Check out my new blog: www.lanajordan.com
Because I’m so diligent about keeping up with one, I really needed to start another, right? Well, maybe I’ll do better since it’s supposed to help me stay motivated about writing. And hopefully it will do the same for you!
Don’t miss the upcoming LDStorymakers Conference! You don’t have to be LDS to attend, and they have lined up many, many amazing authors, agents, and editors. For more info, visit:
LDS Storymakers Conference
Registered attendees can also enter the Show Your Love contest for a chance to win awesome prizes: Show Your Love blog post
See you there!
I met Bill Bennett, author of The Christmas Gift, at CostCo in December. He was doing a book signing and we struck up a conversation. I was very surprised to hear the book was self-published. And even more surprised to hear that he had sold almost 6,000 copies. How did he do it? Well, I interviewed him to find out.
LJ: Why did you decide to self-publish?
BB: Like many people, I had always wanted to write. One evening, in a hotel while on a business trip, I had one of those ‘if not now, when?’ moments. I decided that if I was going to write, I wanted to do it now, and do it with my full energy. So, that evening, I called my wife, found her to be completely supportive, and then called my boss and resigned. Within a couple months, I was sitting in my study at home with nothing to do but write.
I began that effort with intent to submit a business book concept I had worked on, but my daughter encouraged me to publish a little Christmas story I had written for the family a year earlier. Given that it was September, I thought if I self-published, I could have it out in a few weeks (was I ever wrong) and get my first toe into this water. I shelved the business book project and began my efforts to self-publish.
LJ: Did you have previous experience or existing connections that fueled your success?
BB: I had no experiences with writing and publishing to lean on. However, there were three things that gave me confidence: First, I had been given the opportunity to speak a great deal in my career, and I seemed to be able to tell a good story. Thin as it was, that was one asset. Second, I had found in my life that if I put my full efforts into something, being willing to do all the work required, I could learn and do something new (just as anyone can who does the same thing). Finally, I just had that feeling in my soul that this was the right thing to do.
LJ: Would you do it again? Is there anything you would do differently next time?
BB: Absolutely! In fact, I would recommend every aspiring author, and even many existing ones undertake self-publishing at least once. There are several benefits:
First, traditionally there is a real love/hate relationship between an author and their publisher, primarily centered on what is perceived to be how much money the publisher keeps and the author is paid in royalties. Self-publishing will give an author a real understanding of just how much work a publisher goes through to produce a book, and how much additional cost is incurred for everything other than the writing, from editing to production standards (such as higher quality paper, hard covers and artwork), to distribution to marketing.
Second, there is a tremendous sense of satisfaction of seeing your project through from beginning to end. While there are many steps, anyone can learn them.
Finally, if you believe in your book, you can invest the time to distribute and market it where a traditional publisher may not. There are so many success stories of authors who believed in their project when nobody else would. Some among those are Chicken Soup for the Soul, The Christmas Box, and The Shack.
As far as what I would do differently: I would not waste the time editing the book myself or having family and friends do so. The money for professional editing is negligible and the value of having a set of professional eyes on your work is incalculable. A hired editor does not feel any temptation to be nice to you, as Aunt Mabel or cousin Joey may. You want every conceivable pushback given you during the editing process.
Another thing I would do is invest in a cover designer. I made the cover myself first time around, and I thought it was nearly perfect. Later, I signed on with Jenkins Group, a firm to print my book and the per unit publishing cost included someone to do cover design. It improved so much, the new look earned it a place on the cover of Publishers Weekly. When I look at my original cover now, I want to seek out all remaining copies and burn them.
LJ: What did your marketing plan include and how big was the budget?
BB: I was very deliberate in creating a marketing plan. The learning of how to market was primarily free, as I downloaded gratis guides on marketing from various writing websites. I soon learned most say about the same thing. Eventually, I formulated thirteen areas of work a self-published author needs to focus on, of which marketing represented five of those. Detailed discussion of each of these could make up another blog entry, but for now, the marketing ones are:
1) Endorsements
2) Publicity – any coverage about the book as news, including radio programs, newspaper articles, etc.
