Goodreads Sci-Fi/Fantasy Authors discussion
Writing and Publishing
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The broken system
I have recently self published a novel ITP:Future Hope and I had no trouble finding an editor, proofreader, layout designer and cover designer online, The total cost for all this was about $3000, but it gave me complete control of the project. Of course publicity has been the biggest expense, but I did it this way for a variety fo reasons.the end result is pretty good, but I did get acrash course in publishing in the process.David Gelber
Shirley, you're absolutely correct, and even good and well-known writers often need a lot of copy editing. (Nor do traditional publishers always give it to them as they deserve. I've been noticing more and more errors creeping into books from the big publishers, mostly misused words - "make due" instead of "make do" or "discrete" instead of "discreet", that kind of thing. This is what editors are paid to fix.)I was a book editor myself for a while, and I remember giving a talk to some amateur writers in the early or mid 1990s, when desktop publishing was the new thing and people were starting to self-publish. With regard to editing, I said, somewhat arrogantly, "I'm a trained professional. Don't try this at home." I kind of stand by that, though, the intent if not the exact expression.
I edit my own books because I know how, but it's not a common skill, and it does make a big difference to the perceived quality of the book. David has done exactly the right thing in getting professionals to edit, proof, do layout and design a cover - these are specialized skills and unless you know you possess them to a professional level it is best to find someone else who does and pay them for the value they add.
Mike wrote: "Shirley, you're absolutely correct, and even good and well-known writers often need a lot of copy editing. (Nor do traditional publishers always give it to them as they deserve. I've been noticing ..."Thanks for you commentary! The most common mistakes creeping in show me that editors are relying more and more on machine corrections, rather than actually reading the work.
Heaven forfend that a human eye actually pass over the words!
Something that my writer's group taught me is that editing is a learned skill and one that is not usually taught us.
Either 'that's nice dear' from grandma, nor 'that sucks!' from your worst detractor are useful in actually managing to edit your work. If you can't get a good editor or good beta readers... then you have to learn somehow. Step one, steal from the best. Read and analyze your favorite authors and look at how they did what they did. Then s/t/e/a/l/ borrow the technique!
I would love to start an editing group on here to try and teach the skill.
Shirley
Hi Shirley. Nice topic you've begun. I have to agree with Mike about what traditional publishers and hired editors do not do anymore. It's very sad. But with foreign owners pushing publishers for a high quarterly profit return, nurturing authors and editing with insight is now nearly non-existent--unless you hook up with a literary press or a very small specialty press. For myself, I taught myself how to "self-edit" early on, thanks to a degree in journalism and the personal ability to "spell correct" a word faster than computer Spell Checks can do so. It amused my newspaper colleagues. But knowing correct spelling, good grammar, and how/when to use analogies, homonyms, synonyms and other good writing tools, are critical to improving your own writing. Also, two writer's groups I belonged to in early years gave me supportive story input and merciless lessons in better narrative construction. A lot of this you can now find online, and learn via self-teaching. But if you don't have the time, do what David did and be ready to pay hundreds of bucks to a professional editor. Making the best first impression with you ms./novel/short story is critical to gaining the trust of readers, let alone any attention from acquisition editors. In short, as in any business, there's a lot of research and self-educating that a serious author >should< do if they wish their work to be noticed. Tom (T. Jackson King).
Hey Tom, yes to all of your comments! The interesting thing I find is the different mindset when authoring or editing. They are very different spaces.I work with Karen Wehrstein who graduated from Ryerson in Journalism as well and her editing skills are impressive.
I have also had Journalism professors comment that a degree in Journalism can damage a novelist.
My original agent (Pamela Buckmaster, in England) was a tremendous support as well as an excellent marketer. In some cases your agent can, either boost you or cut you off at the knees. When self publishing and marketing you have access to neither.
Hi Shirley--Your mention of Rynerson reminds me of a fellow scifi author friend, Canadian author Robert J. Sawyer, who also graduated from Rynerson on his way to non-fiction articles, thence to solid success in the SF field. I did an author interview of Rob some years ago, that he nows has posted on his website. I've greatly enjoyed his diverse standalone SF novels. As for your agent comment, I totally agree. Had two agents over the years. Both were initially helpful for the first six months, then both became ho-hum neglectful. Agents can get as lazy as some editors, it seems. But quality editors--not someone fresh out of Barnard with six months working at a New York City pub house--can indeed shine a helpful light on the work of any author. There's just damn few of them around anymore, leastwise not in venues I'm aware of. Sometimes fellow readers can be an excellent help to an author in learning what works, what missed, and what the side angle is to your story that is richer than what you >thought< you were doing!
