The future of publishing

I know of a couple of major crime writers whose agents have negotiated their print rights separately from their digital rights.

One ended up licensing their digital rights to the same publisher which held their print rights; the other has decided to hang onto them for now.

It's not an unusual thing for various rights to be dealt with separately. It's not commonplace--but it's not very unusual either.

annetpfeffer said:

I know they run another one in, but it might not be someone who likes your book very much. I mean, can't that happen? It happened to someone I know, and she had to completely change her book because the new editor had different views.

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She went from an editor who was looking for a job at the same time the editor was looking at clients' books to one who is fully dedicated to the process. The new editor's changes probably improved the book.

J. Tanner said:

It's all negotiable of course, but outside of the highly unusual case of John Locke are you aware of any word of any genre fiction author (new or established) actually achieving this in a recent contract?

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Cory Doctorow

Charlie Stross

I know of two others, both SF/F authors but I need to get their permission because the novels are not published yet and I don't know if it's general knowledge beyond the parties involved.

OldHack, what I said is very simple ... there are more people making money as writers. Instead of five people out of 100,000 making a million dollars a year (as if), that 100,000 each will make a few hundred a month. Instead of the gallery only being able to hold one hundred paintings, the art fair can hold 5,000.

Quick isn't necessarily worse either. Epublishing is faster, cheaper and more effective. It leads to the writer having more control and a larger piece of the pie. Trade publishing in dead tree terms has seen its day. It truly is a dinosaur, as are all the other similar "middle man" entities that used to link up creators with consumers.

What it means, in essence, is more writers will be able to be read ... and make a little money for their efforts. I think a lot of the acrimony being flung at self-publishing (and I can count two negative posts for every positive one in the self-publishing forum) and small press is based on fear. Change is scary. Things are changing.

melodyclark said:

What it means, in essence, is more writers will be able to be read ... and make a little money for their efforts. I think a lot of the acrimony being flung at self-publishing (and I can count two negative posts for every positive one in the self-publishing forum) and small press is based on fear. Change is scary. Things are changing.

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For me it is not fear. I want to write, period. I do not want to get into the business of publishing, which I would need to do in order to make a success of self-publishing. I want an editor whom I am not paying directly to say I LOVE your book, and I want other people whom I am not paying directly, and not having to monitor, to take care of getting it to the public while I write the next book. I don't want to have to keep accounts. I don't want to put money (which I haven't got) up-front to pay these specialists. I want advances, so that I can write. I don't want to have to constantly self-promote, dropping my book's name into every conversation on-and-offline. I want to do as I have been doing till now: get up early, put in my two or three hours of writing a day before breakfast, and then get on, relaxed, with the rest of my life. I utterly loathe the idea of doing it all. It's not for me.

I don't mind having a smaller piece of the profit. I love the people who work in publishing, as they all seem to love books. I remember walking through HarperCollins in the early days and all these smiling faces in all the departments, people holding out my first novel for me to sign for them. I don't want them to lose their jobs. I think a lot of writers, people who love writing but aren't too keen on the business side of it, or the mechanics, think like me, and as long as that's the case there will always be publishers.

I also think that all the talk about being in control of the process is just that -- talk. Once the book is "out there" you have totally lost control, and that's when it matters most. You cannot control what readers read, and even if you pull out all your arms and legs promoting your book, if you haven't delivered that certain something that makes readers choose your book over others, it was all for naught. I want ALL my energy (in the time alloted to the processs) to go towards writing the best books that I can.

So, self-publishing might be for some people, and good luck to them. It's not for me, ever.

You may want to see it as "talk" but the reality is, it's not. Writers will have a greater role in production and profit -- if they want it. There will always be those (I'm included in that number) who prefer to let others do the editing and other work for them.

Melody and aruna, I love your posts. This is a personal decision, and you each give eloquent and valid reasons for the choices you've made.

@ melody: Oh, the talk as far as pre-launch is concerned, is of course more than talk. I meant that all that wonderful control ends once the book is "out there" in the wild -- and that's where it really counts.

Medievalist said:

I know of two others, both SF/F authors but I need to get their permission because the novels are not published yet and I don't know if it's general knowledge beyond the parties involved.

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No need to bother them. Thanks for the other two examples, and to OldHack for noting the crime writer examples even if they couldn't be named.