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Post by K'Sennia Visitor on Oct 19, 2018 5:43:13 GMT
Something was mentioned in another thread about publishing myths and I thought that could be a good idea for a thread. Think about those things you hear people say about writing and publishing that just makes your teeth grind, your eyes roll, your inner "Um Actually" lecturer to come raging out like the hulk, or that just make you want to bash your head against a wall. Share those incorrect, completely false, sooo irritating things that people believe that you know are not true. This thread could be both therapeutic and educational.
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Post by writeway on Oct 19, 2018 18:54:35 GMT
Okay I will give it a go. Below are the myths that make me ROFL or just roll my eyes at the insanity. 1. Self-publishing Costs Thousands of Dollars if You Wanna Do it Right. ROFL! I think this came from trade publishers to scare authors from self-publishing. Just saw on a forum today a woman said she can't self-publish because she doesn't have thousands of dollars. Do people have common sense? I mean, really? You think all these indie authors are paying thousands to release each book? Also, you surely can release good books on a tight budget or even free (if you are creative). I would say the average self-published author spends less than 500 dollars a book. Probably 1,000 at the most. Most people can't afford to spend a lot especially if they release fast. The bulk will be on promotion most times anyway. I don't spend even 500 a book and most of what I do spend is for promo. Yeah, I don't know where people get this. Sure, some can afford to spend that much but the average author working at Walmart or The Olive Garden with three kids can't afford to spend thousands on each book. 2. That Editing Matters to the Average Reader I hate to say this but I believe this a myth. The only ones who seem to care about editing are authors and editors. The average reader couldn't care less. Why do I say that? Because I see tons of evidence that they don't. I see readers buying book after book with nonexistent editing or horrible writing. Readers care about story first. As an author, my eye is more critical but even I won't give up on a book with good storytelling even if I see issues. I think authors inflate how much readers care about the writing. We look at it through our own eyes but not the average reader. I'm not saying they can't tell when something is badly written but I've seen too many horribly-written "bestsellers" to believe it stops readers from reading. 3. That self-publishing is easy and any idiot can do it What I notice is that some of the same folks who say self-publishing costs too much money and takes up too much time are the ones who say it's easy. Well it can't be both. It's always someone who knows jack about self-publishing. Self-publishing RIGHT is not easy. It gets easier as you do it but to publish good books and put effort into them, it is hard work. Self-publishing badly is easy but any indie who cares about readers puts effort into their work. 4. That indie publishers drove down prices. No we didn't. Amazon did that on their own. I used to be a trade published author and even I knew years before I went indie that Amazon did this but authors get the blame. When KDP started, Amazon pushed and encouraged indies to sell 99 cent and free books. Amazon drove prices down just like Walmart. They did it to gain a hold on the industry against publishers who charged very high prices. Indie authors found benefit from it (back in the day) but most indies price higher now. Most indies are selling full-length books at 2.99 or up now. I just get sick of people blaming indies for the reason customers want cheap books. Sure, indies rode in the car, but Amazon drove it. 5. Amazon Cares About Authors Ha, ha, ha! Lord help me. Oh, I can't stand it. ROFL! Oh, ha, ha! I can't even stop laughing enough to type. Yet some indies think Amazon is Jesus and will give them their first born before admitting Amazon doesn't give a crap about indies. They would cut out KDP tomorrow if doing so benefited them. It's sad that some authors feel they gotta excuse Amazon's recklessness or how they treat authors just because they gave them a platform to publish. Look, I am honest about Amazon. As an author I've come to loathe them because of how they've treated authors over the years. But, I can't not sell on them. They are a necessary evil but I am wide so they don't have total control over me. If I didn't have to sell on Amazon, I wouldn't. 6. That Talent is What it Takes to Get Published Nope. To get published by a big pub or to even find an agent it takes luck and things happening at the right time. Talent is just a part of it. There are many talented authors who never got signed to deals. 7. Talent makes bestsellers Nope. Being a bestseller does not always come to just talent. Sometimes it comes to an author (or publisher) who can spend the most money. Visibility and luck are the keys. Last but not least... 8. Cream Always Rises to the Top. Riiiight. And I bet those people are still waiting after years for the cream to rise. No, this is not true. Just because a book is good, that doesn't mean jack. Just because you got the best editing or is a great writer, means squat. If you don't promote and get visibility and work to compete then your book might as well be trashed. Authors say this all the time to make themselves feel better. It's always authors who seem bitter or jealous of others selling better. They say this to themselves to reassure themselves that "It's not my book, it's just the market." Many times it's visibility (if the book is truly good). I see too many authors saying, "I'm a good writer. I'm better than so and so yet she outsells me." Hey someone is always going to sell more than you but the point is, the "cream rises thing" is a crutch some authors use because they don't wanna promote or they don't wanna put in the real effort it takes to sell. They wanna be lazy and feel they can just sit back and toss books and one day, poof, readers will discover them. I wish I lived in their dream world. Keep thinking that and you'll have 20 or more books that have sold less than 10 copies between them. Also "cream" can be subjective. Someone's cream might be another person's crap. As I said above, good writing and talent is just part of it. You gotta put in some work and get VISIBILITY or nothing else matters if your work isn't seen. I don't care how "great" your work is compared to someone else. If that other author knows his or her market and can promote well and relate to readers and you can't do any of that, they will beat you out every time.
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Post by K'Sennia Visitor on Oct 21, 2018 5:11:09 GMT
Thanks writeway for posting. I can't say I disagree with any of your myths. I bought one overpriced stock photo once. Think it cost $12. And that is the only money I have spent to date on publishing. So it's definitely possible to publish for free. I do it all the time. I earn hardly any money, but publishing and making money are two separate things. And my lack of publishing funds isn't even the reason for the low royalties. My extreme laziness causes me to do the absolute least possible, and laziness is the true road to mediocrity. I could do a lot more and maybe one day I will have enough motivation to do so.
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Post by dormouse on Oct 21, 2018 10:33:13 GMT
What irritates me most often is the myth that there's only one way for an indie author to be successful. Series, focused genres, rapid writing and publishing, super focused covers, heavy promotion etc etc - we all know the drill. It's not necessarily wrong - it's been successful for over 150 years: penny dreadfuls, dime novels, pulp fiction et al - but it's publishing/marketing led not (usually) writing led. It suits writers who can write a lot of words to a format, who like business and marketing and want a regular income without having a formal job and a possibility of the income being quite high. But there are a lot of writers it doesn't suit, and other ways can be successful too - The Martian, 50 Shades, Wool. For many people the relevant question should be "I'm this sort of writer, and this is what I'm writing, what can I do to publish successfully?".
It also strikes me that most commentators have no idea that they are following a long literary tradition and recommending long practiced techniques, as if it all started with Amazon and KU, whereas the scammers seem to be fully aware of what made for success historically.
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johnhartness
New Member
Author, Publisher, Editor, Podcaster
Posts: 2
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Post by johnhartness on Oct 21, 2018 21:01:41 GMT
That self-publishing a book means no traditional publisher will ever look at it. I sold my Black Knight Chronicles after self-pubbing the first three and now that I publish others I am perfectly willing to look at previously published material, be it self or trad.
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Post by davidvandyke on Oct 22, 2018 22:16:50 GMT
Unfortunately, the "myths" listed by writeway are mostly overstatements of basic truths. (Note, I'm not arguing with writeway, just expanding and expounding on the "myths.")
So, not really myths at all. Just inaccurate when unqualified. It's hard to fight an overstatement that contains truth--also known as a half-lie.
#1--it's the "thousands" that's inaccurate. But the basic truth is, it takes some money to do it right, and if properly deployed by an experienced indie, every dollar helps.
#2--Editing matters in the long run. No badly edited book keeps its legs. It can sell a lot of copies in the shorter run, even the middle run if supported by proper marketing. So, while the average binge reader will plow through, the resistance created by bad editing (not merely bad proofreading--bad editing includes bad plots, bad developmental editing, bad craft and other intangibles) will pile up over time. Even before I started writing, as a voracious reader I would abandon books that had too many problems with them. There were always more books.
So, this "myth" is more of a spectrum. Every problem with a book will result in a few percentage points fewer sales over time, even if those problems don't kill it entirely.
#3--another overstatement, of course. Like many things, self-publishing is easy when done badly, not when done well.
#4--indies were complicit--but the whole argument is phrased as if lower prices are a bad thing. They're not. Readers benefitted. Authors (as a whole) benefitted. The profession of writing benefitted. The only ones who didn't benefit were the unnaturally monopolized publishing industry and the midlist authors they ruthlessly cut loose in a misguided short-term approach, trying to protect profits. Note, that worked so far. Profits are up even as they lose market share, but that can't last forever. Personally, you can "blame" me and indies for that. I'd call it credit.
#5--is this even a thing? Do even the most pro-KU indies believe Amazon cares about them as individuals?
#6, 7 and 8--People confuse "helpful" with "necessary," despite evidence to the contrary. Some clueless individuals seem to be able to hold two conflicting viewpoints simultaneously--they bemoan the trash that's selling, but cling to the idea that if they just write a great book, it will somehow bring them success. Of course, as you say, it's helpful, but far from necessary. And, while cream rises to the top, so does scum., at least for a while.
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Post by dormouse on Jun 22, 2019 10:21:56 GMT
I was interested to read Leonora Meriel's account of coming to indie publishing, and how she has progressed. She breaks nearly all the rules. First she wrote a book: literary fiction, a standalone, uses magical realism (according to a review). Having decided to go indie, she then spent money - so one 'rule' followed. But then broke the one about ebooks + POD. In the UK, she achieved nationwide print availability through a number of Waterstones branches; hardbacks and paperbacks. Her second book came out within a year (rule ticked), but there hasn't been another since (rule unticked): she finished her first draft in April 2018, but it's not out yet. So she writes and publishes slowly (she wrote somewhere that her first book took 5-7 years to write). She's aiming at a quality level not publication speed. She does, mostly, follow social media advice. She has a website and blog, facebook page, twitter and Patreon; she started her newsletter this year. But last facebook page was February, last blog entry was 2017, and I didn't notice activity on Patreon. So it's mostly twitter, which can be accessed through her website. I'm sure she'd prefer to be keeping everything up-to-date but, with real life (two children), writing and publishing, it's hard to find the time - as we all know. There's no sign of her following standard genres or tropes. Her second book fits into science fiction, but isn't at all typical (I'm only a third of the way through). She does seem to be following the advice on low prices (on her second book, at the moment - 0.99p/$1.24). I'm not sure how successful she is financially. She did fly to South Africa for research and she was Number 1 in Amazon Science Fiction in early February. I doubt she would have sold many more through trad publishing (though that might have given her more push in the US). I expect new books to generate substantial sales for her back catalogue (when I have finished her second book, I will buy the first, even though it is a very different type of book),
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Post by K'Sennia Visitor on Jun 25, 2019 22:45:50 GMT
Write and publish something that someone wants to buy, make sure those who want to buy, know where they can get it. That's all you have to do. The more people who want to buy your book who know about it, the more money you will make. The fewer, the less. There is no mystery and those are the only rules. If you want to become a millionaire writing cozy mysteries about killer tomatoes viciously going after everyone with an allergy to them, you might not make your goal. But you'll prolly make something. And the better you market, the more you'll make. But if your life's dream is to write a book about evil killer tomatoes, you likely have other goals than gazillions, and that is just as legit. But if it turns out that millions of people do want to read about those nasty murderous tomatoes, then you'll hit the jackpot. Sometimes you never know until you try.
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