Business As Usual: An Insider's Look at Publishing

I think publishing has changed in ways that we haven’t begun to come to grips with. The changing landscape of the media-intensive culture we live in necessitates that we become content providers in ways we didn’t need to worry about even five years ago. While that’s exciting, on the one hand, on the other I find it, frankly, daunting.

So here is Aunt Noony’s down-and-dirty look at publishing, from my perspective. The biggest change I’ve seen is the eclipse of New York traditional publishing by the digital-first providers, which then turned so-called “traditional” publishers into digital-first by necessity. But what does all that bla-bla mean?

I’m going to pretend for a moment that my reader is a reader, and not an author, just so we can all get on the same page. To writers of my acquaintance, and at writing conferences, the term “New York,” “traditional publishing,” and even, sometimes, “real publishing” is used to mean the big houses, or “the Big Five”: Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, Penguin, Random House, and Simon & Schuster. Technically, as of November, 2012, it’s the big four, since Penguin and Random House merged.

Digital-first is a term used to refer to houses that publish books in digital form first, and was coined as a way to step away from the idea that publishers that started out as e-publishers were simply “small presses.” Small press is a publishing house that releases a limited number of titles in a year, usually to specific market segments. Before the advent of digital publishing, authors really only had two possible markets: try to get into one of the big houses, or choose a small press and potentially smaller sales. (It’s worth noting that not all small presses mean smaller sales and not all “big five” contracts translate to big money.)

In 2010, Amazon announced that ebooks sold more than hardcovers, which shocked many people in the industry and observing it. (WSJ and NYT stories.)  Would that spell the end of traditional (i.e. paper) publishing? Speculation ran high as to when paper would end, how it would end, and how large a piece of the pie ebooks would consume. Fast forward to January 2013 and ebooks are an established part of the marketplace and a large portion of the reading public doesn’t know what they did before their e-reader. That’s not to say books in paper form are gone, but the trend is clear: ebook sales are growing, paper sales are flat or declining across all sectors, and New York houses have paid attention. The Big Five have started putting real money behind their ebook initiatives and digital-first publishing has hit the mainstream.

I could speculate as to what I think will happen in the next two years, but I don’t think that adds to the discussion. What will be, will be. My job, as an author and content provider, is to write the content, not worry about the channel. I need to understand the channel, but I don’t need to worry about it. The changes in the channel don’t change the fundamental nature of what I do as a writer: I still craft stories. How they get from my mind to the reader’s mind is not as important as that they get written first.

At the risk of sounding like I’m contracting myself, I do think it’s incumbent on us as authors to pay attention to the changes in the marketplace and to understand the channel. As interested readers, we can follow it as well, if for nothing else than to be witness to the greatest shift in media consumption since the printing press. So here’s what I’m going to do instead of make predictions. I’m going to show you a window into the predictions of the “big boys.”

While any publicly-traded company that trades on an exchange in the United States is required to disclose a ton of information on a regular basis, I found that none of the Big Five are publicly traded (though a couple parent companies of the publishers are). If the company is private it’s a little harder to get information on their official opinions, but you can always start by visiting their website and digging around.

Yahoo Finance and Morningstar have a wealth of information available, as does Bloomberg Online. Using the Big Five as an illustration:

1. Hachette Book Group is now a private company. more>>
   
2. HarperCollins is now part of Rupert Murdoch’s NewsCorp. more>>
3. Penguin and Random House merged in November, 2012, creating the largest publisher of consumer books. The merger still has to be approved because of ongoing litigation against Penguin for price-fixing of ebooks. more>>
4. Simon & Schuster is a part of CBS. more>>

Barnes and Noble and Amazon are publicly traded, however, and their quarterly reports to Wall Street and investors are archived on Morningstar. I recommend you check them out.

1. Amazon.com; Ticker Symbol AMZN; Q3 2012 Earnings Call Transcript
   (Q4 comes out the end of January, 2013; keep your eyes peeled for the transcript)
2. Barnes & Noble, Inc.; Ticker Symbol BKS; Q2 2013 Earnings Call Transcript

I suppose, in closing, I will leave you with the thought that as authors, we must understand that we are, also, in the publishing business. The better we can understand that business, the better – more effective – we can participate.

