Indie and Self-Pub Book Corner discussion
Reversal of attitude by John Locke?
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The deal reportedly is an exclusive agreement whereby the Big Six traditional house will handle getting Locke's eight Donovan Creed novels into the retail market. Apparently Amazon wasn’t big enough for Locke’s goals.
”Asked about the nature of the deal, since authors rarely enter into distribution deals with publishers, a rep for S&S would only say that Locke remains the publisher of the books,” according to the PW newsletter
Its an interesting marketing ploy. He used the EBook industry as leverage to market his pulp fiction-esque series, then appears to me to be reversing his attitude.
If you read those two paragraph, Locke is still the publisher, the only things the big-6 will deal with is distribution.
To me it looks like he has outsource printing and distribution to the big-6 for the deadtree version.
To me he's an opportunist. First, he's all for EBooks, then he reverses position in a few months and now goes to the ultimate EBook enemy, a Big Six house.Legal? Yes. Shrewd? Yes. Ethical? I have serious doubts. Keep in mind, this is the man who's first big success was a book on the wonders of EBook marketing. Hypocritical? In my opinion, absolutely yes.
Locke is neither an opportunist nor unethical. He is a savvy publisher and a successful writer. I haven't read his books, so I won't comment on the quality of his writing.He is all for e-books, sure. But electronic and print books are not and should not be mutually exclusive. They're two different media.
As his own publisher, Locke has successfully and shrewdly partnered with a corporation that can do something for him, namely deliver print copies of his books to bookstores, that he would have a more difficult time doing himself.
This is a good model for all writers. It gives authors more control over their work, and apparently more money, too.
Maybe, if it's successful, the publishers will open up a little more to new writers.
The deal reportedly is an exclusive agreement whereby the Big Six traditional house will handle getting Locke's eight Donovan Creed novels into the retail market. Apparently Amazon wasn’t big enough for Locke’s goals.
”Asked about the nature of the deal, since authors rarely enter into distribution deals with publishers, a rep for S&S would only say that Locke remains the publisher of the books,” according to the PW newsletter
Its an interesting marketing ploy. He used the EBook industry as leverage to market his pulp fiction-esque series, then appears to me to be reversing his attitude.
I find it fascinating that in his marketing book he says during a Q&A format section: “Have you been approached by Big Name Publishers.” His response: “Of course, but working for someone else wouldn’t be fun for me.”.
Earlier in the book he brags about “…eBooks allow me to turn the tables on famous authors and create a situation that is completely unfair to them! He also raves about the excellent commissions.
One has to wonder what could have happened in so short a time to totally change his perception of EBook potential. Or, like a used car salesman willing to make any statements to effect a sale, was it all a lot of hype?