Mid-list Author
- Thread starter brainstorm77
- Start date
- Status
From Wikipedia:
The whole article here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midlist
I like these questions because they help me learn
The whole article here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midlist
I like these questions because they help me learn
Midlist author, from what I understand, is when an author gets paid more than $10K advance yet still makes under $100,000 a year from writing after the 2nd or 3rd book comes out.
They're the writers that don't sell enough to give big advances to, and sometimes barely sells through better than a first-time author, and are far more expensive than a first-time author.
In days gone by, publishers allowed authors to build their readership and work themselves out of the mid-list range. Their business models no longer allow that. I've heard that if you're not on track (for genre novelists) for the bestseller lists within 5 novels, your career is in trouble. If you haven't hit it by 7, it's likely the end of your career. I have friends whose careers have ended because of lack of sales after their first book, sometimes their third (end of the first contract).
The mid-list is not a good place to be anymore if you want a career in writing genre fiction.
They're the writers that don't sell enough to give big advances to, and sometimes barely sells through better than a first-time author, and are far more expensive than a first-time author.
In days gone by, publishers allowed authors to build their readership and work themselves out of the mid-list range. Their business models no longer allow that. I've heard that if you're not on track (for genre novelists) for the bestseller lists within 5 novels, your career is in trouble. If you haven't hit it by 7, it's likely the end of your career. I have friends whose careers have ended because of lack of sales after their first book, sometimes their third (end of the first contract).
The mid-list is not a good place to be anymore if you want a career in writing genre fiction.
http://charlotte.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/my_life_on_the_mid_list/Content?oid=567017 after some searching I found this rather nice article.
Indeed. For many who think once published its easy to them I say, read this darned article!
- Joined
- Nov 24, 2008
- Messages
- 7,640
- Reaction score
- 2,900
Indeed. For many who think once published its easy to them I say, read this darned article!
*Reads the darned article.*
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2006
- Messages
- 5,363
- Reaction score
- 1,763
I know writers with 50 and more mid-list sales, and they just keep selling, year after year. I've got more than 20 and ain't giving up.
Now if your sales stink because your publisher didn't print enough copies for the advance to pay out or you have a new editor who inherited you and hates your books or bookstores stop ordering because your last book tanked, then you just change your name and release a new title.
Author Rachel Caine went through 5-6 different pen names on a dozen or so titles, then clicked with her Weather Wardens and Morganville Vampire books.
My turn next!!
I know writers with 50 and more mid-list sales, and they just keep selling, year after year. I've got more than 20 and ain't giving up.
Now if your sales stink because your publisher didn't print enough copies for the advance to pay out or you have a new editor who inherited you and hates your books or bookstores stop ordering because your last book tanked, then you just change your name and release a new title.
Author Rachel Caine went through 5-6 different pen names on a dozen or so titles, then clicked with her Weather Wardens and Morganville Vampire books.
My turn next!!
Might I ask, how broad is this "Midlist" Scarlet Letter type designation? Is the range of sales large enough that the upper end of the scale allows for more releases?
I can't imagine there are enough best sellers out there to explain how that's the only way to keep selling.
Of course not! As Gilloughly pointed out, you can always keep on truckin'. And you can always change your name.
Yeah, that's what most of my friends have done--change their names. Change their genres. Whatever it takes.
I know one lady who went through 20 years, 13 different pen names and four different genres before finally hitting the bottom end of the NYTBL. She's doing much better now.
I've watched her through 7 of those pen names and 3 genres--reinventing yourself isn't necessarily fun, but it can work if you stick to it.
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2005
- Messages
- 25,582
- Reaction score
- 3,787
- Location
- New Hampshire
- Website
- madhousemanor.wordpress.com
Oh, dear. That Wikipedia article has just so many things wrong with it. Starting with being wrong both in general and in particular. (And Thor Power Tools has been a dead issue for years now.)
Here's the real definition of mid-list: Anything that isn't frontlist or backlist is midlist.
There are no sales numbers attached. There are no dollar values attached. It's the physical placement on the hard-copy list of all the publisher's books.
Which is one reason there are so many imprints these days. If you're wondering where the midlist went, it's to the frontlist of another imprint at that same publisher.
I've been making a living as a midlist writer for the past 20-plus years. It's nice and comfy.
Here's the real definition of mid-list: Anything that isn't frontlist or backlist is midlist.
There are no sales numbers attached. There are no dollar values attached. It's the physical placement on the hard-copy list of all the publisher's books.
Which is one reason there are so many imprints these days. If you're wondering where the midlist went, it's to the frontlist of another imprint at that same publisher.
I've been making a living as a midlist writer for the past 20-plus years. It's nice and comfy.
This is why we're good to have you in our midst. Real people with real experience versus Wikipedia isn't much of a match up.
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2009
- Messages
- 304
- Reaction score
- 11
Regarding the name change: Do writers then query agents using a different name? How does this work?
You always make me feel calmer when I start to worry over issues like these
I think you would have to use your legal name but also include the pen name.
... being a 'mid-list author' sounds perfectly fine to me. Just wish they'd decided on a more flaterin' name for writers of the sort.
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2005
- Messages
- 43,746
- Reaction score
- 8,654
- Location
- Los Angeles
- Website
- www.amazon.com
What? Plenty of writers make good living being mid-list. And "overnight" success could take 20, 30 years. Dan Brown had written six books (I think) as a mid-list author before the Da Vinci Code took off.
Unless you and your agent have parted ways for some reason, why would you requery anyone? Many authors change genres and use pen names without leaving their agent.
- Status