[Writing Post] Bruhahas and Publishing Catch-All
It’s been a weird week, but what else is new? With the ever changing publishing atmosphere, that’s par for the course. I don’t being to know where it’s all going, but some things keep coming back around. So, this is going to be a catch-all post.
Reviewing Material – as I prepare to start reviewing books for Authors and Appetizers.com, I am reminded of the brouhaha started by Ginia Bellafante in The New York Times with her “review” of Game of Thrones which first aired on HBO on Sunday, April 16, 2011. She didn’t review the show so much as trivialize and generalize the Fantasy Genre by siting she has never met a woman who read fantasy and calling it “boy fiction” and insulting HBO by calling them “cheaters” for doing something outside her vernacular, there’s ONE LINE that constitutes a “review”, and it, too, is condescending.
POINT – Reviews are OPINON. I get that. Ms. Bellafante is entitled to her opinion of THE MATERIAL. Reviewers don’t have to like what they review. In fact, there are many respected and established reviews who put “Mikey” from the Classic LIFE CEREAL commercials to shame. (“He won’t eat it. He hates everything!) What she didn’t DO was review the material. Besides the one line “‘Game of Thrones’ serves up a lot of confusion in the name of no larger or really relevant idea beyond sketchily fleshed-out notions that war is ugly, families are insidious and power is hot.” Okay, where is the discussion of the cast, the crew, the characters, THE STORY? That’s what most people look for in a review.
Marketing/Promotion for writers – back in February I wrote an essay for Christine Rose’s upcoming book, Publishing & Marketing Realities for the Emerging Author. She posted it live last week to some nice comments and traffic. It’s something I’ve written about and talked about before, the MTV/American Idol Effect on Writers. I posit thanks to video killing the radio star, it’s made even publishing a world of “the total package”. You can read it for yourself.
POINT – It’s no longer enough to write a good story. You have to be a writer, promoter, marketer, tap dancer, and juggler (well, okay, maybe not tap dancer, but the rest is true). No one gets by being a loner anymore. THAT will not change. There’s not enough time, money or people in publishing anymore to do it for you. You have to do it yourself.
Ebooks and pricing – This popped up on an email list this week, again. Readers asking, “Why does the ebook on Amazon cost more than the Hardback. No ebook should cost more than any print book. Right?” Not really. It takes time, effort, marketing, and promotion to put out any kind of book. That costs money. Printing and distribution is still a smallish percentage of this cost. Also…THIS IS NEW TERRITORY. NO ONE KNOWS WHAT THE RIGHT PRICE IS HERE YET. But there are people trying to figure it out who are much, much smarter than me. There were two articles on this that popped up this week. One is showing why anyone who can put stuff up in ebook maybe shouldn’t, and one why 99¢ ebooks can be bad for readers and writers.
POINT The writers are at the mercy of everyone selling books – print or electronic. We get the smallest percentage of any money. Also, when Amazon buys books – they pay a flat fee to the publisher then can resell them at any price – which is why they can deeply discount hardback right out of the gate. Ebooks are “agency” which means the price is set (theoretically on a scale by release date and type of book release) and Amazon gets a percentage. Whatever “the publisher set this price” stuff Amazon pulls is them playing Economic Chicken with publishers. They are trying to bully the market. Unfortunately if they succeed the only ones getting hurt are writers.
Will I sell a novel for 99¢? I don’t know. Right now, doubtful. Short stories and novellas, yes. Full on books, probably not. I see short stories and novellas like songs – which is where the 99¢ comes from, but ALBUMS are $9.99 – why shouldn’t a book be considered more like an album. Do I think ebooks should be $9.99? Probably not, but neither do I think they should be 99¢? – there is middle ground we will find it.
What a time to be a writer and in publishing. Turmoil is so much fun, isn’t it ? But writing was never an profession for the weak at heart, and I need to get back to it. So should you. 😎