The other day I was chatting with my lawyer friend/swim mom, Margaret. I don't know how the topic came up, but she talking about the publishing business and wondered why publishing houses don't do more to sell directly from their web presence.
Her comment was that publishers would do better to change their publishing model to generate search engine activity toward selling their books on their site.
Good point. I agree. I think publishing houses would agree, but I honestly think they don't know where to start with this problem. There are millions of books out there.
Amazon, as we all know, is usually the first or second hit when you Google a book title.
I just tried it with one of my titles. Yep, Amazon. My blog link was around the sixth hit.
Publishers would do better to sell directly to the consumer, because they wouldn't have to pay the middle man (Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc). They could keep a smaller stock of books vs. warehouses full of books to ship to all the brick and mortar stores. Plus with the advent of electronic publishing, they could offer eBooks more easily. All they have to do is format those books for each of those particular electronic devices.
Indie authors do it. Why can't publishers?
As much as I love going into Barnes and Noble, there's a dirty little secret concerning bookstores and publishers. Bookstores can 'render' the books (rip off the covers to return covers to publisher for a full refund). The books are supposed to be destroyed, but it doesn't always happen. If, as a consumer, you purchase a coverless book, you are cheating the author out of their money--the only one making money on the deal is the dude selling them out of the back of his car.
Those little pop-up cardboard things that have the newest and greatest? Yeah, that's publisher money paying for it. Also, have you noticed that some books are faced out, while others are spine out--publisher money. And this doesn't include warehousing and distribution.
If Amazon can do POD (print on demand) publishing, why can't the publishers?
With the event of electronic publishing, it's not like they have to typeset each page. Oh, then they could warehouse a smaller quantity of books, and print a new run when they get low. Instead of paying trucks to distribute to all the brick and mortar bookstores, now they can send the book directly to the consumer.
Think of the profit margin!
Then they don't have to pay for returns. And it's not like that comes out of their pocket, the returns come out of the AUTHOR'S POCKET. When an author gets an 'advance', it's full term is called Advance Against Returns. Authors have to 'earn out' their advance before they ever see any royalties. And if you think every author is getting rich with their advances, then you are only seeing the < 1% of the writer population that is getting serious advances. Most authors make between $4000-6000 per book, or less depending on the publisher and book genre, especially when they are starting out, and those monies are usually divided into chunks--acceptance of contract, acceptance of manuscript, and when published. And all these terms can be sticky depending on the slipperiness of the publishing contract!
There are so many angles to look at this, but instead of offering a gazillion bucks for some loser to write a book about their time on a reality show, maybe they should spend more monies in house to update their on line presence, their accounting system (trust me, this is U-G-L-Y!) and paying their editors/authors a decent salary so they can actually live off what they make.
Well, I opened a bigger can of worms than I intended to with this blog post, so I'll stop right here.
Later, Peeps!
Showing posts with label publishing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label publishing. Show all posts
7/11/13
5/16/11
The Art of the Cover Blurb
Just in case y'all thought I know what the heck I'm doing, well, stop right here. I'm wading through the strait between the waters of "HAVEN'T A CLUE" and "FIGURING IT OUT AS I GO".
For those of you who don't know the publishing lingo. The cover blurb is usually the back cover copy of a print book.
BUT it's more than that. It must:
AND I STILL GOT IT WRONG.
At least wrong for that story. I'm going to fix it, but I will say that I'll have my blurbs ready PRIOR to my final edit of the next story.
In fact, I have a potential blurb ready for Book Four, IT TROLLS FOR THEE. Yes, book four. Haven't written it yet. No clue what's going on in it. Oh, have some scene ideas, but that's it. First I have to reread #3 TROLL to see what I wrote to come up with a blurb for #3.
--yes, this is putting the cart before the horse, but it wasn't my fault. I woke up out of a dead sleep with this blurb in mind.
This isn't the final copy. Heck, this isn't even much more than some brain drippings onto a page. It could almost be considered an 'elevator pitch' or a logline. Here it is the rough copy :
Betrayed by her best friend.
Her goblin mentor captured by the Dark Ones.
The war in Celestia is heating up as the evil gains control by pain and death.
With only her human mother to help her, Kyte Webber must rescue her goblin mentor. She knows she can't do it alone . . .
I'm playing with these lines:
New friends turn up in unlikely places. Enemies will soon become her allies in the war.
Will I use this?
Don't know. But I do know that the logline for book 3, FOR WHOM THE BELL TROLLS, basically allowed me to write the entire 50,000 word story in 19 days.
What was the logline?
Half-elven tween steals a Celestian book to help the ‘good’ side in the war, but inadvertently helps the Dark Ones gain power . . . oops.
Not genius, but it didn't have to be to work.
Later, Peeps! I have a new story to write!
For those of you who don't know the publishing lingo. The cover blurb is usually the back cover copy of a print book.
BUT it's more than that. It must:
- give the potential reader a taste of the story
- the feel for the author's writing style
- it must pull you into the story without giving anything away
- it must entice you to take the next step of opening the book
AND I STILL GOT IT WRONG.
At least wrong for that story. I'm going to fix it, but I will say that I'll have my blurbs ready PRIOR to my final edit of the next story.
In fact, I have a potential blurb ready for Book Four, IT TROLLS FOR THEE. Yes, book four. Haven't written it yet. No clue what's going on in it. Oh, have some scene ideas, but that's it. First I have to reread #3 TROLL to see what I wrote to come up with a blurb for #3.
--yes, this is putting the cart before the horse, but it wasn't my fault. I woke up out of a dead sleep with this blurb in mind.
This isn't the final copy. Heck, this isn't even much more than some brain drippings onto a page. It could almost be considered an 'elevator pitch' or a logline. Here it is the rough copy :
Betrayed by her best friend.
Her goblin mentor captured by the Dark Ones.
The war in Celestia is heating up as the evil gains control by pain and death.
With only her human mother to help her, Kyte Webber must rescue her goblin mentor. She knows she can't do it alone . . .
I'm playing with these lines:
New friends turn up in unlikely places. Enemies will soon become her allies in the war.
Will I use this?
Don't know. But I do know that the logline for book 3, FOR WHOM THE BELL TROLLS, basically allowed me to write the entire 50,000 word story in 19 days.
What was the logline?
Half-elven tween steals a Celestian book to help the ‘good’ side in the war, but inadvertently helps the Dark Ones gain power . . . oops.
3/9/09
Would You Quit Writing
if you never sold a single story?
I know this question has been posed on numerous blogs by numerous people, mainly unpublished authors like moi. And I think the reason I'm asking is because last week was rejection week for me, two for my UF and two for my picture book. I sent two separate packets to one agent who represented both genres only to get the double whammy in the same letter. *sigh* Well, at least it was a personalized rejection, since she typed in both titles. You can tell newbie agents by the personalized typed letters. Over time, they learn that form letters are the way to go, but it was a nice touch and I appreciated it.
So would you still write? For most writers the answer would be yes. We enjoy inventing new worlds or finding lost loves or simply writing the adventures of a fly named Peter. BUT the key is to write new stories. Don't just keep tweaking the old ones. Trust me, I know how hard it is to stop, but if you keep dinking with the story, or keep sending it to a critique group(s), or entering it in contests you will write the spark out of the story. It will become drab and boring and it won't even be yours any more.
Learn from your mistakes and move on. Improve your grammar, study craft, and keep writing. So what if you have ten manuscripts under the bed? What you learned by writing those stories will improve your new stories. When the new story is finished and polished, start querying agents and then editors.
And start a new story.
True, you may never sell that story or the next one or the next one, but you might hear the SOS of an editor needing to fill a slot then dust off the appropriate story and send it in. I did this last week and one of the rejections I got was from the same publishing company--BUT from a query I had sent four months ago. Yeah, I forgot that was out there. Oops! And I'll probably get a no-response rejection from the SOS manuscript. Oh, well, shit happens and then you step in it!