3) Promotion – selling support activities like signings, speaking, social media, and book shows, etc.
4) Advertising
5) Awards
I focused on each of these areas, with some degree of success in most, with the exception of awards, which I am still waiting to hear on. I spent around $20,000 for marketing. I know people may immediately respond “That’s fine if you have the money…” I would say if you don’t have the money, borrow it. It was responsible for me selling $75,000 worth of books rather than $5,000. Knowing what I know now, I could have gotten the same result for about $10,000.
LJ: What was the best marketing decision/investment you made?
BB: I think marketing is like an ecosystem with each part adding to and drawing from the other parts, so it is hard to say there is a single investment that is the best. There were a few standouts that became catalysts for others. Among these were getting endorsements from Robert Busko, an Amazon Top 500 Reviewer (that’s an official Amazon classification) and from Stephen Covey, hiring a professional PR agency, and doing KSL radio advertising with Grant and Amanda.
LJ: Novels are generally tougher to market than nonfiction. How did you get around that?
BB: I think a holiday book has a bit of easier time of it because it has the natural attention afforded the holiday. I did a Christmas book and we already know at Christmas, people are looking for Christmas books. Beyond that though, I would say it really comes down to incredibly hard work. I just stayed on every opportunity I could find, writing hundreds of people, sending out sample copies and more. Most of those efforts fail. A few succeed, and those few make it all worth it.
LJ: Was a seasonal book harder or easier to market? In what ways?
BB: As I said above, for the most part it is easier. It’s like the ‘free return trajectory’ a space ship gets when it circles the moon before returning to Earth, sling-shotting it with great momentum. The obvious downside is that nobody is interested in a Christmas book in March.
LJ: How did you get a book signing in Costco?
BB: I sent the book to Costco’s book reviewer right after I wrote it and got a form letter rejection. Later, after I hired my PR firm, Jenkins Group helped me formulate a professional looking marketing sheet. I think the polish of the marketing sheet, plus the credibility I had by noting I had hired a well-known publicity firm caused them to look differently at the book upon the second submission. Another critical factor was getting distribution. That same marketing sheet and publicity contract helped me get into Baker & Taylor, and that improved my odds at Costco. By the way, Costco was a complete delight to work with. The store managers could not do enough to help on book signing days. I think it was worth their time, averaging about 100 books sold per signing.
LJ: What factor[s] would you say contributed most to your impressive sales?
BB: I think there is a pyramid of factors that contribute to any book succeeding. I think I did well enough on these that I was able to hit a certain threshold. My feeling is that they are:
1) Good story. Nothing you can do will overcome a bad story. This is not about your writing—this is about the fundamental story elements being individually strong and holding together as a complete tale. These are all the things you can learn from a writing course, such as plot, character development, etc.
2) Good writing. Once you have the story, you have to be able to tell it in a compelling way. Your use of language, sentence structure, etc., has to work.
3) Distribution. You have to have a way to get it out there. If you write it, they won’t come just because you wrote it because they won’t be able to get it. And, having your own website is not distribution. You have to find a way to bring people to your website, which is the next point.
4) Marketing. Now you bring the people to your points of distribution.
5) Business Model. You have to watch your costs like a hawk. That being said, you also have to know your goals. I plan on writing as a full time career, so the mission of my first book was to get cred as a writer. If I did not make anything, or even lost money I was OK. It was volume of books that was my primary goal so that I could make my next move as a writer.
Incidentally, it worked. Through a series of events, the success of this book led to a contract with Deseret Book for my next book which is a Christmas story for 2011 that will be out this fall under the Shadow Mountain imprint.
LJ: Your name is R. William Bennett—very similar to William J. Bennett of Book of Virtues fame. Do you think that helped?
BB: It made for a lot of funny stories to tell. I think the biggest place it had an impact was that it brought people to my website. However, Google analytics said that as quickly as they came to the site, many left when I can only assume, they found I was not that Bill Bennett.
