Category Archives: Markets

It’s Not Indie VS. Traditional, It’s Indie AND Traditional

Posted on March 26, 2011 | Comments Off

As fiction writers, we live in an exciting era right now due to the new distribution opportunities available through Kindle, PubIt, and Smashwords. But to hear some writers talk, it’s Indie vs. Traditional, and one has to choose sides.

Well, a lot of neo-pros and old (20+ years) pros I’ve been talking to are excited about being able to do both indie publishing and traditional publishing at the same time.  Having more revenue streams as a writer makes it easier to pay the bills each month. And as long as one is careful about reading and negotiating away any excessively broad non-compete clauses in a traditional publishing book contract, doing so should not be a big deal.

Short stories still need to go to traditional markets first if you want to sell them to a place like The New Yorker.  But if you write a novelette or novella that can’t find a traditional home, it is now possible to indie publish it instead of just letting it sit around unpublished. And once the exclusive time frame on a traditionally published story expires (and if you didn’t sign an all rights contract), you can republish it as an indie reprint to generate more income.

But one thing I want to emphasize is the importance of thinking twice before giving away a royalty cut to an e-packager for an indie story.  Dean Wesley Smith and J. A. Konrath and Barry Eisler debate the pros and cons at length in a post put up today.

We’re all in for a wild run over the next few years in publishing. Since I used to work in the software industry–which makes publishing look glacial by comparison–I confess I’ve welcomed the publishing technology breakthroughs that are bringing on a faster business pace.

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Posted in Business of writing, Contracts, Markets, Publishers

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Barry Eisler Turned Down $500,000 Deal to Indie Publish

Posted on March 21, 2011 | Comments Off

In case you haven’t already heard the gossip, thriller writer Barry Eisler has turned down a $500,000 advance from a traditional publisher so that he can indie publish his next 2 books instead.  You can read his interview with J. A. Konrath about the reasons here.

In the end, it looks like it came down to having much more money and control in self-publishing that tipped the decision for him to go indie. He’ll be able to make a heck of a lot more revenue over ten years by indie publishing than in the deal he was offered. And he’ll be able to get the first book published now instead of having to wait until Spring 2012.

Dean Wesley Smith has a thoughtful analysis on the Eisler & Konrath interview on his website. Reading Eisler’s blog post, followed by Dean’s, will give one a great crash course on money matters in publishing.

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Posted in Business of writing, Contracts, Markets, Publishers

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The Borders Bankruptcy Number Crunching

Posted on February 21, 2011 | Comments Off

C. E. Petit is crunching the numbers over at his website right now about the Borders bankruptcy and how it may impact publishers as creditors in the Chapter 11 proceedings.  Go read his posts from yesterday (Feb. 20) and today, great stuff.

This is a wise time to learn about the financial health of any publisher you have contracts for novels with that are still in print, or if you are planning to sign a contract in the near future with a publisher.

If the publisher is part of a publicly traded conglomerate on the stock exchange (and you know the name or ticker symbol) you can easily look at the SEC filings at 
http://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/webusers.htm
The quarterly (10-Q) and annual filing with the SEC is where the good stuff can be found, like how much cash they have on hand (Cash and Cash Reserves), cash flow, and their debts. You’ll want to take your time and read back as far as the database will allow you to get a good feel for what is going on in a particular company.

As for private publishing companies, if your library has access to Hoover’s (http://www.hoovers.com/), you might be able to get some info on their finances from there.

Also, another resource to turn to for help in doing financial research on a publishing company is your nearest Reference Librarian. Librarians are a wonderful resource for this sort of research.

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Posted in Business of writing, Markets, Publishers

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Robin Sullivan’s “Write to Publish” Website

Posted on February 18, 2011 | Comments Off

For those thinking about electronic and POD self-publishing, make sure to check out Robin Sullivan’s “Write to Publish” website. She’s been sharing her pricing experiments as well as her learned lessons about the business side of publishing. Her article comparing Lightning Source to Createspace is a huge help in getting a handle on the actual print-on-demand costs.

