Comments on: Part III How Things Work – Digital

By: laurendane

laurendane — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 17:52:57 +0000

Bree – that’s a biggie for me and I wish people would do their homework. But part of it is the refusal to address it and another is our unwillingness to call anyone out. We know how harshly epubs get judged and we dont’ want to add to it.

But truly, there are many fly by night, shitty epublishers and to take a quick offer might mean you end up selling 4 copies instead of 400 or 1000 or whatever.

By: laurendane

laurendane — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 17:48:47 +0000

Lise – sure, that’s a big reality for midlisters – chains carry way less stock and what they do carry, a lot of it isn’t reordered once it’s sold so visibility is not what it used to be. It’s a reality that the chain stores are paring down their stock and it impacts a lot of authors in a big way.

That said, of the epublishers I’ve worked with, only one has a decent print program when it comes to scheduling and distribution. My Samhain titles *do* end up on shelves at Borders and BN, not all titles, but they have a relationship.

You want your publisher to make attempts to create relationships with bookstores, not alienate them. If your publisher only sells from the website and then can’t get the books to readers even then, in a reasonable period of time, that’s a red flag, IMO.

Traditional publishing knows its distribution. that’s been my experience hands down. My books get on shelves by release dates, they’re stocked regularly. Only Samhain comes close to that.

By: Lise Horton

Lise Horton — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 17:32:47 +0000

Yet another fact-filled and clearly presented post, Lauren. I would like to add, however, when it comes to the distribution issue, the publishers (be they traditional print houses or epublishers doing print editions) can only distribute to stores that want to sell those books. As the economy has bottomed out, and as bookstores have taken a huge hit (witness Borders near-death experience), they are cutting back on the titles they are ordering and we can all acknowledge that the cold cruel fact is that they will be buying the ones they KNOW will sell (i.e., NYT bestsellers). So assuming that simply because you are going to a print house your book will therefore be on oodles more shelves than an e-publisher who has a print edition option, may not actually be the case. Depends on which stores, whether it can also sell in non-bookstore venues (i.e., WalMart) and so forth. And, as you said, if the distribution machine for the e-publisher is up to snuff.

By: Jess

Jess — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 09:43:24 +0000

Thankyou

I have found this very interesting and informative :)

By: Leslie Dicken

Leslie Dicken — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 14:47:31 +0000

THANK YOU for doing what RWA SHOULD be doing! It is highly appreciated!

These articles should get printed in the RWR *snicker*.

By: Lauren Dane On RWA & ePublishing | The Naughty Bits

Lauren Dane On RWA & ePublishing | The Naughty Bits — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 13:01:55 +0000

[...] To Stop Worrying and Love The Bomb) Money Money Money Money Money Part II â€“ How Things Work Part III How Things Work â€“ Digital Tags: [...]

By: Nancy

Nancy — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:48:58 +0000

Thanks so much for all this information!

By: Joy Roach

Joy Roach — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:51:13 +0000

What NJ said.

By: N.J. Walters

N.J. Walters — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:24:54 +0000

I’ve enjoyed this three-part series. As always, you are the voice of reason and make perfect sense.

Like any business, you have to educate yourself and know what you want out of it. It’s different for everyone. Whether you go the traditional publishing route, e-publisher or a combination of both. The important thing is to be happy with your choices.

By: azteclady

azteclady — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 02:07:48 +0000

come on folks, help yourselves here

This should be stamped on everyone’s hands, so they see it every time they look at their hands on the keyboard, or while they cook, or pick up, drive, etc etc etc.