Writing Process – Publishing
Let me tell you a true story about two authors: myself and Author N, who published her first novel about the same time I did.
I spent the better part of a year crafting query letters, plot synopses, two page outlines, ten page outlines, and on and on. It seemed like every literary agent or publishing house had their very own format and requirements. I did everything short of giving them a reach around to get published, and what did I get for all my efforts? NOTHING. Half I never heard from, the other half graced me with a form letter response. Out of hundreds (seriously – hundreds), I only got one real response where the agent liked the concept but was getting out of the business. Out of options I self published on Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (for digital) and CreateSpace (for paperback).
Author N had fortune smile upon her with a small publishing house taking her on, no advance in case you are wondering. Another advantage author N had over me was her book fell into the very popular YA fiction category where mine is more of a niche fit in Sci-Fi. Who do you think is doing better?
I am and by a very wide margin too. Surprise! Now why is that, and before you even think it, author N wrote a fine book so it certainly wasn’t about quality?
Going the indie route I was able to price my book low ($2.99 digital; $9.99 paperback @ 300 pages). Author N had the exorbitant pricing pushed down to her from the publisher ($7.99 digital; $17.95 paperback @ 150 pages). Given the competition out there, it is flat out impossible for a new author to get noticed with those prices.
I also had the flexibility to offer the book for free using Amazon’s KDP 5 day promo. This got the book noticed by thousands of readers so word of mouth/blog could go to work, and it did. Sales took off after that without me lifting a finger toward self promotion. Author N has been busting her tail lining up and attending author signings where 1 or 2 books will get sold over a 4 hour timeframe. Wait, doesn’t the publisher line all that up you ask? Nope, not unless you are an A list author, the rest are left to fend for themselves. Author N even had to find and pay for her own cover artist. I am so very glad that small publisher is earning their keep, aren’t you?
All the small presses want you to think going indie is somehow less relevant than getting published through them. Five years ago they would have been correct, self pubing back then was called vanity press for a reason. In today’s reality though, the small ‘relevant’ publishers do nothing for you except hold your pricing and distribution options in a choke hold long enough to milk the pity sales you will make to your friends and family (come on. You know that is what your first 100 sales really are).
Author N’s publisher pays her about $1.50 per paperback book and pockets the remaining $15.00 for doing almost nothing. She wrote it, she is selling it and only gets $1.50 per sale. That is flat out robbery plain and simple. (digital breakdown is: Author N = $0.90; Amazon = $2.40; Publisher = $4.69. My take home is about $6.00 for paperback and $2.10. per digital download at a much lower price point.
If you are a first time author, you are straight up crazy to publish through any other means than self publishing on Kindle Direct or Smashwords. They pay 70% royalties for the most part and leave you with complete control over your intellectual property. Oh yes, and your book can get out there in a matter of weeks with royalties paid every month rather than waiting 12-18 months for the publisher to get their act together and then only pay you twice a year.
The publishing world has experienced nothing short of an apocalyptic change in the last 5 years with the widespread use of eReaders. The power is now in the hands of the authors, be sure you keep it and publish indie unless you are getting one big fat advance that has at least a 1 with five zero’s behind it. That would at least ensure the publisher had incentive to go out and do something to promote your sales rather than stand on your shoulders while you do all the work and they keep the proceeds.
There you have it folks. Soup to nuts on turning an idea for a novel into one. Now stop reading about it and get to it. There is a wonderful story floating around in your head just waiting to come out for the world to enjoy.
I spent the better part of a year crafting query letters, plot synopses, two page outlines, ten page outlines, and on and on. It seemed like every literary agent or publishing house had their very own format and requirements. I did everything short of giving them a reach around to get published, and what did I get for all my efforts? NOTHING. Half I never heard from, the other half graced me with a form letter response. Out of hundreds (seriously – hundreds), I only got one real response where the agent liked the concept but was getting out of the business. Out of options I self published on Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (for digital) and CreateSpace (for paperback).
Author N had fortune smile upon her with a small publishing house taking her on, no advance in case you are wondering. Another advantage author N had over me was her book fell into the very popular YA fiction category where mine is more of a niche fit in Sci-Fi. Who do you think is doing better?
I am and by a very wide margin too. Surprise! Now why is that, and before you even think it, author N wrote a fine book so it certainly wasn’t about quality?