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Posted in Business of writing, Markets, Publishers

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Please Go Read “Bad Decisions and the Midlist Writer”

Posted on January 27, 2011 | Comments Off

With the major changes happening in publishing right now, anyone not reading The Business Rusch is missing out on great weekly blog posts on this business.  Kristine Kathyrn Rusch is a successful award-winning fiction writer, as well as a former editor and publisher.

This week’s topic is “Bad Decisions and the Midlist Writer,” and is a must read for anyone who wants to make a living as a fiction writer.  With the technology and distribution changes that are happening right now, wonderful opportunities are opening up for fiction writers like in the era of the pulps.

However, when there’s more money to be made means that the sharks and scammers are coming out in force.

Here’s a short excerpt from her post:

Right now, established writers are standing on the starting line of a brand new gold rush.  Unfortunately, writers as a class are stupid about business.  Those who understand business have already cut in front of the writers and have set up shop.

So what do I mean exactly?  Why am I worried about this?

Here’s the hard truth: for the first time in my lifetime, a midlist writer can make bestseller money without having a bestseller and without writing 6 or 8 or 10 books per year.  The rise of e-books, the availability of print-on-demand publishing, and the growing use of internet bookstores like Amazon make it possible to sell backlist titles that could earn a writer tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, of dollars per year.

Seriously, read the entire post here. Following her advice could save a writer, as well as his or her family after the writer’s death, significant sums of money over the coming decades.

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Posted in Agents, Business of writing, Contracts, Markets, Publishers

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Using the Internet Effectively: Simon’s Cat

Posted on December 24, 2010 | Comments Off

I just discovered animator Simon Tofield’s short films online, and I think he does a great job of using the internet effectively to reach viewers.  Take a look at the Simon’s Cat website, which I’d like to point out:

1) Makes it easy for viewers to watch his all films and purchase his books.

2) Makes it easy for visitors to quickly find whatever they are looking for.

3) He does not waste his time blogging since that is not an interest of his.

4) The whole website does a great job of showing his sense of humor.

If you’re planning on doing YouTube broadcasts, also check out the Simon’s Cat YouTube Channel. A nice clean design that is easy to navigate, with obvious links to his website and Facebook page.

As a cat owner, I also recommend these sites simply because his short films about his cat are hilarious.

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Posted in Blogging, Business of writing, Markets

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No Quirky Writing Need Rot in a Drawer Anymore

Posted on October 24, 2010 | Comments Off

Sooner or later it happens to every writer.  The story that’s too weird in characters or plot to get past the sales force of a publisher, or has the wrong word count–too long for a short story sale (10,000 words or more), too short for a novel sale (less than 55,000 words).

It used to be when that happened all one could do was save those stories up for a collection of short stories or let them rot in a drawer.

And then after awhile, one reaches a point where one knows a story is going to be quirky after the first few pages, and an overwhelming urge would hit to just give up on it since there was virtually no market for it.

That’s why I’m so excited about the new distribution systems opening up through Smashwords, Amazon Kindle, and Barnes & Noble’s PubIt.   Writers’ quirky stories are going to be able to see the light of day.   I’m looking forward to seeing what some of my favorite writers do in this new world.

And these days I no longer get the urge to stifle a story after the first few pages, because I know if it’s of publishable quality I can find a home for it, no matter what, down the road.  No story I write need sit rotting in a drawer–unless (like the first novel I wrote) it ought to.   Bad writing is still bad writing in this new world.

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Posted in Business of writing, Markets, Psychology of writing, Publishers

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The insanity of the “I just wanna write fiction AND get published” mindset

Posted on September 26, 2010 | Comments Off

I have no problem with someone saying, “I just wanna write.”   Creating art for art’s sake is a wonderful thing to do.

What drives me nuts is when someone says “I just wanna write fiction AND get published.”  That’s just crazy.  Because publishing is a business, and if someone wants to play the publishing business game, they’d better learn the rules of the business.  Otherwise, just slap a “I’LL BE IN TROUBLE” label on their back and be done with it.  Because one of the following WILL happen (let’s alternate between genders):

1) The writer will fall prey financially to a scam agent, a scam editor, scam contests, or scam publisher because she couldn’t be bothered to learn the business.  Hundreds, maybe even thousands, of dollars will disappear into the black hole of scams.

