4 ms·

This is the sort of stuff that was mainly in the realm of publishers until recently. I'm always curious about the degree to which what publishers, record labels

by netcan 12y ago

This is the sort of stuff that was mainly in the realm of publishers until recently. I'm always curious about the degree to which what publishers, record labels and similar industries do is being parceled out to smaller services. When writers write about why they need publishers, they usually mention editing, marketing & advances. I imagine for many people marketing is not very relevant. Either the publishers will not do much of it anyway or the author has access to an audience himself. Advances are also (I imagine) not that important to many authors. Maybe some need the commitment as part of their process but purely as a way of financing, I don't see an insurmountable requirement that this be bundled with the other things they do. Most authors are not going to make money anyway so a small chunk now or a slightly larger trickle later doesn't matter much either way. Is there a thriving industry of editors for hire? People who will take raw text and turn it into books? What's the state of this ecosystem today?

robfitz 12y ago
There are lots of freelance editors and cover designers, yes. Covers may run $100-300. Editors from roughly $1000-3000. The marketing you largely have to do yourself, and there are a few different approaches. For business books, the main one is to treat the book as a regular old problem-solving-product and do content/permission marketing with a focus on building the mailing list. For fiction, it seems that the most successful authors are serialising their full-length books into a number of chapters that they release monthly on Kindle Direct for $1-3 each. They focus on building their catalog of titles over time to slowly build and retain fans who then [hopefully] keep buying new titles or binge-read the whole back catalog. There are also some premium consultancies that help self-publishing authors have a publisher-quality process through and through, for a price more like $10,000-30,000. And finally, you've got the parasites who will "offer" to "publish" your book for a small fee, which basically means the author is the customer.
- netcan 12y ago
  Lets put it this way... Joe Smith is a working fiction writer. He has a fan base that he knows how to reach. His books usually sell 25-35,000 copies (A) Can he make a living? (B) Is he better off with an old fashioned publisher (C) If he goes "indie," what services does he need? Are good ones available at a doable price?
  - robfitz 12y ago
    A kindle direct title can easily earn you $3 profit even if you keep the price very low, and more like $7 if you price it like a normal book. So if you're able to move that many copies, then certainly yes. Self-publishing is more profitable per copy. With a publisher you'll make ~10% of cover sales (so $1-1.50 per copy) versus the above. Publishers offer [small] advances and cover some of the costs like editing. If you can pay the $1250-3500 for a cover design and editor, and can do the marketing, then you don't need a publisher for anything else. The resources you're going to want are: * KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing for main distribution) * CreateSpace (turn PDFs into physical print-on-demand and list them on Amazon) * Scrivener or softcover.io (writing apps that easily export to ebook formats) * Wordpress + Themeforest (or softcover) for a book page And that's about it. Very doable without a publisher.
    - netcan 12y ago
      I that case, why do established authors do deals with publishers?
      - maccard 12y ago
        When they weren't established authors, they signed deals for the next X books to be with said publisher. Another is that an established author may sell X copies at 15.00/copy, or Y copies at 25.00/copy (but only take 7.00 of the 25). If I'm an author, and my passion is writing, not marketing, if X15 < y7, or even anywhere close to equal, then it makes sense to go with the publisher, so you can spend more time writing
        gdilla 12y ago
        Exactly. I work in publishing and I often wondered why established authors don't just self publish. The answer: not all authors are Tim Ferris. They love having a staff cater to them, market their books, and editorial help. They are not really entrepreneurs like Ferris. They don't want to do too much more than write or whatever else they do (many authors are celebrities in other fields and are busy doing that, like most chefs on the food network).

by netcan 12y ago

robfitz 12y ago

There are lots of freelance editors and cover designers, yes. Covers may run $100-300. Editors from roughly $1000-3000. The marketing you largely have to do yourself, and there are a few different approaches. For business books, the main one is to treat the book as a regular old problem-solving-product and do content/permission marketing with a focus on building the mailing list. For fiction, it seems that the most successful authors are serialising their full-length books into a number of chapters that they release monthly on Kindle Direct for $1-3 each. They focus on building their catalog of titles over time to slowly build and retain fans who then [hopefully] keep buying new titles or binge-read the whole back catalog. There are also some premium consultancies that help self-publishing authors have a publisher-quality process through and through, for a price more like $10,000-30,000. And finally, you've got the parasites who will "offer" to "publish" your book for a small fee, which basically means the author is the customer.

netcan 12y ago
Lets put it this way... Joe Smith is a working fiction writer. He has a fan base that he knows how to reach. His books usually sell 25-35,000 copies (A) Can he make a living? (B) Is he better off with an old fashioned publisher (C) If he goes "indie," what services does he need? Are good ones available at a doable price?
- robfitz 12y ago
  A kindle direct title can easily earn you $3 profit even if you keep the price very low, and more like $7 if you price it like a normal book. So if you're able to move that many copies, then certainly yes. Self-publishing is more profitable per copy. With a publisher you'll make ~10% of cover sales (so $1-1.50 per copy) versus the above. Publishers offer [small] advances and cover some of the costs like editing. If you can pay the $1250-3500 for a cover design and editor, and can do the marketing, then you don't need a publisher for anything else. The resources you're going to want are: * KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing for main distribution) * CreateSpace (turn PDFs into physical print-on-demand and list them on Amazon) * Scrivener or softcover.io (writing apps that easily export to ebook formats) * Wordpress + Themeforest (or softcover) for a book page And that's about it. Very doable without a publisher.
  - netcan 12y ago
    I that case, why do established authors do deals with publishers?
    - maccard 12y ago
      When they weren't established authors, they signed deals for the next X books to be with said publisher. Another is that an established author may sell X copies at 15.00/copy, or Y copies at 25.00/copy (but only take 7.00 of the 25). If I'm an author, and my passion is writing, not marketing, if X15 < y7, or even anywhere close to equal, then it makes sense to go with the publisher, so you can spend more time writing
      - gdilla 12y ago
        Exactly. I work in publishing and I often wondered why established authors don't just self publish. The answer: not all authors are Tim Ferris. They love having a staff cater to them, market their books, and editorial help. They are not really entrepreneurs like Ferris. They don't want to do too much more than write or whatever else they do (many authors are celebrities in other fields and are busy doing that, like most chefs on the food network).