Barry Eisler Walks Away From $500,000 Deal to Self-Pub

Cyia said:

I also don't get the notion that self-publishing is automatically "taking a chance" anymore than commercial publishing.


(Now, in the OP's case? Yes, this author is taking a risk - BUT - he's got an established platform, people know him, and the curiosity factor that comes with turning down that much cash will buy him a return from on-lookers curious to check him out for themselves.)

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Ok...except I was talking about OP's case...I said Barry has tremendous courage to turn down half a mil. He's put his stones on the table and probably has his wife in heart palpatations. And you want to minimize it by saying he has a following and platform and yada yada....when you turn down half of a half of a half a million, then you can talk platform and yada yada.

AP7 said:

That's fine. Nobody is forcing you to. In fact, no one is even asking you to. If you choose to assume that all self published books are crap you should simply ignore them the same way you ignore other crap that you see on sale in your daily life. What's the problem?

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1 - You obviously didn't read all my post, where I said that yes I have read a couple of good self-pubbed books but it took a lot of effort, more than it does among books released by publishers I know and trust. And if I have to search through it all, how can I ignore it? It's there, I'm searching through it.

2 - My issue is with the time/effort it takes to sift through to find the good stuff. And i would think that's an issue for more than just me.


I like someone to have presifted the dreck.
Why is that a problem for you?

Sheryl Nantus said:

So what do you consider "corporate"? Just the big ones in NYC or all publishers...

And I've read some pretty creative books coming out from actual publishers. Go figure.

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So have I. In fact, virtually every book I've read in my life have come from "actual publishers." But I dont fear a glut of self published crap anymore than I fear a glut of independant movies or a glut of independant rock bands. The ones that appeal to me will get a chance at my dollars. The rest I'll ignore.

And, um, is that $500,000 still available? Just asking...

AP7 said:

He's put his stones on the table and probably has his wife in heart palpatations.

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Can't blame her.

It's fine if you're single and living in an apartment to take certain risks. When you have a family to support, a mortgage to pay off and children to educate it becomes less of a philosophical discussion and more about financial reality.

I'm sure he'll do just fine but I do hope he did discuss it with the missus first.

We'll see in a year. I'm sure if he's more successful than he would have been with a publisher that we'll hear him and Konrath bellowing from the rooftops.

If not... I expect silence.

IdiotsRUs said:

1 - You obviously didn't read all my post, where I said that yes I have read a couple of good self-pubbed books but it took a lot of effort, more than it does among books released by publishers I know and trust. And if I have to search through it all, how can I ignore it? It's there, I'm searching through it.

2 - My issue is with the time/effort it takes to sift through to find the good stuff. And i would think that's an issue for more than just me.


I like someone to have presifted the dreck.
Why is that a problem for you?

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I read your post. It's not a problem for me. It's a problem for you. You seem to think that it will somehow be harder for you to ignore the work that doesnt interest you in this vast hypothetical self pubbed future. If you want to be spoonfed your entertainment, there will always be corporations holding up a spoon. Dont worry.

AP7 said:

I read your post. It's not a problem for me. It's a problem for you. You seem to think that it will somehow be harder for you to ignore the work that doesnt interest you in this vast hypothetical self pubbed future. If you want to be spoonfed your entertainment, there will always be corporations holding up a spoon. Dont worry.

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Um nope. You might want to read it again and not infer stuff that isn't there in any shape or form.


Now excuse me, I have a self-pubbed book to go and read. I know it'll be good, cos I betad it

IdiotsRUs said:

It takes time and effort to find something I personally like even among stuff that's gone through a gatekeeper (all that subjectivity re subject matter, what constitutes good writing/plotting to me etc. I have trawled through self pubbed books, and yes I found one or two that were not bad. But I had to trawl a LOT more to find them. I'm not so sure people would be willing to take the extra time. I'd rather not, I know that. YMMV

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I completely agree with the sparkly avatar'd IRU.

AP7 said:

And you want to minimize it by saying he has a following and platform and yada yada....when you turn down half of a half of a half a million, then you can talk platform and yada yada.

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The platform minimizes the risk on its own.

If John Doe writes a 700 page horror novel and puts it up on Kindle for $0.99 or $2.99 without anyone knowing his name, then 99% of the time, he's got a chance at making enough for a couple of nice dinners.

If Stephen King writes a 700 page horror novel and puts it up on Kindle for $0.99 or $2.99, tweets, blogs, or gives an interview mentioning it, then he'll be clearing a couple of million by the end of the quarter.

Platform matters. Notoriety matters. The reason that people like J. Konrath or A. Hocking make the news with their success is because they're exceptionally rare - the way JK Rowling or S. Meyer are rare with commercial publishing.

