog. (A blog which has now, to a large extent, lain fallow as I have begun to contribute to Wicked Writers!)

Here I have re-edited Part II of what was a two-part posting. I hope you find its content of interest.

Self publishing 101: Risk Management

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The book is dead? Long live the book?

The launch of any new product into a market, and new novels are no exception, is a question of innovation. Put the hash-tag #innovation into Twitter and follow just how many people discuss this topic, and, importantly, what is being said.

Innovation is the word on the lips of politicians, businesses and consumers looking forward. And the biggest tool in the innovator’s toolbox is the opportunity presented by technology as it continues its rampant charge down the battlefields of commerce. The battlefield that is “Publishing” bears the scars of technology’s stampede! Just look at the launch of the iPad!

As any general will tell you, if you chose to fight on any battlefield you must be mindful of the terrain you face!

I covered Economics 101 for the Self-Publisher in an earlier post. Consider today’s post as Risk Management 101.

A question of risk? Really?

Of course it is. And what do we do about risk, as a budding novelist?

Launching a new product into a market is an investment. It costs. It costs to produce a book. Not just in the time to write it, but in the post-writing production process. If launching a book is to be considered as a business (i.e. authors – as well as Agents and Publishers – need to put bread into their mouths) then what strategies are available to de-risk the enterprise?



[caption id="attachment_2659" align="alignright" width="136" caption="Hi guys... look how famous I am!"][/caption]

Become a celebrity?

Indeed! Short of (accidentally?) launching one’s child, in a balloon, into the airspace over a major international airport, or entering some mindless get-rich-quick game show, genuine opportunities for gaining instant celebrity status are few and far between. Such a strategy is as useful to the budding author as is hope! And hope is no strategy!

In the risk-reward equation of a product launch, what is at stake is the investment in bringing that product to market. If the product is untried, untested – with an unknown pedigree, it is highly rational to consider only a limited investment at first. But here lies the difficulty faced by the budding new author! The investment required to produce such a seemingly small thing as a new paperback book – that can compete on cost and quality in the market of other paperback books – is out of all proportion to its size. That is, of course, unless a sufficiently large enough quantity can be produced, marketed and SOLD!

This is an economic fact of life! It should not be a surprise to any new, budding author – the economics of starting a writing career just do not add up!

…Unless, of course, you decide to enter the battle!!



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Back to the battlefield, brave hearts!

The stampede of technology has done one critical thing – it has lowered the cost of production of the book! And I am not talking, here, about the capability of digital, print-on-demand, or the use of software to layout and design books at home. No, the biggest single factor in levelling the battlefield – in reducing the costs of production – which is the real boon to the individual budding new novelist, is that technology has redefined what a book is!

The book is dead! Long live the (E)book!


A budding new author who does not consider that an e-book is THE WAY to reduce the level of investment in book production, is missing the point.

At the launch my own first novel, RIVER OF JUDGEMENT, initially on Smashwords, I was thankful that evolution is our constant companion. As our global society becomes increasingly risk averse, as investment in capital-intensive product launches (as a book most certainly is) becomes reserved for “sure-fire” bets (celebrity) and sexy, high-tech panaceas (which a book most certainly is not), evolution provides its own solution. We adapt and survive.

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The low cost of producing an e-book provides a new author with the economic possibility to launch a new product into a real marketplace that has the potential to generate income (and put a few crumbs on the table). It is an opportunity, I would argue, not to be missed. The books of budding new authors can now exist alongside those of the established greats, and on the same terms!! No vanity press need exist in cyberspace – just good quality and bad quality.

Democracy rules, perhaps! So, publish and be damned! Go on, give it a try!

Handy hint #1 – the lighter side of self-publishing or…

Self publishing 101: Economics

So, after refusing to accept rejection – or, rather, ‘…getting fed up of waiting for an agent to pick up my work with anything more than a resigned shrug and the comment “what’s this?” to his assistant, late on a Friday evening with a whole weekend of socialising ahead of him/her, and no real interest in reading yet another synopsis’, I ventured into the realm of self-publishing. After all, I was an entrepreneur, I knew about business and I knew what was meant by marketing, sales and, above all, about producing a quality product. How difficult could it be?

The simple idea to make money out of any product is to produce it at a price and quality which will allow you to compete in a market of similar products, either offering some measure of quality or price differential (or both) to make your product more attractive than the competition. This takes as a given that there is a market that desires such products.