So are the authors on this list in and around the Toronto Area going to be attending Ad Astra this weekend? Karen and I will be throwing an online book launch on Saturday night. If you're coming you are more than welcome! Come and chew the fat!
I am going my own way and have so far been pretty successful--and I haven't even published the first book yet. I'm paying for my own editor and it's worth every penny. I watch my friend with book deals doing the very things I'm having to do--and paying for it--to get literal pennies per book. Most of them never make back their advances. I'll be making at least a couple of dollars per book or ebook, and I'll have about as good a shot at selling my book as anyone else. I've already got a following of about a thousand readers.
Meilin wrote: "I am going my own way and have so far been pretty successful--and I haven't even published the first book yet. I'm paying for my own editor and it's worth every penny. I watch my friend with book d..."Dear Meilin,
Wonderful! I love hearing success stories! I was fortunate enough to share an agent with Stephen King at one point but I was not a rich enough producer to continue with him. I think I'm going to absolutely love the internet as a playground.
You don't have to go independent. I get published through a small press which does indeed take the tiome to edit and work with me. My problem is that the main distribution channels and bookstores are pretty attached at the hip to the big publishers, and both are failing. Another element of the broken system is the whole querying process, which is skewing the system towards novels that are 'simple', in the sense of easy to describe. A book has to be describable in one paragraph to be looked at, which in my opinion tends to favor the plot-driven rather than the character-driven stories.
I'm actually doing both... my e-press editor would prefer I publish the independent book with her, I'm sure... We'll see how they both work out...About the trend to simplicity... yes. And heaven help you if you write a tragedy rather than a comedy. I have had agents and editors out of the U.S. say they will not, repeat, will not buy anything that is not comedic in structure.
The British market is more open to bittersweet or tragic endings.
Gary you hit the nail on the head. I "finished" my first novel several months ago and sent it off. Waited. Waited. Rejected. Okay, revise, edit, etc. It's now been at least six months since I finished the book and I'm still editing, as I have people read a chapter and make suggestions. I've also posted some chapters on Authonomy and their critiques are invaluable. My book today is 100% better than what I thought was finished six months ago and I know it will be better still after I go through it again, edit, edit, edit.
Submitting immediately after finishing is not a good idea from my experience. You are too close to the actual work to look at it with an editorial eye. If you can get away from it for a month or even two. Go back and re-read it from scratch and you have a chance to catch things your eye skimmed over the first time, or the first twenty times you re-read it.You almost have to 'decompress' from the writing process before you can flip over to editing mode.
I have been editing my book for 6-months now. I don't even know what version I am on anymore. 30th? 60th? I keep going back over it and over it, finding more and more mistakes. Polishing. Fluffing. Plumping. Shading. Erasing. Studying. And then going back and doing it all again. And I'm almost there now. I can almost taste it.You can check it out here: http://www.goodreads.com/story/show/3...
Let me now what you think!
Gary, Thanks for the advice. I have definitely been doing #8, reading editing books, and I have friends who have read and given helpful advice.I wrote a review of one of my favorite editing books on my blog: http://afantasyfiction.blogspot.com/2...
I wish I had read it at the beginning of my writing efforts rather than near the end. But you don't learn as much from perfection as you do from failures. (That's what I tell myself so that I feel better.)
Anyway, if it helps anybody else out, that'd make me happy.
--Rita J Webb
There's no set way to do it. I found a publisher willing to take a chance on publishing a Galley Proof, paperback, of my SciFi novel. It is less than polished, but has the complete story, which is often compromised by editors. The Galley Proof has now almost sold out, and the publisher is typesetting the First Edition, which is being proofed by a pro - but I have final say on content.This has worked very well and moved the book into a positive sales position .... not a best seller by any means, but I sell 20 or so books a week and the more you get your book into the public the better chance it has.
William, what's the title of your scifi novel? And how did the publisher come to sell a galley proof of your paperback? Usually a galley proof is what is sent out to reviewers, before the book is printed in hardcover or trade paperback. Anyway, congrats on the publisher taking your book fully into the retail market. Hope you like the way it comes out. Tom.
