Maxwell Cynn -
Welcome to 2012 and the new publishing. Okay, it's not so new anymore. There's been Indie authors on the New York Times best seller list, eBooks have been added to most of the popular lists of best sellers, and getting to the top of Amazon's lists is the new Holy Grail for many authors. We are in the age of eBooks, print books are lagging in sales, and Indies are no longer considered less than legitimate (ie traditionally published) authors. But the landscape is still untamed territory and many are scrambling to map out the new normal of publishing.
But as the old song says, "everything old is new again." History tends to repeat itself and the new wave of ePublishing is little different than the rise of mass market paperbacks decades ago or, for that matter, the revolution started by the printing press centuries ago. Each quantum leap in publishing technology has made publishing books faster, cheaper, and easier. Today we have eBooks, POD books, and even vending machines that print books while you wait. It's a great time for authors - or is it? With each step forward in publishing technology we also see a decline in income for authors.
A flood of .99 cent, and even free, eBooks requires authors to sell more copies to make the same revenue enjoyed under traditional publishing models. The market has changed for printed books as well with printing costs driving up the price of books and down the author's royalties. An average paperback cost around $10.00 to produce, leaving little room for author royalties and publisher's profits. With eBooks selling for anywhere between .99 and 9.99 it's hard for print books to compete, and hard for publisher's and authors to make a profit. Average print book prices are around $12.99 - 19.99.
The way books are marketed and sold is also changing. Online sales of printed books have eclipsed physical store sales, and eBooks are outselling paperbacks. The game has changed and publishers are playing catch-up. But again, let's look at the present model and the historic model.
Traditional Publishing - late 20th century publishing - is based on a few large publishing houses who dominate the industry by marketing books to large "Big Box" bookstores. They can advance sell so many copies of a popular author's book to the big chains that the books are instant "Best Sellers" before they ever hit the shelf. The stores then put up big displays and fill their advertising with the newest "Best Seller" and thus create a best selling book. Popular authors enjoy huge advances and any author lucky enough to break into "the big time" enjoys a good advance on almost guaranteed sales to the large chain stores.
After that initial stocking of the nationwide chain stores a book has about three months to live. If it sells well, there could be reorders. If it doesn't, returns flood back and that author is unlikely to ever publish another book. Each quarter a new line of books emerge. The whole scheme is based on mass marketing and one time flood of books. But that is a fairly new phenomenon created by the merging of the big publishing houses in New York and the advent of large chain bookstores. In days gone by a book would slowly build momentum through thousands of small bookstores, one or two copies at a time. A "Best Seller" might take months or even years to reach that level.
The new ePublishing and POD revolution is allowing authors to publish their works outside the traditional channels of New York. Yet without the big budgets of the New York publishing houses, and access to the big chain bookstores, their books don't receive the big initial surge of orders at release. The new publishing requires old wisdom for marketing. Small presses, Indie publishers, and Indie authors must rely on time tested forms of marketing and a slow, methodical growth in sales.
The internet helps, with social media and global reach, but even with the new tools an Indie cannot roll out a pre-order best seller like New York does. Indies simply do not have the sales and distribution channels available to the Six Sisters. Yet with the failing of the big box stores, the rise of online sales, and the advent of the eBook, the big boys are quickly losing that edge themselves. In my opinion the field will level soon and we will return to slow sustainable growth in sales for both Indies and established authors.
Of course the big publishers, with their big budgets, will continue to outspend Indies in advertising. But they will be forced to sell books one at a time through independent and online outlets. And the nature of social media allows for the viral phenomenon to catapult an author to the best seller list without spending the big bucks on ad campaigns. As is shown in many industries, the agility of small independents in adapting to emerging trends often trumps the money of the big corporate giants who react slowly to any change.
My advice to emerging authors, which at one time was conventional wisdom, is simple: Put away the idea of grabbing the brass ring with an instant best seller. Keep it in your hope chest, but don't measure your success by it. Stay realistic. Build your fan base and work toward slow, sustainable growth in sales. Keep writing and keep publishing. Every book you have in your catalog is a potential first sell to a new fan who may then read your other works. Publish free stories or low priced novellas to introduce new readers to your writing.
You may not be able to quit your day job anytime soon, perhaps never, but why are you writing? If you are writing to pay the bills I would suggest a journalism degree and a job with a newspaper or magazine. If you are a poet or novelist, you are probably writing for the love of writing itself and will continue whether you make money or not. Don't stress over rankings on Amazon or how many fans you have on Facebook. Write the best you possibly can and enjoy the friends, fans, and fellow writers you connect with along the way. For an artist it's all about the art, not the paycheck.
Lastly, encourage your fellow writers with a comment, a "like," or even a review of their work. There's an old saying, "to have a friend you must first be a friend." The best way to increase your social media presence, and thereby promote yourself and your work, is to support and encourage fellow writers in their work and to honestly and sincerely interact with your readers. In life, whether you make it to the best seller list or not, the relationships you build along the way are what make you truly rich and successful.
0 comments:
Post a Comment