LJ: How did you get an endorsement from a heavy hitter like Stephen R. Covey?
BB: I knew Stephen professionally and I asked. He was very gracious to give me the endorsement, but I also have to thank his personal assistant who made it happen. Those assistants are key to having any kind of exchange with a famous person.
LJ: What advice would you give to authors looking to self-publish?
BB: I would say DO IT with these caveats:
1) Know your goals. If you want to do 20 copies, or 2,000 or 2,000,000, they are all worthy goals, but each will dictate different decisions when it comes to doing all the rest of the work.
2) Expect and do hard work. There is nothing, absolutely nothing in life that is worthwhile that does not come without hard work. I think there are thousands of self-published books that are as good or better than mine that never sold more than 25 copies. The biggest difference was I was willing to do the work required to get it out. Anyone can do the work, if they are committed.
3) Just because you want to self-publish, it does not mean you have a good book. Be willing to submit yourself to the blistering feedback of a great editor and you can eventually create a story that is worth reading.
4) If you have a vision for your book, write it down and never, ever let go. There will be discouraging days, and months, and even years. I collect great quotes about writing, I read stories about writers; I watch movies about creators of all kinds, from Norman Rockwell to Charles Dickens to Preston Tucker. All these stories fuel me. The common elements are vision, overwhelming opposition, and the reward that came from persistent work.
BIO: R. William (Bill) Bennett grew up on the New Jersey shore and in New England. He spent more than thirty years in business, including many years as an executive of various technology companies, and most recently, as the division president of FranklinCovey.
In 2009, Bill decided to devote himself fulltime to his passion of writing. An experienced leader, speaker and teacher, Bill has always used stories of great human character to cut through the details and reach the hearts of those with whom he works. Bill and his wife Loree have been blessed with four wonderful children, ranging in age from twenty-nine to twelve as well as two grandchildren. Bill and his family reside at the base of the Wasatch Range of the Rocky Mountains in Alpine, Utah.
THE CHRISTMAS GIFT: In September of 1968, sixth grader Scott Stewart went out to the playground after lunch and stood up for a victim of school bully Ben Jackson. That moment permanently changed Scott’s and Ben’s lives.
Scott became Ben’s new daily target. Eventually, having endured months of torment and humiliation, Scott verbally lashes out at Ben, managing to cut to the core of Ben’s ego. Though it earned him near-hero status in the school, Scott is troubled by his conscience and to the complete bewilderment of all around him, decides he owes Ben an apology. What results is a unique friendship between these two most unlikely friends. Built on apology, forgiveness and understanding, this relationship carries each boy through a crisis that will affect them, and generations after them forever.
As Robert Busko, Amazon Top 500 Reviewer said, “It will be impossible for you to read The Christmas Gift without being forever changed.”
Emalee, Lana, and Erin (l to r)
I love my critique group! We have so much fun together while working on our manuscripts. The “Pub Club” consists of only three members: myself, my daughter Emalee, and Erin Shakespear (yes, we have an official Shakespear). It’s just the right size for us. We meet twice a month at a local restaurant, eat cake, laugh, drip chocolate and caramel on our pages, and discuss each other’s work. Everyone gets a turn, and our limit is 10 pages each, which are emailed prior to the meeting so that the time can be spent critiquing instead of reading.
We may be mother and daughter, but Emalee and I set that aside during these meetings and get down to business. And we may live in the same house, but we rarely discuss our manuscripts at home (mostly because she won’t let me: “Mom! I’ve got homework!”). So this group deepens our relationship through the love of books that we share. Erin keeps us in line and is so cute about it. When Erin and I run into each other in town, look out. We can’t stop talking (about writing, of course). If we part at the shoes, chances are we’ll pick up again at the milk. We’re a lucky bunch, to have each other and to be such a good fit.
