tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001434439078518468.post1595940466802601998..comments2024-01-08T13:43:58.220-05:00Comments on Brillig: The Missionary ImpulseThe Brillig Bloggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07886394602447693115noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001434439078518468.post-81330614673268786672014-02-18T10:58:33.262-05:002014-02-18T10:58:33.262-05:00@John Brown: I would take exception to this statem...@John Brown: I would take exception to this statement: "Going through a trad publisher will not lead to more online book sales."<br /><br />I don't believe that to be true. If an author sells to a larger publisher, their books will appear in book stores. Those books showing up in bookstores, plus any sort of push this gets from the publishers via marketing/etc., will lead not only to physical sales, it will lead to e-book sales as well. This can be from people seeing the book, then going home to buy it online (or right their in the store with their mobile device), it can be from books being passed around or being talked about (those that bought the physical copy or e-copies). It increases the chances of wider adoption and broader word-of-mouth, which will help both e-sales and physical sales in the end.<br /><br />So while it's not guaranteed, I think being with a Big 5 publisher increases the chances of a breakout novel significantly. How significantly? Who knows? But it's something worth considering. It can lead to you broadening your readership, which will help with the current book(s) being published, and also future books and backlist.<br /><br />Joshua's mention of opportunity cost is also huge. I'm not against self-publishing. I think it's a viable option for some books and some authors, but the time (not to mention skill) required to push your books is considerable. It could easily cost a writer half their time, which might be better spent writing the next book.Brad Beaulieuhttp://www.quillings.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001434439078518468.post-89089639163375473892014-02-18T10:50:59.186-05:002014-02-18T10:50:59.186-05:00I think this post from Tobias Buckell is entirely ...I think this post from Tobias Buckell is entirely appropriate here. It talks about survivorship bias, why you have to be very careful taking advice on writing/publishing from those who have made it. Their views of the publishing world can be very limited and potentially damaging to those that don't walk the same path and get (sometimes randomly) the same results.<br /><br />http://www.tobiasbuckell.com/2013/05/27/survivorship-bias-why-90-of-the-advice-about-writing-is-bullshit-right-now/Brad Beaulieuhttp://www.quillings.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001434439078518468.post-28191598756580574882014-02-17T11:01:48.376-05:002014-02-17T11:01:48.376-05:00@John Brown and others, you may wish to take a loo...@John Brown and others, you may wish to take a look at the recent New Yorker article by George Packer on Amazon and the publishing industry. Specifically the part where it says that the 'also bought' lists and anything to do with visibility are in fact bought and paid for via promotional fees. <br /><br />Amazon has increased the fees regularly over time, and publishers who don't pay get their buy buttons removed. In other words, visibility is not reliant on bestseller lists. They are reliant on Amazon's goodwill and money. <br /><br />And for those who doubt whether a presence in books stores are worth it--well, ask the authors who chose to go with Amazon imprints how well not being in bookstores worked out for them in terms of mirroring their previous success with traditional publishers. 70% of the book market, give or take, is still print. That's a big market to stay out of.<br /><br />And can I please say this is in no way a defence of traditional publishing. It's just that I think we need to stop taking a company we know nothing about at their word. They are a business, just like traditional publishers. They are just as capable of good and bad as traditional publishers. And every writer deserves the chance to make their own choice as to how they get their books to readers. So can we please stop acting like there's only one 'smart' way? Because that's really not true.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001434439078518468.post-13460919963749070292014-02-16T21:34:27.779-05:002014-02-16T21:34:27.779-05:00Another big problem with a snapshot is that the pr...Another big problem with a snapshot is that the price captured for each book may or may not have been the price paid by an individual reviewer.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001434439078518468.post-1977349381723248552014-02-14T18:25:56.197-05:002014-02-14T18:25:56.197-05:00"Your post fails to look at the revenue big p..."Your post fails to look at the revenue big publishers can generate from sales other than e-book sales."<br /><br />Revenue for whom, sir? Writers? Because that's all we're really talking about here. Revenue for publishers and agents doesn't factor into our thinking.Asheville Cabbienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001434439078518468.post-87136958400146229472014-02-14T17:34:51.036-05:002014-02-14T17:34:51.036-05:00"It fails to look at the opportunity cost for..."It fails to look at the opportunity cost for the writer of having to self-market books rather than have a publisher do so."<br /><br />Exactly. Not only the cost of the marketing required in order to give your work notice, but the amount of time involved. <br /><br />Sure, traditionally published authors need to do marketing of their own, too, but I've never seen a true comparison between how much a self-pubbed author has to do vs. a trad-pubbed author. This article does nothing to address that. I would love to see a break-down of this sort, actually.Tabithahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17420910182752981979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001434439078518468.post-25381643799216380582014-02-14T08:34:01.103-05:002014-02-14T08:34:01.103-05:00Couple of edits you might want to make:
