So as I survey the landscape, I'm thinking to myself, if I have to do all the work myself anyway, what
makes trad pub such a great draw?
LK — A lot of agents and publishers are
making trad pubbed authors do this stuff.
If they have good product, many first time indie novelists can and do
make trad pub advance numbers.
Not exact matches
Basically cryptocurrency is a virtual currency or money people will
trad for future profitable
make money.
Basically cryptocurrency is a practical banking or income people will
trad for destiny essential
make money.
Probably even better than the other
trad Finnish dessert, whipped semolina - lingonberry porridge, and definitely quicker to
make.
Perhaps I'll
make it tomorrow (tomorrow being boxing day and therefore a totally appropriate date for consumption of
trad Jewish cake)!
-LSB-...] BoxingTOMS Slip Ons Are All The Rage YouLookFabThe
Trad: Off The Reservation — EspadrillesThe Many Joys Of A Classic Shirtdress PrivilegeDoes religion
make you fat?
When I first decided to become an independent author and self - publish after having gone the
trad route with nonfiction and
made a few attempts to go the
trad route for fiction, I knew next - to - nothing about the social media circus I was about to join.
It doesn't matter that I've
made as much on several of my books as I would with a
trad publishing contract.
There are still a lot of people who think going
trad makes your work legitimate somehow.
Going indie in genres where the publishers aren't interested (and
making more money as an indie than in
trad publishing!)
Kozlowski is the only person I know oblivious enough to include a graph of daily ebooks showing indie books
making up nearly 50 % of the US ebook market, and then in the very next paragraph babble about them only being a «drop in the bucket» relative to the
trad - published side.
The literary world is littered with excellent novelists who've delivered 3 - 4 books to
trad publishers, and still haven't
made enough money to quit the day job.
I
make my living from writing, actually, with a mix of indie and
trad pub stuff, but there are people who are far more skilled than me who don't, and people who stink who
make a lot more.
The only people who really
make a noise about
trad - vs self - publishing are those with a vested interest, and those opinions should be taken with a pinch of salt.
Quite frankly, I
make more than many
Trad published and I turned DOWN the trad offers because it would slow down the process of writing, interfere with my contact with the fans, cost me money and essentially make me a low paid wage slave for the «honor» of having someone else utterly control my w
Trad published and I turned DOWN the
trad offers because it would slow down the process of writing, interfere with my contact with the fans, cost me money and essentially make me a low paid wage slave for the «honor» of having someone else utterly control my w
trad offers because it would slow down the process of writing, interfere with my contact with the fans, cost me money and essentially
make me a low paid wage slave for the «honor» of having someone else utterly control my work.
For example, if you are dead - set on going
trad - pub, the chances of you
making enough money in the beginning is fairly remote.
This is how I sold my first several books and how many of my
trad - pubbed friends broke in to publishing and I have long believed it's the best way to
make contacts.
When you think about it, it
makes sense: back when
trad pub limited us to one book a year per author, there were still plenty of people who became fans of Terry Prachett, Mercedes Lackey, Patricia Briggs and David Weber.
So for me to buy more
trad published books than self because I have limited money, not because of bias,
makes logical sense and has NOTHING TO DO WITH BIAS, which obviously your comments were.
When authors stop signing contracts and then announce they are
making as much, if not more, by selling direct to their customers (via Amazon / iTunes / etc), will those remaining
trad pub authors still toe the line and defend their masters at all costs?
Trad pub authors also used to
make it very clear that they didn't consider ebooks «real books».
If you wrote and published just a little bit more and did some of these as self - pubbed books at a lower price range to go along with your
trad pub deals, I'll bet you could
make a lot more.
To
make money
trads need both goods and services (hence their... uh... precarious position).
They can write in older genres that
trad publishing has tired of, like Gothic Romance or Family Saga, and
make them new again.
And the Ilona Andrews self pub book has done well, but likely has not
made as much as advances on Ilona Andrews
trad published books.
Especially those of us who have been with
trad publishing for a while, where the decisions about this stuff were
made by other people.
As for the other 99 %, I agree
trad publishing should be trying something different, because they're absolutely failing to
make those assets pay off like they could.
I know of very few
trad pub authors who
made six figures on their first novels.
However, when I wrote The Experiencers (my first novel) and consulted on the subject of
trad versus indie publishing with a hybrid author who has been writing books since the 1970s, he
made a good case for me to go indie.
My latest idea: (1) query agents because I already wasted all of that time on those days I had writer's block researching agents & writing a synopsis, query letter, book proposal THEN (2) if I don't get any takers at
trad - pub within a reasonable period, I self - pub because I already wasted all of that time on those days I had writer's block researching book bloggers & reviewers, building two websites,
making or editing videos & writing tweets, Facebook posts, blogs.
I find it interesting that people
make this into an either / or thing, I'm doing both, indie publishing shorter works that there's no point offering a
trad publisher, while my novel is in the hands of my agent.
That will change, but for right now, I think starting with a
trad career
makes sense.
Your
trad - pubbed book may only
make $ 1000 - $ 3000, but it can be a «loss leader» like those indies» perma - frees.
The difference in income between successful traditionally published authors and successful self - published authors is getting narrower each day, with many self - published authors now
making much, much more than their
trad pub counterparts.
Many go indie in the hopes that their book will be discovered by traditional publishers, only to find that after doing all the work it
makes no sense to go
trad.
Editors being let go by
trad pubbing houses are
making better livings working free lance for self - pubbers — and God knows the
trad pubs» offerings need them back.
Whether we batter them down by sheer numbers, or the
trads figure out that we're here to stay and offer us more than the crumbs they give their captive audience now really
makes no difference to me.
Since we're
making outlandish, provocative (and unsubstantiated) claims, I'll concur with the response that
trad published authors are lazy because they don't want to put in the time and effort to produce or market their books.
What
makes you think indie authors lay awake at night whining that they don't have a horrible
trad contract or some bauble from a committe?
It would also be great if Author Earnings could study this, and compare the money
made by a
trad pub author in libraries vs an indie author's, and also the raw numbers of books
trad published in libraries vs indie published.
Many
trad authors can't
make that claim.
Pretty sure I'd choose to
make a black and white change from the
trad pub titles to my own pubbed titles.
This realization also served to
make me feel alienated from other
trad - published writers.
In other words, the above graph should not be ostensibly read as whether
trad pub or other markets are more profitable to the author, or whether
trad pub is an altogether losing deal, but as which economic model —
trad pub or otherwise —
makes the most business sense.
I'm solidly mid-list, and I have
made more in royalties than my
trad - pubbed friends even with their advances.
I've self - pubbed 8 works and
made more money than I had been offered by
trad pubs in the past.
What's more likely is that they focus on their own Thomas and Mercer brand,
making it successful, and push the offerings of the
trad pub world, because they
make more, and because those are likely higher quality than most of the indie stuff.
What are your thoughts on the types of books that people can write in order to
make a living but also on
trad vs. indie, because when you started out you were traditional but you've also adjusted to the market with your indie books.