Digital Self-Publishing: the Game Has Changed30 Mar
Cross-posted from faberNovel’s blog:
Authors Barry Eisler (who turned down a half-million dollars offer from a publisher) and Joe Konrath explain why they have chosen digital self-publishing:
- Price: data shows that digital books are a prince-sensitive market. Publishers are pricing digital books very high (presumably to protect paper sales). On the contrary, Joe sells 3,000 ebooks a day by pricing them reasonably (less than $4.99).
- Place: whereas in a library an author has to compete with a NYT bestseller who has 400 copies of their latest hit on the shelf, on Internet each book takes up one virtual space. Plus, “virtual shelf life is forever” (you have a few months to sell your title in a bookstore).
- Frustration: when a publisher makes a mistake, it has little incentive to quickly correct it, since it manages a basket of rights. For instance, most publishers add digital platform sparingly (presumably to get better deals), while authors would gain from an extensive presence on the Internet.
- Time-to-market: as a self-publisher, your book can reach your readers much faster. If you don’t want to, you don’t have to spend time booksigning, traveling, touring (the record being an author who visited 40 states and over 1,200 bookstores)…
- Timeline: publishing contracts often include an advance for the author, which can be considered a loan. Sometimes it makes sense to take the bet. Most often, though, it is more logical to earn a 70% royalty forever, as it is the case with digital books.
Digital reading will obviously become the preferred reading format: paper only adopted a static defense, while digital is gaining ground:
- Price of digital reader continues to drop, while functionality increases
- Selection: more and more title are available, whereas mortar stores are closing (most notably Borders)
- User Experience: those who have tried e-reading are not going back to paper books.
For them, publishers are in the business of delivering books: “and if someone can do the latter faster and cheaper than they can, they’re in trouble.”
Sources:
- Joe Konrath and Joe Konrath, Ebooks and Self-Publishing – A Dialog Between Authors Barry Eisler and Joe Konrath
