AmberKallyn
February 14th, 2011, 05:52 PM
With all the doomsday talk about the future of the publishing industry, it can be a bit scary -- and complicated.
The end of the world. Is it getting closer? All the discussions around the internet remind me of the 2012 talk. Yet, researchers familiar with the Mayan culture have said the rumors are unbiased -- true, the Mayan calendar ends... in a way. The truth is the calendar restarts. The Mayans believe 2012 to be a renewal and a new beginning, not the end of the world.
This is exactly the state the publishing world is in. It’s a renewal, maybe an end of things ‘as we know it’ but not a complete death.
Don’t worry, the world is not about to end. There are too many readers and writers out there for the publishing world to ever come to a screeching halt.
So where does it leave authors?
Hopefully in a better place.
Before I continue, let me share my definitions.
Traditional published - I’m speaking of going through one of the big NY companies who edits, creates a cover, and pays the author an advance to put a book out in print, distributing them to Barnes and Nobles, Borders, Costco, Wal-Mart, Ect.
E-Publisher - A publisher who may or may not (usually not) pay the author an advance, but who edits, creates a cover, and puts the book out in e-format for sale. This is usually for sale on the publisher’s website for a time, then migrates to places like All Romance EBooks, Fictionwise, as well as Amazon, B&N, Ect.
Self/Indie Publishing - An author who has someone edit (hopefully) their book, designs the cover themselves or pays an artist to do so, converts the file into appropriate formatting and lists the book themselves at places like Amazon, Smashwords, Ect.
Vanity Publishing - (Which I’m against in most cases, because I believe money flows TO the author) is a company in which the author pays a fee for them to edit, create a cover, and produce a hard copy of a book, which the author then pays for and goes out and hand sells.
With the advent of E-Publishers, more aspiring authors are being published than ever. Readers, young and old, are getting into the digital age. E-Readers are rampant. And with E-Readers comes e-books.
Not only is this an exciting change for many, but also a great way to break into the writing industry, whether you want to stay in the E World or transition to New York.
Angela Knight, Rhyannon Byrd, Dakota Cassidy, and Joey Hill among many others, all started in E-Publishing, then made the leap to New York and traditional publishing.
According to Literary Agent/Author Dedrie Knight, in an article from June, 2009 (http://espan-rwa.com/the-digital-age-and-rwa-a-call-for-change/), “E-Publishing can be a tremendous beginning point for many authors, leading to even bigger careers with mainstream publishers.” She also states “Not only did I sell digitally published authors to houses such as Random House, Penguin Putnam and Harlequin, but their e-readership followed them to print, launching them with a huge built in advantage in such a tough market. In many cases, authors who begin with E-Publishers choose to continue writing for those companies, even as they forge ahead with traditional New York houses.”
There are also many authors out there making a living by writing strictly e-books.
Some common Myth’s about E-Publishing:
Myth: I can’t make a living with E-Publishing
Fact: There are more authors making a living through E-Publishing than traditional print.
Myth: E-Publishers aren’t any better than vanity presses
Fact: While in some cases you’ll find the rotten apple this applies to, I’ve found most E-Publishers are on the ball. They recruit great editors (in fact, most come from a long involvement with NY houses). They hire professional artists to create your cover, most times with authorial involvement. They are putting out good quality books, only in e-format rather than print, and some E-Publishers do print as well as e-format.
Myth: Self/Indie/E-Publishing will ruin my chances of success in NY
Fact: There’s some data out there that says most don’t care. As time goes by, though, more and more NY professionals are seeing that these authors are growing audiences, putting out quality work, and this can be a benefit to the author who wants to both Self/E-Publish and traditionally publish.
Here’s a great article about e-publishing myths and realities (http://nicemommy-evileditor.com/epublishing-articles/7-common-myths-of-epublishing/) from Angela James, Executive Editor for Carina Press, an e-pub offshoot of Harlequin, though they’re not formally associated with each other anymore.
With the growing e-publishing market, many authors are finding ways to break into publishing. This isn’t to say quantity is more important, because most e-publishers still require quality work. But as an e-publisher able to put out 2-5 books A WEEK, rather than the limits NY deals with, there’s a huge market for authors. :)
Anything you’d like to know that I haven’t touched on here? Any other questions?
