by Anne R. Allen
A lot of writers—even established ones—are taking a second look at self-publishing right now.
Only a couple of years ago, self-publishing—especially for memoir and fiction—was equated with the grumpy-geezer rants and bored-housewife fantasies of “vanity publishing.”.
Serious writers were told self-publishing was the direct route to a dead-on-arrival career. Predatory outfits like PublishAmerica and AuthorHouse produced such heaping piles of unedited, overpriced crapola that most bookstores wouldn’t touch anything that gave off a whiff of “P.O.D,” no matter what the author’s credentials. Reviewers tossed copies in the shredder without a second look, and most self-published books sold under 150 copies.
But along came Amazon’s Kindle, igniting what’s being called the biggest change in publishing since Gutenberg. And as Eric at “Pimp my Novel” says, “words of caution against unscrupulous self-publishing companies (read: vanity publishers) don’t apply to the world of e-books.”
Suddenly anybody who can convert a Word file to .pdf can throw a book on Amazon and have an ebook for sale within minutes—at no cost. AND—here’s the really seductive part—there’s actual money to be made. Amazon pays a 70% royalty on Kindle books priced from $2.99-$9.99.
A few months ago, while big publishing companies battled with Amazon about ebook pricing and squabbled with their authors about ebook rights and royalties, a few savvy writers quietly slipped their Kindle-formatted books onto Amazon—for very low prices. Instead of getting paid maybe a few pennies in royalties on the sale of a traditionally published paperback, they started getting $2.10 for a $2.99 ebook.
Kinda awesome, since the low prices snagged a lot of customers eager to load their shiny new Kindles. These self-pubbed bargain ebooks didn’t just sell to the author’s sisters and his cousins and his aunts like the old expensive P.O.D. stuff—they sold BIG. Everybody loves a bargain.
Thriller writer J. A. Konrath—the guru of the DYI ebook movement—started making serious bucks (six-figures-a-year serious) off his out-of-print backlist, as well as manuscripts his publisher had rejected. Yes, you read that right: rejected manuscripts making money. You can read his amazing saga and advice on how to follow in his footsteps on his blog, A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing.
But—and this is a big but—Konrath is an established thriller author with a solid readership (and an agent.) Can a mere unpublished novelist match his success?
In spite of all the caveats from industry professionals, some writers seem to be doing just that. Author Karen McQuestion, unknown and unpublished as a fiction writer, put six novels on Amazon last fall, and shot to the top of the Kindle Bestseller list within weeks. Since then, one of those six, A Scattered Life, has been optioned for film and is being issued by Amazon Encore in paperback this summer. She sold 30,000 ebooks on Amazon in the space of five months.
A fellow survivor of my UK publisher’s crash-and-burn, retired Chicago Tribune columnist Terry Galanoy is so impressed with these success stories, he has just published his thriller, BLOODGOLD in a Kindle edition this week. I’m rooting for him and watching his progress with an eye to doing the same with my out-of-print books.
Literary Lab’s Michelle Davidson Argyle is going the same route. She has decided to self-publish her literary novella Cinders, which will be coming out next month. A couple of days ago, Michelle posted a hilarious video by another self-publisher, Zoe Winters, illustrating the argument for going the non-traditional route.
So who should consider hitting self-pub e-book trail?
But for everybody else, I’d say… probably not so much. Sigh.
Here’s the thing: as news of Konrath’s success spreads, we’re about to be inundated with a flood of self-pubbed ebooks. We have every reason to expect them to be like self-pubbed treeware books—mostly unoriginal, unedited, schlocky first drafts. Readers will need some way to pick out the good ones. That means the books will have to be vetted by somebody. Those somebodies will probably continue to be traditional publishers.
If you do decide to go the e-route, you’ll need to follow some guidelines:
I've dipped my toe in the water with out-of print SF short stories/novellas, just to see what it was like and what would happen. I must admit I've been quite pleased with the results – nothing in the league you mention, but over 100 sales so far. I figure that's 100 sales I wouldn't have and it's all, hopefully, helping to get my name out there.
That's really good to know, Simon–100 sales sounds good to me, especially for short stories.
Thanks Anne. I'm still undecided when it comes to epublishing novels though. For me your post raises a host of interesting points and things to think about.
this is a very informative post. Great job and thanks.
