We must always remember that there are only two players that count, the author who creates the work and the reader who pays for it. All the rest are intermediaries who should add value and invariably also cost. If value is not seen then just like in other sectors no one’s position is safe, agents, publishers, printers, distributors, retailers etc.
On Food Chains
March 26th, 2008 · 2 Comments
by Kassia Krozser
File Under: Quote of the Week
2 responses so far ↓
Carole Nelson Douglas // Mar 26, 2008 at 3:27 pm
It’s inevitable that the author-reader connection will be more direct these Internet days. But. Will
authors be able to build the reader loyalty they could in the past years when there was only one dominant avenue for getting books: NY publishers and the chain of middlemen that led to bookstores?
I’ve been selling specialty POD books direct to my readers since 2003. I wanted to start sooner, but I have annual novel contracts to fulfill and my self-publishing projects have to be sidelines.
I believe that author/reader direct sales are a great way to go for authors who have a readership base. The “books” I’ve been publishing are illustrated versions of short stories involving the popular cat PI figure from my Midnight Louie mysteries.
No publisher could afford to put out illustrated short stories on high quality paper, and many of my readers never found these stories in the anthologies in which they were published. And the rights have reverted to me. A prolific author has more reverted rights than she has time to
exploit. The tail may be long, but the author’s time and ability to don all those middleman hats
is limited.
These little books I put out make great gifts for others, or for the readers themselves. I’d love to do more such projects, including my own audio books. There’s no longer a need to wait for this troubled, fractured industry to give us authors all the options we need.
Except, if we need to make a living, as opposed to earning spare cash on the side, so far the bulky, awkward publishing model still provides the best options. I’d once thought that model would outlast me. Obviously not.
So the canny author keeps all options open and watches the industry like a hawk. This is a climate offering great opportunity, and great opportunity for failure.
Hermenautic Circle blog // Mar 26, 2008 at 3:30 pm
[…] Soft Skull News on 26 Mar 2008 We must always remember that there are only two players that count, the author who creates the work and the reader who pays for it. All the rest are intermediaries who should add value and invariably also cost. If value is not seen then just like in other sectors no one’s position is safe, agents, publishers, printers, distributors, retailers etc.—Brave New World, via the ever alert and on-the-ball Kassia. […]