Author Joe Konrath turns down $500,000 deal to Self Publish

Even though I have always longed to be a published author, over the years I started to wonder if I wanted to be under contract to a publisher. It may seem like every authors dream, but that dream can turn into a nightmare at times. For one thing publishing houses have dead lines, and when an author has made a big name for themselves they really want them to bring forth the books. This has led to some of the following things happening:

1. Author leaves publishing house after their contract expires, and decides that with their name they can call the shots write whenever they want confident that any publisher would buy their work, because of who they are. (Stephen King did this)

2. Author started using ghost writers to write the stuff in their place so that they could meet the quota. (Danielle Steele is rumored to have done this, although she has the name to do what King did)

3. Author unable to come up with anything commits an act plagiarism that threatens to destroy their career. (happen to romance author Janet Daley years ago, fortunately she manage to get her career back on track)

5. Author starts to self publish their books online because it gives them the freedom of not having to answer to a publisher. They now call the shots and have the name to do so. Korrath has done this and I have heard of other published authors who did it as well, one of them had a book series they wanted to finish but the publisher wasn't interested because they felt it wasn't selling to their expectations.

So, here are some examples of what can happen with authors working for publishers. Yes, I know that as writers this should be a desired goal, but to be honest now that the gate keepers are no longer guarding that gate, I'm not sure I want one to go back to doing so. In other words right now I am self publishing, and if I should ever make it to where a publisher is interested in my work (this has also happened) I'm not sure I would want to give up my freedom to them. Right now I am in charge of what I write and when I write it, I think I like it that way.

 

If one wants to be their own publishers, go for it. For those of us who have no interest in it, trade publishing is the way to go. Even authors who self-publish their backlists still continue to publish new work through trade publishers. But if someone thinks getting a contract is giving up their "freedom", they probably are better off self-publishing. The mindset is just different.

 

I noticed yesterday that Konrath has a new blog post up where he said something along the lines of he makes more money from his self-published books, but he makes money faster from his Amazon-published books whenever they do an advertising splurge to their customers. So he's still doing a mix of the two.

 

LOL, I was going to tell Trish I already knew she was going to get published by her knowledge and attitude, looks like I was right.

 

Trish, not sure how many you sold already, but two 5 star reviews and one 4 star revue is looking good for you, now you need to start promoting that book. If the guy even liked it it must be good.

 

That's a very interesting perspective, and you're not alone. I go to book festivals here in Britain, and at a recent one, a VERY successful published author (a crime novelist) who was a guest speaker at the festival, made this point on stage. He and lots of other very successful writers are now looking into self-publishing, because they are fed up with the nonsense some publishers expect of them.

He told a tale of one of his recent experiences. His most recently published book had a 'long' title—5 words. The publisher (whom he's been with a long time) went nuts, told him he'd have to shorten the title. He thought about it for 5 seconds or so, and said ...nah. Take it or leave it. Because he's highly successful, they took it. As with all his others, it became a huge bestseller. His latest book, which he's just submitted, has a one-word title. They went nuts. No, no ...publishing has changed, now we want longer titles...!

I'm afraid traditional publishers need to look at themselves a bit harder, if they want to stay in business. Instead of striving to do just what they've always done, and sell books just like they've already sold, maybe actually READ the damn submissions beyond query letter stage, and choose the odd ones that may well become the 'new' normal.

How many of the books considered to be industry standards today were rejected by umpteen publishers before somebody finally took a chance on them? Read just about any author on this subject. Nearly all of them were rejected over and over again before they were finally accepted. This says a lot about perseverance, to be sure ...but it also says a lot about the state of publishing houses. They are ripe for a big shock. Perhaps self-publishing will deliver it.

 

I don't think I could ever do that. If someone wanted to publish my novel I'd say yes without a seconds thought. Mind you, he might be looking forward to the power self-publishing brings. He'll get a much greater say in all things such as the cover and blurb.