A path forward

I read a great article the other night on e-publishing, and it put things into perspective. It was perhaps the best article I’ve read on the subject. It was free advice with no gimmicks, which was refreshing because the topic is a minefield for scams. I think most writers dream of becoming a best selling author. How much more validation can you get for your craft than reaching that lofty goal? The thing is, it is like winning the lottery. Craft and skill certainly have something to do with it, but it also has a lot do with timing, who you know, and luck- lots of luck. This prospect is even more unlikely if you go the e-publishing route. Without access to the big publishing house’s Rolodex, being a NY Times Best Seller is just not in the cards.

The author of the article took a different, an far more practical, approach. The central theme was don’t try to write a best seller. Instead, write a lot of your best. This advice is coming from an author that is probably someone you don’t know, or at the very least, wouldn’t remember, yet sold 750,000 fiction e-books last year. Sure, no single book reached the “lists,” but he wrote a lot and sold a lot. That’s more than enough to make a living at writing, and certainly enough to make him a millionaire. He has a small following, and people enjoy his work, but best yet, he gets to write for a living!

Sure his path, may not be that glamorous (although from what I heard, being a best selling author is not always that glamorous unless you are a superstar like Stephen Kind or J.K. Rolling- more on that below). Still, I would be more than thrilled to be able to sell enough books to be able to do this for a living. It is something I am passionate about and never get tired of doing. It gives you the flexibility to work anywhere in the world, and at any time you want. You’re your own boss, and you own what you produce. Traditional publishing may have validation, but that’s about it. If you are one of the few that can grasp a book deal, you only make a 10% commission on a sale. You then have to share 15% of that with your agent. Most writers don’t even sell enough to make back the advance. What’s worse, once in the hands of the publisher, they have the right to do what they want and change what they want. Yes, they will likely change your vision.

By the end, the book on the shelves is some Frankenmonster of marketing and focus groups. After all the editing, design, and back-and-forth, it often takes more than two years to get a book on the shelves. It then sits there for an optimistic 6-months before the next new thing bumps it to the dollar store. The book then wallows as you struggle to buy back the rights from a publisher that has no plans of doing anything but sit on your intellectual property and make a few cents here and there. It is no longer your book. “But publishers market and advertise for you,” you may say. Not so much. They push it a bit, but you still have to do the lion’s share of the work. They may give you the contacts to reviewers or other authors to recommend your work, but you sill need to be the one that reaches out and do the grunt work. “What about book signings?” you may ask. Most authors have to pay their own way- hotels, transportation, food all on your own coin. Publishing is a business, and they are going to try to squeeze out as much money by spending the least money. They don’t care about the craft, and they don’t care about the work you put into the story, and they don’t care about you. All they care about is the bottom line. Glamorous, right?

According to this article, the main ingredient to success on his path is hard work. Really, really, really hard work writing as much good fiction as you can. I like that approach, and during this time of isolation, I can certainly work hard at writing, and someday, way down the line, maybe my dream will come true!

Cheers!