A round-up of my recent posts on the publishing industry

Title pretty much says it all.  They're all here, for your convenient pleasure:

In which I talk about small presses and contracts and the controversy between Hydra and SFWA.

In which I talk more about small presses and contracts.

In which I link to [more] John Scalzi and propose the idea of presenting a counter-perspective.

In which I link to Hydra's changed contract terms, due in large part to what SFWA and John Scalzi put into motion.

In which I present aforementioned counter-perspectives.

In which I share a letter from a new, small, traditional press (Jolly Fish Press).

So there you have it.  That won't be the last you hear from me regarding the shifting world of publishing, I'm sure.  But for now, it's enough.

Straight from the mouth...

...of the Jolly Fish, in this case.  I posed some questions and some insecurities about Jolly Fish Press's tiered royalty system in my recent "Alternative Perspective" post.  They were kind enough to email me a very helpful response that I'll just include in its entirety here:

Dear Mr. Husberg: 

The tiered royalty platform is a common royalty practice among traditional publishers. Basically, this platform is divided into a few tiers of book sales, and in JFP's case, it is 1-5,000, 5,001-10,000, and 10,001 and above. Should the author's book sales fall within the first tier, he will be paid 8% based of the book's list price. The royalty percentage increases when book sales reach the second and third tiers accordingly. This form of royalty only applies to printed books. JFP pays a 35% royalty for all ebook sales.

The 50-50 royalty model is a digital only royalty platform on which both the publisher and author are required to put in equal share of production, distribution, and marketing efforts. Hence, the equal distribution of profits as well. Please note that Hydra is a digital only publishing platform created by Random House to reach out to more authors. While the royalty may be lucrative, sales and marketing efforts still need to come from the author. 

It is important to know that in most traditional publishing contracts, the author is given the time to write and market his book at the same time. It is no good writing a good piece, when the author fails to show up at events or does little to build his readership. These are some of the efforts the author has to do. One of the biggest problems many publishers face is the author refusing to do any marketing because he has "done his job of writing." In our industry, it does not matter if the author writes the greatest American novel, if he doesn't put in his effort in building his readership, no one will read his book, regardless of the amount of advertisements the publisher puts in. So, it is important to know that the business of book publishing is a business, unless the author writes for his own gratification, and not for the money.

Traditional publishers invest a whole lot of money in the production of one single book. The average production cost for one single title is about $250,000. Now, that's an investment. Traditional publishers work hard behind the scenes to bring the raw manuscript to a commercial and professional level worthy of shelf space in a bookstore. This includes the long and tedious editorial process (for example, Paolini's Eragon spent one year in the editorial process before even going to layout), book design, book marketing, book and author publicity, distribution of ARCs for reviewers, scheduling events for the author, etc. These efforts require the skills and dedication of teams of professionals and pundits. This is also one reason why the quality of traditionally published works will always surpass that of self-published in many levels (for example, see Hocking's Trylle series before and after St. Martin's picked it up). The truth is, a traditional publisher does more than most authors realize.  

A lower royalty cost does not in any way push the costs to the author. The profit margin of an average book is so low that the publisher goes home with only a dollar (or less) for every book sold. In the end, the author is the one who always goes home with the bigger sliver of the pie.   

We hope our response answers your questions. 

Regards,

Jolly Fish Press

They did a pretty good job of answering my questions, and in a timely, courteous manner as well.

For me, the takeaway from this whole thing is that the publishing world is changing.  The proverbial cheese has been moved, and people are scrambling to find it again.  There's a lot of stuff going on from all angles (traditional publishing, small presses, self-publishing, etc.), and it is both a terrifying and an exciting time to be an author seeking publication.  Right now, there really isn't a straightforward "right" way to go about getting published*.  It's a cop-out and cliche, but this is really a "whatever works for you" moment.  What are your strengths as a writer?  What are your strengths as a person, for that matter?  Depending on what your answers are to those questions will determine largely what kind of publishing route is best.  At least, that's how things are looking for me, right now.