What questions do you have about the publishing industry in general or any of the specifics I’ve included above? Don’t be shy. It’s a complex subject, but we can figure it out together.

Write on!

--
“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.”
- E.E. Cummings

My links: Blog | Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon | LinkedIn | Pandora
Knoontime Knitting: Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Ravelry
Noon and Wilder links: Blog | Website | Facebook
The Writer Zen Garden: The Writers Retreat Blog | Forum | Facebook | Twitter
Team Blogs: Nightlight | Nightlight FB Page | Beyond the Veil | BtV FB Page | LGBT Fantasy Fans and Writers | LGBTFFW FB Page
Publishers: Samhain Publishing | Torquere Press

Check out BURNING BRIGHT, available from Samhain Publishing.
Check out EMERALD FIRE, available from Torquere Books.
Check out "Taking a Chance", part of the Charity Sips 2012 to benefit NOH8, available from Torquere Books.
Watch for COOK LIKE A WRITER, coming February 2013 from the Guerrilla Chicks.
Watch for TIGER TIGER, coming July, 2013, from Samhain Publishing.

Dirty Little Secrets

Sometimes it isn't about the writing. 
No really.  One of the dirty little secrets about this business is, of all the things that can torpedo a writer's career, very few of them are under a writer's control.
For example, in the tight publishing market of the past ten years, the trajectory of a traditionally published writer's career depends entirely on their sales.  Each book must sell more than the last or the contracts dry up faster than a mist in the Mohave. 
The problem is outside events can divert any trajectory, even in an expanding market.  Take the romance market of the late Nineties.  Publishers couldn't push the books out fast enough.  Then Princess Diana died, and for the last three months of 1997, you were hard put to give a romance novel away.  The Eighties' fairy tale royal romance had flamed out in a Paris tunnel.  Who could believe the manufactured version?  Who wanted to?
Were the books published in the last quarter of 1997 in any way inferior to those published in the months before Diana's death?  No, but their writers' numbers suffered just the same.
Fast forward a decade and you have the death of Borders, the nation's flagship bookstore chain.  In the days before its demise, pundits estimated it accounted for roughly 20 percent of the hard copy book market.  In the wake of its disappearance, genre fiction sales figures have dropped roughly 50 percent, largely to the detriment of new and mid-list authors. 
Bestsellers still sell.  Any book designated for supermarkets, drug stores and big box stores are guaranteed to sell well, in large part because they may be the only books people can find.  But what if a publisher doesn't see a book as a potential bestseller?  It won't be printed or distributed to sell in any volume, and the book that follows will see even smaller print runs until the writer's contracts are cancelled altogether.
The indie publishing market created by Amazon and other e-tailers has partially offset the sales lost to the shrinking bookstore market.  It's also been a boon for folks like Amanda Hocking, who racked up impressive sales by dint of hard work and, yes, good luck.
It takes luck to get noticed in a market where anyone can publish a story.  It takes even more luck for the right people to notice and spread the word in such a way to create a market tipping point.  But marketing is always a crapshoot, even for the big guys.  Otherwise, all their books would meet their sales expectations instead of littering remainder tables.
And now Amazon, the eight hundred-pound gorilla of the ebook market, has decided that since a few--a very very few--authors have resorted to underhanded tactics to get the requisite number of reviews needed for a place in Amazon's banner displays, all writers must be punished.  Henceforth, all writers are to be considered competitors and banned from reviewing each other's work.
Wha-hah?
Sure, writers support each other.  We have to given the obstacles we face--and the ones I've cited are just the tip of a Titannic-sized iceberg.  I didn't even get down dirty and personal about bad agents, preditory publishers or jealous family members.
But very, very few of us engage in wholesale fraudulent reviews.  Frankly, none of the professional writers of my acquaintance (and they number in the hundreds--I'm a journalist, after all) has the time for that kind of nonsense.  Sure, most of our reviews are positive; we aren't about to waste our precious writing minutes on something we don't like.  Even a bad review is free publicity.  Why give that to a book you hate?
On those occasions where we try to help a friend, our intent isn't to deceive, but to draw attention to a worthy work which might otherwise be overlooked.  More than most, we know our opinion of a book is just that, an opinion.  Even if a book leaves us conflicted, there's a reader out there for whom it is exactly the right story at exactly the right time.
We know this, because writers are readers, too, complete with a taste for brain candy, junk food and other guilty pleasures.  Scratch any writer--professional or aspiring--and I guarantee they got into the business because a) they fell in love with a book, or b) a book got them so angry they had to respond.  As readers, don't we deserve to have our opinions heard?
But that's a blog for another day.  More important, is how can we rise to challenges the publishing business throws our way.
There, too, it isn't always about the writing.  When I entered government service, I was told that cream rose to the top, but s*it floats, and sometimes those floaters do a number on the cream.  The trick to surviving was to remain creative and adapt. 
Creative in the government--who knew, right?
But who knew it wouldn't always be about the writing?

