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I have been on both sides of the publishing field. I have been the corporate retail manager shilling as hard as I can for the authors I know. I know how and why books are placed on which shelf, I know the process by which books are ordered (and which ones are not). My toes have at least been dipped into the wild world of publishing itself- I am good friends with enough seasoned authors that I have heard the process of selling a series to a publisher, and what happens when that series does not sell. I have a published work recently let into the wilds, through one of the big publishing houses.
I am personally grumpy as all hell when a series I enjoy does not sell enough to convince a publisher to back more of them- but they are seeded up as torrents for folks to grab at will. A few can slip by pirated and not make an impact, but consistent pirating over time will hit an author in the gut. Those are sales that do not appear to the publisher.
'So why do we need publishers at all?' the wild masses rail.
Let me speak from the retail end. The publisher does your publicity. And that publicity can make a world of difference. Publishers sent us all manner of information about authors and their work, and that outreach gets attention. There will always be that individual success, someone that comes out of nowhere with a book that becomes wildly popular without fitting in the normal equation. But those are outliers. And for every one of them, there are thousands of other books and authors just sitting there. Publishers are not the end all, but damn are they amazingly helpful. I review for small publishers with very intimate and targeted stables of authors. I review for the big publishing houses. Different formats, but still with the same purpose- getting their authors successfully out into the world.
Yes, yes, online booksellers have more space than traditional retailers, can stock more. But we need those brick and mortar stores. Even displays for browsing online are ranked- you cannot browse in the same way you can shelves in a store. I have trouble turning up new genre authors online without word of mouth- and I used to be that word of mouth when I had my own bookstore to run.
You pirate the books, the author does not appear successful, is not successful by any measurable means including things like paying utilities and groceries, and they are dropped by the publisher. It could be a brilliant book, you could be motivated to pirate due to its brilliance, but as soon as you get into that habit, that trap, you are working to remove authors from the market. Simple.
Authors who do not get paid to write do not write. They work so they can eat and keep their homes.
I teach classes on utilizing Overdrive for downloading library books, and I teach classes on using eReaders. I always get asked where to find free eBooks. I always have to explain how eBooks work. There is such a pervasive myth that digital format should equal free. It is horrifying, and probably the source of the frustration and ire expressed in this post. Authors do not roll themselves to sleep in a bed of money at night. We don't make all that much. Honest. Don't pirate away our chances at future contacts and our ability to go out and do something nice with our friends every now and then.
I am personally grumpy as all hell when a series I enjoy does not sell enough to convince a publisher to back more of them- but they are seeded up as torrents for folks to grab at will. A few can slip by pirated and not make an impact, but consistent pirating over time will hit an author in the gut. Those are sales that do not appear to the publisher.
'So why do we need publishers at all?' the wild masses rail.
Let me speak from the retail end. The publisher does your publicity. And that publicity can make a world of difference. Publishers sent us all manner of information about authors and their work, and that outreach gets attention. There will always be that individual success, someone that comes out of nowhere with a book that becomes wildly popular without fitting in the normal equation. But those are outliers. And for every one of them, there are thousands of other books and authors just sitting there. Publishers are not the end all, but damn are they amazingly helpful. I review for small publishers with very intimate and targeted stables of authors. I review for the big publishing houses. Different formats, but still with the same purpose- getting their authors successfully out into the world.
Yes, yes, online booksellers have more space than traditional retailers, can stock more. But we need those brick and mortar stores. Even displays for browsing online are ranked- you cannot browse in the same way you can shelves in a store. I have trouble turning up new genre authors online without word of mouth- and I used to be that word of mouth when I had my own bookstore to run.
You pirate the books, the author does not appear successful, is not successful by any measurable means including things like paying utilities and groceries, and they are dropped by the publisher. It could be a brilliant book, you could be motivated to pirate due to its brilliance, but as soon as you get into that habit, that trap, you are working to remove authors from the market. Simple.
Authors who do not get paid to write do not write. They work so they can eat and keep their homes.
I teach classes on utilizing Overdrive for downloading library books, and I teach classes on using eReaders. I always get asked where to find free eBooks. I always have to explain how eBooks work. There is such a pervasive myth that digital format should equal free. It is horrifying, and probably the source of the frustration and ire expressed in this post. Authors do not roll themselves to sleep in a bed of money at night. We don't make all that much. Honest. Don't pirate away our chances at future contacts and our ability to go out and do something nice with our friends every now and then.