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Well, we all like books. And despite the doom merchants and e-publishing disciples, books have a market. People buy them, and will continue to do so. You just have to pitch your book to them with a quality and at a price they are willing to pay. Simple.

OK. So we have a story, we have edited the hell out of it, designed a great cover, type set it so that it is an attractive interior. In fact, it looks just like a book should look. Well, we have hundreds of thousands of examples before us. If we hold our book up to them how does it compare? Does it blend in with the others, or does it stick out? If it sticks out, it sticks out for a reason – and that might not be a good one!

To my mind, people have expectations about what a novel looks like. (We are talking fiction here, not non-fiction.) The differences between one novel and another should be in the cover design, the title, and the blurb on the cover – in all other respects, the book should be identical in quality. The paper should not be lighter, or darker, or thinner; the dimensions should not be shorter, narrower, taller or wider – these are not valid product differentiators.

[caption id="attachment_2413" align="alignright" width="143" caption="I love a challenge!"][/caption]

Your challenge, as a self publishing author, is to produce a book of identical quality to your competition. Your problem is one of economics. Not of writing quality. I mean, have you seen some of the books that have been published by main stream publishers – shocking! (But that’s another topic for a blog post.)

Still, where was I? Ah, yes, the problem of economics. If you have got the quality right, then the only other issue is production cost. You cannot sell a book at a greater price than the competition. If the standard price of a paperback novel is x dollars, then you need to list yours at x dollars. If a book seller needs a discount of y% then you need to offer y%. This is where the true problem in self-publishing lies. Because of production scales, it is impossible to produce a book at as lower cost as the competition. And this is where self-publishers start to cut corners and try to get their books out.

In the UK, we can use publishing services like Lulu, Createspace, and Lightning Source – these all offer packaged print/publishing services that, through their own economies of scale and POD, offer the budding self-publisher an easy option. I looked into these services myself. But there are problems. To get the costs to a reasonable level for the self-publisher, the paper tends to be whiter than white, the covers tend to be softer than soft, and – hold your freshly printed book against any mainstream book – it is either taller or shorter or wider or narrower than a standard paperback book in the shop (at least here in the UK). What we have is a product that stands out as ‘not being quite right’, before we even start to look at its design and words. It just doesn’t quite look how we expect the book to look – does it?

But now, we have taken these comments on board, and we have sourced a printer who can actually print a quality book – one that can rank alongside the others we are competing against. And we have managed to negotiate a print prince per copy that at least provides us with scope to offer a book seller a decent margin, without having to order so many copies that we will be forced to give over the entire family den to book storage requirements. What now?

There is an interesting fact about postage. Here in the UK we have physical limits which apply to the thickness of a letter as opposed to the thickness of a package. When I put a copy of my book into the post, in response to a sale from my web site or from Amazon, I put it carefully into a padded envelope to ensure that it arrives at my happy purchaser’s mail box in good condition. My book is about 30 pages too big to be classed as a letter. It effectively doubles the postage rate and kills my profit margin!

[caption id="attachment_2414" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="A weighty tome"][/caption]

Is there a point to this lesson. Yes. If you are ever to consider self-publishing, consider it from an early stage in your book project. If you set out to write, and write a darn good yarn that stretches to a JK Rowling-size tome of many hundreds of pages – you will have a problem. The economics will just never add up to a business proposition. The print costs alone will make sure you cannot compete in the market place. And try posting a copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – all 832 pages of it. Forget it.

My own book makes a profit when I sell it from my web site, from my Amazon market place account or if I offer independent book sellers the standard commercial discount. However, if I sell it through wholesale, or post it overseas, or if I wanted to consider Amazon fulfilment services, then I would pay for it to be sold. Because I cannot get the price lower; because I cannot post it for less; because there are 30 pages too many!

Would my readers really be bothered if there were 30 pages fewer in the book? I think not. If the quality of the story holds, if the quality of the product meets expectation, there will be a market for it. How many good novels are there out there, that are under 300 pages?

So, my handy hint #1? If you are considering self-publishing (certainly here in the UK) make sure you keep your page count down to no more than about 300! At least until you are famous.

Happy writing! :)

You Can’t Handle the Truth

Rejection by publishers and agents is the least of a writer’s worries these days. What disturbs me is the changing industry and what the Internet has done to create a means to avoid rejection.

