This week Barnes & Noble announced it will close 20
stores every year for 10 years. Are you doing the math? That’s a lot of stores
closing, and I’m pretty sure new ones won’t be opening. Does this mean that Amazon will rule
the world?
Here’s my take on how this happened. When all the
others were trying to figure out how to fight Amazon and the rise of the
Kindle, the top execs at Amazon were sitting in their offices in Seattle and laughing their
butts off while the New York
big six were scheming behind closed doors to put the “agency” model in place.
In a nutshell, Amazon was offering top name digital downloads for less than
what they were paying for them.
How stupid is that, you ask? Well let’s just say Amazon is
laughing it’s stupid tush off all the way to the bank. As they were taking a
little bit of a hit when they offered digital downloads dirt cheap to the
reading public, they were racking up profits like you wouldn’t believe on the
sale of their kindles. After all, in order to take advantage of the deals, you
had to have an e-reader or a kindle app for your smart phone, computer and Ipad.
And since Joe Reader now had the equipment to download digital
books, Amazon further teased him with more of his favorite authors at discounted prices?
My God! Have you ever downloaded a digital book from Amazon?
It takes one click! And in less than five seconds the book is on your Kindle
ready to be read. Talk about impulse buying. And if you become a Prime member,
you can even “borrow” the book for free on your kindle. Amazon turns around and
pays the author full price as if it had been a sale. It's a win-win for the author. Pretty nifty, if you ask
me.
What does this all mean for readers? Well, it’s like hitting
the jackpot. With more and more readers owning e-readers, more and more authors
are jumping ship and leaving the NY publishers to form a partnership with
Amazon and self-publishing. Most of these authors are pricing the digital
copies way lower than those set by NY.
Why would an author want to do that, you ask? Let’s use me as
an example. I spend 6 to 9 months writing a book, and after I turn it into my
editor, I no longer have much say about anything – – not the title, the cover,
nor the marketing, and sometimes not even my own words. I can’t tell you how many of my best lines end up on
the chopping block because my editor thought they were too racy for cozies. And all this for about fifty cents a book. Yep! You heard me. After paying my agent 15%, I get to walk away with a half a dollar for a print book. Yippee!! Book me a vacation to Hawaii!!! Not!!
Yes, traditional publishing did get my books into the
brick-and-mortar bookstores, but guess what, folks? That’s not such a big deal
anymore.
Barnes & Noble orders 4 copies of a new release from a
mid-list author like me, and after a certain number of days (not sure how many
but I would guess about 30) they leave one book on the shelf and send any
unsold books back to the publisher. It’s hard to sell a lot of books when
there’s only one there and it’s lost among all the others. It’s even harder for a browser in the mystery section who doesn’t know my books to discover me. I need a fighting chance to rope
in new readers. I can’t do that with one book on the shelf.
And for the first time since I’ve been published, my newest
release, MURDER FOR THE HALIBUT, is not anywhere to be found at the two Barnes
& Noble stores in my area. That could mean one of two things happened – – all
four copies sold and they haven’t been replaced or they didn’t even bother to
shelf them. At one store I asked for the book two days after the release date,
and the worker had to go into the back to find one, which makes me think it’s
the latter.--and pissed me off!
So I’ve come to the conclusion that I want to be in control
of my own destiny. I have several friends who have made the NY Times Best Sellers
list or the USA Today BS list when their $.99 books went viral. The thought
of so many new readers reading my stuff makes me giddy. I want it!
That’s why next month I am self publishing my second book,
titled SHATTERED. It’s a romantic thriller and the very first book I ever
wrote. It will be on sale for the first week in March for $2.99. The cover is
gorgeous and I cry every time I think about the story as it still remains the
book of my heart.
So tell me, how do you feel about all this change – – and
trust me, there is more on the way. Several of the big six have already opened
up a sort of self-publishing division to compete with Amazon. And expect to see changes from Amazon,
too, as they get a bigger piece of the pie. Competition is always best for the
consumer, but IMHO, unless traditional publishers lower the prices on digital
books, they’re going to fall so far behind Amazon it will be hard to recover. And
as much as I want to patronize the brick and mortar stores, it does no good if
the books aren’t on the shelves.
I truly hope that doesn’t happen. As I said, it’s never good
when one company has a monopoly. As for me, I love both my editors and would
write for them forever if I had my druthers. Unfortunately, my business sense
tells me that may not be in my best interest.
What do you think?
4 comments:
Liz: You raise the question of the moment. Please keep us posted as March comes and Shattered moves ahead. We'll all be waiting to hear. So many are choosing to do both- traditional publishing and self-publishing.
This might be a great opportunity to start a discussion about how to go about the nuts and bolts of self-publishing. Anyone want to jump in on that?
Wow, Liz! I'm still picking my jaw off the desk from .50 cents a copy! No wonder authors don't sell through their advances anymore! And the books aren't even on the shelf? What does that do for your numbers? How can you ever get new readers if people can't find you or see your gorgeous covers to lure them in to picking up the book, reading the back blurb and taking it to the checkout line? It's such a vicious circle, too if you think about it. Without good numbers, you won't be offered a new contract with your current publisher, and a possible new publisher might not want to take a chance on you. Sounds like sabotage to me!
What ever happened to the term partnership? Does that not exist anymore in publishing? I would LOVE to be in a brick & mortar store! But I see all this change as good, because without the option of self publishing my stories....I'd still be waiting. Instead, I've put 4 books out and I'm developing a fan base!
I can't WAIT for Shattered!!
It is a concern, Cassy. And I will definitely let you all know how Shattered does in the self publishing market. You know me. I tell all.
And getting the nuts and bolts of self publishing sounds like something we really should tackle. Maybe we can do an entire week with each one of us researching one aspect of it.
I know, Barbie. It's pathetic. There are authors out there who make more than that, but people like me as well as debut authors are at their mercy. I think my numbers are good, but I have to sell a helluva lot of books to earn a living at it.
Traditional publishing is great because (at least in my case) I have two really wonderful editors and I do get the exposure. But I'm at a time in my life when I am not getting any younger and I've seen my dreams come true. Now I want to ride into the sunset in style--and that takes money. You're smart to put those 4 books out there.
Post a Comment