Steven Orlowski's Blog: Steve O's "So What?" Blog - Posts Tagged "indie-publishing"

Well, I've never written fan mail before, and I don't consider this to be that. But I think Hugh Howey, much to his good fortune, is becoming (if he's not already) the indie-writer model of success that other authors are watching and learning from, as I am watching and learning.

I've never met Hugh, corresponded a tiny bit via Facebook and email, but I don't think he knows who I am.

That's no matter at all. He's a good writer, a very good writer, and he seems like he's good guy. And quite clearly a major success.

I sent him this email after I watched Hugh on a webinar sponsored by Amazon.com promoting its "Amazon Worlds" publishing endeavor. There's a couple of ideas in it that other writers should find useful. And it might be mildly entertaining. It'll only take a minute. Read on.

01/16/2014

Greetings Hugh,

I was on the Kindle Worlds webinar today and I got a good laugh when you said that after you had published one of your earlier novels (you're first maybe?) you sat around waiting for Oprah to call.

I've been waiting for Oprah for almost a year now.

Before the webinar I read Michael Bunker's blog post "We're Not Competing, Part 2: Even With Ourselves" that you shared on Facebook. He wrote of the need to publish frequently. I commented to Michael that my heretofore slug-like publishing pace (one book since last April) has yet to pay off. He, and you, are on to something.

We all know Oprah is not the key to success. She is never going to call. Well, maybe you in 2014, but not any of us authors, like a pre-Wool Hugh Howey, that have yet to achieve any notable success.

On the webinar the host asked you what your single best piece of advice to other writers is and you seemed to reluctantly provide your answer, an answer that all writers should intuitively know: write good books.

I know the reason I have yet to publish my second book isn't because I don't have one, or because I don't think I'm a good writer, it's because I am waiting (semi-subconsciously) for my first book to become successful.

That's what I call "Waiting for Oprah". I want someone out there, not my wife or my best friend or my mother, ideally the wealthiest and most influential woman in media, to tell me I'm good.

Well, that's not going to happen and the strategy isn't working. I need to write more, and better, and earn the loyalty of the thousands readers I so desire.

And you my friend, you have not only a great talent for writing but also possess seemingly spot-on instincts for independent publishing success. I'd be a fool to not follow your lead.

Keep up the good work. You are an inspiration to many.

Yep. That's enough ass-kissing for today.

Best regards,

Steve

There's a whole lot of blogging going on in the "indie publishing" camp, most of it aimed at the monopoly in book publishing commonly referred to in the US as the Big Five...

For the record, I am a self-published author, indie if you like, because I couldn't get an agent or a publisher for my novel. And like most, I presume, I figured what the hell, there are a handful of writers making boatloads of money self-publishing, in many cases only eBooks and only at Amazon.com for Kindle, I might as well give it a go.

And I have sold far more books to date than I would have had I continued to pursue representation and a traditional book publishing deal - or have I?

And therein lies the quandary. Among the handful of authors making a lot of money self-publishing are a handful of authors who equally good or even better at marketing than they are at writing. I know because I've read their books.

And one way to succeed is to get everybody on your side, like they belong in an exclusive club. Make them believe that you and they are part of a team. "My success is your success"...

Is it really? Not quite, but I do not begrudge them their success. And I do thing some of the most successful indie authors who also happen to have volunteered to lead the charge believe they are doing so not just in self-interest but for the betterment of the publishing industry as a whole.

And this is normal. Many other industries have gone through similar tumult. But my advice for authors is to not get too far invested in the idea that in order to succeed today you need to self-publish, and to hell with the Big Five. The publishing landscape is changing as if it were perched on the San Andreas fault on a particularly volatile day.

History shows us that the pendulum of change often swings too far and then has to correct. In other words, there may end up being a lot of authors who naively bet their house on indie publishing that end up getting hurt.

The end result of this quantum shift in the publishing biz will be somewhere in the middle ground between the author/agent/publisher relationship of the past century or so and the free-for-all indie publishing bonanza of today.