For an unknown to risk half a million on a self-published upload is a much higher risk than it is for someone with an established following. Sadly, hearing stories like this will feed the delusional assumption that many (not all) novice writers have that the mere existence of a book is enough to get it noticed. Just like it will feed their assumptions that if a book does poorly in the kindle store it's a bad book.

AP7 said:

I find the vast majority of corporate published books safe, cookie cutter, boring (dare I use the word crap...). A boon in well written self published books represents a wonderful opportunity for creativity and risk taking. Corporate publishing is run by bean counters and sales people, not creative types. I welcome the influx of creativity and will risk buying the occassional "dog."

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Sorry, I've heard this so many times before and all I can do is

Phaeal said:

And, um, is that $500,000 still available? Just asking...

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Fight you for it . . .

gothicangel said:

Sorry, I've heard this so many times before and all I can do is

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You're gonna have to be a little more articulate than that to get into a good MFA program.

Cyia said:

The platform minimizes the risk on its own.

If John Doe writes a 700 page horror novel and puts it up on Kindle for $0.99 or $2.99 without anyone knowing his name, then 99% of the time, he's got a chance at making enough for a couple of nice dinners.

If Stephen King writes a 700 page horror novel and puts it up on Kindle for $0.99 or $2.99, tweets, blogs, or gives an interview mentioning it, then he'll be clearing a couple of million by the end of the quarter.

Platform matters. Notoriety matters. The reason that people like J. Konrath or A. Hocking make the news with their success is because they're exceptionally rare - the way JK Rowling or S. Meyer are rare with commercial publishing.

For an unknown to risk half a million on a self-published upload is a much higher risk than it is for someone with an established following. Sadly, hearing stories like this will feed the delusional assumption that many (not all) novice writers have that the mere existence of a book is enough to get it noticed. Just like it will feed their assumptions that if a book does poorly in the kindle store it's a bad book.

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I too would be saddened to hear of a novice writer turning down half a million dollars...

Am I the only one who kind of marvels at this but at the same time rubbing their hands?

If more and more people turn to self publishing, a rift will be caused between traditional publishing and self publishing. The book reader on one hand will be more aware of the difference and traditional publishers at the same time will not have that many queries to sort through, lessening their work and at the same time having more opportunity to take risk with unpublished authors?

I think it will cause a difference between the two groups, with both sides having advantages and disadvantages and from here the book reader can only benefit.

aruna said:

I first heard of this blogpost on the ABNA board, (Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award) and they are all practically wetting themselves there, in their eagerness to self-publish.

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It may well lighten the slush load, although who can say for how long?

A lot of them on that board are going straight to CreateSpace and not even bothering with agents, legacy publishing (is that a new term BTW? First I ever heard of it.)

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Out with the old? Lack of something better to call them? Sounds like a term for something dead and buried.

aruna said:

(is that a new term BTW? First I ever heard of it.)

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Konrath coined the phrase.

He does seem to be very full of rage against the machine, as it were. I understand his frustration at being dropped by his publisher, as we all would - but I disagree with his assumptions and predictions.

But that's just me.

Like everyone else, I'm fascinated by this whole e-book revolution, and I'm only sure of one thing:

Whichever camp I throw my support behind will undoubtedly become extinct within two years.

AP7 said:

You're gonna have to be a little more articulate than that to get into a good MFA program.

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Who's applying for an MFA? I'm a strictly MA in Publishing at Oxford Brookes girl.

RBSHoo said:

Like everyone else, I'm fascinated by this whole e-book revolution, and I'm only sure of one thing:

Whichever camp I throw my support behind will undoubtedly become extinct within two years.

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Not going to happen. Neither side will become extinct.

gothicangel said:

Not going to happen. Neither side will become extinct.

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Haha! You've vastly underestimated my ability to destroy my own career!

Twenty-five years ago I bought my first computer--a Commodre C64-- and my first word-processing program.

After the first week, I declared computers could never replace my good ol' IBM Selectric. After a brief faddish flurry of enthusiasm, things would go back to the way they had always been.

I imagine my great-grandfather, who raised horses, felt similarly when he saw his first two-wheeled velocipede.

Axler said:

Twenty-five years ago I bought my first computer--a Commodre C64-- and my first word-processing program.

After the first week, I declared computers could never replace my good ol' IBM Selectric. After a brief faddish flurry of enthusiasm, things would go back to the way they had always been.

I imagine my great-grandfather, who raised horses, felt similarly when he saw his first two-wheeled velocipede.

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The flaw in your argument it that you are describing a change in medium, just as ebooks are just another medium.

No-one is saying that things will go back to the way it was. No sane person is predicting the death of publishing either.

RBSHoo said:

Whichever camp I throw my support behind will undoubtedly become extinct within two years.

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Why not go with both? The whole picking a camp or side things is kinda silly, really, when someone could do both, or either.

But I guess in the internet world, there must be sides. And when you have sides, there must be a winner and a loser and poo-flinging from one side to the other.