Jean Marie Ward

 

PS, The evening after I put this post to bed, up pops this entirely appropriate blog by Diana Pharoah Francis on bookstores, order and what a writer can and cannot do.  Enjoy!

Business as UNusual: Inside Publishing

When you get right down to it, being an author is one of the few occupations almost everyone feels they could do. “I’ve been thinking about writing a book.” If I had a little cash for every time I heard that, I could retire to that castle I’ve been dreaming of. Maybe because of what it’s called—writing—most people genuinely believe it’s not that hard. After all, most of us been writing since we were in grade school!

Uh-huh…and although most of us learned to speak in infancy how many truly, wonderfully articulate people do you know? Or, as my husband said of a family member, people able to speak in Technicolor?

Yeah…

Even if you have that rare ability to write a good story, no matter what anyone says you still need to learn how to write properly. Natural talent is excellent and a great start, but it isn’t everything.

Publishing is in a constant state of flux but some aspects haven’t—and shouldn’t—change. The majority of readers still expect value for the money and time spent buying and reading a book. Agents, editors and readers now too, since in many cases the buffer between producer and end-user is no longer there, still expect not just an enthralling story but a well written book.

And no, that’s not what editors are for (although as a freelance editor maybe I shouldn’t say so). To authors there are several reasons why taking the time to really learn the craft makes sound business sense.

Knowing how to properly craft a story means you can produce more, quicker. You’ll know, instinctively and intellectually, whether a story concept is viable, what will make it really exciting and how to frame it effectively. You’ll find beginning to write a story and not completing it will happen less frequently, and it’s easier to get quickly from concept to final product.

In addition, if your story is poorly written there is only so much an editor can/will/will want to do with it, and this will affect you in a variety of ways. Firstly, if you’re trying to break into a publishing house and your book needs extensive line editing, chances are it’ll be rejected. In the present climate editors may be willing to work with you on plot and pacing but expect you to know the basics of grammar and syntax. Having the ability to properly craft a story gives you a definite edge on the competition when you send out submissions.

Secondly, if you want to hire a freelance editor, you may find yourself paying more than the person who’s taken the time and has the ability to self-edit. Many freelancer editors ask for a sample and use it to determine how much they’ll charge—poor writing = higher fees. Economics dictate you should spend only what you must to produce your book, and if you can save money on editing, that’s something you should be seriously considering.

And, of course, if you decide not to hire an editor at all before publishing your book, and it doesn’t sell in the numbers you were hoping for because it’s poorly written, not only have you lost the opportunity to sell this book, but potentially the next, and the next. Readers have long memories and most won’t give an author a second chance if they feel they wasted their money the first time around. This crazy business we’re in can be unforgiving!

You’ve heard the expression, 'Old age ain’t for sissies'? Well, I’m thinking the weird, wacky and wild world of publishing isn’t either. Arm yourself accordingly!

You mean I actually have to write?

This is something I struggle with as a writer - that sounds rather like an oxymoron doesn't it?

I'm good (maybe even great) at a lot of things writers have to do:

1)  Plotting - I love deciding where my story is going to take place, who the characters will be and what the struggles will be.  It's something I've actually gotten much better at over the years.

2) Promotion - I enjoy meeting new people at conferences, teaching online classes, touring blogs. Interviewing people on my blog.  It connects me to readers on more than a "buy my book" level and I think that's very important.

