Samhain/Kensington Deal

I don't know anything about the 'partnership" -- details?

Sheesh, back in the day the romance community shared and discussed stuff like this - maybe I'm on the wrong loops but all I ever hear is chit chat and self promotion and arguments about RWA recognition or Ritas or....


annie

Basically some select titles from the epublisher will go to mainstream print under an imprint of the NY house.

I'm not really seeing much of a down side. Most of the authors won't be effected, a few will get a big boost.

All I would just suggest having a good long look at contacts before signing to see what rights are taken and which are or might be used.

It was on Dear Author, L. Jones...

and I agree with you about the uselessness of so many loops these days.

Are there any loops that aren't stuffed with self-promo? I am more into blogs these days....

Now all we need is for Samhain to open up for submissions again. Then we'll be cookin' with gas!

Well, anyone who's read my posts here already knows I'm pretty pragmatic about the process and the reality of the publishing world.
I think it's a good sign that these deals are taking place. Clearly, the print pubs see value in doing so, even if they are just seeking a new audience or a side door into epublishing that requires less of their staff, etc.

The reality is still that money talks and everything else (well, almost everything) walks. SO, just as these larger publishers now see a two way door, they get epubbed and writers get a way into print pub, there may be more people seeking publication with the epub to use that door themselves. And in time, more "names" or people with print track records or agents with the right contacts coming to the table.
And then simply having gotten into the epublisher's doors first will not mean much.
IOW beause you have a contract with a publisher in one of these partnerships doesn't mean you won't still be subject to the same gamesmenship of all publishing. (not saying anyone here has indicated that but I certainly have heard the cry of 'we're ahead of the curve and when others epub we will be at the head of the line, we will be the big names' from some) It just doesn't work that way - the writer with the bigger platform, name recognition (Sometimes it's with the better book, usually it's the more marketable book) usually gets the deal.

So good for publishing, probably, but which writers benefit from it will shake out in time, just like with the whole danged business.

Just my take on what I'm hearing here - because I really don't hear much on loops anymore

annie
aka Luanne Jones
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9780778324225&itm=13

When I read RWR, it amazes me how many of the first sales are epubs and small pubs. I wasn't sure ebooks would ever catch on. Now, most of the new writers I see are selling to Cerridwen, Ellora's Cave, Triskelion, etc...

As far as I saw NY presses getting epublished is in no way part of the deal?

I think the reason most sales are ebooks are because epublished take on dozens, even hundreds, of authors every year while large NY presses take fewer and release fewer titles. Given that an epress can make a profit on just a few hundred sales per title this doesn't necessarily mean much for ebook sales which still hover below 1% of all book sales.

veinglory said:

...this doesn't necessarily mean much for ebook sales which still hover below 1% of all book sales.

Click to expand...

Are they that low? I guess I'd assumed ebooks sold much more than that. I agree it's getting harder to break into big houses, but from what I've heard, it's even harder to STAY in big houses. Several fairly well-known writers have been released from contracts recently. (My aging memory is drawing a blank. The info was from a friend.)

I am not sure it is harder now to get into the large houses, although it may be. I have only every submitted to e and small presses as the best venue for my work. But I am a strong proponant of having realistic expectations

I get that estimate from the figures I read in Publishers Weekly. I believe they are quoted at dearauthor.com

I believe that number (1%) includes stuff like textbooks, though, doesn't it? I thought ebooks were more like 4% of fiction, though I can't recall where I saw that.

I would think a great proportion of texts and references would be in ebook form than fiction? I don't know the exact derivation of the figures but think the 1% figure is pretty sound in general. I bandied it around EPICon and didn;t have any publishers suggest otherwise... I suspect the value is actually a little lower even than that....

Still, we shouldn't expect easy access into the big New York publishing houses just because they're selecting titles from e-publishers. Ya still gotta have the stuff.

Indeed. The main message I take is that this epress has the quality and the stability for a conservative company like an NY press to do business with them. It will likely have not concrete impact on me but it is an endorsement of the press and so reassuring as one of their writers.