All three of us write YA and/or MG Fantasy. Since Emalee is a teenager, she is able to provide that perspective, especially with regard to dialogue. She’ll tell us stuff like, “He wouldn’t say that!” She’s also adept at catching unintentional shifts in voice. We got a big chuckle last night over this line that she flagged: “How perfectly dreary and dreadful!” Even though it didn’t fit with that particular character, we decided it would be ideal for another one later in the story, so: cut and paste. I’m the editor, and my contribution tends toward that angle. Erin calls me Lady Redundant Woman because I always circle repetitious words (I had to Google that name to remember it). And they don’t like my red pen. They made me write “A+” on their pages and I had to promise to use a different color from now on…I’m thinking purple. Erin is our story analyst. She gives terrific input on plot and logistics and whether or not someone would really do whatever it is our characters are supposed to be doing. And she reins me in when I use too many big words. So we’re a well-balanced and well-rounded group. And an extra perk is that our personalities mesh nicely, too. We can tease and be blunt and take criticism because we’re friends. Our critique sessions are consistently productive, insightful, and fun. We learn and grow as writers by critiquing and being critiqued.
The servers and patrons at our little hangout probably groan at the sight of us: “Not them again!” No, I hope not. But even though we do carry on about dragons and wizards and demons in very serious and long-winded conversations, we’re not crazy; we’re writers.
If you’re a writer, I’d like to encourage you to form or join a critique group (or two) of your own. It’s one of the best things you can do to improve your craft.
p.s. Check out AllyCondie.com for info about the Breathless Reads Tour, featuring Ally Condie, author of Matched! She will be signing books in SLC, UT on Saturday, February 12, 2011 at the Salt Lake City Public Library (free tickets available at the King’s English Bookstore). And while you’re on Ally’s website, be sure to read her “eight years writing” post under “don’t give up” for an awesome bit of encouragement (look for the magic 8 ball).
I’ve been asked to give presentations on self-publishing twice in two weeks. And that has generated some thoughts that I’d like to share here.
People self-publish for a variety of reasons. For myself, it was a means of not giving up. I put a lot of time and energy into those books and wasn’t prepared to chuck them just because they didn’t get the blessing of agents and/or editors. That decision has resulted in opportunities and experiences that I wouldn’t have had otherwise, including the establishment of Jorlan Publishing and the forging of some very dear and special friendships. The books I published and the awards I subsequently won have also helped me to keep going and stay motivated with my writing.
For others, the decision to self-publish might be based on similar or completely different reasoning. Some of my clients are in their 70s and 80s and don’t feel that they have the luxury of waiting. Some have a built-in marketing platform through their careers that enables them to target a niche audience and provide a valuable product to existing customers. Some simply feel passionate about making their books available to friends and family. I’m proud of all of them and proud to have been a part of their journey.
I think we can all agree that landing a contract from a traditional publisher would be our first choice, no question, and that’s what we ultimately hope to achieve. But for those out there considering the self-publishing route, below is some advice:
* Research the options carefully. Be aware of contractual terms. If you are paying a company to publish your book, then they have no business demanding the rights to your book. What kind of nonsense is that? You are paying them, not the other way around. I’ve even seen contracts that require authors to pay the self-publishing company an agent’s commission should their books be picked up by a traditional publisher. What?! They are not serving in the capacity of an agent; they are not going to be actively trying to sell your manuscript to a publisher; they are not going to be helping you negotiate a contract with a publisher; they have no business demanding an agent’s commission!
* Even if you are paying a company to publish your book indirectly (i.e., buying copies of your book at exorbitant prices), the above cautions apply.
* Consider the printing costs as well as the “setup” costs and find out in advance who has ownership of printer-ready design files. Many companies call book design “setup fees” and then hold the files hostage to their high printing prices.
Don’t allow yourself to be taken advantage of by anyone!
The LUWRITE annual conference was held in Salt Lake City, Utah this weekend. Presenters included the “dashing” James Dashner (see his blog), Anita Stansfield, John Gilstrap, and agents Katie Grimm and Blair Hewes. It was a great time and lots of laughs with my buddies, Beth Moore, Dorothy Varney, and Marilyn Richardson! They are an inspiration to me.