3) Editing - I would have to say while this isn't my favorite part of the process, I find it much easier than writing itself.  I'm not an author who is attached to every word or phrase.  I'm not even emotionally attached to certain plot devices even though I love that piece.  Ultimately I trust my editors to have the knowledge of what their readers expect from the house as well as my work.

 And then there's Writing - This is the painful part for me.  I'm not talking about the first 30 pages here.  I'm talking about the transition between scenes,keeping sex scenes fresh and which POV do I write from?  I tend to over think this part of the process - a lot. 

If I hit a bump at all here - I tend to avoid it.  I've tried all the tricks to put my butt-in-chair and type.  Fake deadlines, write or do housework, force myself to sit there and stare at the screen for an hour.  It just doesn't work for me.  And of course with a day-job it's a lot easier for me set writing aside as an excuse that I'm tired, don't have time, etc.

I'm not a Write-or-Die writer.  I truly admire those who have to write.  Of course I'm sure they have their own troubles with this business but it's unlikely writing is one of them. :)

Once I do actually sit down - I can usually stay there for a full eight hours finally having the ambition to finish or get close to it.  I love typing "THE END", because then I get to move onto: Plotting, Editing or Promotion.

Who knew to be a successful writer...you actually had to write?  :)

A convoluted journey into the Indie-tide

Let's start off by admitting it took me a long time to come over to the digital side of publishing. My journey has been, um, not quite a straight line? More like a spiraling op-art piece.

I started the road to publication with a complete manuscript -- SECRETS AND SHADOWS. An editor for a particular Harlequin line -- yes, the heart of category romance -- loved it. But. That was a BIG but. I revised. Waited. Waited. Heard she left the house. Sobbed. Waited some more. Got a lovely rejection letter from her successor.

The entire process? About a year and a half, maybe two. It's all a blur. But I remember it felt as if I had flushed a big chunk of my professional life down the drain.

I was left with a good, very polished manuscript that was too short for other houses; one not-great finished historical romance; and several fits, starts, and ideas for stories. What to do?

I heard about Samhain Publishing opening up. I still wasn't sure about "selling out" to publish digitally. BUT, it sounded promising and I refused to rewrite that book for the sake of meeting a word count minimum. My writing friends were excited at the prospect. Most e-pubs at that time seemed strictly aimed at erotica, so Samhain was something new. They wanted everything!

Long story short... SECRETS was snapped up. I was elated. I then had to explain to my family that yes, I was with a 'real' publisher. Oy. We still go there, believe it or not, three novels later. :P

I had other stories along the route, too. Sweeter, funny stories pubbed with a tiny e-press. It was a great experience and I loved writing those down-to-earth romances. They seemed more 'real' to me -- like old friends. That publisher struggled -- don't all small businesses? -- and finally closed. I was left with more finished stories without a home.

These events -- plus a painful rejection letter, life interference, and a monster case of writer's block -- led me to the Indie-publishing idea.

Re-publish my own work? That's outrageous! Sacrilege! Not to mention narcissistic. I balked at the whole idea, believe me. Until I saw a talented friend take the plunge. And her plunge led to a huge splash as her stories rocketed to the bestsellers' lists on Amazon. It changed her life. Literally.

Wow. That's pretty cool. Could I dare? I mean I'm a good writer. I have these polished stories ready to go. Hmmm....

Yep, I dared. Not many houses want to re-pub stories by a virtual unknown. Don't blame them, really, it's a business. And so I jumped in to the Indie world, with my friend's guidance. Just ankle deep, however, I'm a cautious swimmer.

I wish I could say my wading turned into a tidal wave of sales. It hasn't. But I'm okay with that, really. I know there are a lot of ebooks out there. A LOT. And readers are understandably cautious about spending their money on the unknown quantity.

What have I learned in my journey? A few things:

#1) Write what you love, not what you think will sell. Otherwise you'll lose your love for it. Why bother writing if you wind up hating the job?

#2) Publisher's may be necessary for many of us. We don't all have the resources, patience, talents, knowledge and connections to do it all on our own. But if you decide to try the Indie-route. Do it right. Don't sidestep and do NOT put out an inferior quality product. Readers will notice.

