#metoo makes it to Publishing

The #metoo movement has started making waves in the publishing industry, and you can find all sorts of opinions on it.

Janci Patterson, author and all around awesome human being, shared her experience, and it is worth reading in every way, no matter who you are. She doesn't just share her experience with harassment, but also through the process of healing. I'm grateful for her courage and the change posts like this can bring about in the writing industry, and in the world. This kind of thing heals, and helps us be better.

Paying it Forward (or: How I Got Published, Part 1)

Writing, at least in my particular genre, is a wonderful thing. Most writers that I've met, published or not, seem to accept that the business is not a zero-sum game--just because one author does well and sells a lot of books does not mean that he or she takes sales away from another author. While this may be the case on occasion, for the most part the opposite tends to be true: if an author is selling well in a certain genre, chances are that particular genre as a whole is going to sell well. George R.R. Martin exemplifies this at the moment: more people are reading fantasy now than ever, and that's in part because the TV series based on his books is so freaking popular right now, which means his books are selling more than ever, which means fantasy is selling more than ever, etc.

Most authors I've met understand this, and therefore have a very generous, pay-it-forward, give-it-back kind of attitude. Writers who find success--even small amounts of success--tend to give back in many ways, from writing articles online that might be helpful to new writers to teaching classes to attending conferences and sitting on panels to creating podcasts and holding workshops and more. The writing retreat I went to a few weeks ago was a form of this: a great author and an awesome guy decided to open up his home to a few fellow authors, some of them (ok, mainly one of them--me) being rather green, but he had the resources and was willing to do it, and that's pretty cool I know it was something for which I was grateful.

Of course, there are other motives for doing these things than simply helping fellow authors. Like most things we do as human beings, a host of different stimuli drive us to any given action; a lot of the aforementioned things help the writers hosting them them to gain some publicity, network more, etc. While that's certainly a perk, from what I've seen and heard from most writers I know, that sort of benefit is mostly a happy accident. Because everyone, more or less, has to go through the same gauntlet (or a gauntlet of one kind or another)--every author I know got to where they are because other authors before them paved the way, gave them advice, taught them a class, introduced them to an agent, or something. So paying it forward seems to be the thing to do, and I guess that's pretty cool.



Yeah. Anyway.

This leads me to two things: (1) I chose a great business to participate in, so, pat on the back for me! and (2) I suppose it's never too early to start this paying-it-forward stuff, so I think I'll begin my first attempt now.

Basically, I'd like to start a new series on this blog that talks about how I got published. Something I searched for often but rarely found were stories of authors getting published, what exactly they did, how things worked, etc. There is a lot of advice out there, don't get me wrong, but there's not a lot of, I don't know, just people sort of straight-up talking about their experience.

I'd like to do that.

I mean, I'm not going to go into any excruciating detail or anything, or talk specifics about people I interacted with (especially not anyone with whom it went or ended badly). But I do just want to share how the process worked for me--what I did wrong, what I did right, what did and did not help, and so forth. I know I would've liked to read something like that when I was researching the industry, so hopefully this can be helpful to some of those up-and-coming types that might stumble across my blog.

So, without further ado, I present to you my blog series "How I Got Published." I'm planning to put up a new post on this every Tuesday (because hey, at least it'll motivate me to blog more if nothing else), roughly following but certainly not limited to this outline:

1. Writing a Novel
2. Finishing a Novel
3. Revising a Novel
4. Writing Groups and Alpha/Beta Readers
5. A Ready (not finished!) Manuscript
6. Conventions and Conferences
7. Networking (or: being nice)
8. Getting an Agent
9. Waiting
10. Writing While You Wait
11. Finding a Publisher
12. More Waiting
13. More Writing (and Revising) While You Wait
14. Getting Published

I'll be honest, I'm excited to explore this series. My experience has been typical in many ways and less typical in many more, and I'm interested to see how that all comes out in writing. I'm happy to share my experience, and hope that it, in some way, does help some of you aspiring writers out there. And, once you get your break, hopefully you can do the same.

It's the little things...

...like seeing someone talk about me and my books on a webpage that I have not made nor had any hand in making. Check out the official announcement from my friends in the UK (DID YOU KNOW I HAVE FRIENDS IN THE UK WELL I DO), Zeno Literary Agency! DUSKFALL has officially sold both UK and US rights!

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.

An Alternative Perspective (or Two) on the Profit-Sharing Model

Hey folks, about those alternative perspectives I mentioned...

So I took the liberty of emailing a few small presses that use the profit-sharing and royalty-only models that have been all the rage recently, to see what they have to say on the subject.  Jolly Fish Press was very courteous and quick in their response, so here's what they have to say about things.

On why small presses use profit-sharing:

The profit-sharing model works for most small presses because it does not incur debt.  as such, the author is more motivated to promote the sale of his book.  From the business side of things, it creates a partnership of two parties--the publisher who places the initial investment in the publication and distribution of the book, and the author who writes the book and is responsible for its sales and marketing.  The selling of his book now becomes the author's business as well.

The no-debt idea absolutely makes sense, from a business perspective.  As I've mentioned before, it's all about ROI.  Motivating the author to be more involved in marketing can be a good thing as well--in my opinion, there's no reason an author shouldn't be doing all he or she can to connect with readers.  (There's also an argument--one that I happen to generally agree with--to be had regarding what an author should or shouldn't have to spend his/her time doing, but I'll save that for another day.)

That said, one of my big worries is the investment of the publisher in the writer.  Because, let's be honest, ROI isn't irrelevant for the writer, either.  And by writing an entire novel, the writer has already invested a lot.  That's where an advance is really nice; it shows the writer that the publisher has some investment in the work the writer has already done.

In the email I received, JFP went on to describe the nature of advances. Mainly:  authors don't earn royalties until advances are paid out, and authors that don't sell more than their advance often don't get contracted with the same publisher again (and, by association, often get "blacklisted" and have a very difficult time getting contracted anywhere after such a debacle).  (That's all paraphrasing and summary of what was stated in the email.)

These concepts are pretty accurate, and have long constituted some of the inherent risks involved in publishing.  Here's the rub:  what risks is the author more inclined to take:  having to split his/her time between writing and marketing and dealing with a publisher who has marginal investment in his'her work, or not paying out their advance and potentially being "blacklisted" from major publishing houses?  I think the ultimate decision should really depend on the author's personality, goals, and strengths.

One more interesting thing JFP mentioned:

JFP does not pay advances for the same reason explained above [referring to the inherent risks they mentioned, and that I previously summarized, in the advance model].  Our current royalty scheme is structured on a tiered platform; the royalty increases as book sales increase.  While each book deal comes with its own unique terms and conditions, our genreal royalty payout is based on the cost price of the book, starting from 8%.  As a traditional publisher, JFP absorbs the publication costs of the book.

Hmmm.  Now, that is interesting, particularly the fact that they start out at 8% royalty (as opposed to the 50% many other small presses toute).  I'm not sure if this is strictly for print books, or for all books in general.  From what I understand, JFP presents itself as, essentially, a "traditional publisher without the advance" (my quotations, not theirs).  So they're offering a traditional royalty rate where the royalties go straight to the author from book one, but there is no advance involved.  The tiered royalty scheme sounds interesting, but again sounds like a lack of investment on the publisher's part.  Anyway, I've emailed them to ask for clarification on this system, and I'll of course post my findings here.

For me, personally, I'm still leaning towards the traditional publishing route, advances and all.  That said, I'm still open to whatever comes my way, from small presses or otherwise.

For what it's worth, the people at JFP seem like a smart and courteous bunch.  Far more importantly, they don't seem like they're trying to screw the author over.  The fact that they at least "absorb the publication costs" is certainly a step above what Hydra was reportedly doing by pushing those costs onto the author.  So, good for JFP.  I commend them to you, if you're looking for a royalty-only publisher.

Also, it appears John Scalzi beat me to the punch yet again, and posted this alternative perspective by Evan Gregory, from the Ethan Ellenberg agency, on the royalty-only model.  Check that out for an additional additional perspective.

Hydra Imprint Changes Contract Terms

Well would you look at that.

Thanks to John Scalzi and the good people at SFWA, Writer Beware, and everyone else who helped bring this about.

That said, as mentioned in my previous post, I'll be looking at the other side of this business model (the profit-sharing version) to see what so many publishers seem to think is so grand about it.  More info on that in the next few days.

On an unrelated note...

John Scalzi put up two more posts defining more of his thoughts on advances and ebook publishing, as well as  a round-up of his posts regarding these topics and the whole Hydra/SFWA controversy.

That said, I realize I've kind of been covering one side of this story.  So, my goal in the next few days is to look at some other sides of the conversation and see what small publishers, ebook first publishers, etc. have to say about this.  I'll post my findings here, of course.

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.

Small Presses and Contracts

There's been an interesting exchange going on between SFWA (Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America) and Random House's relatively new ebook imprint, Hydra.  John Scalzi (blogger, SF writer extraordinair, and current SFWA president), in particular, has been up in arms about some contracts he's seen from Hydra in the past few days.  It's an interesting conversation.

Basically, the Hydra imprint is offering some pretty bad contract terms.  Mr. Scalzi compares them to the raptors in Jurassic Park, testing the fences of the writing industry and looking for weak areas they can take down.  Not only do they not offer an advance, but they also charge the author for costs that have traditionally been borne by the publisher.  Their infractions against the writing community go further than that, but those seem to be the two big ones (Mr. Scalzi lists those infractions in their totality [at least according to him] here).

In response to these dismal contractual terms, SFWA denied the Hydra imprint as a qualifying market for SFWA membership (which is, for all intents and purposes, the SF/F equivalent of the WGA, and holds quite a bit of sway over the community and market).

Random House responded to SFWA with this generally civil but nevertheless pretentious letter essentially saying "Wait!  You never even gave us a chance!"  To which SWFA responded, essentially:  "Why would we waste time giving an exploitative, predatory imprint a chance?"

My hat is off to SFWA, and in particular, Mr. Scalzi.  They're doing their job, and they're doing it well.  They're siding strongly with writers and protecting writer's rights (Writer's rights?  There's a tongue twister in there somewhere.  Writer's writing rights are rightfully written wittily rather than ritfully, and...).  As a writer who is still seeking publication, it feels good to know that I have, essentially, some high-ups on my side, looking out for me.

I have more to say about this, but I'll have to get to it later.  For now, the writing calls.

LTUE

I attended LTUE, the local SF/F convention, a few weeks ago, and it was one of the better local cons I've been to in some time.  More and more, LTUE seems to be the quintessential SF/F con of the northern Utah area--which may not seem like much, but there are actually quite a few cons/conferences around here.

Here's a brief recap of the panels I attended:

• Tolkien's The Hobbit:  The Book and the Films
• First Time Novelists - an advice session from a few recently published authors
• The Good, the Bad, and The Ugly of Publishing (regarding self-publishing, small presses, and traditional large publishing houses) - one of the first of many panels I attended regarding the shifting world of publishing.
• "Punk" Literature - an analysis of cyberpunk, steampunk, and other "-punk" genres
• Collaboration - a discussion of the pros, cons, tips, and tricks behind co-authoring
• Economics of Supervillainy
• How to Market Your Book
• Writing in Spite of Adversity - how to write despite the day-to-day struggles of life, as well as the once-in-a-lifetime traumatic events
• Contracts - a discussion of contracts in the publishing industry, and certainly one of the most informative panels I attended.
• Current Trends in Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror
• Five Things to Know Before Sending Out Your Novel
• Crafting Mystery within Your Novel
• Writers of the Future - a panel with David Farland, the coordinating judge of the contest (and the guy who read and sent me my critique for my recent semifinalist story), as well as Brad R. Torgersen and Eric James Stone, two past winners of the contest.  (I had a brief conversation with David Farland after the panel; he remembered my story, and encouraged me to keep submitting, which was pretty cool.)
• How to Sell More eBooks through Amazon - another one of the most informative presentations of the con; this one was by Aaron Patterson, who had a lot of fascinating things to say about the industry.  Too much to talk about here, in fact; it'll have to be the subject of another post.
• Publisher's Panel - a panel with editors from four local (and, generally, small) publishing houses: TM Publishing, JollyFish Press, StoneHouse Ink, and Shadow Mountain, who discussed their changing business models and expectations that accompany the changing industry.
• Write for the Market or Write What You Know?
• What You Need to Know to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy
• Making a Living as a Writer
• The Structure of Epic Fantasy - a fascinating presentation by Tracy Hickman about the structure of The Lord of the Rings and how that structure is applicable to today's fantasy stories.
• What I Wish I'd Known Before Publishing My First Novel
• Being LDS and Writing Horror - another intriguing panel about the issues of writing Horror and belonging to a religion that has, historically, been very hostile to the genre.
• Backstory

But, of course, the best part of the con was meeting up with old (and new) friends.  Steve Diamond, who now runs a very successful book review site and is working on a bunch of his own publications, from one of my first writing groups, was there.  So was Joe Vasicek, a vehement voice for self-publishing who has published a half-dozen or so of his own novels (and, incidentally, was also in that first writing group).  Other friends, from my MFA program and other writing groups, as well as tons of local authors, were there, too.  Overall, it was a great con.

Perhaps most interesting was the tone of LTUE this year; more than ever before, the focus was on the changing publishing industry and the increasing validity of small presses and self-publishing.  Again, this is a can of worms I'll have to open later, but figured I'd mention it.  Things really are changing, and it's interesting to see how some people are (and others are not) adapting.

Anyway, the point is this:  LTUE was awesome this year.