
 Time Investment - wglb
http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2011/01/time-investment.html
======
rubidium
I wonder: was his working-like-a-dog to self-promote was necessary so that he
could be successful with ebooks? He clearly started to establish a name for
himself before his massive success with digital sales. Note that he is in the
top 10 Mystery and Thrillers for free ebooks on Amazon. I'm guessing his prior
reputation helped with that.

I would think that hustling is still needed for new authors to break through,
probably including both relentless web and in-person self-promotion. But, I
have no info on that. Anyone know?

~~~
othello
Amanda Hocking is probably the best example right now of an author who made it
big through ebooks without having been published traditionally first.

She does have a blog [1] and promotes herself quite heavily through social
networks, but she's never had the support of a big publishing house that
Konrath had.

She's far from being an overnight success though - in an interview with the
Huffington Post [2], she explains how she's been writing fiction constantly
from the earliest age, attending every possible writing courses along the way.

1: <http://amandahocking.blogspot.com/> 2:
[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tonya-plank/meet-mega-
bestsell...](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tonya-plank/meet-mega-bestselling-
ind_b_804685.html)

~~~
runevault
Part of it's also the fact she has a LOT of books out there, the more material
you have the higher chance someone discovers you and if you write well enough,
they'll love your stories and start buying them all up. THAT is how an author
makes a living at it without being a lottery, create enough content that fans
can keep buying while picking up a few new readers here and there.

------
patio11
I've said it before and I'll say it again: this is one of the best business
blogs there is. (And traditional publishing is _screwed up_ if it was ever
rational to have this guy move his own books at retail.)

~~~
rst
Traditional publishing is hugely screwed up, but I'm not sure this particular
point is irrational from the publisher's point of view. If they can get the
author to promote a book --- and it's increasingly common for them to demand
that authors do exactly that --- then promotion doesn't come out of their own
budget.

Which raises the question: if the author's doing all the promotion to readers,
what do they need the publisher for?

If you're trading in physical books (which were still more than 99% of the
business, in 2009[1]), there actually is a sensible answer: most physical book
sales are on physical stores, so you can't sell to readers unless you first
convince bookstores to sell the books. That, in turn, in the U.S. means
basically convincing the buyers for the major chains that they should give you
shelf space --- there are as many Borders' as all independents put together,
and Barnes and Noble is way bigger than that. And the big publishers have
built up personal relationships with buyers for the chains, and expertise in
catering to their whims. Which can be a big deal --- see [3] for an example of
a book series that's being completely repackaged because the buyers couldn't
figure out to do with the first cover.

So, it's not like the chains will take anything the big publishers dish out.
But the conversation about what physical books get sold in physical stores is
largely a conversation between their sales guys and the chain buyers. And the
only way for a self-published author to break into that conversation is to
somehow sell a few thousand units through some other channel.

On the other hand, if you're willing to forgo the physical stores as a sales
channel, which is starting to matter, well... less than it did in 2009, then
it really isn't clear that the publishers have much else to offer you. Their
other services (editing and packaging) do have value, but not nearly enough to
account for their customary share of the gross.

It may be that publishers' problem in the future is going to be justifying
themselves to authors --- but I try to read up on this stuff, and I'm not sure
I've seen any of them putting it that way to themselves yet.

A couple of references --- Charlie Stross on ebooks

[1] [http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-
static/2010/05/cmap-9-e...](http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-
static/2010/05/cmap-9-ebooks.html)

part of a longer series on the publishing industry from a successful author's
point of view, as of a year ago:

[2] [http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-
static/2010/04/common-m...](http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-
static/2010/04/common-misconceptions-about-pu-1.html)

and the blog post on promotion I footnoted above:

[3] <http://www.iantregillis.com/index.cfm?blog=164>

~~~
thalur
"Their other services (editing and packaging) do have value, but not nearly
enough to account for their customary share of the gross."

And, as I understand it, these things can be done directly by the author. So a
lot of what is left is the publisher takes on the risk - they pay for the
editing, the artwork, the printing, the marketing etc up front.

~~~
runevault
Most knowledgeable authors don't recommend going without editing at all. They
may substitute an editor for peer editing by fellow authors they trust, but
it's still editing by a second set of eyes.

I know of no author who can single handily turn in something that doesn't need
some grammar/spelling/etc correction help. The writer is simply too close to
the work to see some of them, though there are tricks to help like having
text-to-speech read the item back to you.

~~~
thalur
Ah, I miss-wrote. I meant "arranged" by the author when I said "done" by the
author. As you and the other commenters say I meant an author can go out and
find an editor/proof-reader/cover-artist etc. and pay them directly for their
work. I've written enough reports to know full well that an author can't proof
read his/her own work.

~~~
runevault
Ah gotcha. Certainly you can hire your own. A small industry of people who
want to edit and willing to work for less than the big names seems to be
cropping up around the self-publishing industry.

What's really going to be fun is to see how many OTHER business opportunities
crop up around those who wish to self publish. As I go through my own writing
and beyond I'll certainly be looking at areas that beg for such.

------
wallflower
> Now let's look at ebooks.

In January, I haven't done a single bit of promotion. No touring. No signing.
No interviews. I've basically sat on my ass this month.

Fallacy. The classic example is the successful individual who gets paid $50k
or more for a single speech. They would not have been bookable at the rate had
they not created enough personal value to be worth that much. This author
busted his ass on the road for years. He is probably the best example of
"1,000 true fans" that I've read of recently.

[http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2008/03/1000_true_fan...](http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2008/03/1000_true_fans.php)

~~~
revorad
He's certainly riding on his previous success, but only a tiny bit, if you
look at the orders of magnitude increase in his sales.

How did many thousands of new readers find him and decide to buy his books
almost without doing any promotion? Through much lower cost of books, instant
delivery, easy discovery through search and auto recommendations. And now he
has more time to produce more. Accelerating sales!

The 1,000 true fans analogy doesn't hold for him at all. He has at least
10,000 fans and that number is going up fast.

