Publishing world

If you are a fan of Harry Potter, or at least remotely interested in books, you probably heard about the decision of JK Rowling to break into electronic publications . After several years of avoiding the world of e-books (and rampant confidentiality), she did something very interesting - she left her print publishers and took up the business on her own. Many popular authors tried themselves in self-publishing - Stephen King once wrote a short story, for example. But JK Rowling is the first "superstar" who will be engaged in a full-fledged independent publication and will sell books on his website.

Small background

I've been digging into this thread for the past few weeks for various reasons. To a small extent, because of my own interests - I used my free time after leaving Microsoft to fulfill my long-time dream and work on my first feature book (a thriller that is far from complete and even more distant from being at least a little good). In addition, I have long been interested in how the publishing world works.

Let's go back a couple of years ago. In the past few decades, if you were a novice writer trying to publish your first novel, the process looked something like the one described below.

"Process" (as it was before)

• You put your manuscript (printed with double breakdown between lines, 12th font size, nothing more) in a package along with a very well written application and send it blindly to all the agents that you found interesting in this big book of agents. You can try to filter the agents to find authors in your genre, but from conversations with people I realized that this part was often ignored. If you search Google, you’ll see hundreds, if not thousands of articles and books on how to write the perfect application and get an agent, because it was so important.
• The package was often received by an overworked agent who received hundreds of such packages every month. He or she will most likely discard your manuscript after a poorly written application or insufficiently exciting first page. Of course, not because the agent is a bad person. With such a huge amount of incoming manuscripts, they have to filter as much as they can.
• Most writers will receive what is called a "type failure." If you once failed to pass an interview, then you probably saw this - a cold, impersonal patterned letter with the message that you are not suitable or something like that. Those who are lucky will have a personal touch in the letter - some encouraging comment or useful advice. They are appreciated by writers, because getting a typical rejection after a refusal is rather depressing, and you cling to any ghostly hope.
• If you went through this and the agent decided to represent you, then it was time to open the champagne. Now your agent repeats the same process with your manuscript already with publishers (who will never agree to accept the manuscript directly from unknown authors). You will again be faced with rejections, and most publishers will most likely refuse you.
• Finally, some kind of publishing house (if you are lucky, one of the “Big Six” [meaning the six largest American publishers - hereinafter, the translator's notes] ) decides to choose you. You agree on the financial side (you usually get a couple of dollars from each book sold, unless you are John Grisham, Dan Brown or Lee Child). More greetings! More champagne is drunk (I suspect that in the writing world they drink a lot). Seriously, you are now the elite. You are a writer who is about to publish , as most people only dream of.
• The publisher gives you an editor who works with you on your manuscript. He or she covers your entire book with a thin pencil and suggests making changes everywhere - from grammar and abbreviations to big changes (such as correcting character actions that are inconsistent for the plot, etc.). You will need to make a final decision about whether you accept these changes, but these people usually know what they are saying. A small digression: my editors from O'Reilly were great, but they assigned me a temporary (freelance) story editor who simply suggested that I remove all the humor, every colorful joke from my book on Windows Azure. I refused, and almost every reader I spoke with mentioned how much they liked what he wanted to throw out.
• Along the way, the publisher is trying to decide when to release your book. This is a mysterious calculation, which includes marketing budgets, other books of this genre, coming out this year, the phase of the moon, etc. It is not uncommon to have to wait several years after the completion of the manuscript in order to see it in print.
• Publisher is typing your book! Hooray! Now you are a published writer. You can join associations like the International Thriller Writers Association. You see your book in Amazon and get that seductive link to create an author’s own page in Amazon. You monitor your rating on Amazon every hour (hint for writers - there are automated tools for this). Depending on your publisher, you can get a marketing budget to, for example, make small book tours, arrange autograph sessions in stores and maybe even take part in one radio show or two. If you're lucky, they can write reviews about your book. But more often you are limited in this, because marketing budgets are very small.
• You become rich and famous. You are being interviewed on national television. In your book, make a movie with George Clooney and Julia Roberts in the title role. Dan Brown and JK Rowling are far behind you in the Amazon rankings. Lee Child queues up for your autograph. Dean Kunz and Jeffrey Deaver want to have coffee with you to learn your secrets. Well, this last point may be a little more complicated than the previous ones.