Hi T,My book is Fe Fi FOE Comes. It's a long story about selling a Galley Proof, but the short of it is many authors have their manuscripts butchered by editors. I negotiated a Galley Proof first run exactly as I wrote it, and I market it as a colletor's edition prior to the First Edition ... which is being typeset for printing now ... every copy except those I've given away to soldiers downrange and a few who have in on their 'to read' list has sold.
I think the publisher is now convinced this is a good way to put out a new book by an unknown author.
thanks
biLL
William, Which publisher did you use?
Rebecca I found a German publisher that was willing to set up a US publishing associate to do English novels ... Vel North Editions ... they're setting up the First Edition of my book now, after the Galley Proof is virtually sold out. If it proves profitable they will do other books in English. The book(s) are printed in the EU and have very good quality as mass-market paperbacks. As yet they do not have a great deal of energy in this as their mainstay is German books ... almost all non-fiction and coffee-table books. The main publisher has been in a publishing family for generations. But the US company is brand new and uses US ISBNs.
Hi William. Thanks for the details on the galley publishing. And Congrats on the creative approach of finding this German pubber, convincing them to try something new with you, and then working with them through the launch of their English-language books! Talk about thinking outside of the box . . . Tom.
Thanks T. I must admit it is a lot like dental work without anesthetic :) ... but it got the job done. Ebay has given the book the most visibility ... I get better than 100 hits on every listing, every book sells, and a few sell on '2nd chance offers'. You have a lot of latitude to develop your ad.
William, your mention of Ebay intrigues me, tempted as I am by unusual approaches to pitching/selling/creating awareness of one's books. Just >how< do you do your Ebay pitch, pricing, and does Ebay allow you a Paypal or credit card charge button, whereby you get money and the viewer gets convenience? Finally, if you can recommend very cheap/free software for running a retail sale operation on Ebay, that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! Tom.
Tom take a look at my current ad EBay US - http://cgi.ebay.com/Fe-Fi-FOE-Comes_W...If you have problem with the link just do a search for Fe Fi FOE Comes ... this current auction has about 7 hours to run. The EBay UK ad has an additional day. You are best off doing Paypal and you have to have a Paypal for the international accounts. All the software is there to put your ad together and you can put pages of excerpts - quotes - reviews. I'm using it mostly for promotion of the Galley Proof - things like free shipping, but with 2nd chance offers - to those that didn't win sales are a little better than overall cost ... but you get 100's of hits, people looking, and hopeful increase your book's name recognition. Take a look and see what you think. Good luck .... biLL
I am a freelance editor, I work for a couple of different publishers as well as my freelance work and have done romance, science fiction and "self-help" type books as well. I can edit using either CMS (the most common) or APA styles. This isn't something I was taught, but something I've picked up over a lifetime of reading. I love to help an author polish their work, it's my calling.
Lil ... I think any woman that can ride an alligator can do most anything!My publisher is wanting to do more titles after the next edition of my book Fe Fi FOE Comes out, and has also been looking for someone to do a website in English. Unfortunately their mainstay is German books, so they have not had much time/money to devote to this. Small presses can be like gold to find, especially if they are not the rip-off variety.
Very true, Wiliam. I had the misfortune in the early days of freelancing to get hooked up with a company that never did pay me or many of the authors and was very unethical, and certainly had some illegal practices going on. Since then, I try to very carefully vet whom I work for, whether an individual or a company.Thank you, by the way, for the compliment, I had a great time on that photoshoot.
This publisher I'm working with is very clever, and does good work, but directions and setup has to go from English to German back to English then German again and finally Czech! I'm hoping to have some time after July, when my next edition is released, to set this up right for English publications ... we'll see.Yes that is a great photo-shoot, I'm sure you get lots of compliments.
later
biLL
One thing I'm noticing is the change the book industry is undergoing, very much like the music industry.It's funny, no matter how often I edit, often reading it out loud suddenly points out problems. I did a reading at a convention last weekend and had to edit on the fly!
Shirley, Yes, when I talk, I allow myself to use bad grammar, but when I write, I become more formal and more wordy. And when I read out loud what I had written, my words are awkward because we don't speak that way.
Rita
Rita wrote: "Shirley, Yes, when I talk, I allow myself to use bad grammar, but when I write, I become more formal and more wordy. And when I read out loud what I had written, my words are awkward because we..."