…and then there were the chocolate desserts at every delicious meal; oh baby. By the second night, Dorothy told me, “You’re as bad as I am!” Yep, we’re kindred spirits, especially when it comes to chocolate. We did learn a lot, too. The whole conference was an awesome, uplifting experience.
Lana & Beth
Lana & James Dashner
l to r: Marilyn Richardson, Lana Jordan, Beth Moore, Carol Shreeve, & Dorothy Varney
How nice to have a writing event in my neck of the woods! My daughter and I attended a workshop in
St. George a couple of weeks ago (on the 14th). It was hosted by Rick Walton (author of nearly 100 picture books) and Mette Ivie Harrison (author of The Princess and the Hound series). We participated in the novel workshop with Mette.
Quotes from Rick Walton:
“The way to make a lot of money in publishing is to start with a lot of money.”
“You start out with garbage, and the revision process is what turns it into gold.”
“I think we’re born creators.”
“You can write an awful story in an hour, but it’s good practice.”
(on book marketing) “It is mostly magic. It’s voodoo. I have seen no correlation between how hard I work on a book and how it sells.”
Quotes from Mette Ivie Harrison:
“All writers are thieves except those who say they aren’t—they are liars and thieves.”
“Be aware of the threads that you’re holding and tweak them at just the right moment.”
(on writing the first draft) “I like to experience the story, be surprised by my own novel.”
“I’m always telling people not to have prologues.”
Mette also talked about novels having both an external and an internal plot as well as the different plot patterns such as romance, quest, adventure, and tragedy. She mentioned that Twilight was actually a romance plot with magic and fantasy woven in, which explained why I didn’t like it so much. I preferred New Moon because it was more about the fantasy elements than the romance, since Edward was gone for most of the book.
And a little aside to Erin, if you happen to read this: as we were driving home, I told Emalee not to lose the purple stickie with your email address written on it; so, of course, she promptly lost it! Hopefully you still have mine.
:0)
Here are some pix from the conference (finally got around to transferring and resizing them…I’m a procrastinator).
Also, one of the gals in my group sent me a link to a YouTube video that shows some conference highlights, including a clip of the Bad Romance performance: click here for that. Thanks, Jeni!
All of us in Brandon Mull's morning workshop group.
Me & my daughter, who also loves to write.
Emily Wing Smith, my Emalee, & Alane Ferguson.
Me with my dear friend and client, Beth Moore.
I got back from this weeklong conference late last night. I’ve attended three previous years but missed the last two, so this one was long anticipated. And wow. What a learning experience.
First of all, let me just say that Brandon Mull is awesome.
Awesome.
I was in his morning workshop class and gained so much from the insights he shared. Brandon agreed to do an interview for this blog; stay tuned for that. My daughter and I came up with a bunch of questions, so it might take a little while for him to answer.
As if the whole week wasn’t amazing enough, during the “closing extravaganza” members of the faculty (including agent Mary Kole) busted some moves to Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance with slightly modified lyrics: “Write, write, write, rewrite…” Talk about a cherry on top. If anyone has a DVD of that, I’d like a copy. I think I have a new favorite song.
Okay, below are some quotes from the conference.
Alane Ferguson, novelist:
“For me, I have to get that foundation right [or] the rest of it is not going to sit right and I could go way far afield.” (talking about the first chapter)
“If you’re going to do every little body function, you’re going to get dragged down. The minute you chronicle every twitch and spasm, I’m out. Someone wrote, ‘His eyes flew around the room’ and I said, ‘Catch them quick, they’re going to get away!’”
“Pick the best and then throw out the rest.”
“Go for it, really go for it. We want to vomit the words onto our page and then clean up the mess. Our internal editor can clean it up on the next pass.”
“Your tendency is to overdo it at the beginning. Let me discover it along the way. Throw your back story cards down carefully. Don’t play every card at the beginning. They are gold.”