Let's revolutionize

Everything has changed because of two key events caused by Amazon.
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• Kindle has gained widespread popularity. Among other things, the Kindle is the perfect Christmas present for nephews, grandchildren, etc. Surprisingly, my Kindle and Kindle Artie were our gifts to each other. [Artie is the author's wife]
• Amazon has opened Kindle for self-publishing by any authors. In June 2010, they stunned the publishing world, increasing the author’s royalties to 70% (for books ranging from $ 2.99 to $ 10). This is a key point, because until now the authors need to sell a huge amount of books to earn some money. A typical book with a hard cover for $ 30 will bring the author about 3-4 dollars, and with a soft one for 12 dollars - about a dollar.

All of a sudden, writers were able to publish on their own; they no longer need to overcome any obstacles. Equally important, they can now set very low prices on their books ($ 0.99 or $ 1.99) and rely on readers to make impulse purchases. It is much easier to buy a random thriller for $ 1.99 than for 9.99. It was a classic low price policy with a high sales volume. Of course, publishers cannot set such prices or such royalties because they have other expenses. Since writers need editors, cover artists, etc., a small market for inexpensive editors, artists, etc. has emerged. It is still emerging (which is why most self-published books have such awful covers), but you don’t need to be a genius to see how it can develop.

In addition, the world of self-publishing has already seen its first stars and great writers switching to self-publishing. Three of them are especially remarkable for various reasons.

• The first is Amanda Hawking . She made history by selling over a million copies of her book to Kindle and earning over $ 2 million in royalties. Now it is an icon of the world of self-publishing. Amanda recently took an amazing step by signing a contract for several books with a traditional publishing house - St. Martin's Press (as you can imagine, there was a fierce struggle among publishers for it). In response to the protests, she wrote in her blog: “I want to be a writer <...> I don’t want to spend 40 hours a week on correspondence, design of covers, searching for editors, etc. Now being me is being a full-day corporation.”
• The second is Barry Eisler (his books about John Rhine are really interesting). Eisler made many people raise his eyebrows, refusing an advance of 500 thousand dollars from St. Martin's Press and engaging in self-publishing.
• The third is John Locke (not really a pseudonym, believe it or not), who recently sold over a million books in the Kindle. Locke wrote a series of thrillers (I like his hero, Donovan Creed) and Westerns in the Kindle. His books are interesting, but more importantly, John is Tim Ferriss of the thriller world. He knows how to sell his goods very, very well. He uses mailing lists, Twitter, Facebook, includes his websites in books, uses correct catchphrases in interviews, and in general, just does a great job of packaging himself. He even wrote a book called How I Sold 1 Million Books in 5 Months . Locke understands the importance of such things as high rating books.

If you're interested in self-publishing, be sure to read Joe Konrath's blog .

How a great publisher can help you

The publishing world of all this, of course, understands. However, it is very unclear to me what they intend to do about it.

There are a few other things that only traditional publishers can do. Publishers spend on editing and drawing as part of a deal — you also need to find outside people who will do it for you. A good editor is invaluable, it is protected and cherished. Only traditional publishers can seriously engage in distribution. This has to be taken into account, since many people still buy only books (I still prefer paper books). You still cannot get a review in the New York Times or People if you published yourself, even if you sold more than a million copies. You still can't get to Barnes & Noble or Borders or a small bookstore if you published yourself. It takes you a great opportunity to present a book (which the publisher often pays for). You cannot get other benefits - associations require you to be traditionally published, you cannot claim the majority of writing awards, etc. You cannot even get your book in the library. Although, of course, each author has his own priorities.

The biggest disadvantage of independent publications may be the marketing power you have not gained. It’s hard to advertise yourself and, unlike John Locke, most people don’t do it well and don’t want to do it. Especially writers who are often shy creatures who love the privacy of their dens. Selling well when self-publishing means constantly promoting yourself without a professional PR manager organizing tours for you. This is very hard work and work that most people do not know how to do.