Well that's just silly Rita! It doesn't matter what you're wearing when you write! You can just wear comfortable clothes and be relaxed! You don't want to put on a formal, high-heels, fix your hair, and wear a lot of makeup ... you want to write as the 'real you' not like a diva on the red-carpet at a premier!
Shirley, from experience I can assure you that reading your written text outloud is one of the >best, self-editing tools any author can put to use. You immediately find stumble-points in your apprently "clean" text, for exactly the reason you point out. How people speak and how they write often differ. If you're an author trying to present a story that people can "relax into", well, reading out loud will improve the smoothness of your narrative a lot! Williams, thanks for the Ebay info. I'll be checking it out. My hardcover short story collection is coming out later this month, and I'm interested in all options to increase its "face recognition."Tom.
It works Tom. I just sold one copy for $19.00 US and the other is ending in UK tomorrow and already has a bid above $10. Together they have over 300 hits.allthebest
biLL
Wow, Bill. That's amazing, and delighful to me for its proof that authors, acting on their own, can find new and productive ways to "break through" to readers and other folks. Tom.
Tom I sold another for $18.86 on 2nd chance offer this morning. With an Ebay ad you have pages of material to describe your book and get good hits from your target audience. My UK auction ends in 8 hours, and I'll have some 2nd chance people there too. My book is on Amazon & Alibris, but Ebay outsells them both. You have to invest in the promotional options at Ebay ... so in the beginning you're losing money on each sale ... but as the name recognition increases you break even, and now I make money on the sales. It's not a best seller ... but the more people that read it and like it is what sells your book.biLL
Bill, you've got me intensely interested in Ebay. It's been a long and busy day, so I haven't visited the site yet. But you must be using some kinda powerful pitch text to entice folks! Will look at it tonight and let you know what I think tomorrow. And thanks for posting your sales results. Damn, but I agree that 300 hits in the process of selling a singleton item is damn good. Tom.
No problem Tom ... The only ad that is still up for the next 6 hours or so is the Ebay UK ... just look for Fe Fi FOE Comes and you can see the ad. I'll be relisting in 3 days after the 2nd chance offers run their course.
biLL
William wrote:My publisher is wanting to do more titles after the next edition of my book [b:Fe Fi FOE Comes|4934651|Fe Fi FOE Comes|..."
Hi William,
I'd be happy to recommend my web host, American Authors. They have websites set up for authors in other countries like Canada and Europe. (I'm Canadian and my site is www.ScifiAliens.com) I'm not sure if they can communicate in German, but if your book was published in English...
They're excellent if you have any problems such as broken pictures from the publisher or pages that you accidentally mess up. They have instructional videos so you can learn to make changes yourself, another money saver.
Thanks Phyllis ... I'll take a look.Actually the system works pretty good now. My typesetter does really good work, with cover art and such ... I just have to read it well to make sure there's no understanding issues.
I looked at different publishers here in the EU, the US, and even the orient, and these guys were the only ones willing to foot the bill so they can get into the English marketplace.
Thanks for the note!
biLL
I think there are a lot of people who see getting published as the end of their struggles. For those who have been published, you know it is more the start of the game. Being published through a major house has some advantages, (more exposer, more credibility), it also has many disadvantages (less control, brief window to succeed.) Self publishing is the opposite and independent publishers fall in between.
Yet regardless, the success or failure of a novel is not measured by whether it is published (if it ever was.) This is a little secret that published authors I think prefer not to spread around, because it is still impressive to those who aren't published to admire a published author.
A book's quality, professionalism, skill-of-craft, are all measured not by if a major editor liked it, but by how well it, and perhaps, more importantly, how well the second book by that author sells. (And often times, the public doesn't care at all if it is badly edited, or even badly written so long as the story enthralls them.)
Hundreds of thousands of manuscripts are rejected at a glance by editors--most for good reason. Yet with such a volume it is a certainly that several gems are cast aside. As more writers learn they need to take greater responsibility for turning out more professional products instead of expecting a publisher to handle it, I suspect self-publishing will become more accepted. The indicator for credibility will move back a step, away from how an author was published and more squarely rest on how good a book is.
As newspaper continue to cut back reviewing staff and space, organizations like this and Amazon reviews, will take up the responsibility of policing authors. A new certification may well come from organizations like Goodreads, which could generate a "Seal of Approval" as was mentioned, or it just might be the number of stars.