#3) The publishing business is a living entity, changing and growing dramatically along with technology. It's exciting and scary all at once. It allows us to find otherwise undiscovered talented writers. Let's face it -- publishers can only put out so many books a year. They have to be selective. They have to pick and choose. If a story doesn't make the cut, maybe it's just the market and not the story or writing. How many times was Harry Potter rejected? Think about it.


Instant gratification is a very seductive beast. It's hard not to find a thrill in publishing a story one day; selling copies the next; and receiving monetary rewards two months later. In the traditional publishing world, you're lucky to see anything up to a year after the contract dries.

Although it might be tempting to look down our collective noses at independently published authors, we shouldn't. Indie-publishing is NOT narcissistic. It's not evil or lazy. Honestly, there's much more work involved for the writer who publishes their own books. I've also seen that this route is sometimes the only way really good stories by good writers can get a chance.

If you're willing to work and the traditional road seems too daunting, too limiting, or has failed you one too many times: check out the Indie-tide. It's a little dark and murky. It's a little frightening. But there are many resources and folks to help along the way. Whatever road to publication you choose to follow, just remember:

Success rarely happens overnight.
Anything worth doing is worth doing well.
If you need to write, do it. Never give up. Eventually you'll find your audience.

~~Meg Allison

Indulge your senses...
www.megallisonauthor.com

Aunt Noony's Inside Look at Publishing

It’s funny, I don’t really think of myself as being “inside publishing,” or inside the ebook publishing industry, but since I have a book out with a major digital-first press I suppose to others that I might be considered at least “published,” if not on the “inside track.”

So how’s the view from here?

The more I know, the more I learn that I need to know. As much as I know about writing (active voice, action tags, story craft), I find I still have more to practice. Each time I go through a manuscript to edit, I think, “This is the time, it’ll be so clean I won’t have to touch a thing.”

I’m wrong. Routinely.

Humbling experience, that.

Each time I think I “know about the ebook publishing industry,” someone will mention a new-to-me publisher that’s been in business for years. It’s not that they’re so small I’ve never heard of them, it’s that I’m not well versed enough on the businesses playing in the industry yet.

So here’s what I do know:

Concentrate on the basics and on what you can control.

1. Write daily or as often as you can. There are many prompts available on the internet (type “writing prompts” into Google and poke around). Experiment with a new one every day for a month. Write with a pen and write on the computer, see how the different mechanics work with your creative process.

2. Practice your writing skills. Get a book on grammar from the library or buy yourself a copy of Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss. Wrestle with comma usage and the dreaded semicolon; become an expert in verb tenses. Learn about the “story arc” and the seven traditional plots. Get yourself a copy of Fiction Writers Workshop by Josip Novakovich or take a fiction class through a local writing group.

3. Meet other writers. Find writing friends online through magazines like Writer’s Digest or The Writer, and make local connections using your local newspaper or Meetup. Exposure to others working on the same things you are is helpful for the learning process and can also inspire you to try new things.

4. Attend regional writing conferences or even a national one. My own writing organization, Evanston Writers Workshop, holds our annual conference very year during the third weekend of August. We bring in authors, publishers, agents, and have an awesome time learning and playing with words for three days.  There's a lot you can learn about traditional publishing and the ebook publishing industry, and how the interrelate and augment each other from the authors' perspective.  It's no longer enough to ignore ebooks; we as authors need to understand it because that's how a lot of newer authors are being published.

5. Stay humble. No matter how much you know or learn, remember there’s always someone out there that can teach you something. Be teachable.

6. Keep writing. Through it all, remember to keep writing. This is surprisingly easy to forget, in fact. I meet writers through Evanston Writers Workshop who have all sorts of dearly-held opinions about publishing and writing, but when asked what they’re working on, the answers “oh, this manuscript I’ve been writing for twenty years.” One manuscript for twenty years is not a good track record for knowing the publishing industry. One of our speakers, author Jody Lynn Nye, has published over forty books and over a hundred short stories.  I think THAT is the track record of someone who knows the publishing industry, don't you?  Everyone has opinions, and it’s easy to forget that our job description is “writer,” not “pontificator” or “prognosticator.” If you have the urge to do either of the latter two things, DO IT ON THE PAGE! Whatever you do, write.

