rsullivan9597
Banned
They are not released yet - but are "done" i.e. covers created, editing performed, arc's going out. Here is the announcement from Orbit.
Theft of Swords (November 2011)
Rise of Empire (Dec 2011)
Heir of Novron (Jan 2012)
Barry Eisler Walks Away From $500,000 Deal to Self-Pub
- Thread starter aruna
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They are not released yet - but are "done" i.e. covers created, editing performed, arc's going out. Here is the announcement from Orbit.
Theft of Swords (November 2011)
Rise of Empire (Dec 2011)
Heir of Novron (Jan 2012)
rsullivan9597
Banned
You know all the zombies out there would be lining up for a book like that! The agent/editor who passes on such genius is blind.
Why don't we have a zombie smiley? I'll go with this guy
and pretend his agility is the result of anti-gravity forces on his invading spaceship. It's coming to Earth.With a good cover. That part is so important. I'm amazed at how many trad and indie covers fail the thumbnail test, especially the kindle greyscale thumbnail test. The thumbnail is a buyer's first impression. It is the eyecatcher.
Trad writers, to varying degrees, have bookstores, promotions and reviews to fall back on if the thumbnail doesn't look good, but the self-pubbed have it much harder. Much more important for them to catch eyes and convey their product's story and genre in an instant.
Whenever I hear of self-pubbed writers doing well or poorly, the first thing I do is look at their covers. Victorine Lieske has a good thumbnail. She studied graphic design and made her cover in Illustrator. I have no doubt it contributed to her success along with her low price.
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rsullivan9597
Banned
By selling a lot of books. The readers provide the validation that a book has commercial value. You have two choices to get the validation.
a) submit queries to agents and submit to publishers - which I submit is usually a VERY long process.
or
b) self publish and let the market decide
If your book is no good - you'll not "win" in either path. If your book "is good" you'll make some good - and sometimes VERY good money. PLUS if you still want to go traditional you can leverage that success into a deal.
rsullivan9597
Banned
But this is the point of contention. While there are "some" who have established themselves my point is there are also many others who have started without that. 12 months ago it was "pie int he sky". Since Nov 2010 it is happening more than most people (especially those here) seem to realize so I was trying to point out that authors now have TWO viable paths to a living wage.
I was going to comment again, but it seems we are walking in circles and have gone way off track.
I believe this thread is a testament to new writers about being careful of advice offered by so-called experts.
I believe this thread is a testament to new writers about being careful of advice offered by so-called experts.
rsullivan9597
Banned
Nice some headway
. Now that we can believe possible. Let's go to the next level. Which is....which path is more PROBABLE to producing a living wage? I think we can all agree that Michael (my husband) is not an outlier like Amanda Hocking or John Locke. He's never been on the Amazon Top 100 (though he got close at 102 for a few hours). He took a six-figure contract and I predict we'll lose $100,000 - $200,000 by doing so. But there are other thigns we want more than just money wo we're willing to take the cut as it were.And I so don't want you to -- if traditional is right for you - then perfect. We obviously circulate with different people. You know "many" doing better with trad. publishing. I know "many" who do well with self publising. So can we agree that that both options have value?
So it's changing, yes. None of us can see the future, but at present, going with an actual publishing house makes more for financial sense for the majority of writers (from what I can see anyway. I may be biased in the opposite direction
We'll just have to agree to disagree ont his one. Although I would love to share and compare numbers...something that few authors do.
So when I said I wanted a balanced post (for my blog or heck just to read, cos I haven't seen one yet!), what I meant is someone who has no finger in either pie, or no agenda to push but someone who can dispassionately sift the facts from all sides. Which isn't going to be me because me and reality don't talk all that often.
Why don't you wait until I post it before you decide it will be biased...If then you want to poke at it - I say bring it on.
Since Nov 2010 it is happening more than most people (especially those here) seem to realize ....
Ms Sullivan, you keep using the Nov. 2010 date as if something magical happened on that date that suddenly opened the window to self publishing...
What is so special about that date...
Ms Sullivan, you keep using the Nov. 2010 date as if something magical happened on that date that suddenly opened the window to self publishing...
What is so special about that date...
Yeahsureyoubetcha.
Meanwhile, Amanda Hocking is being shredded on her own blog for daring to take the deal with a publisher.
Fantasy money may be nice in theory but there are still bills to be paid and whatnot.
At least your husband seems to have a good head on his shoulders. I can only assume he's been berated for refusing to gamble more on self-publishing.
rsullivan9597
Banned
On kindle boards (as I mentioned) many people post their sales numbers. And before November 2010 they were all very "meh". Sure a few hundred here and a few hundred there but starting in Nov 2010 a VERY large number of people started posting numbers in the thousands...and tens of thosands. It wasn't just isolated to one "break out" it was "across the board". (For those already selling well).
There is no doubt that we were seeing a X-mas bubble that ran Nov - Feb). I suspect ebook readers were "big gifts" and many people "stocked up". But even so....there is still a lot of strength in those numbers.
At the "peak" January Michael sold 11,000+ books. March will finish out with about 5,000 - So a huge falling off but... even at 5,000 sales he is making $20,500 a month so a good six-figure wage.
Okay, sure, I'll wait and see. But from your posts already it's fairly obvious you're pushing towards self-pubbing, your own trad publishing notwithstanding (and like I said, considering your husband's books, that probably only natural). I mean fair enough, you like self-pubbing. You think it's the next big thing. That doesn't mean I (or anyone else)should jump up and down singing hallelujah until it's shown that it's not just the odd one or few that can make a living at it, or that you don't have to spend x hours a day promoing so that you don;t sink among the crud and then you can't write any more because you don't have time.
I'd just like some plain ol' out in the open facts. From both sides would be tres cool. What % of self pubbers get 1000 sales a month? What % of trad pubbed authors get the same? Compare the amount of promo and sheer work they have to put in for those results. Really and truly compare apples with apples rather than extrapolations of what could/might/possibly be in the future we don't know yet so let's face it, it's a guess. Just for starters. Preferably by an impartial statistician but I can't see that happening any time soon
We seem to have devolved into a personal debate. Feel free to discuss the specifics of Ridan in their thread in B&BC. If anyone wants to discuss their self-pub experience in detail, you can start a thread in the self-pub forum.
Locking this now.
Locking this now.
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