I read an article recently about the cookbook publishing business. In that corner of the publishing market there was concern that the internet would have a big negative effect on cookbook sales because recipes by the gazillion are available for free online.

What they found, however, was while recipes were readily available for free online it was difficult to determine which ones were good and which one sucked. The recipes were not curated, and web-chefs found the effort needed to determine good versus bad recipes was significant enough that the internet has had practically no effect on cookbook sales.

I think world of fiction publishing has felt the impact but I think it possible that eventually the lack of "curation" will swing the pendulum back the other way.

So far, the indie publishing successes are such that they are manifesting great change in author relationships with agents (some don't have one) and publishers (print only contracts where the author retains all digital rights).

When I was a younger man I wanted to be a professional musician. Some would say I wanted to be a rock star, and I guess that's true, but I took my craft very seriously. I practiced a lot and worked hard and felt that I was a better guitar player than many of the players in the bands whose songs my bands covered.

Back then, before the internet, in order to get signed you had to play a lot of shows. Bands would also record demo's at their own expense and send them out to agents and record companies and radio stations in the hope that someone, somewhere would recognize your talent and sign you to a record deal.

These days if you want to be a rock star your best option is probably to post a video on YouTube and wait for an email offering you a deal. How many bands today are signed before they ever play a single live gig together?

Publishing today is in some respects like trying to become a rock star was in the Eighties.

You write a book, publish it at Amazon.com (at your own expense) and hope someone reads it and likes it enough to boast about it online and gets the mega-sales snowball rolling.

But in other ways it's also a lot like become a rock star is today. There's no need to write three of four books before you get published. There's no need to get rejected by some butt-hole agent or publisher. "F' the man" say the front-runners of the indie publishing revolution. Write it, publish it and write another, ad infinitum...

Here's why indie authors need to be cautious about flipping the bird at mainstream publishers and their agents - many of the indie authors are not that good.

Now, I am not saying that I am great (although I might be), but I've got a reasonable command of grammar, punctuation and the storytelling process - it's all about the fundamentals baby...

And I thank the god of publishing every day for the ability to download samples before buying a book. But I gotta tell you I am shocked sometimes at how poorly written some of the books are that are published by what appear to be successful indie authors.

And that is the force that will drive the pendulum.

Right now there are, I don't know, trillions of eBooks available on Amazon.com.

Does anybody really think most of them are good? Good is subjective, but I've bailed out on many books when the author demonstrated a complete lack of understanding as to the mandatory components of a SENTENCE (or misspell their own protagonists name on page 2)!!!!!

And then there are the ones where the story is just bad. I do not, for the record, think that these writers should not publish, I think they need to be a little more self-critical. And maybe I do too.

But similarly to online recipes, the indie publishing universe may become too flooded with books, many bad and not enough good, and readers might eventually find difficult and frustrating to determine what to read and what to avoid.

I don't know what this middle ground between the indies and the Big Five will ultimately look like, but do not be surprised when it occurs.

If you are serious about a writing career then I hope you continue to work at your craft. If you are not working at your craft it doesn't matter whether you are indie or trying to get a deal with a publisher, your career is not liely to thrive.

There have been more than a few flashes in the pan since the indie revolution started a few years ago; authors who succeeded despite their shortcomings and temporarily gave indie publishing a bad name.

Some are still here, some have disappeared. I'm happy to say a few of the front-runners today deserve their success, but not all.

Marketing skills will make a handful of writers financially successful in the short run. Good writing will keep even fewer around in the long run.

I certainly haven't broken out as an indie publishing success yet. Maybe it's my first book's topic (alien abduction). Maybe it's my marketing (I haven't done much, hoping my writing would get me there). Maybe it's my writing skills (or lack thereof).

If it is my writing, I'm not worried. I work at it everyday and I know I'm getting better. I just hope that my fellow indie authors are focusing as much effort on their writing skills as they are their social media and marketing skills.

Or maybe I should hope they don't...