Lots.

Write on!

The Ever Changing Publishing Industry

Change scares people. I know it scares the hell out of me. I hate it. I want things to stay the same. I like the comfort of always knowing what's going on. But let's face it, living like that is like the proverbial ostrich with its head in the sand. If I can't see you, you can't see me. If I bury my head against change then it won't affect me.

We all know that can't happen.

And I think we've all heard the doomsayers when they claim publishing is changing and will never be the same again. I suppose that's true. The internet and the promise of immediate gratification is intoxicating. People want books now--hence the reason ereaders were the hot item this past Christmas. On the flip side, authors want their products out there immediately--hence the rise in indy publishing.

But as much as things change, things also stay the same. Readers still want their paperback books. There will always be those hold-outs who refuse to embrace change. As an author I appreciate all those different types of readers.

I was ecstatic when I heard Amazon sold one million Kindles a week during the month of December. One million! A week! Each of those four million Kindles will need books. Possibly hundreds of books. That bodes well for me where most of my sales are ebooks.

So what does all of this mean for authors? I think this is the best time ever to be an author. There are so many more avenues open to us. No longer do we have to rely on the big NY publishers to decide if our book fits into their schedule. So many epublishers have filled the void, realizing there were so many good books out there for readers looking for something a bit different. And now we have indy publishing--authors striking out on their own without a publishers backing. I'm in a critique group with an author who has done amazingly well in indy publishing. Better than a lot of established authors with big publishers.

The field is wide open for not only us but for readers as well and I think that's wonderful.

But one thing hasn't changed. Whether indy published, paperback published or epublished, a reader is still looking for a good read. Something that will take them away from their everyday life and into a different world. Regardless of what publishing format an author chooses to distribute his or her book, the book still has to be well-written. In the end, nothing has really changed when it comes to actually writing the book. We all still have to sit down to a blank page with a blinking cursor and create a world in which people want to go to.

Wishing you all happy reading in 2012.


Sharon's website | Sharon's blog | Sharon on Twitter | Sharon on Facebook

Business As Usual: Inside Publishing

We begin a new year. Bright and shiny and full of opportunity, 2012 stretches out before us with all its good and bad. There will be opportunities this year, and to take advantage of them we must be ready. It is said that knowledge is power, and that has never been so true as now. Especially in publishing. Our theme for this month is Business as usual: inside publishing.

Unless you spent the last few years on Gallifrey, you know that the world of publishing is in an upheaval. What was true five years ago may not be true today. There are doomsayers claiming that New York publishing will soon vanish. That paper books and libraries will soon be outdated and everything will be digital.

Before we all panic and start burning books (shudder), let’s take a step back and look at this logically (yep, big Spock fan). First, I don’t see paper books going the way of the 8-track anytime soon. Digital is great, but paper is useful. I’m thrilled that a lot of trees will be saved by increased use of digital, but are we really going to have coffeetable e-books? I like doing research with paper books. Flipping through is helpful, seeing pictures and diagrams is useful, and spreading books all over the kitchen table gives me a warm, happy feeling.

OK, I’m a nerd, and you might wanna lookout for the apocalypse. This traditionalist got pulled away from her paper books kicking and screaming—but I now have a Kindle. It was a gift. Yes, I love it. Bite me.

I’m still reading The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler in paperback and happily flipping back to diagrams.

For what it’s worth, I believe there is a time and place for both formats. I’m old enough to have seen the world go through the wild swinging of change. And yes, in its time, the 8-track player was state of the art. A few years from now my laptop—and my Kindle—will be outdated and sad.  It’s human nature, folks.

My advice to writers? Don’t put all your books in one place. Traditional publishing, e-first, e-only, self publishing (electronic or print), all options. And there are many options within those wide parameters. Just do your homework. Don’t listen to only one side of any argument. Then go with what’s best for you and your work. Just don’t let your fear decide for you. Don’t skip submitting just because you can self-publish and never be rejected. Rejection can be the best thing that ever happened to you. It was to me, every time. Rejection hurts, but it’s part of the job. It happens to all of us.

Be informed, be careful, and take care.

Cheryel
www.cheryelhutton.com