But one thing is certain:  it pays to keep tabs on the business.




*  That doesn't mean there aren't wrong ways, though.

Small Presses and Contracts (cont'd)

I posted earlier an interesting controversy between Hydra, an imprint of Random House, and SFWA (and, in particular, it's president John Scalzi).  I have a few more things to say about that.

Many of the small presses (TM Publishing, Jollyfish Press, and Stonehouse Ink) that I encountered at LTUE a few weeks ago expressed some of the same contractual terms that SFWA so vehemently rejects in the Hydra imprint, namely that they didn't offer advances to their authors.  I'd be interested to see what their other standard contractual terms are, and whether or not they align very closely with the other objectionable Hydra terms.  Honestly, at LTUE, each of those small presses seemed pretty respectable.  They were, slowly but surely, making me into a believer in the no-advance, small-press world.  But, having witnessed this whole controversy, and thinking back on the fact that the most specific reasons I can remember them offering for not offering an advance were (1) "the publishing industry is changing" and (2) "we're a small press, we're just starting out, and we'll sink or swim with our authors," (those aren't really direct quotes, but general summaries of what I remember a few of their editors saying) I'm doubting once again.

As far as (1) is concerned, well, that's true.  The publishing industry is changing, and it's changing a lot.  Traditional publishers are on the defensive, scrambling to secure their place in the future publishing world.  Self-publishers and small presses seem to be emerging on top, or at least on more equal ground than that which they had occupied only two or three years ago.  The business model is changing, and I can see why small presses might attempt to not offer an advance.  In an era where audiences are shrinking and writers are a dime a dozen (among many other reasons), an advance may not be very practical, especially for a small press that's just starting out.  That said, Hydra is still the imprint of one of THE top publishing houses, so why they wouldn't offer an advance (other than to make more money for themselves and screw authors) is beyond me.  I think what Hydra is doing is despicable; I think what many of these other small presses are doing is merely self-serving (which, honestly, I can't blame them for that, but it doesn't make me feel better about signing a contract with them).

Regarding (2), well, each of these presses is relatively new to the publishing industry.  It wouldn't surprise me if they didn't have much funding available to them to give out for advances.  TM Publishing and Jollyfish, as far as I know, haven't even released anything yet.  That said, if they're picking up writers now, without offering an advance, there aren't many reasons why they would start doling them out in the future, even if they do start making a fair share of cash.  My issues with large presses not offering advances aside, I still have a hard time swallowing the decision with small presses. The small presses I talked to at LTUE were all about ROI (return on investment)--they didn't give out advances because they wanted to make the minimal investment with maximum returns.  From a business perspective, that makes absolute sense.  I'd like to do the same thing.  And not giving an advance, of course, is very minimal investment, so minimal that I worry whether the publishing house will care at all whether the author succeeds or not.  To me it seems less of a "sink-or-swim together" mentality and more along the lines of "you can put our name on your book, but if you sink, we won't dive in after you."  That sounds like a pretty dismal deal, if you ask me.

So, as for me, I'm going to continue pursuing publication through the traditional route first.  I'm looking for agents, publishing houses that have been around for at least a few years (Tor and Pyr are my personal preferences [i.e., in a dream world I'd be picked up by one of those two houses]) and that publish on multiple formats (both print and ebook), and of course, contracts that offer an advance (among many other things, hopefully).  I think that's the route for me.

That said, indy-publishing and small presses are really gaining traction, and I don't want to rule them out entirely.  I admire what a number of them are doing on a business level; I just don't want to see the author get screwed in the process (not only because I am one, but because I think that sort of business kills the artistry of the thing, which, in the end, is what I'm most interested in).  I would certainly prefer the traditional route, but I'm open to all options.  Who knows where the publishing industry will go in the next few years, anyway?

Also, if you're interested, John Scalzi talks more about why he thinks advances are so important over at his blog, Whatever.  Check it out.