The end of the world. Is it getting closer? All the discussions around the internet remind me of the 2012 talk. Yet, researchers familiar with the Mayan culture have said the rumors are unbiased -- true, the Mayan calendar ends... in a way. The truth is the calendar restarts. The Mayans believe 2012 to be a renewal and a new beginning, not the end of the world.
This is exactly the state the publishing world is in. It’s a renewal, maybe an end of things ‘as we know it’ but not a complete death.
Don’t worry, the world is not about to end. There are too many readers and writers out there for the publishing world to ever come to a screeching halt.
So where does it leave authors?
Hopefully in a better place.
Before I continue, let me share my definitions.
Traditional published - I’m speaking of going through one of the big NY companies who edits, creates a cover, and pays the author an advance to put a book out in print, distributing them to Barnes and Nobles, Borders, Costco, Wal-Mart, Ect.
E-Publisher - A publisher who may or may not (usually not) pay the author an advance, but who edits, creates a cover, and puts the book out in e-format for sale. This is usually for sale on the publisher’s website for a time, then migrates to places like All Romance EBooks, Fictionwise, as well as Amazon, B&N, Ect.
Self/Indie Publishing - An author who has someone edit (hopefully) their book, designs the cover themselves or pays an artist to do so, converts the file into appropriate formatting and lists the book themselves at places like Amazon, Smashwords, Ect.
Vanity Publishing - (Which I’m against in most cases, because I believe money flows TO the author) is a company in which the author pays a fee for them to edit, create a cover, and produce a hard copy of a book, which the author then pays for and goes out and hand sells.
With the advent of E-Publishers, more aspiring authors are being published than ever. Readers, young and old, are getting into the digital age. E-Readers are rampant. And with E-Readers comes e-books.
Not only is this an exciting change for many, but also a great way to break into the writing industry, whether you want to stay in the E World or transition to New York.
Angela Knight, Rhyannon Byrd, Dakota Cassidy, and Joey Hill among many others, all started in E-Publishing, then made the leap to New York and traditional publishing.
According to Literary Agent/Author Dedrie Knight, in an article from June, 2009 (http://espan-rwa.com/the-digital-age-and-rwa-a-call-for-change/), “E-Publishing can be a tremendous beginning point for many authors, leading to even bigger careers with mainstream publishers.” She also states “Not only did I sell digitally published authors to houses such as Random House, Penguin Putnam and Harlequin, but their e-readership followed them to print, launching them with a huge built in advantage in such a tough market. In many cases, authors who begin with E-Publishers choose to continue writing for those companies, even as they forge ahead with traditional New York houses.”
There are also many authors out there making a living by writing strictly e-books.
Some common Myth’s about E-Publishing:
Myth: I can’t make a living with E-Publishing
Fact: There are more authors making a living through E-Publishing than traditional print.
Myth: E-Publishers aren’t any better than vanity presses
Fact: While in some cases you’ll find the rotten apple this applies to, I’ve found most E-Publishers are on the ball. They recruit great editors (in fact, most come from a long involvement with NY houses). They hire professional artists to create your cover, most times with authorial involvement. They are putting out good quality books, only in e-format rather than print, and some E-Publishers do print as well as e-format.
Myth: Self/Indie/E-Publishing will ruin my chances of success in NY
Fact: There’s some data out there that says most don’t care. As time goes by, though, more and more NY professionals are seeing that these authors are growing audiences, putting out quality work, and this can be a benefit to the author who wants to both Self/E-Publish and traditionally publish.
Here’s a great article about e-publishing myths and realities (http://nicemommy-evileditor.com/epublishing-articles/7-common-myths-of-epublishing/) from Angela James, Executive Editor for Carina Press, an e-pub offshoot of Harlequin, though they’re not formally associated with each other anymore.
With the growing e-publishing market, many authors are finding ways to break into publishing. This isn’t to say quantity is more important, because most e-publishers still require quality work. But as an e-publisher able to put out 2-5 books A WEEK, rather than the limits NY deals with, there’s a huge market for authors. :)
Anything you’d like to know that I haven’t touched on here? Any other questions?