Tag Archives: e-publishing

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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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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The Joys of Project Gutenberg and E-Readers

Posted on January 5, 2011 | Comments Off

I went on a trip to Disneyland, and for the first time experienced the joys of not having to lug around a stack of paperbacks and hardbacks in my backpack.  I just got an e-reader (a Nook) and had a wonderful time exploring the Project Gutenberg website, whose mission is to provide to readers free access to classic books and reference works in the public domain (though donations are encouraged).

I was able to download electronic versions of books such as ALICE IN WONDERLAND, TREASURE ISLAND, THE COMPLETE WORKS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, EMMA, and several other classics.

If you’ve ever lugged around a hardback version of THE COLLECTED WORKS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, you know what a pain it is to the back and wrists.  Being able to carry Shakespeare around in a feather light electronic device was a joy.  Plus, when we got stuck in the airport due to flight delays from all the snow back east, I had enough old classics written for kids on the Nook to keep my son entertained for hours.

I’ve heard people talk about how they’ll never get an e-reader because they love the smell of paper, but I think one can have fun owning both paper and electronic books.  Each format serves best in certain situations.  When stuck in an airport, an electronic reader is an amazing tool for people who love to read and who want to share that love with their children.

I also encourage writers who are doing research to check out the non-fiction collections that Project Gutenberg has put together. I’ve found some wonderful out-of-print reference books from the 19th century to download to read in preparation for doing various writing projects.

Project Gutenberg provides their electronic files in various formats (ePUB, Kindle, rtf, html, and txt).

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Posted in Craft of writing, Research

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Scary Thought of the Night

Posted on November 5, 2010 | Comments Off

Tonight’s scary realization….

After a taking a workshop that taught the bare basics on making book covers and thereafter playing around, I can now make simple book covers for real electronic and POD editions if I so chose to.

My significant other pointed out that this means I ought to give into my evil side and start a vanity press.

No, I’m not going to start a vanity press.

But it feels just like I’ve woken up with a mutant power.  I’m used to only knowing about the writing side of things.

Here’s the first pretend book cover I ever did.  Still much much more to learn to get better at this.   And I have no intention of doing this for money from other writers or publishers.  Just learning more about another side of the publishing business.  Also, I find the way I look at the work of cover artists has changed–I admire those artists more than ever!

This is a practice book cover made by L. M. May

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Posted in Business of writing, Publishers

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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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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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J. A. Konrath on Ebooks

Posted on May 27, 2010 | Comments Off

Unless you don’t follow publishing news, I’m sure you’ve heard about J. A. Konrath signing a major deal with AmazonEncore. I advise reading about it at his blog since Publisher’s Weekly got some of the basic facts wrong .

Also, he’s well-known in e-publishing circles because of his candor in blogging his actual sales numbers on the Kindle since he started self-publishing there. There’s been a lot of handy information on his blog since he’s experimented with different approaches–like better book covers and changes in pricing–and I know he gathered it up for THE NEWBIE’S GUIDE TO PUBLISHING. I’ve downloaded it, and will try to find time to read it this summer to review here.

He’s getting swamped with emails from writers asking questions about e-publishing, so he just did a blog on “Top Ebook Questions.” I think it’s a good place to start exploring this new revenue stream for writers.

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

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