This still won't be perfect. The system will be skewed. Popularity doesn't always breed the best results, but the choke point won't be at the desk of an editor. Everyone who has the tenacity and drive to be an author will have a fairly even shot without a gate keeper in the way.
This will mean a lot more work for the reader and a greater chance of buying some real duds, but then I must admit I found a great many highly lauded, prize winning novels to be just as bad as some self-published works.
Regardless, it will be interesting to see how the new technology and the economic crisis will alter the publishing landscape. I'm hoping it is for the better.
I'm sort of on a mission here. My mission is to prove that if you write it they will come. The hitch in my case is that I published only on the kindle. So they have to cough up 350 bucks (or have an iphone these days) to download my book for 9.60. People read badly written but compelling topic blogs all day long, but turn their noses at a book that has rough edges. Blogs are not free...your time is not free. Your internet connection is probably not free.
So there is a bias to read something bad if it is free, and even (omg) rss subscribe to it and give it real estate on your blog reader...but not invest 8 or 10 bucks in an author who is trying to break through (a one time cost) unless there is a massive marketing machine brought to bear.
It's a bit odd.
I persevere nonetheless.
I've been considering posting free installments of one of my unpublished novels on my wordpress blog as a promotional tool. Has anyone ever done this? Any thoughts on whether this will increase sales of my published novels?
I haven't ever posted excerpts of my books to a blog, but I do have an ongoing podcast of my first book. I can't really say if it's affected sales, but I do get a steady stream of hits to my website from the Podiobooks.com website, so people are checking me out, at least.
If I've come to recognize any one thing, through the years, it's an awakening to the widespread misperception that the choke point rests solely on the desk of the editor.Once, if an editor liked a book, they just put their brass nuts in a wheelbarrow and bought it. They did this, in a different era of the industry, knowing it would take several books (three to five) to build up enough readership for an author to become profitable. Many books were published with the clearest awareness that they would not make money - but were worth the effort. Way back when (before my time!) deals were even made on a handshake.
What changed? Alot.
Publishers went bigtime. The best seller came into play. Paperback and massmarket shifted how numbers were accepted - and as little, gentleman-run publishers went corporate or got gobbled by hostile takeovers and mega mergers, they hired more bean counters, they hired in business school grads, who, like most big corporate types, began to look at "profits" by quarter. Acquisitions no longer were the sole province of an editor...covers no longer became the bailiwick of the art director.
Editorial meetings superceded the actual job, to edit - and the"P&L" statement became the lynchpin of an acquisition, now done by committee. The editor reads a book they love - they must make a Profit and Loss statement to back their pitch - this means, forecasting in advance what sort of sales might be expected, how much profit based on how much production cost...to achieve this bit of wizardry, a new book gets "niched" - or compared - to other books like it, and matched to that readership for forecasting performance...this means, truly original books can't be typecast...and it also means, standard topes, predictable or similar styled plots do sell - what worked once is expected to work again, and often, the general public does not want to take chances - so things that are radically new or don't match a going brand get harder to place.
Many books are good books - but are not considered "commercial" - this means, they don't fit a standardized measure - and if they're not already a branded product (attached to a known name) - they can't be predicted, or made to "fit" into a market angle. The choke point may well be the editor loves it, but can't guarantee performance in advance of the sale.
Choke point number two - the editor loves it, the publisher prints with all the zeal and enthusiasm in the world - now we hit the chain stores - that nine hundred pound gorilla that says, "we're cutting shelf space in that genre," or, "we don't like that cover" or, their national buyer, that day, was just in a nasty mood...chains buy nationally, from a central position - and after the editor, one person's choice can pan the entire effort. I've had many a conversation with my editors, over the fact, they could publish so many more interesting books, but getting the chains and the bookshops to back them - well nigh an unclimbable mountain.
Then we come to "co-pay" - one of the inside, dark little secrets. You see multiple copies of a fat new book on the shelf at your local chain...is this because it is good, or, is it because it has a huge following? Maybe not...shelf space in quantity, shelf space for books with covers turned out, shelf space on endcaps, front tables, and even, hardbacks kept in stock over holiday season...these things are PAID FOR by the publisher - how long a book stays in stock, how many are put on the shelf involves a complex system of kickbacks. I could (but I won't) name quite a few authors whose books took YEARS to make enough word of mouth to get their sales numbers up....it did not happen in a year, or even five! It happened by slogging it, book after book, with co-paid space on the shelves - because - the advance was so high, the publisher had to keep at it, just to recoup.
