Irish Publishing News has an guest column by Decal Burke, author of Crime Always Pays and The Big O (picture at the left). Burke notes that during the worst recession in 80 years book sales went down by only 1.2% in value and only by 0.5% by volume. All this while “… writers are having advances slashed and contracts torn up….”
He wonders if the time hasn’t come for authors to join together and form some sort of cooperative like the early United Artists of Hollywood. “In theory, it can be done: e-publishing and print-on-demand are just two elements of contemporary technology that allow writers to circumvent the publishing circus and go straight to readers.”
He goes on to quote Henry Porter, from the Guardian: “What worries me is the loss of income for writers in what is a pretty healthy market, the loss of good editors from publishing houses and the disdain for writers by retailers – people who depend on them. If they are not careful the core talent of the book trade may well combine in new types of ventures – collectives and transparent relationships where writers and editors go into business together on a 50:50 basis and are enabled by web platforms, ebooks and print on demand… disintermediation of a more radical sort.”
Worth reading the rest.
Editors and authors working together, dividing up the proceeds. Then maybe someone to handle the marketing and distribution. A bit of legal structure just in case. Hey, sounds like you’ve got a publisher.
Rob Preece
Publisher
Dear Mr. Preece
I have a finished book of poetry I would like to self publish. Certainly a first time author is no credible authority on the commercial appeal of thier own work but I believe that it is worthy of publication. My only problem is a lack of technical ability needed to get the 100 or so pages uploaded. If you could steer me to somewhere I could get this done I would be eternally grateful. If you reach for your gun when you hear the words poetry book, you are not alone. i understand that the medium contains a higher percentage of mediocraty than others but I claim to be the exception. Thank You for any consideration you can give.
Albert,
Smashwords is a great choice for self-publishers to get access to the eBook world. CreateSpace and LuLu offer low-cost options to self-publish in paper. All three allow you to upload Word files directly…no need to invest in layout tools. All three handle distribution and billing, simply sending you money if/when you earn it.
However, none of these provide editorial help (at least without additional charges). Make sure your work is as perfect as possible, and definitely have other people read it before submitting. It’s amazing hour our eyes can whip right over errors.
I’d suggest starting with them. And good luck.
Rob Preece
Publisher
Paul –
50:50 writer and editor is highway robbery. Editing is a necessary part of publishing a book, but it’s nowhere near half the value of the finished product.
Also, please forgive me for hijacking your comment thread with a bit of self-promotion.
Mr. Bales –
I am about to launch a self-publishing company that would love to publish your book. Please check out the site (www.manfredmacx.com) and email me directly (jon@manfredmacx.com) if you have questions.
Not necessarily. If an editor can demonstrate (with an established record) that their services can increase the sales of a book significantly (specifically, more than 100%), they can justify charging such an amount… and any author that could expect to more than double their sales would still come out ahead paying the editor half of the sales.
An editor that could guarantee a doubling or more of sales, and guarantee a superior product to customers, could even earn a byline on the cover, i.e., “Written by X; Edited by Y.”
@Steve –
Okay, if such an editor exists and can really change the sales that much, then it’s fair. But at that point you’re really paying the editor for their name on your book more than their services – I can’t imagine any editing work they might do would be enough to justify that kind of payment.
Well, judging from all the complaints we hear about horrible formatting, spelling and punctuation problems in e-books… and the suggestion that customers are going to walk unless these problems get fixed… I can easily see an author taking advantage of such services to obtain good quality product to satisfy their customers.
Whether the editor slaps their name on the novel or not, there’s nothing wrong with the idea of improving book content. And maybe 50-50 isn’t realistic… it doesn’t mean a similar arrangement can’t be worked out. That’s one of those things a market would have to work out over time.
I agree, a good editor is a huge help for any book. I just don’t think the difference between a good editor and the best editor is nearly enough to justify that kind of a split of the sales.
And I agree with Rob – what we’re really talking about is a publisher, except doing things differently than they’ve been done. I think things have to move in this direction – authors have much improved options now, meaning publishers have to give up some control, and some money. A good publisher will be one that recognizes what they do well that authors need, and finds efficient ways of providing those things to the authors.
No argument there. I would say, though, that publishers/editors won’t be the only ones who need to learn new ways of doing things. Authors will have to make changes to the way they traditionally work, as well, in order to allow the new editor/publishers to properly serve them.