
Why I don't self-publish - unwind
http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2013/03/why-i-dont-self-publish.html
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keltex
I have a friend who's a fairly popular eBook author with 10+ books to his
name. We made a deal where I handle all the accounting and grunt work
including dealing with audio books, layout people, cover designers etc.

He deals directly with the editors and does the marketing himself. He also
pays out of pocket for all expenses: me (I get a % of net), editors,
designers, advertising.

We can do everything ourselves online: Amazon KDP for ebooks, Smashwords for
eBooks on non-amazon platforms (Nook, Apple), CreateSpace (Amazon owned) for
paperbacks and ACX (Amazon owned) for audio books on audible.

The only thing we don't have is distribution in regular bookstores like those
in airports. But there are now authors who are cutting deals with publishers
where they keep the eBook rights and sell the print rights. There was a recent
article in the WSJ
([http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142412788732467860457834...](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324678604578340752088305668.html))
about this. It's a new hybrid deal that's really the best of both worlds.

Because Amazon pays 70% royalties on the books he sells and with all expenses
included, his net margin on eBooks is in the 45-50% range. I doubt Charles
Stross is getting those kinds of margins through his publisher.

Not saying this is the path Stross should take, just that there are ways to
achieve what he wants (focus on writing) without leaving as much money on the
table.

~~~
runevault
One thing that's interesting is, at least some reasonably successful authors
already hire someone to help them deal with various issues. I know Brandon
Sanderson has an aid who helps with pre-hand off edits along with any number
of other tasks. Mind you, a lot of authors who go primarily/totally
traditional can't afford someone for that, but it DOES happen even for the old
route.

I expect this sort of thing will become more common, and could even see people
having a business where they do this sort of work you're talking about for
multiple clients (not a lot, maybe 2-3). Possibly even teams like dev
consulting companies who keep multiple people trained in the work that work
together as needed to deal with clients.

~~~
keltex
I do think there's an opportunity here. I think your market is authors who are
already successfully publishing via the traditional route (like Charles) that
you can persuade they will make more money via a hybrid route. It's a simple
matter as running the numbers.

~~~
runevault
Also indies who've done reasonably well but are starting to feel buried under
all the non-writing work. Even if you already have your own pipeline of people
for covers/etc, having someone else to help manage those things and keep the
things that don't require author input off his/her plate is still a damned
valuable service.

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hipsters_unite
Really like the second comment as a tl;dr of the article - "That's the exact
paradox of starting your own business. If it works, you end up running a
business instead of doing whatever it was you started the business to do."

Fair play to Charles Stross for just wanting to write.

~~~
Ovid
Absolutely! I have two books out now and there's no way in hell I'd want to
market them myself. I also know that many people are buying the hard-copy, not
the ebooks, meaning that even a hard-copy/ebook split wouldn't do terribly
well for me.

~~~
chromatic
I have several books out now, and I'm jealous of anyone who gets marketing
support from a "traditional" publisher. The most I've seen in the past four
years is that occasionally the publisher tweets about it.

~~~
Ovid
I wonder how much of that is because the books that you (and I) have driven
through a traditional publisher have been tech books?

~~~
cstross
This.

I had a tech book out in the mid-90s from Addison-Wesley, and I got quite a
way into negotiating with O'Reilly in the early noughties. The tech publishing
sector is largely driven by techies for whom a publication history is of value
as a check mark on their resume, rather than people who write for a living:
consequently there's a race to the margins to document extremely esoteric
niche products, and this triggers a race to the bottom on advances/royalties
(it's hard to justify paying up a big advance for a book with a market of
maybe 2000 readers).

Even a badly paid midlist SF novel can expect about twice the advance O'Reilly
offer for a tech book: the potential audience is much bigger, and the
incentives for publishing in the first place are different.

~~~
Ovid
You know, I was going to say that my advance for my last book was pretty
decent and I'd be surprised that it would be much worse than a midlist SF
novel.

Then I saw your user name. I suspect you probably know a thing or two about
this topic.

But I have to admit that the direct impact of my tech books has been a boost
to my career, not my bank account.

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ThomPete
Here is the thing though.

There is a whole generation of young people growing up for whom this is no
biggie. And tools are making it easier and easier.

In fact it's more or baked into the young generation. So whether we like it or
not it will be the new norm if it isn't already.

So although it might be an explanation for why Charles Stross does not want to
self-publish it's not advice (and I don't think he claims it to be either).

~~~
DanBC
I just wish some of these self-publishing authors had editing friends.

~~~
jseliger
The smart ones hire line and copy editors. Development editors, however, are
pretty much impossible to hire effectively:
[http://kriswrites.com/2013/01/30/the-business-rusch-
hiring-e...](http://kriswrites.com/2013/01/30/the-business-rusch-hiring-
editors) .

~~~
ThomPete
The really smart ones consider themselves publishers who write.

That would be my advice to anyone wanting to live as a musician, writer,
artist etc.

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AndrewDucker
It's basically the same reason that leads me to not being a contractor. They
have to spend a lot of time selling themselves, dealing with taxes, and
various other overheads that I just don't want the hassle of.

~~~
unwind
Me too, good analogy! The upside is that there exists such a thing as an
employed contractor. It has many of the benefits of doing "your own"
contracting work, but you have a sales department! :)

On the other hand, of course, you don't have the same control over exactly who
will be your next client, and there is financial overheads too, naturally.

Still, it works for me.

~~~
HaloZero
Isn't the primary benefit of contracting the ability to choose and control who
you work for and set those hours?

~~~
cstross
I've done IT contracting (not for, um, 15 years and counting) and I've been a
freelance author. There's a significant difference in terms of what you do and
who has control. (I come up with ideas for products and pitch them at
publishers, who then pick and choose which to buy. I then do the work. So I'm
not under my publisher's control, and they don't have any input on my hours --
but they hold the purse strings and I have to deliver a product they're
satisfied with.)

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egypturnash
I'm self-publishing my graphic novels. If I could get a publisher to handle
the editing, marketing, distribution, and sales of my stuff, I would be
totally delighted. Sure, I might not get as much per unit sold - but they'd be
able to place it in a LOT more stores than me, and make print runs large
enough to get a better per-unit price from the printer.

We do, in fact, have companies doing this sort of thing in the space of modern
comics. They evolve out of groups of web comics creators pooling their
resources for the stuff that's not about making comics, and starting a small
business to fulfil orders. Topatoco is the most prominent; go to a major
comics convention and they'll have a pretty good-sized booth full of the
creators affiliated with them.

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triplesec
I think Charlie also forgets the issue of the Mythical Man Month, and
Parkinson's Law. If he does it himself he immediately _at least doubles_ his
efficiency compared with a team of 10 people. If he hires one person, he's
away and laughing!

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wtracy
My personal line of thought on the matter: Self-publish if you're focused on
making money from your writing. Find a publisher otherwise.