Anne, thanks for the thoughtful points here. One thing I'd like to know — do you have the rights to your out of print/backlist books? How do you get the rights?
Interesting post. Lots to think about and watch as e-publishing develops.
Great question, Sierra. I had a pretty good contract with my publisher. It had a clause where all rights reverted to me if/when the books went out of print. That may be more of a standard clause in the UK than the US.
Thanks for the shout out and pimping my video! 😀 I will say, that while I feel I have a long way to go with platform-building, I started with ZERO platform. So it can be built from the ground up. You gotta start somewhere.
What a fabulous post Anne, thanks for digging up all the dirt on this information. I won't self-publish because it just really wouldn't do anything for me, but it's good to know if I ever do get a backlist, I could do this.
Great information! As always! I'm thinking about this. I have one of those Kindle things (it's not so shiny though) and have pictured myself there. Humm… I do wish they would flash the book cover when you go to your current read. Or even the author's name. I might suggest that. Why not? As a writer, that really bugs me.
Hey, thanks for the shout out! You've made me sound all professional, and that's always great! I think self-publishing isn't for everyone, but if an author has the resources, or money, or connections to go for it, and they don't mind trying a new road, I always say go for it! It can't hurt in the long run if it doesn't work out, and traditional publishing will always be there, too.
I think it's important for an author to go the self-publishing route if it's a choice, not a last resort. This is such an excellent post. I'm definitely bookmarking it for linkage when I do my self-publishing series on The Lit Lab. 🙂
Hi Anne, thanks so much for the mention! I love your post and think there's a lot of excellent info here.
To Simon–congratulations on the 100 sales! That's how it all starts. I wish you continued success.
For me, every day and every sale is still a thrill. It never gets old. After so many years of not being able to get my work out in the world, it's an honor to finally have readers. It's a great time to be a writer–we finally have some control.
Anne, Something else that people might consider is that even if you are commercially published these days, with small presses especially, you, the author, need to make most of the running when it comes to publicity.
My own debut novel was published this year. My NY publisher failed to get me a single review before the book came out and only one, a couple of months later, with a small and obscure blogger. All the rest of the marketing has been down to me. I often think that, if I had self-published, I would have had exactly the same level of success, but with much more control and a lot more of the money coming my way.
Nevertheless, I am seeking commercial publication for my new novel too, because I don't fit the categories you list above and, frankly, I suck as a publicist.
Karen,
Many thanks. Love your blog by the way!
Zoe and Karen–thanks for visiting. You're giving us all hope. I love your positive attitude, Karen: "This is a great time to be a writer–we finally have some control!" So different from the doom and gloom we're getting from traditional publishers.
Graywave, I'm interested in your experience. Publishers used to at least send out ARCs for review, since most reviewers want the book 6 months pre-pub date. Kind of hard to do ourselves. If they're not even doing that, they're not much use. Still, congrats on landing a publisher. No mean feat in this crazy market.
Michelle, you are indeed "all professional". I think you're really savvy about using social media to get name recognition and network within the industry. Not in a predatory-marketer way, but by making real connections with potential readers and reviewers.
Christine, you're the only Kindle-reader I've heard from. I think it's interesting they don't ID what book you're reading. I hope the designers will listen to you. They're about to start competing in a major way, so things like that would give an advantage. I read in PL this AM that Sharp is coming out with a cheaper ereader similar to the Sony. Once they're under $100 and the glitches are ironed out, the market for ebooks will explode. They're already outselling hardbacks, according to a NYT article I saw this AM.
It's like a rollercoaster is about to take off. Whee!
More on Kindle books outselling hardcovers from Elisa Lorello on her blog this AM–thoughtful stuff http://elisalorello.blogspot.com/.
Sorry I'm getting to this late, but this is a great post! I think it's hard to say right now who should self-publish and who shouldn't, as we are indeed in such a state of flux. I'm definitely considering, and I've been considering it for a couple of years at least.
A very informative post, though as a "newbie" it could easily be read as discouraging anyone except the select few from even attempting self-publishing. As someone pointed out, you have to start somewhere and, with numbers of new writers being accepted the traditional route going down, doing it yourself at least gives an aspiring author a chance. Thank you for reminding us all of the importance of good editing.