Mary Kole, associate agent at Andrea Brown Literary Agency:
“Make me care about your character and what story you’re taking them on.”
“I always give the pages a chance.”
“Character is an entry point to a really exciting story.”
“Dig deep and tell the truth.”
“Developing voice is all about cutting out the parts that suck and making the rest sound natural. The most alive, compelling voices sound like an actual person in my head.”
“You don’t have to be edgy to write YA.”
“Now go out there and write an irresistible book.”
Mary E. Pearson, novelist:
“You see images and you hear voices, and you don’t even want to take medication for it. A pen is the only cure.”
“Story is who we are…as deeply woven into us as DNA. It’s what makes us uniquely human.”
“Real writers write. They snatch the moments they can and they make it happen.”
“If it didn’t advance the story, it had to go. I was ruthless.”
“There’s a saying that ‘Families are like fudge, mostly sweet with a few nuts.’ Writers have more nuts in their fudge than most people.”
“Even if a book only speaks to an audience of one, it has altered the world.”
“Each of you has your own story. All those turns in your path, the good and the bad, will make you the writer that’s uniquely you. I’m waiting to hear your untold stories.”
Ally Condie, novelist:
“I get fulfillment from this that I don’t get from other things.”
“Believe that who you are writing for are smart and wonderful kids.”
“Tough love is different than utter annihalation.”
Ann Dee Ellis, novelist:
“The better you know your characters, the easier the plot will fall into place.”
Jennifer Hunt, editorial director at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers:
“If you’re brilliant, let me know it on the first page.”
“Skip the trends and look for universal truths.”
“What’s inspiring to me is the voice. If I fall in love with an author’s voice, I can overlook other things.”
“As an editor, I say ‘I believe very strongly in this person and I want to see them do their best work.’”
Brandon Mull, novelist:
“Whenever I have an excuse to go gross, I do it.”
“I try to relate to them in some way and put myself in my characters’ shoes.”
“Daydreaming is my strength.”
“We include things in stories to see the characters’ reactions to them.”
“…hearing a story from your cool, funny friend vs. your boring friend. It’s all about how they arrange the details; their attitude; and pacing. It’s not what you say, but how you say it.” (talking about voice)
“There’s no substitute for massive amounts of reading and writing for finding a voice.”
“This is what I sound like when I tell a story.”
“The outlining is done by daydreaming, playing the movie in my mind.”
“I’ve got more and bigger and better in me.”
“The best way to learn writing is to do it.”
Until recently, the term “self-publishing” was a hiss and a byword in writing circles. People would cross themselves and run for the garlic at the mere mention of it. If you had self-published, you weren’t considered a real author, no matter how good your book was or how many awards you won. Well, times change. And so does the publishing industry. I was both interested and heartened to read the following take on the subject by international best-selling author David Farland:
I reported yesterday on the surging popularity of the iPad and how the new generation of e-readers is going to change publishing, but I realized that a lot of people unfamiliar with the industry might not recognize just how dramatically things are about to change.
Two hundred years ago, writers were Rock Stars. When Edgar Allan Poe gave a reading in the 1840s, women would throw off their clothes and swoon, overcome by the power of his words. When Jack London sold a short story in 1910, he would make $6000—about as much money as an average railroad laborer could expect to make in 20 years.
With the advent of radio and then television, the writers fell out of favor. Singers and actors soon achieved cult status—to the point that most people today probably can’t even name a contemporary poet! Very few poets make a living at it anymore—unless they put their poems to music, and so writers are always grumping about how tough times are.
Throughout all of these shifts, it has been the distributors who have made most of the money. When a book goes ballistic—say a Harry Potter or Twilight series—the author indeed can make a fortune. But the publishers of books, films, and videogames make far more. When a book like Harry Potter takes off, the author might get 15% of the cover price on that book, but the publisher can make more—say 20%-25%. Meanwhile, other distributors join the feeding frenzy with tie-in products. Tolkien’s estate made millions, but the movies made billions, and for every dollar made by the film—sold at the box office, in DVD, or through television licenses—far more was made through licensing the merchandise rights. None of that money for video games, t-shirts, and toy sales goes to the author.