Get used to the 'we'll call if we are interested' mindset, because that is the way the publishing biz seems to be going.
So, my answer to my question is: Yes, I'll still write.
I have the ability to change genres on a whim or write in an unexpected genre or write short or long or whatever I feel like because I don't have anyone breathing down my neck with a deadline.
--though there is that MG contest I want to enter and I've only written 1/5 of my story. Guess I DO have a deadline and I'd better get into the mind of a 10 year old (I know, I know, it isn't too far for me to go) to finish the adventure.
--but then again, my kiddo gave me an idea for another picture book story that I'd like to write.
--and I do have about 5 romantic suspense's that I've started
--or how about. . . .
Write on!
I know this question has been posed on numerous blogs by numerous people, mainly unpublished authors like moi. And I think the reason I'm asking is because last week was rejection week for me, two for my UF and two for my picture book. I sent two separate packets to one agent who represented both genres only to get the double whammy in the same letter. *sigh* Well, at least it was a personalized rejection, since she typed in both titles. You can tell newbie agents by the personalized typed letters. Over time, they learn that form letters are the way to go, but it was a nice touch and I appreciated it.
So would you still write? For most writers the answer would be yes. We enjoy inventing new worlds or finding lost loves or simply writing the adventures of a fly named Peter. BUT the key is to write new stories. Don't just keep tweaking the old ones. Trust me, I know how hard it is to stop, but if you keep dinking with the story, or keep sending it to a critique group(s), or entering it in contests you will write the spark out of the story. It will become drab and boring and it won't even be yours any more.
Learn from your mistakes and move on. Improve your grammar, study craft, and keep writing. So what if you have ten manuscripts under the bed? What you learned by writing those stories will improve your new stories. When the new story is finished and polished, start querying agents and then editors.
And start a new story.
True, you may never sell that story or the next one or the next one, but you might hear the SOS of an editor needing to fill a slot then dust off the appropriate story and send it in. I did this last week and one of the rejections I got was from the same publishing company--BUT from a query I had sent four months ago. Yeah, I forgot that was out there. Oops! And I'll probably get a no-response rejection from the SOS manuscript. Oh, well, shit happens and then you step in it!
Get used to the 'we'll call if we are interested' mindset, because that is the way the publishing biz seems to be going.
So, my answer to my question is: Yes, I'll still write.
I have the ability to change genres on a whim or write in an unexpected genre or write short or long or whatever I feel like because I don't have anyone breathing down my neck with a deadline.
--though there is that MG contest I want to enter and I've only written 1/5 of my story. Guess I DO have a deadline and I'd better get into the mind of a 10 year old (I know, I know, it isn't too far for me to go) to finish the adventure.
--but then again, my kiddo gave me an idea for another picture book story that I'd like to write.
--and I do have about 5 romantic suspense's that I've started
--or how about. . . .
Write on!
2/9/09
Do YOU Have What It Takes?
I often wonder about this as many of my unpubbed friends can attest to. I'm certain they have gone through the same thing, over and over . . . and over. It's sort of cyclic and hormone related.
And, believe it or not, I think even published writers wonder about it, too.
Do you have what it takes to become a full-time writer?
True, I'm mainly concerned with writing a good novel at a relatively decent speed that I'm hoping some publisher will pick it up. Whereas the published author wonders if this book will be better than the last one. Deadlines, edits, copy edits, proposals are the proverbial Sword of Damocles hanging over the author's head. Multiply that for the authors who write for different publishing houses and/or genres or have two-three books coming out in a year. Yikes!
No wonder some 'inferior' books get published by normally stellar authors.
Even when I go through a period where I wonder why I write and if I'll ever get published, I always think of those authors who have been writing DECADES before they got published. There are a few of them out there. And you know what they all have in common:
PERSEVERANCE.
Timing and luck also play a part, but I don't have any real control over those factors.
I CAN control what I write and how much I write daily.