Some books do break out and establish their own following. But if a reader never saw them, or if a shop got only one copy in stock and never re-ordered (common!) nobody knows it was ever there.
Another choke point is an invisible one - each publisher differs, in how it's run, internally. If you sell your book, and it sells out its press run - at what point does the publisher decide to reprint? And IF they reprint, and don't rest on their laurels, how many copies have to move, per month, to keep your title active on the backlist. Just to give you a spread: in the same year, at two different houses, to stay on the backlist at one, you had to move 900 copies, whereas, at the other, 200 was the magic cut off...obviously, a new writer would have an easier time at house number two - and sure enough, many who sold to house number one had a nice debut, then disappeared.
So many authors don't bother to understand the inner workings of their own industry. Or else never ask.
Choke point can also occur with warehouse space. When chains or distributors opt to cut costs, then reduce their warehouse space, the onus falls back on the publisher...who never anticipated STORING the books - they used to send out most of their press run to distributors or to chain's warehouses. Now that's shifting. More costs are being dumped back on the publisher, all the time, and boxes of books may never see daylight - they just get triaged, to make room for NEXT month's new title, or fail to get reprinted, not because they were not successful, but because the space crunch became too acute.
I have never yet talked with an editor who wasn't heartbroken over the fact they had to refuse many books they just loved. If readers were more pro-active, supporting what they liked, and not willing to lie back and take what they were offered, or, just presume that it's up to somebody else to second guess what they ought to like - we might see a refreshing turnaround.
I can't blame anyone for getting frustrated with a system that sometimes doesn't function well, from the inside.
I haven't started on the middle men, yet - that choke point that allows books to go out, be distributed and sold - or returned, stripped of their covers (read destroyed) for full credit - while huge bills aren't paid, distributors go UNDER, and the presses and release schedules still must be met, at the publisher, by the hands producing the books.
It's a tangle, but, taken with clear sight and understanding, each writer can shoot to the best choice, of the options available.
Janny, thank you for your outstanding explanation of the what's happened to traditional publishing over the last 20 years. I've heard some of what you describe from editors and agents I've known. The rest of the industry's ills I've heard from talks given by folks within my scifi pro group, SFWA. Many of us have called it the "Hollywoodization" of publishing, wherein you don't get bought or get even minimal promotion if bought, unless you/your book has a tie-in to a Hollywood movie, like Spiderman, Star Wars, etc. Those accountants you mention, in the process of insisting on large quarterly profits, have forced acquisition editors to buy more and more books with the guaranteed sales appeal that comes from being linked to a Hollywood movie. One reason we have so many comic-book hero films is the degree of prior audience awareness through comics, graphic novels and Xbox games. For me, the state of affairs you outline is one reason I am super-pleased to see POD firms and small presses with online production ability now taking a chunk of the genre market away from the "traditionals." While I too wish we, the readers and authors, could affect the "by the numbers" attitude of the traditionals, I strongly suspect we are already doing it by choosing books from online and e-book sources. Tom.
T. wrote: "Janny, thank you for your outstanding explanation of the what's happened to traditional publishing over the last 20 years. I've heard some of what you describe from editors and agents I've known. T..."Hi T. - I, also, belong to SFWA. It is a good source for information - talking to people who actually work in the industry is even better. I do recommend that anyone wanting to start have a look at SFWA's page on their website, Writerbeware, so they know what a real scammer looks like. It's all too easy to get robbed, when you are blindsided by your passion for your dream.
"Hollywoodization" - well, that's the first time I've heard that term. Yes, there are alot of tie-ins. That's not all bad, in my opinion. They are shelved differently than what I'd call original work - and they do keep a line in the black, which allows some scope to muscle in new talent, or sustain other things.
Yes, such books can sway a chain buyer - get this title you know you can sell, but also, give this one a chance, too.
I've said this before: this is a GOOD TIME for a new name to break in...fact: publishers are cost cutting. They (and this is not necessarily good!) will tend to throw over a book of middling performance and chance it (cheap) on a new name. If you look at the lists of books published today - there are so many new names, it's a welter! As a reader I have NO IDEA what I'm buying. Every editor wants to launch the next star. This is THEIR dream. As editors move positions, they weed orphaned titles and try to acquire new talent.
The result? Your unknown book has a better chance than a renewed contract for a writer who may not be making (the now figure) 20 percent clear PROFIT...(the old figure, more in line, used to be 10 percent).