But among writers, many are beginning to ask, Why do I need a publisher? What do they really provide?
I can self-publish the book using print-on-demand technology. Sure, I won’t sell as many copies, but I’ll keep all of the money.
I can self-publish my book electronically, and current case studies show that I can sell just as many electronic copies as my publisher does. In fact, I can do better. Some authors who are testing the waters by selling electronic rights cheaply are finding that they make far more by self-publishing than if they allow their publishers to sell. Why? Because if my publisher sells a book, they raise the price in order to pay themselves. Thus, they have to charge $4.99, for example, to give me a dollar-fifty. Meanwhile, if I self-publish that same book and charge only $1.99, I get to keep a dollar. But by selling at a lower price, I sell ten times as many copies!
The same is true with audio rights. I can read into a microphone and sell downloadable audio files. In the long run I might make far more money. Once again, I’m not paying an actor or a distributor for the audio rights, so I can sell those audio files far more inexpensively and raise the chance of becoming a bestseller in that industry.
So some authors are beginning to realize that publisher’s aren’t necessary anymore. They are betting that they can make more by self-publishing. Right now, I’m concerned that if I sell a novel today and give up my electronic rights, I might be giving up millions of dollars in future income. In short, the need to pay a middleman for electronic and audio rights will raise the price of my work so high that it will actively hinder me from becoming a bestseller.
The publishers, on the other hand, recognize that publishing books is a business that is going into a rapid decline. Most publishers work on about an 8% profit margin per year. If the sales of Kindle and iPad reach their projections this year, paper book sales will probably drop by more than 8%. In short, many publishers will lose money on their paper book divisions.
So they are demanding electronic rights from the authors in order to try to make up for the lost revenues. They’ll be drowning, and the author’s electronic rights will be their lifesavers. But perhaps that’s not a good analogy. It’s more like this: the publishing industry will be drowning, and the publisher’s hope to stay alive by climbing on the backs of their authors. Sure, some authors might drown, but the publishers are telling themselves, “At least I will stay afloat.”
Authors, on the other hand, realize that we don’t really want to be floaties. So we will need to adapt to this changing environment. Fortunately, we’ve seen examples from other industries undergoing similar changes. In the recording industry, pirating of songs caused much of the industry to collapse in the past decade. Many recording artists just “drowned” as a result. But some of them took their acts on the road and began touring. In effect, they cut out the middlemen in their industry and let their pirated music act as advertisements for their talents. As a result, many of the classic rock bands are making far more money on tour than they ever did as recording artists.
As new authors, you probably can’t do something equivalent. You can’t go and charge reading fees or speaking fees. But you might be able to self-publish. You might let the middlemen go hang themselves.
As most of you know, I self-published a book last year, and I’ve been keeping a running tally to let you know how it is doing. In the Company of Angels has sold nearly all of its first print run, and the copies will be gone within the month. So I’m out of the red and into the black, and the book just won the Whitney Award for Best Novel of the Year, which should help bolster sales of the trade paperback. In short, as I look at this little book, I started the venture thinking that it was a really terrible idea. Yet as it evolves, I’m seeing that I could make more money from self-publishing this novel than I’ve made with almost any other book.
Conventional wisdom in the past has said, “Don’t self-publish.” But the longer I live, the more I realize that all too often today’s “conventional wisdom” is just a myth waiting to be exploded. Changes in the publishing industry are such that we may soon realize that publishing books as we do now is a bad idea. Sure, I think that we’ll have a strong market for conventional books for the next twenty years, but giving up electronic rights in order to sell paperbacks is looking more and more like a losing proposition.
Reprinted with permission from David Farland’s “Daily Kick in the Pants,” a free email bulletin for writers. For more info and/or to subscribe, visit Dave’s website: