Publishing in 2016
Here is a paragraph I discovered on the Internet:
Ultimately, when presenting to a publisher, I provide a cross-section. If a book has 250 reviews with 4 and 5 stars, and 70,000 in sales, this author has a lot of promise. Alternatively, if a book has 200 reviews and only 10,000 sales, it’s going to be so much more challenging to present them and say, “You should invest money in this author.”
The article discusses how agents might be interested in picking up self-published authors under the right circumstances. First, the article claims that the price point plays a part, because 50,000 sales at $0.99 isn’t half as impressive as 50,000 sales at $6.99. This I agree with.
The Math
Let’s do the math. If I sold 50,000 e-books at $6.99, I’d make $240,000. And ebooks is what we’re talking about. Most self-published authors who do well do so because of the digital revolution. Print sales make up a relatively small portion of their overall sales.
So this agent would be interested in me if I made $240,000 on a single book? Hell, half of MarryMe.com would be interested in me if I got $240,000 in one fell swoop. But seriously, if I’d made that amount of money, I wouldn’t approach an agent. I’d approach big publishing houses myself, let agents approach me, or more likely, continue going it myself.
Sure, agents might be able to get me great deals with fantastic advances from publishing houses, but I wouldn’t go seeking them out. No, at that level of success I’d make them chase me the way authors usually chase them.
Agents and Editors
I was lucky. I got my first contract before I had to send out a single submission. Finding a way to publish with more control was my next goal, and I got there a few months later with Smart Heart Publishing. If an agent had found me at that point, perhaps we could have done something good together. But agents don’t come looking for you. They’re snowed under with submissions, in what they call the ‘slush pile.’ Well, if that doesn’t make an author feel all special. Most companies keep their lingo internal, lest their valued customers visiting the factory hear about “bring the idiot to work day.” Agents, on the other hand, proudly tell everyone how much in demand they are. They cling to their exalted titles even now, when so many authors make a living or at least comparable money from self-publishing.
And why not? Every year, thousands of authors dream of landing an agent. They want to be like John Grisham, James Patterson and Stephen King, and an agent is the only way to reach those dizzying heights. Agents still fulfill a vital role in the publishing world. Once they find an author they like, they will fight for them – for a percentage (after all, who wants to work without pay?).
I’ve done a lot of growing up over the past two years, so my understanding of publishing is more realistic than it used to be. The publishing industry is holding on tight, especially in literary fiction, which will remain their stronghold. But much of commercial fiction has channeled into alternatives, i.e. digital publishing and self-publishing. The demand for commercial fiction is higher than the publishing industry can satiate. True genre readers are voracious. They don’t care how their books came to be. Assuming the story is engaging enough and the editing doesn’t suck, they’ll read your book. That’s not to say they’re not discerning. They can simply derive a great deal of pleasure from reading books that aren’t original enough to warrant signing up for an advance.
Agents ask, who wants another Twilight or Hunger Games or True Blood? Editors say, not us. Readers, meanwhile, stand in the background, waving their hands, shouting, Me! Me!
But if editors say nay, agents aren’t going to pick you up. Editors are right to say nay. They need big sales for their huge operating and publishing costs, and the biggest sales come from the unusual and new, not from the familiar. I write urban fantasy, and every six months another agent declares the genre dead. Well, I haven’t suddenly stopped reading urban fantasy, and neither have others. It’s just that another vampire story or another werewolf story or another witch story is not going to be the “next big thing” that makes them money.
Readers
And yet, these books still have readers. Why? Here’s the surprise: readers don’t need huge twists on the genre or in terms of plot to love a book. Because that’s what I used to think, so I chased every variation and every twist. One day it clicked. I bought my first Rachel Morgan book because the world intrigued me. The book’s setup was “new” for me, but I kept buying the series because I’d become fond of the characters and the storylines were engaging. No 6th Sense style plot twists, but I wasn’t after a blockbuster movie anyway. I was after a well-made TV series that would keep me entertained for more than two hours. And I’ve continued to buy UF series ever since.
To stick with the analogy: editors and agents are hunting the next blockbuster. They can afford to back a few flops because the Titanics and Brokeback Mountains rake in more than they lose.
Smaller publishers or self-publishing authors specialize in TV. This could be a straight to TV drama, i.e. a one-off, or a series that celebrates the familiar, not the new. Don’t misunderstand. We don’t want same old, same old. Build exciting worlds, create great characters, add humor or intrigue. But you don’t have to reinvent the genre. Just put a fresh spin on it.
This much is clear: Traditional publishing is highly suited to literary fiction, and the Big Five (or Six? I forget) are set up perfectly for print.
Genre readers, however, are extemely likely to buy ebooks. Many still like print, but if you read as much as true devotees, shelf space is at a premium, and ebooks, well, they don’t take up much. These readers are prepared to pay decent money for ebooks, too, proving that authors do not have to sell out at $0.99, but they balk at having to pay $9.99. Yet these are the ebook prices often demanded by traditional publishers. Print books are expensive, we get that, but ebooks cost a fraction of that. There is no justification for inflating prices to $9.99 or above, other than to keep readers buying the print books at the same price, so publishers can turn and say, ‘we told you, ebooks don’t sell.’
The Future of Publishing
At the moment, there is room for all three models. Will the trend to digitize genre fiction continue? I hope so, not just as an author but also as a reader. The quality argument is no longer valid. Yes, some ebooks suffer from poor or non-existent editing. But honestly, I’ve read some mainstream fiction in print format recently that had plenty of typos, a formatting error, continuity problems and repeated information that should have been picked up and nixed in a thorough edit. The editing wasn’t bad enough to make me stop reading, but my point is, it was worse than most self-pubbed books I’ve read recently.
Sadly, black sheep in the self-publishing world remain. And it’s not like reviews will help readers separate the good from the ugly. One person has declared Guarded to be poorly edited, whereas several others expressly praise the good editing. Excerpts will give you an idea of the book’s quality, as do reliable book blogs, but there are no guarantees.
My advice to new writers? Continue chasing that dream. New writing stars are discovered every year. Polish your manuscript and approach agents and editors. But consider alternatives, too. Writing stars can emerge by way of the traditional route, like James Patterson, or via new avenues, e.g. Hugh Howey. Work hard, don’t give up, and good things will happen to you.
Written by Carmen Fox, December 10, 2015