The truth: most books sent in for consideration by unknowns are NOT competent. Not nearly. The standard is extremely high. People like to argue this, but it's one of the harsher truths nobody wants to examine, since it's more "fun" to exchange sour grapes.
This is not always the case. Just mostly. I'd recommend the blog Miss Snark, written by an insider agent - very sarcastic and funny - and right on.
Dreams need a reality check. The IDEA may be wonderful, but the craft has to be up to scratch, to fly today.
Fact: many of these "new names" are old hand authors who are trying again, to "rebrand" themselves. For whatever reason, their old name lost cachet and they are out trying again under a pseudonym. You will be "competing" against authors who already know what they're doing - things have to measure up. One of the more famous "rebrands" was Robin Hobb, who also publishes under Megan Lindholm. (And under that name, wrote some truly special books - Cloven Hooves and The Limbreth Gate and Wizard of the Pigeons a few of those memorable titles.
Don't think I am against POD or independent publishing - more options is always better. The big choke hold stopping everything is not the editor, or the stories - it's DISTRIBUTION. Big or small, independent, POD, or self-created - however the book is made - the whole log jam would clear if the gag on distribution was amended.
How books reach the public IS the question that must be addressed, along with a quality standard, though I cringe to think of a "stamp of approval" since that is going to create a rigid "rule book" - and having seen what happens to "art by committee" I'd fight for individuality, tooth and nail.
I should think, given the human imagination, and all that frustration out there - if people understood HOW books move through the system of distribution - the system there, could be "reinvented" and a new form of distribution would indeed benefit EVERY publisher out there, and EVERY author, aspiring or established. The traditional and the non-traditional would flourish to new levels.
There is more to this: bookswaps, internet book exchange, used book sales by internet ON THE SAME SITES as new books - have ALL cut back on the numbers a publisher can rely on...nobody THINKS what happens to living authors' creative talents, when this sort of thing hits an already fragile system.
I am not against such things - but when ARC's are "sold" on e-bay, and also, "ex library copies" are for sale on Amazon IN THE MONTH A BOOK WAS RELEASED!!!! - (yes, this happens, for one hardbound title of mine, produce by an independent - 75!!!! "ex library" copies were for sale inside of 3 months of the book's release date - read "stolen" and sold for cash - no library dumps its new acquisitions that fast) This dishonest practice - who has the ethics to stop it, or NOT to buy the "cheapest" price available, even in if the source is questionable - it doesn't make sense to whine about the ills of the industry and not at least examine at all of these impacts.
Hi Janny. Sure, I recognize your name and outstanding contributions to SFWA and fellow authors over the years. And again, I agree with many, many of your second post observations, especially the one about old pros submitting new work under a new pseudonym. My ex-wife has done that several times, first in SF, later in fantasy. As Diana Marcellas she put out a wonderful three-book fantasy through Tor that got great reviews from PW and others, great jacket quotes, and low hardcover sales. So, Tor chose not to print Book 4 in the series. Sigh. It's all this sales pressure you mention, coupled with the extremely tight distribution nexus. Distribution has also been the bane of many semi-pro magazines over the years, sadly.As for the ex library copies scene, thanks for the headsup! As a regular Amazon buyer of used copies by various favorite authors, I'll avoid those with that sourcing.
Just wish Tor would print more books by Jerry Oltion! Take care. Tom.
This has been most informative, Janny. As a new voice struggling to make it, though, I can't help but feel somewhat discouraged. I know I should be thankful I've been lucky enough to have jumped the first daunting hurtle--actually getting my books published--but what does it matter if my books can't get into stores in any great numbers? I'm with a small publisher and, bless 'em, they've been absolutely wonderful in how they've treated me and supported my books, but they simply cannot get any of the major chains to stock any of their titles, including mine, which have been endorsed by both Publisher's Weekly and Library Journal! As long as the major chains refuse to carry any books that don't come from the 10 or so giant corporate publishing houses, many talented authors with good product will not get the attention and readership they deserve. It's very, very frustrating.
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Books mentioned in this topic
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This is one reason that I am making the (terrifying) jump to online and e-publishing to unhook my work from the tyranny of publishers and distributors.
The big problem is that most authors, in my experience, do not, or will not edit their own works. Most people think less of the online publishing world because of a perceived lack of good editing; kind of a glorified vanity press.
I haven't re-read Strunk and White in too long... back I go...