2) The writer will be gouged in pricing by a subsidy or vanity press because he couldn’t be bothered to research actual publishing costs and methods.  Hundreds, maybe even thousands, of dollars will be lost.

3) The writer will run into legal problems because she couldn’t be bothered to learn about publishing contracts so she could understand what she was signing.   If she’s really unlucky, she could find herself stuck in court for years.

3) The writer will be taken by surprise when his publisher goes out of business, sticking his books with that publisher in bankruptcy limbo.  He couldn’t be bothered to keep track of the financial health of his publisher.

4) The writer will be in financial trouble when she discovers her agent or publisher has been cooking the books.  She couldn’t be bothered to learn how to read a royalty statement, add important clauses to her publishing contracts to protect her interests, or how to track her own money.

5) The writer will run into serious career trouble when his agent dies, gets sick, dumps him, or leaves agenting as a career.  He couldn’t be bothered to learn the business of how to sell manuscripts to editors.

6) The writer will be surprised when her publisher drops her, because she couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to the print run numbers.

7) The writer will run into cash flow problems, because he couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to the out-of-print, e-book royalty rates, subsidiary rights, and reversion rights clauses in his contracts.

One thing I’ve noticed again and again at conferences is that the fiction writers I’ve met who’ve survived in the publishing business for 15+ years pay attention to the business side of publishing.  A writer can get away with ignoring the business side (if she or he is lucky) for maybe 7-12 years.  But statistically speaking, sooner or later a rough patch will happen, and the writers who survive to publish again are those who pay attention to the business side.

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Posted in Business of writing, Contracts, Markets, Psychology of writing, Scams

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Doses of Reality: TALES FROM THE SCRIPT, and a blog post from Scott William Carter

Posted on September 12, 2010 | Comments Off

Peter Hanson and Paul Robert Herman have gone and interviewed 50 screenwriters to create the best (as well as the most brutally realistic) documentary on screenwriting I’ve ever seen, TALES FROM THE SCRIPT.   Even if one doesn’t write screenplays, this documentary is worth seeing as a way to understand the joys and hardships of writing stories for a living.

Here’s their description of the documentary:

Screenwriters ranging from newcomers to living legends share their triumphs and hardships in this probing, insightful, and often hilarious odyssey through the world of movie storytelling. Celebrated scribes reveal the fascinating creative adventures that gave birth to beloved classics (and notorious flops). By analyzing their triumphs and recalling their failures, the participants explain how successful writers develop the skills necessary for toughing out careers in Hollywood. Candid and unafraid to name names, they also describe their collaborations with stars including Tim Burton, Harrison Ford, Morgan Freeman, Stanley Kubrick, Adam Sandler, Joel Silver, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, and Bryan Singer.

Also, Scott William Carter has written a realistic thoughtful blog post on “10 Reasons There’s Never Been a Better Time to Be a Fiction Writer.” Here’s a very small taste:

When I replied that actually they’ve got it dead wrong, there’s never been a better time to be a fiction writer, that if I had a time traveling machine and could pick only one time to be a novelist, I’d pick now without question, I’m pretty sure he thought I was smoking something.
But it’s the truth. Seriously.
Don’t believe me? Here’s ten reasons why.

Go read this long post of his.  It’s better than many articles on “changing technology and the impact on writers” that I’ve seen in Writer’s Digest or Publisher’s Weekly.

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Posted in Business of writing, Craft of writing, Interviews with Writers, Markets, Psychology of writing, Writers on Writing Links

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Interesting links on the writing business

Posted on July 10, 2010 | Comments Off

Check out Douglas Smith’s Foreign Markets for selling speculative short stories.  This is a unique list of non-English markets.  Make sure to read his guidelines if you decide to submit to these markets.

There’s a fascinating article about how literary agent Andrew Wylie runs his business, written by Craig Lambert at Harvard Magazine.

And Cory Doctorow has an update on his self-publishing experiment (and he continues to share the income and expense numbers), at Publisher’s Weekly as “New York, Meet Silicon Valley.”

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Posted in Agents, Business of writing, Markets, Publishers

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