Self-publishing is on the rise thanks to the Internet. It’s a quicker path and unless you decide to reject yourself, publication is a sure thing. Some writers are also following this path in hopes of being noticed by large publishers. Reading Jim C. Hines novel survey results shows this isn't the case. But what will the future hold with more self-published novels out there? I’m more inclined to believe these books will be reduced back to manuscript level and publishers will be even less interested in weeding through them.

It used to mean something to win contests, but they're popping up all over the Internet, not necessarily from a reputable group. The Courier is a perfect example. I don’t expect the contest I co-won to hold much weight with a publisher, considering the contest is run by my agent.

How can authors possibly accept rejection when they have so many social networks to feed their egos? I’ve even heard about authors creating fictitious followers they use to comment on their own blog to make themselves look more popular. Huh? There are also those writers who pester (or should I say stalk) everyone on the social sites to increase fans or followers. I was personally pestered by a few authors a couple years ago, in hopes I'd buy their books. There was never a friendly conversation from these people. Only countless emails about how wonderful their book was and requests to confirm I'd bought a copy.

I spent a lot of time on writer’s sites like Booksie and Authonomy last year, in hopes of receiving constructive criticism on my writing. But Greg’s post yesterday was right on. Writers only want to hear how wonderful their own novel is. I've even seen profile pages that announce only positive comments are welcome. I question whether many of the members actually read other writers' work. It's more obvious they figure dropping by to say something nice and generic about your novel will get them a glowing review of their own. Out on sites like Authonomy, you can claw your way on to a HarperCollins editor's desk. Imagine the unethical practices going on over there.

Rejection doesn’t end with an acceptance letter from a publisher. Lately, I’ve been watching the book review blogs and don’t like what I’m seeing. There are virtually thousands of reviewers who are competing to get free books, the most author interviews, review the most books and get noticed themselves. Alienate a few of these people and an author risks having their book rejected by parts of the reviewing community, even if it is a good book. In addition, I really don’t like the idea of someone reviewing my book after spending two hours skimming through the text.

I know I’ve just touched the surface here. So now I hand the discussion over to our readers. How else do you see writers avoiding rejection?

Now, I'd like to announce that this is my last week blogging with the Wicked Writers. Due to a lack of progress on my novel series this year, I've decided to concentrate on writing, editing, and paying my rejection dues to publishers. I've had a great time, everyone! Thanks so much for dropping by to read.

Where am I? On the road of hard knocks

That’s probably the best way to describe how and when I have been published. I can stand as an example of what to do and what not to do when getting published. Though these lessons apply to aspiring writers, they will also show readers why they haven’t seen more of my stuff in print.

I have had short stories with Spectacular Speculations, Far Side of Midnight, Writer’s Bump (Vol. I) and SFH Dominion (out of England). I have done the old “self-published” route with my novella Crawl on Lulu.com. Now, I have the novella They Call the Wind Muryah and the anthologies Dark Tidings, Vol. I & Vol. II on Smashwords.

I was sending items out in many different directions to see who bit or nibbled at the bait. People had been after me for so long to get my fiction published that I think I wanted to placate them and not wait a year or two for a major publisher to put my books out.

Maybe that’s how I ended up at PublishAmerica and Mystic Moon Press.

Yeah, I had a contract offer from PA for Hunters. I almost took it, too, until I realized that I’d accidentally sent them my rough draft that was filled with original and rewritten text. It was unreadable and, yet, PA accepted it. I never returned the signed contract and they never missed me.

So, next up was Mystic Moon Press. Click on the above link for this sad story.

(For more on Mystic Moon Press, PA and other publishers, try the “Alerts for Writers” section put out by Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America)

Anyway, now on to my current situation.

For me, trying to get published is like Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers (the book, not the movie) where the cadets’ final passage from boot camp is to go naked out into the wilderness and survive without any help. Most gave up, some succeeded, some died, some needed rescue, and more than a few were never seen again.

It has finally dawned on me that I need to stop firing wildly and take aim at specific targets. So, I’m drawing beads on more thoroughly-researched presses, while sticking with a few steadier avenues like Smashwords and submitting short stories to Far Side of Midnight and Spectacular Speculations. It sounds a lot better than what I was doing before.