Going the indie route I was able to price my book low ($2.99 digital; $9.99 paperback @ 300 pages). Author N had the exorbitant pricing pushed down to her from the publisher ($7.99 digital; $17.95 paperback @ 150 pages). Given the competition out there, it is flat out impossible for a new author to get noticed with those prices.
I also had the flexibility to offer the book for free using Amazon’s KDP 5 day promo. This got the book noticed by thousands of readers so word of mouth/blog could go to work, and it did. Sales took off after that without me lifting a finger toward self promotion. Author N has been busting her tail lining up and attending author signings where 1 or 2 books will get sold over a 4 hour timeframe. Wait, doesn’t the publisher line all that up you ask? Nope, not unless you are an A list author, the rest are left to fend for themselves. Author N even had to find and pay for her own cover artist. I am so very glad that small publisher is earning their keep, aren’t you?
All the small presses want you to think going indie is somehow less relevant than getting published through them. Five years ago they would have been correct, self pubing back then was called vanity press for a reason. In today’s reality though, the small ‘relevant’ publishers do nothing for you except hold your pricing and distribution options in a choke hold long enough to milk the pity sales you will make to your friends and family (come on. You know that is what your first 100 sales really are).
Author N’s publisher pays her about $1.50 per paperback book and pockets the remaining $15.00 for doing almost nothing. She wrote it, she is selling it and only gets $1.50 per sale. That is flat out robbery plain and simple. (digital breakdown is: Author N = $0.90; Amazon = $2.40; Publisher = $4.69. My take home is about $6.00 for paperback and $2.10. per digital download at a much lower price point.
If you are a first time author, you are straight up crazy to publish through any other means than self publishing on Kindle Direct or Smashwords. They pay 70% royalties for the most part and leave you with complete control over your intellectual property. Oh yes, and your book can get out there in a matter of weeks with royalties paid every month rather than waiting 12-18 months for the publisher to get their act together and then only pay you twice a year.
The publishing world has experienced nothing short of an apocalyptic change in the last 5 years with the widespread use of eReaders. The power is now in the hands of the authors, be sure you keep it and publish indie unless you are getting one big fat advance that has at least a 1 with five zero’s behind it. That would at least ensure the publisher had incentive to go out and do something to promote your sales rather than stand on your shoulders while you do all the work and they keep the proceeds.
There you have it folks. Soup to nuts on turning an idea for a novel into one. Now stop reading about it and get to it. There is a wonderful story floating around in your head just waiting to come out for the world to enjoy.
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Robin
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Apr 16, 2013 08:44AM
Hi Mark! I hope this finds you well! After reading your post here, I am so very glad that you chose (or were forced to choose) the indie route. After reading your first two books, I can't believe the publishing houses passed you up but, oh well, their loss :) I am still eagerly awaiting the next Origins book. How are things progressing? Thanks for what you do and how well you do it!! Have a great day!!!
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Yep Robin, all that rejection turned out to be a blessing in disguise. At the time that all was going on it seemed like if your book did not have wizards or vampires in it, then it didn’t get published. Today you can add zombies and apparently S&M books to that list. Either way, indie is working for me just fine.I guess I do owe an update on book 3 don’t I? That will be next week’s post. The highlights are the first draft is done and all the story lines are assembled. I’m still filling in some transition chapters from past to present, tightening up dialogue and descriptions. Then comes peer reviewing, more editing and line editing, cover design, all that happy stuff. August still looks like the release date.
Thanks for keeping tabs on the series.
I myself am so very happy you didn't go with a publisher. I would have missed out on such an awesome series of books along with getting to 'know' such a great author. Patiently standing by to see what the crew gets into in 3.
Great info; you really make it simple to see the difference between indie and small publishing houses. It really does seem that they do a lot of nothing for you. Another kind of publishing out there is the "boutique," where you pay THEM to publish -- from the high hundreds to $4,000. (I don't have that many relatives to make that up!) You've made my decision for me, so: thanks!
Glad you found it useful Brian. One piece of advice I continually came across while researching my publishing options was authors do not pay for publication; i.e. the boutique option you mentioned.In a lot of ways it seems like the people making the most off of the self publishing boom are not the authors, or even publishing houses, but the ones offering “publishing services.” Cover design, editing, line editing, blog tours, advertising, printing bookmarks and t-shirts. If an author does not watch their wallet, they can wind up dropping several thousand dollars honing a book that realistically only has a chance of selling a few hundred copies.
Just keep that in mind. You want your book to be professional and all, but no need to go overboard.
