Been a while...
A friend just "liked" my last blog. I realized it has been a very long time. My fault. Mea Cilpa.
I had my right shoulder rebuilt after years of abuse in the weight room. I'm a month into healing and it is coming along...slowly. Pain in the shoulder and the behind.
I'm about two weeks away from finishing the next novel in my Al McNair series. I was selling the first novel broken into three parts. The choice was driven by marketing but in retrospect, I should have just busted out with the whole novel as was written. Live and learn. The next novel, Bridge City, will be released as it was written. Damn the marketing ploys.
I am gaining a rudimentary understanding of the publishing business as it stands now and as it has been in the past. It's in the same state the recording industry was in a few years back. What was once a solid industry, lined with oak paneling and sealed with iron gates, a private club where none but the invited dare tread has been torn asunder by the resentful and starving proletariat writers. Now, here we sit wondering where the cake is that we were told to eat. You used to need permission to get published. Now you need an internet connection.
The downside to access is...well...access. Everyone and anyone is huckstering a book. Shameless huckstering is the move of the day. You can't get on twitter without being asked to advertise by someone who will get your book out to people (for some money, of course), being offered advice from failed writer on how to not be a failed writer, or from another person with the next great novel- American or otherwise.
I'm afraid the industry is rather rudderless at this point. There are still 6 major houses (now five major houses since the Penguin/ Random House merger http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2013/09/... ). In a market that tight, it is hard to get noticed without a war chest for publicity.
And here is the part of the situation that makes me a little angry. Publishing is becoming yet another area where the financially privileged have an edge. You want to be an author? Great. You have a super great book? Better. You have any money to advertise? If the answer is no, your sales will be dismal, and the road long. However, if you want to be an author, have an OK book, but have enough dough to choke a horse, more people will buy your book. You will drive sales because of your slick ads.
Getting back to the big 5, the end game, like it or not, is to be picked up by one of those 5. Sell 1,000,000 books; collect 1 dollar each. Do. The. Math. It's a no-brainer. The big 5 don't want to go out on a limb because the market is a perilous place to make guesses nowadays. So they look to books that have a good track record- i.e books that have a sales history.
And why should you, constant reader, care? Because the system is encouraging (and being encouraged to propagate) marginal writing. Not that rich people can’t write, or that poor people CAN. It just means the playing field is tilted.
Should this concern you? Only if you want good writing to flourish. Writing is on the precipice. Thank all the powers of the universe people still read. The e-reader seems to have bridged the gap so far from literacy to LOL. But the industry would love to have us reading books that are akin to humming tunes from GLEE.
You have the power. If a book is great, review it, tell your friends, tweet it, and encourage people to buy, buy, buy. If a book sucks, pan it. Sound rough? Yup. But you know what? Sitting at the big table and making the hard decisions has always been tough.
There’s room at the table. It’s in the middle of a big room that smells of old cigars. The oak paneling is gouged and the table needs refinishing. Take control of the world- all worlds. I can write 1000 horrible novels and dump thousands of dollars into advertising them, but if you say no, I have no power to degrade this beautiful art form.
It’s late and my soap box is tired. Time to ice my shoulder and sleep.
Oh, one more thing. I put my three books together and put them on Amazon. The Girl That Care Forgot- Books One, Two, and Three.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B014...
Read it. If you love it or you loathe it, REVIEW IT. Just remember, when all you can find to read is the literary equivalent of listening to Hansen, you have no one to blame but yourself.
I had my right shoulder rebuilt after years of abuse in the weight room. I'm a month into healing and it is coming along...slowly. Pain in the shoulder and the behind.
I'm about two weeks away from finishing the next novel in my Al McNair series. I was selling the first novel broken into three parts. The choice was driven by marketing but in retrospect, I should have just busted out with the whole novel as was written. Live and learn. The next novel, Bridge City, will be released as it was written. Damn the marketing ploys.
I am gaining a rudimentary understanding of the publishing business as it stands now and as it has been in the past. It's in the same state the recording industry was in a few years back. What was once a solid industry, lined with oak paneling and sealed with iron gates, a private club where none but the invited dare tread has been torn asunder by the resentful and starving proletariat writers. Now, here we sit wondering where the cake is that we were told to eat. You used to need permission to get published. Now you need an internet connection.
The downside to access is...well...access. Everyone and anyone is huckstering a book. Shameless huckstering is the move of the day. You can't get on twitter without being asked to advertise by someone who will get your book out to people (for some money, of course), being offered advice from failed writer on how to not be a failed writer, or from another person with the next great novel- American or otherwise.
I'm afraid the industry is rather rudderless at this point. There are still 6 major houses (now five major houses since the Penguin/ Random House merger http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2013/09/... ). In a market that tight, it is hard to get noticed without a war chest for publicity.
And here is the part of the situation that makes me a little angry. Publishing is becoming yet another area where the financially privileged have an edge. You want to be an author? Great. You have a super great book? Better. You have any money to advertise? If the answer is no, your sales will be dismal, and the road long. However, if you want to be an author, have an OK book, but have enough dough to choke a horse, more people will buy your book. You will drive sales because of your slick ads.
Getting back to the big 5, the end game, like it or not, is to be picked up by one of those 5. Sell 1,000,000 books; collect 1 dollar each. Do. The. Math. It's a no-brainer. The big 5 don't want to go out on a limb because the market is a perilous place to make guesses nowadays. So they look to books that have a good track record- i.e books that have a sales history.
And why should you, constant reader, care? Because the system is encouraging (and being encouraged to propagate) marginal writing. Not that rich people can’t write, or that poor people CAN. It just means the playing field is tilted.
Should this concern you? Only if you want good writing to flourish. Writing is on the precipice. Thank all the powers of the universe people still read. The e-reader seems to have bridged the gap so far from literacy to LOL. But the industry would love to have us reading books that are akin to humming tunes from GLEE.
You have the power. If a book is great, review it, tell your friends, tweet it, and encourage people to buy, buy, buy. If a book sucks, pan it. Sound rough? Yup. But you know what? Sitting at the big table and making the hard decisions has always been tough.
There’s room at the table. It’s in the middle of a big room that smells of old cigars. The oak paneling is gouged and the table needs refinishing. Take control of the world- all worlds. I can write 1000 horrible novels and dump thousands of dollars into advertising them, but if you say no, I have no power to degrade this beautiful art form.
It’s late and my soap box is tired. Time to ice my shoulder and sleep.
Oh, one more thing. I put my three books together and put them on Amazon. The Girl That Care Forgot- Books One, Two, and Three.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B014...
Read it. If you love it or you loathe it, REVIEW IT. Just remember, when all you can find to read is the literary equivalent of listening to Hansen, you have no one to blame but yourself.
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