Currently, I am polishing Hunters again and I submitted Land of the Blind for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. Slow Boat to China awaits a major overhaul and My Dear Mister Shane is like an orphan. With more specific aim now, I must make sure that my finished product is the best I can make it.

I am prepping a query for Leucrota Press. They’re another small press that specializes in science fiction and horror. I’ve done my research and they haven’t had any bad publicity. Yet. They haven’t appeared on the “Alerts for Writers” thus far. I plan to submit Land of the Blind first and then Hunters if all goes well.

I tell you. It’s enough to make me self-publish (meaning publishing it myself versus Smashwords or Lulu.com). Self-publishing worked for Starlene Stringer and the late E. Lynn Harris.

Ah, decisions, decisions.

What do you guys think I should do?

I’m open to suggestions. Otherwise, I’m liable to just get a few books printed and slip them onto the shelves of the local libraries with covers from other books.

Not that I’ve ever actually done that.

Well, time for me to go.

Publish Your Passion

Today marks the day of several changes at Wicked Writers. First, we’ve got a kick-butt new contest starting today. This contest is ongoing and will change from week to week, so be sure to stop by and check it out regularly. Second, we’re mixing up our theme and you should see a new look launched on the site soon.  Third, we're changing a blogger. One member of our team, Steve Liskow, dropped out for personal reasons, and we’re sad to see him go. Since his first book is due to be released this spring, I was really looking forward to hearing what he had to say on this week’s topic.

One of the things I love best about this blog is the diversity we have as a group. This week, we’re talking about where we are in the publishing process and I’m excited to hear what everyone has to say. We’ve got an author who has been published in print for almost 30 years as a journalist and who has e-published several fiction titles already. Another journalist, who has worked exclusively in nonfiction plus edited several books professionally, is still navigating the tricky path to fiction publication. And a technical writer who has also been published for more than 20 years, who is attempting to sell her first full-length fiction novel (and who luckily had an agent represent her without having to go through the grueling query process).

Lastly, we have me—the greenest member of the group, one who has decided to start my own publishing house. Why? Traditionally, the belief is self-publishing is career suicide and you would only consider it if you had been rejected so much that you’re frustrated and feel you have no other avenue to try.

Well, what if you had the number one erotica publisher (that sells 60,000 titles per month)tell you to add more sex and they’d buy your manuscript in a heartbeat? Or two e-publishers approach you and say, “Please send us your full MS. If the partial we read on XXX website is an indication of the caliber of your work, we would love to represent it.” What do you do when two small presses want to talk seriously with you about contracting your book but you feel they can’t offer anything you can’t do on your own? How about when the COO of one of those small presses tells you the book is incredibly strong and you shouldn’t settle for anything less than a contract from a New York publishing house?

Sounds great, right? But what do you do? You can’t get the New York houses to look at your work without an agent and so far you can’t get an agent to offer you representation. Now, that’s not to say you won’t get an agent, but how long do you wait? I’ve read that there are instances when self-publishing your own fiction book is a smart thing to do. Namely, when you have a novel that’s geared toward a current event and the timing in getting it to the public is key. You can’t wait for the two-year lag time a large publisher needs to get it on their roster; you need to get it to the readers while the topic is fresh in their minds.

Another instance is when you are writing a niche genre—one that doesn’t have a clear-cut spot for it in the bookstores—or perhaps, one that is currently hot in the existing, but flooded, market. The biggest obstacles my book has faced so far is exactly what has drawn readers to it. Writing a vampire story in a market that loves them right now, in addition to crossing genres to make my story engaging and a page-turner, are both exactly what has confused agents on how to sell it to an editor.

My goal in starting my own publishing company was to cut out the middle and get my book the exposure it needs now. I will probably not make any money on this venture, I’m aware of that. With this first book, it’s not about the money. Don’t get me wrong—I’d be thrilled to have a runaway hit on my hands, but I'm a realist. If I can sell enough copies to attract a New York publisher’s attention, then I will have done it based on taking risks and trying something outside the box—and that will make all the difference to subsequent books in the series.

If you believe in your work and you're serious about your career, don’t leave it in the hands of someone else. No one can sell my book like I can. No one will care if I fail, except me. I have faith in the thousands of readers who have told me they love what they've read of my book. They are the true gauge in whether or not a story is worthy—not an agent or a publisher.

I encourage you all—think outside the box and don’t be afraid. You are the master of your own destiny.