Full disclosure: some of this post first appeared as a late-in-the-day comment on Brother Bell’s excellent post last Sunday.
Dear Rookie Writer,
No matter what you hear from your writer buddy who heard it from a friend who knows a guy in the publishing industry, agents and editors are hungry and actively hunting for new material. Are they picky about quality? Of course they are. Can it be hard to get an agent’s attention? You betcha, Red Rider. Is it the single most reliable model to make some scratch as a newbie without any readership? One hundred percent.
The vast majority of new writers (read: yet-to-be-published writers) I meet at conferences and such espouse no interest in making a living as a writer. Most just want to see their books in print, whether it be on paper or with electrons. When they hear that their pacing is off or that their characters are flat, they seem not to care. And why should they? They just sat through three sessions on self-publishing that pumped them up on a thrilling publishing world with no gate keepers.
These new writers commit themselves to the indie route because at its face it’s easier. In the end, 90+% of them will spend thousands of dollars in production costs and will complain that they’ve only been able to a hundred copies, mostly at their family reunion. Still, they print business cards pronouncing themselves to be published authors and dare anyone to claim otherwise.
The biggest obstacle to success in indie publishing is the inability for real talent to rise above the noise of the dreck. And when the rare exceptions like Andy Weir rise up and get notice, their careers only get supercharged after signing with a traditional publisher. (Work with me here. There are undoubtedly other one-off exceptions, but they are extremely rare.)
If a new writer wants a shot (nothing close to a guarantee, but at least a shot) at selling thousands or hundreds of thousands of copies of his book, then I believe the traditional route is the only one to consider.
First, there’s the issue of the money flow. It’s a one-way valve. Author pays nothing. Yes, the royalty scale is a minority percentage of overall revenue (a negotiated percentage–thus the importance of an agent), but the publisher has taken all the risk. X% of something is better than 100% of nothing.
The right traditional publisher opens up doors to marketing routes that are otherwise locked for indies (Goodreads, BookBub, etc.). They can get your book into libraries, and they have access to the otherwise locked-away network of sub agents who can sell your book to foreign publishers so your book can be published in multiple languages. Each copy sold is more cash in the author’s pocket.
Then there’s the access to studios for film options.
This is the entertainment business, folks, where the odds of true success are slim. But as a rookie, you want to stack as many of the slim odds in your favor as you can. If you go the indie route first and your book does not sell, you have all but closed the door to future entry into the traditional publishing world. Make your career choices accordingly.
Now, the case FOR indie publishing:
Back in the day, when I had a Big Boy Job, I was the director of safety for an international trade association. In the words of Ron Burgundy, I was a pretty big deal. My particular squint on safety management principles was both unique and effective. I traveled extensively to speak to large crowds. For a brief while, after I left the association, I considered writing a safety management book and joining the speaker’s circuit. (Working title: Safety is Not Number One)
Had I followed through, I would have had to self publish that book because the potential market is very small. I could have sold the hell out of the books I brought with me (or I could have made it part of the speaking fee), but there wouldn’t be enough money to attract a publisher.
If (God forbid) Kensington were to shift its focus and drop my Jonathan Grave series, I would consider continuing it independently, but I would be doing it with a substantial established readership base.
There is no one common path for everyone. But before choosing your path, or dismissing one, I urge you to evaluate your goals and objectives.
“The biggest obstacle to success in indie publishing is the inability for real talent to rise above the noise of the dreck. And when the rare exceptions like Andy Weir rise up and get notice, their careers only get supercharged after signing with a traditional publisher. (Work with me here. There are undoubtedly other one-off exceptions, but they are extremely rare.)”
Exactly.
This varies some with genres. SF has supported Brandon Sanderson, Andy Weir, and Hugh Howey, among others.
Some other genres do very well for a small subset of their indie authors, too – thrillers, mysteries, detective/PI stories.
I don’t know about Romance, but readers there follow their favorite authors – and I’m sure there are solid indie authors who are raking it in.
And then, of course, there is the last bastion Traditional Publishing considers its own, and will die defending: literary/mainstream/contemporary/epic/big book/book club fiction. TP has a lock on celebrity book clubs, most PR involving major talk shows, reviews on the big boys like Kirkus… – and pays well for its ads on the remaining media outlets.
TP depends on putting its advertising eggs in a few baskets, and having the big sellers for the year support them. Every year they anoint a few candidates, and back them with all the dollars, to sell hundreds of thousands of copies, not really caring which book(s) carry the standard for the year. They pay for award application fees, trailers and publicity shoots, and whatever makes books special to readers – and own the slot, competing mostly with other TPs.
They have enough books each year to find the just-right few.
These books are hard and slow to write. They take Donna Tartt ten years. Indies mostly don’t compete in this category, nor do they often break out, nor are their authors capable of doing it again. The TP stable has enough horses to win the Derby – a self-published author gets a try only every few years, depending only on themself. The game is thus rigged.
So the few of us trying to compete in that slot – because we write that kind of book – are facing all of TP as well as the other indies who are foolhardy enough (or don’t have a choice – books tend to pick us, rather than the other way), and struggle.
And are just as swamped by their less talented, less edited, or less advertised peers in addition.
An interesting example from an author who grabbed the headlines, Darcy Chan and The Mill River Recluse shows what happens to some: they get a TP contract. Chan never raised her prices above $0.99 for her first book – and sold 200,000 copies, but her TP did immediately; the other two books in her trilogy were not great TP commercial successes that I can tell. The low price was a gimmick – and a lot of people tried her offer, but her publisher couldn’t afford that – hoped they could go with the people who read her first – and get them to pay a lot more.
I have not yet found MY gimmick; my plan is to try harder marketing when I FINISH my own mainstream trilogy – because I don’t have the energy to do both, and have NOT found a suitable partner in the indie world, and have little desire for a TP contract. We’ll see.
“There is no one common path for everyone. But before choosing your path, or dismissing one, I urge you to evaluate your goals and objectives.”
Agreed, John.
Thanks for the thoughts, Brother Gilstrap. This is great fodder for discussion, for as you note at the end, all writers must evaluate goals and objectives….helped along by insights from vets like you (and perhaps even your humble commenter).
I happen to think that the majority of writers aiming for a Big 5 contract desire to hit the “A list”, i.e., Oprah pick, top of the NYT list, book after book. Who wouldn’t? Trad publishing is the only way to get there, but it happens to less than 1% of writers. There are, of course, smaller publishers (with little or no marketing clout). Some can be satisfied there, and good on them. (And “rising above the noise” is a challenge for ALL writers, no matter how published.)
But I don’t know any writers, new or used, who don’t hope to make at least SOME money out of this gig. And the data is that indies now outpace traditionals in that regard. Surveys by ALLi and Authors Guild, and reports from Amazon show “thousands” (Amazon’s verbiage) of indie authors making over 50k a year…and many at 100k, and indeed a goodly number at seven figures. You don’t find that spread in the trad world. (But I emphasize that successful indies are writers who have learned their craft and have business sense, and don’t rush in just because it is “easier.”)
Yes, some writers like the “prestige” of being with a major publisher and aren’t looking to “make a living” at this, and that’s perfectly fine. But at some point money needs to be made (by the publisher) or the sword of Damocles will fall.
Interesting post, Mr. