Aric Mitchell's Blog - Posts Tagged "a-newbie-s-guide-to-publishing"

The "new" has worn off the eReader.

That's not to say I don't still love my Nook Color and Kindle Fire. I even catch myself reading books on my iPhone still. But that initial affection I had for these devices, where I pretty much refused to read anything unless it was on a touch screen, is gone. I'm working on two books currently. Both are print. I just finished Master of the Delta by Thomas Cook, also print. Seems like, in spite of having my shiny new devices, I'm still flipping through dead tree pages.

Not only has it led me to believe print's not going away any time soon, it's even convinced me to launch The Congregation in print sometime next month. I don't get the same jolt out of seeing my name in print any more. That's not what this is about. Been there, done that. Did nothing to ease the financial burdens and stresses of life. So I turned to ePublishing because it makes a lot more sense financially--almost no overhead, larger profit margins for me, and cheaper prices for the readers. Can't go wrong there.

But why limit my book to niche reading preferences? I don't expect to sell many print titles, since it's POD, and the distribution isn't worked out to chain stores--besides, all they want are bestsellers--but I don't want to exclude what essentially remains the largest side of the reader market either.

From a business perspective, my print endeavors will never be profitable, but they will add legitimacy and perhaps fuel online sales with the more work I produce, so it makes sense to go this route. That's what I'm hoping anyway.

Regardless of my plans, the "Digital vs. Print" debate that rages on around the web on sites like J.A. Konrath's "A Newbie's Guide to Publishing" is a flawed concept. As an author and a reader, I want both, and I want them forever. Here's why:

1. Digital publishing has increased the amount I read all together, and will continue to do so.

Since discovering I could read books on my iPhone, and it didn't suck, reading once again became one of my favorite pastimes. I embraced the digital bug in early 2011 and read about three dozen books between January and the end of the year. In 2010, I read four books, period. Currently, I've maintained my busy reading schedule, and even though a lot of it is in print, I still credit eReaders for the surge.

2. Length preferences vary by format.

I don't like reading long books on eReaders. I borrowed the ePub of Stephen King's It from my library and lost interest quickly. The print version, however, sucks me in and convinces me to keep reading. Quality is not the issue. It's a wonderfully written book. But psychologically, I want to see my progress on such a mammoth tome. But for short stories and novels/novellas up to 75,000 words, it's the eReader every time. And to be frank, I think the 30,000-50,000-word range works best. Which highlights a third reason why I'm hoping these formats stay around, side-by-side, forever.

3. Literary diversity is finally commercial.

Buying a short story for 99 cents or a short novel for $3.95 was not gonna happen in the print only world. It wasn't even possible. Publishers stopped trying the short novel in the late 1980s/early 1990s. Selling an individual short story was impractical, and collections were reserved for the top names, who could do whatever they wanted. Now anyone with a nose for social media and a talent for writing can make money off their shorter works. I've even flirted with the idea of going to all 30,000-word stories, which the writer Guido Henkel now does through his Jason Dark series, which you really should check out if you haven't, by the way. Whether you're writing 10 pages, 100, or 1,000, there's a market for it.

While I realize not everyone shares the same reading preferences, this Digital vs. Print debate is pretty silly business. It's not a competition. We should embrace both, not because of tradition or progression, but for the love of great storytelling in whatever form it takes.