Besides all this, there is still the problem of perception. Self-publishing for a long time meant “not good enough to be published,” and many people still have this perception. You will hear snide remarks, and many people will look down on you. Regardless of whether it matters to you or not, everything, of course, depends entirely on you.

Make no mistake, traditional publishing is still the main way to become a writer.

And about agents

Traditional intermediaries - agents are most at risk right now. But they do not sit back. Here is an article by Rachel Gardner, who runs a famous blog about her life as an agent and about the publishing business in general. I really like the Rachel articles in general, but the one below made me sad to shake my head. Quoting her:

With the disappearance of obstacles, with the disappearance of exclusivity, with the disappearance of the need to write a really good book, won't the published books lose their value? If everyone can publish a book, does this not detract from the perceived status of all authors? <...> Well, I have news for you. If you think that publishing is already in a crisis, just wait until self-publishing becomes the norm. Hell. Guys, you do not see the daily pile of dirt [slush pile - agent manuscripts] . Of course, something good comes across. But let me tell you. At least half is seriously bad. When I look at all the books I’m saying no to, and then imagine that these books can go on sale in a few months, I get depressed.

If you are from the world of technology, you probably see how wrong it is. AppStore and, probably, a web - an example of how this model will work. In fact, this is all the beauty - that someone, sitting in his pajamas, can get his content immediately. And the best content will always rise to the top, because people will find it.

If you see comments, you can see how (some) traditional writers deal with a flipped world. Some approve of the changes and jump onto the bandwagon. Others see it, but still want their books to be published by a traditional publisher. Some of them have spent years (or decades) in the hope that they will be published, and now all of a sudden the prize has ceased to seem so valuable. Here is an example of such a comment.

I think the idea that “everyone deserves to have his book published” is erroneous and offensive for good, hardworking writers and, more importantly, for readers. Everyone can open his mouth and make some noise. Not all of us deserve to stand at the Royal Opera House and sing to the public for money.

Oh yeah.

My thoughts

I have a lot of thoughts on this whole topic. Offhand:

• As a technological person and as a person who grew up with the web, I see obvious parallels between what is happening here and what has happened in the world of technology and the web. For example, take open source software. When open source software first appeared, much of the same controversy occurred - how can you trust it? Who will provide quality? All these disputes now look ridiculous. On the other hand, many people predicted the death of proprietary software. This also did not happen. They learned to coexist and live together. The same with the rise of YouTube. Independent artists can now become famous on YouTube, but record companies have learned to use the YouTube phenomenon (to take at least Justin Bieber’s career).
• I believe that the “obstacles need” argument is fictitious. History is full of examples of what amazing things happen, when obstacles disappear, and the masses can decide what is good and what is not. But this does not mean that there is no place for informed experts. People who work in the book industry, including agents, are well versed in what kind of literature is good. There is a great demand for these skills, perhaps just not in their current form. Think of someone like Roger Ebert. Just because there are Rotten Tomatoes does not mean that Roger Ebert's reviews are not as important as they used to be.
• I like the fact that writers can spend more time writing and less time on things like writing an ideal application to an agent. The idea that you needed to impress this one person, who was too busy to give you more time, never resonated with me.
• The economy of the publishing world is unstable. You cannot sell an e-book for $ 9.99 because readers are used to cheaper books. And sales of printed books are now eclipsed by sales of electronic books.
• This will surprise you now, considering the rest of the article, but ... if you are a newbie writer and you have the opportunity to deal with a traditional publishing house, I think you should try this before moving on to self-publishing. Self-publishing knocks on doors, but in my opinion, the advantages of being in the mainstream outweigh this a bit. Please note that this opinion is in June 2011 and it may change in the near future. If you are someone like Barry Eisler and already have a platform in the form of a traditional publisher, you should seriously consider self-publishing.
• Most of all, I am very glad that people are still reading books. I love books, and I was lucky to grow up surrounded by books. Books as a means of communication occupy a special place in my heart. If people read more books and continue to spend boring afternoon, time on the plane or an extra hour to sleep, being transferred to another world created by a written word, then what difference does it make in what environment? Whether it's paper, Kindle, Nook, iPhone or iPad, or in some future holographic display, this is good anyway.

And now I'm sorry, I still have a few unread books waiting for me.