I’ve been umm-ing and ah-ing about going totally indie for some time. But then when my publisher made it clear that they not only wanted the ebook rights to my just finished book but also to all of eight plus books that form my backlist with them, I rebelled.
I’ve always earned a subsistance income from my print books, but epublishing my early Rafferty and Llewellyn mystery novels convinced me that that didn’t have to be the case with ebooks. So, when it at last looked like I was going to start earning a living that took me up from poverty level, why should I willingly agree to sink back down?
Admittedly, it was a long, hard think. I’d been with my publisher the best part of ten years and they’d published twelve of my mystery novels. But seeing as they were intransigent and resistant to any attempts to negotiate on royalty percentages or price or frequency of payment, I also dug my heels in. Why, I asked myself, would I accept a 25% royalty rate when I could get 70% with amazon? Why would I accept twice-yearly royalty payments when amazon pays every month? And why would I be happy with books priced at $9.99 or above and which are unlikely to sell when I know from my own experience of publishing the earlier Rafferty books which were published by a different publisher, that a lower price equalled higher sales?
It was all a no-brainer. Yes, I felt a little disloyal. But weighed against that was how foolish I would feel accepting such a poor offer.
We’ve all read J A Konrath (A Newbie's Guide to Publishing (see top of Blogroll to right). We’ve all learned a lot from his experiences and experiments in the ebook world and from those of his writing friends. JA, I’m grateful to you for all you’ve taught me. I’m not about to spurn all your hard-won knowledge.
So, as I said, I’m now officially an independent. Feel free to support a poor author. Here are my amazon pages
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=node%3D341689031&field-keywords=geraldine+evans&x=0&y=0
Hats off to J A and hurrah for Indies everywhere. Long may we flourish. Monthly ebook sales now at over 700 and rising…
Hey, if it carries on like this, I might actually start to make a living.
4 comments:
Geraldine,
I find this a fascinating insight into the probable future. I know you've worked hard to promote yourself on the e-book front and am astonished that the publishers are trying to take advantage of all that groundwork with little thought of the remuneration for the author. I would have thought it would have been much to their advantage to try and negotiate much better terms especially in the light of what some might say is the bleedin' obvious (70% Amazon, 25% publisher - ooh, which shall I choose?).
Will this have an effect on your paper printed books going forward? i.e. is the publisher still prepared to do the printed version without the e-book contract?
Good luck!
Hi Ralph
Yes it was a case of no ebook surrender on my backlist then no publication of my latest. I felt my backlist was too valuable to wave goodbye to hence this Brave New World of indie publishing!
It's a bit scary, but prospects look far more promising than they have ever done. If you're interested in going the epublishing route, you could do worse than read the blog of ebook guru J A Konrath. Amanda Hocking is also an ebook success story.
Why should you feel disloyal? That is a victims attitude (sorry, but true). THEY were disloyal to you. If your work, and continuing to work with you is so valuable, they should have come up with the goods.
Good for you in viewing your books and yourself as so valuable and acting upon it. If enough writers do so, then the publishers will feel the pressure to ante up. It's about time.
And I hope you sell a boatload of books! :D
JA, thank you. I thought if I don't value myself no other b---er is going to value me!
Many thanks for the good wishes.
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