A Silver Lining? - CrimeSpace2024-03-28T20:36:55Zhttps://crimespace.ning.com/forum/topics/a-silver-lining?commentId=537324%3AComment%3A180104&feed=yes&xn_auth=nohttp://www.npr.org/templates/…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2009-03-14:537324:Comment:1879942009-03-14T07:32:41.927ZminervaKhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/minervakoenig
<a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101158662">http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101158662</a><br />
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Humorous and perhaps containing a grain of truth....?<br />
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MK<br />
<a href="http://www.minervakoenig.com">www.minervakoenig.com</a>
<a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101158662">http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101158662</a><br />
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Humorous and perhaps containing a grain of truth....?<br />
<br />
MK<br />
<a href="http://www.minervakoenig.com">www.minervakoenig.com</a> For clarification purposes, t…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2009-02-05:537324:Comment:1801042009-02-05T16:44:04.010ZChristopher Valenhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/ChristopherValen
For clarification purposes, the 800,000 figure I quoted previously includes the estimated 300,000 self-published books along with the 480,000 or so traditionally published books in 2008.<br />
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Also, I saw the following story in a New York Times article. I think it's a good illustration of what can sometimes happen to unknown authors:<br />
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When Lisa Genova, a former consultant to pharmaceutical companies, wrote her first novel, “Still Alice,” a story about a woman with Alzheimer’s disease, she was turned…
For clarification purposes, the 800,000 figure I quoted previously includes the estimated 300,000 self-published books along with the 480,000 or so traditionally published books in 2008.<br />
<br />
Also, I saw the following story in a New York Times article. I think it's a good illustration of what can sometimes happen to unknown authors:<br />
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When Lisa Genova, a former consultant to pharmaceutical companies, wrote her first novel, “Still Alice,” a story about a woman with Alzheimer’s disease, she was turned down or ignored by 100 literary agents.<br />
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Ms. Genova paid $450 to iUniverse to publish the book and sold copies to independent bookstores. A fellow author discovered the book and introduced Ms. Genova to an agent, and she eventually sold “Still Alice” for a mid-six-figure advance to Pocket Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, which released a new edition this month. It had its debut on the New York Times trade paperback fiction best-seller list on Sunday, at No. 5.<br />
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Ms. Genova likened her experience to that of young bands or filmmakers using MySpace or YouTube to attract a following. “It’s really tough to break into the traditional model of doing things,” she said.<br />
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Louise Burke, publisher of Pocket Books, said publishers now trawl for new material by looking at reader comments about self-published books sold online. Self-publishing, she said, is “no longer a dirty word.”<br />
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Diamonds in the rough, though, remain the outliers. There are approximately 800,0…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2009-02-04:537324:Comment:1800192009-02-04T22:48:34.447ZChristopher Valenhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/ChristopherValen
There are approximately 800,000 books published each year and 98% of them sell less than 5,000 copies, with thousands selling less than 500 copies. Still, there are advantages to publishing a book that generates good reviews. Good reviews help an author get noticed, as does a good website and social networking. And sending a published book that has been well received and reviewed to an agent or to a mid-sized or large publisher, along with your second manuscript, is better than sending in an…
There are approximately 800,000 books published each year and 98% of them sell less than 5,000 copies, with thousands selling less than 500 copies. Still, there are advantages to publishing a book that generates good reviews. Good reviews help an author get noticed, as does a good website and social networking. And sending a published book that has been well received and reviewed to an agent or to a mid-sized or large publisher, along with your second manuscript, is better than sending in an unpublished manuscript. As I.J. said, a number of authors have achieved success using this method. I think that actually has wor…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2009-02-04:537324:Comment:1800032009-02-04T22:05:31.429ZI. J. Parkerhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/Ingpark
I think that actually has worked for a number of people, who managed to get excellent contracts after e-publishing or self-publishing. By no means a sure thing, though. Think what you're up against.