any under...Couple of edits you might want to make:<br /><br />any underlying rational*e*<br /><br /> (a) lower e-book *prices*<br /><br />----------------<br /><br />Love the article. I took advanced statistics in school, and felt that Hugh's assessment was a little blue sky mixed in with a little bit of trying to make his fuzzy data fit a pre-determined conclusion--and I say that as a self-published author.<br /><br />All the best<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001434439078518468.post-51008115728464693882014-02-14T00:40:17.022-05:002014-02-14T00:40:17.022-05:00I can see the issue with looking at a snapshot and...I can see the issue with looking at a snapshot and then assuming the writers or titles in that snapshot sell the same number of books every day for the rest of the year. <br /><br />No title stays at the same ranking all year. So that's just a flawed assumption, as are all the projections based on it. <br /><br />But what is not flawed is the breakdown of the top 7,000. The top 7,000 books in the snapshot are what they are. The indie percentages of those 7,000 are what they are. <br /><br />This is only Amazon. And a freaking ton of books are sold outside of Amazon. So we can't generalize about the whole book selling world with this data.<br /><br />But we can begin to speculate about Amazon, which is the biggest online retailer of books. <br /><br />The BIG insight I take away is that trad publishers do not seem to offer any value to authors in the Amazon online distribution channel. Going through a trad publisher will not lead to more online book sales. Furthermore, you get fewer dollars per book you do sell. <br /><br />Trad publishers may offer value at other online retailers. My understanding is that B&N and other sites have the old co-op going online, i.e. publishers can buy visibility. Whereas on Amazon the visibility mostly comes through the bestseller lists which cannot be bought. <br /><br />Does the visibility publishers may or may not provide on other online retailers make up for it? Don't know. <br /><br />Does the visibility publishers provide in brick & mortar channels make up for it. Don't know. But most midlist books don't sell all that many copies in the brick and mortar channels. John Brownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16644593323523613105noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001434439078518468.post-72185724889457524062014-02-13T18:02:18.754-05:002014-02-13T18:02:18.754-05:00"It fails to look at the present value of a g..."It fails to look at the present value of a guaranteed advance vs. royalty money that may or may not come along down the road."<br /><br />You can find info about that here: http://www.courtneymilan.com/ramblings/2013/08/19/know-what-your-rights-are-worth/<br /><br />"I will concede that it is possible to get an approximate sense of sales by looking at Amazon rankings, but it is only approximate."<br /><br />Try these tools, proven to be fairly accurate: http://kdpcalculator.com/<br />http://www.theresaragan.com/p/sale-ranking-chart.html<br /><br />"It fails to look at the opportunity cost for the writer of having to self-market books rather than have a publisher do so."<br /><br />Really, your clients don't have to self-market, the publisher does all that? Your trad-pubbed clients don't have to buy their own ads, bookmarks, maintain their websites, twitter, facebook, blogs, set up bookstore signings themselves, or keep their own mailing lists? Wonderful!<br /><br />"making money selling e-books isn't just a matter of putting them out there and watching money roll in."<br /><br />Especially if an agent is taking a cut off the top and you can't control the most important aspects of your career.<br />Anthea Lawsonhttp://www.anthealawson.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001434439078518468.post-80902010245861461992014-02-13T18:00:49.284-05:002014-02-13T18:00:49.284-05:00LOL Well put, Unknown. Somehow I am not surprised ...LOL Well put, Unknown. Somehow I am not surprised at the highly defensive reaction to a look at Amazon sales. Now would I prefer to have Amazons stats from them instead of Hugh Howey having to reverse engineer them? Of course, but that's not going to happen. This is the only way to even come close to what is actually happening in book sales.<br /><br />Of course, people who would rather not know can stick their fingers in their ears and sing 'la la la la'.J. R. Tomlinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01109874615059334200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001434439078518468.post-14406178862894780502014-02-13T18:00:02.062-05:002014-02-13T18:00:02.062-05:00Enjoyed the blog. I believe it's Hugh who tal...Enjoyed the blog. I believe it's Hugh who talks about publishers being the gatekeeper.....could be wrong here....but there's nothing inherently wrong with being a gatekeeper. Just as literary agents are also gatekeepers in hopefully preventing poorly written books to a publisher so neither one of us is wasting our time. Publishers are a filter for the reading public. Sure there are books that get through that you might not like, but generally at least one talented editor has read the book, present it to an editorial board and a marketing and publicity staff and to the publisher....all of these people hopefully filter the good from the not so good.<br />As far as Unknown saying IF...yada yada yada, most legitimate publishers don't go out of business before an advance is paid out. If they do, the rights are reverted or the person acquiring the company in a bankruptcy has to make good on advance and royalties due. <br /><br />Steven Zacharius<br />President and CEO<br />Kensington Publishing Corp.Steven Zachariushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16983313251604842703noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001434439078518468.post-69856585546699984552014-02-13T16:24:17.465-05:002014-02-13T16:24:17.465-05:00"It fails to look at the present value of a g..."It fails to look at the present value of a guaranteed advance vs. royalty money that may or may not come along down the road."<br /><br />That "guaranteed" advance comes IF an agent picks it up and IF the agent persuades an editor to take it on, and IF the publishing house's marketing people like it and IF the editor doesn't get fired or resign before the book goes through the publshing house's various processes and IF the publisher doesn't go under in the meantime. That word "guaranteed"; I don't think it means what you think it means.Jonathan Sean Lysterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18113452198005790987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001434439078518468.post-89383462394289423192014-02-13T13:34:22.027-05:002014-02-13T13:34:22.027-05:00Thank you for a sane and coherent analysis. I read...Thank you for a sane and coherent analysis. I read the Howey article and said 'What? Waitaminute!' but didn't have the background to take it apart. <br /><br />Crane Hanahttp://www.cranehanabooks.com/blognoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001434439078518468.post-47824459205387102422014-02-13T08:01:28.735-05:002014-02-13T08:01:28.735-05:00Excellent assessment.Excellent assessment.Sean Cummingshttp://sean-cummings.canoreply@blogger.com