I got word last night that a publisher I know, that does pretty good work, is probably going to shut down soon. The reason cited is that they can't compete with Amazon's open door policy with the kindle. Having been working with Grand Mal for a year now, I can sympathize. How do you charge 5 bucks for an ebook, when there are a gazillion out there for 99 cents or even free, and at least a few of them are good. (Most are shit, though. Right? I dunno, I don't really read self pubbed kindle stuff, even if people rave about it. I'm reading a Dirk Pitt novel right now, and it's great.) But we have to charge around 4-5 bucks because the cost of the cover, the editing, the files, the layout, the mailings of comp copies and review copies (reviewers STILL want hardcopies 90% of the time) all adds up to quite a chunk of money that needs to be made back. Newbie "authors" can get 100% royalties (less Amazon's take) if they do it themselves. Why let a publisher take half of that remaining net profit to pay back the cost of the print book, providing you are either adept enough at making a good cover and finding a good editor, or simply don't care you have a shit cover, grammar that makes the heaven's weep for the future of language, and typos up the ass.
And as a reader, why pay 5 bucks for a new author you've never heard of, that a publisher is vouching for, when you can get 5 books for that price. Hell, most indie publishers are doing 99 cent sales all the time just to compete. So maybe you can get 5 books from a publisher you actually know and trust. Someone mentioned Kealan Burke's Turtle Boy is FREE right now. I bought it for $20 from Cemetery Dance when it came out. I can get it for free now! OK, admittedly, I have free books up too, because that's what us authors have been reduced to. We need to throw out bait now because there's no loyalty to brand publishing anymore. Well, maybe not NONE, but it's dwindling daily. 10 years ago when I learned about Leisure (now synonymous with an expletive) I trusted what they put out. I bought so much of it. Some of it was bad, but a lot of it was good, and when a new Leisure title came out, I generally gave it a shot. Now everyone is a publisher, because Amazon lets you be. So what's the point. Are these people qualified to be a publisher. Sure, some of them, Plenty of them. And plenty of them should never touch an editing program with a ten foot pole.
I'm not screaming that Amazon is ruining publishing, because it's not, it's actually giving everybody a shot, which is awesome (don't forget I'm a professional musician for a living that tours the country and makes great money and we are not on a record label and its the same wild west scenario in music as it is in publishing right now). I truly believe everyone should have the opportunity to put their work out to the masses. Hell, The Summer I Died got turned down by EVERY publisher I sent it to except a small one up in Canada. And I recently got an email from a reputable film company about acquiring the rights (fingers crossed but I'm not holding my breath). So I truly believe there are good books out there that would never see the light of day without Amazon's open door policy. My complaint is that this used to be an INDUSTRY. There was cash flow. Writers could make a living. Publisher's could make a living. Now the ONLY one making a living is Amazon because they own the nightclub we all have to gig in, and we have to pay them a cut of every ticket sale. And our tickets sales can't be more than a dollar or people are going to see another band. We're just one person. If we only sell 20 tickets it sucks. But amazon's nightclub has a billion people selling 20 tickets a piece. So they get 20 billion dollars, and we each get 20, and they'll always come out ahead. Do the math. If a writer is forced to put out digital copies at 99 cents or for free, and they sell 1000 copies per month (normally considered a huge amount of sales for indie authors), they still can't pay rent. So is the dream of being a professional novelist long gone?
Well here's the crux of my rant. How does it all evolve? How do we ensure readers still get quality books (or at least books that are properly edited). How do we ensure writers actually can make a living? How do we live with amazon being the real one making money, and the rest of us scrounging for scraps? I'm honestly asking for your thoughts on how we authors weather this storm. Or do we keep treading water for another breath as the Amazon waves crash over our heads? Someone must have an answer to how this is going to work itself out. No?
I know cream rises to the top. And I believe it still will in this new era of publishing. Let's just hope everybody doesn't have such a bad taste in their mouth by that point that they're no longer hungry for it.
Very thought-provoking, Ryan. I hate to see any hard-working publishers go down because of Amazon, which is serving to both level the playing field and lower the bar.
ReplyDeleteI think one possible outcome will be publishers branding themselves more so readers know it's a mark of quality. Maybe it will be "Grand Mal Press Presents: Hissers" or something like that. Readers love series, and that exploits the collectors mentality.
I also think that books will become shorter and writers will end up producing more titles. The name of the game will be quantity. The more books you have, the more you can benefit from putting one or two out for free or for 99 cents.
We live in wild times, don't we?
Indeed they are. I think you're right about more content, less words. We're gonna have to write 20,000 word stories for 99 cents. Do 5 of them to equal a novel, and get our $5. It's sad. I know some people can do 5 novellas month, but I can't. haha. I don't have that any ideas.
ReplyDeleteIf only people would pay $15 to go to readings, sort of like going to a concert...but that'll never happen. Oh well, gotta roll with the times I guess