I think that actually has worked for a number of people, who managed to get excellent contracts after e-publishing or self-publishing. By no means a sure thing, though. Think what you're up against. I don't think that's cynical…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2009-02-04:537324:Comment:1799912009-02-04T19:56:08.018ZDana Kinghttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/DanaKing
I don't think that's cynical at all; it may even be practical. How often have we read editors lamenting what a crap shoot this is, and how much time they have to spend arguing with their marketing people about a new author's sale-ability. Maybe establishing some kind of track record for sales will help to minimize the risks all around. The publisher won't worry so much about buying a pig in a poke, and a new author won't have to worry as much about a publisher getting unreasonable sales…
I don't think that's cynical at all; it may even be practical. How often have we read editors lamenting what a crap shoot this is, and how much time they have to spend arguing with their marketing people about a new author's sale-ability. Maybe establishing some kind of track record for sales will help to minimize the risks all around. The publisher won't worry so much about buying a pig in a poke, and a new author won't have to worry as much about a publisher getting unreasonable sales expectations, and ruining a fledgling career just bacause a book didn't do as well as they wanted it to. Well, the cynic in me feels t…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2009-02-04:537324:Comment:1799852009-02-04T18:50:03.904ZJohn McFetridgehttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/JohnMcF
Well, the cynic in me feels that big publishers will stop taking on first-time novelists altogether. They'll want writers to deliver not only fantastic manuscripts but also some number of readers - maybe only a few hundred, maybe more - that the writer has obtained either by putting stuff online or selling a self-published book.<br />
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Having a self-published book selling a certain number of copies or an online-delivered work downloaded by a certain number of readers may become as much a vetting…
Well, the cynic in me feels that big publishers will stop taking on first-time novelists altogether. They'll want writers to deliver not only fantastic manuscripts but also some number of readers - maybe only a few hundred, maybe more - that the writer has obtained either by putting stuff online or selling a self-published book.<br />
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Having a self-published book selling a certain number of copies or an online-delivered work downloaded by a certain number of readers may become as much a vetting method for big publishers as only reading agented work.<br />
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You know, it's not a matter of getting a publisher to say "yes" to your manuscript, it's about eliminating the reasons they have for saying "no." Sales, of any kind, will eliminate any other complaints about your book. I don't see this happening. A…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2009-02-04:537324:Comment:1799802009-02-04T18:30:29.597ZI. J. Parkerhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/Ingpark
I don't see this happening. A. Agents seek the best deal up front. It's their income. B. authors with a small publisher still have to compete against the guys who are pushed on the public via massive promotions. and C. that means bookstores will stock the massively promoted authors and not the others. The public simply won't get to know you.<br />
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In fact, it works the same way against the midlist author with a large publisher.<br />
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(Or did you mean that the big publishers won't pay out huge advances…
I don't see this happening. A. Agents seek the best deal up front. It's their income. B. authors with a small publisher still have to compete against the guys who are pushed on the public via massive promotions. and C. that means bookstores will stock the massively promoted authors and not the others. The public simply won't get to know you.<br />
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In fact, it works the same way against the midlist author with a large publisher.<br />
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(Or did you mean that the big publishers won't pay out huge advances and promotions any longer? I think they'll be even more inclined to go for the quick turn-around on their bucks). Maybe we just like this analo…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2009-02-04:537324:Comment:1799642009-02-04T15:46:06.309ZJohn McFetridgehttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/JohnMcF
Maybe we just like this analogy because it's only twenty days till pitchers and catchers report ;)<br />
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But it does work as an analogy. When I signed my first deal with a Canadian publisher (mid-sized for Canada, very small press for the USA) they wanted a three book deal because as they said, "The best thing for all of us is that you get picked up by a big publisher and we can keep selling the first three books." So they do see themselves as a bit of a farm team. <i>Swap</i> is the third book in…
Maybe we just like this analogy because it's only twenty days till pitchers and catchers report ;)<br />
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But it does work as an analogy. When I signed my first deal with a Canadian publisher (mid-sized for Canada, very small press for the USA) they wanted a three book deal because as they said, "The best thing for all of us is that you get picked up by a big publisher and we can keep selling the first three books." So they do see themselves as a bit of a farm team. <i>Swap</i> is the third book in that deal, so it seems to have worked.<br />
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I guess the question now is, will self-published work the same as a small publisher - as a farm team?<br />
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Because you're cerainly right, Dana, a business plan that relies on winning a lottery doesn't seem like something that can be sustained. Maybe I should write the MOne…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2009-02-04:537324:Comment:1799512009-02-04T15:01:20.170ZDana Kinghttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/DanaKing
Maybe I should write the MOneyball of publishing. It has to do at least as well as my fiction. ;)
Maybe I should write the MOneyball of publishing. It has to do at least as well as my fiction. ;) Pushing this analogy to the b…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2009-02-04:537324:Comment:1799492009-02-04T15:00:40.505ZDana Kinghttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/DanaKing
Pushing this analogy to the breaking point, even if the big pubs treated the smaller guys as farm teams, scooping up writers who had proven themselves at a lower sales level, everyone would probably benefit. I've spoken to some small press folks, who understand this is what happens, and they're good with it, as they understand they lack the resources to push hundreds of thousands of books. I just can't imagine a business plan that requires the business to depend on winning the lottery if it is…
Pushing this analogy to the breaking point, even if the big pubs treated the smaller guys as farm teams, scooping up writers who had proven themselves at a lower sales level, everyone would probably benefit. I've spoken to some small press folks, who understand this is what happens, and they're good with it, as they understand they lack the resources to push hundreds of thousands of books. I just can't imagine a business plan that requires the business to depend on winning the lottery if it is to have a successful year.