The key is to tough it out. Keep writing. If you want to give the submission phase a break, by all means do. Actually in this economy it will be rough selling. But don't discount it. I'm hearing many first time authors are getting a shot. Shoot, many authors are wondering if publishers will be buying their option books or simply 'downsizing'. Look at it this way--signing a first-timer is cheaper than paying the higher advances to the published author. It's the same way companies hire fresh-out-of-college workers and part-timers over more experienced, and expensive, workers.
So that's what I'm doing--writing.
Write On!
And, believe it or not, I think even published writers wonder about it, too.
Do you have what it takes to become a full-time writer?
True, I'm mainly concerned with writing a good novel at a relatively decent speed that I'm hoping some publisher will pick it up. Whereas the published author wonders if this book will be better than the last one. Deadlines, edits, copy edits, proposals are the proverbial Sword of Damocles hanging over the author's head. Multiply that for the authors who write for different publishing houses and/or genres or have two-three books coming out in a year. Yikes!
No wonder some 'inferior' books get published by normally stellar authors.
Even when I go through a period where I wonder why I write and if I'll ever get published, I always think of those authors who have been writing DECADES before they got published. There are a few of them out there. And you know what they all have in common:
PERSEVERANCE.
Timing and luck also play a part, but I don't have any real control over those factors.
I CAN control what I write and how much I write daily.
The key is to tough it out. Keep writing. If you want to give the submission phase a break, by all means do. Actually in this economy it will be rough selling. But don't discount it. I'm hearing many first time authors are getting a shot. Shoot, many authors are wondering if publishers will be buying their option books or simply 'downsizing'. Look at it this way--signing a first-timer is cheaper than paying the higher advances to the published author. It's the same way companies hire fresh-out-of-college workers and part-timers over more experienced, and expensive, workers.
So that's what I'm doing--writing.
Write On!
11/19/08
Advice to the newbie
I found out a few days ago that my niece has started writing in her free time. Of course, I sent her an email, but haven't heard back from her yet. My brother, her uncle, is the one who sent me a note about her endeavors, and here is one of his comments, "Perhaps you can share some lessons learned that she need not suffer through, unless this is some necessary rite of passage for any author to be any good at all." I thought his comment was funny as hell, though I don't think he meant it to be. Yep, if I'd been drinking coffee when I read this the spray would have ruined my monitor.
Writing is a tough biz. 90% of the population wants to write a book. 10% actually starts writing a book. 1% finish a manuscript. And less than 0.01% actually publishes a book.
well, crap, I was cleaning up my blog and deleted the rest of it. Guess, I'll have to try to remember what I was going to say, other than AARRRGGGHHH!
In the current economic downturn, very few publishers will want to extend contracts to untested debut authors. Oh, there will be a few, but you have to remember they are only going to bet on the sure thing, the guaranteed money makers, such as celebrities. And you have to remember that mid-list authors will be fighting for what little money is available, and they are already a proven entity.
Use this time to hone your craft, learn all aspects of the business, research your story, and discover your writing voice. Finish that manuscript and start another, and another, until you have more to offer when you get picked up.
Write what you love, because your passion will shine through.
And remember, they aren't rejecting you, it's just business.
Writing is a tough biz. 90% of the population wants to write a book. 10% actually starts writing a book. 1% finish a manuscript. And less than 0.01% actually publishes a book.
well, crap, I was cleaning up my blog and deleted the rest of it. Guess, I'll have to try to remember what I was going to say, other than AARRRGGGHHH!
In the current economic downturn, very few publishers will want to extend contracts to untested debut authors. Oh, there will be a few, but you have to remember they are only going to bet on the sure thing, the guaranteed money makers, such as celebrities. And you have to remember that mid-list authors will be fighting for what little money is available, and they are already a proven entity.
Use this time to hone your craft, learn all aspects of the business, research your story, and discover your writing voice. Finish that manuscript and start another, and another, until you have more to offer when you get picked up.
Write what you love, because your passion will shine through.
And remember, they aren't rejecting you, it's just business.
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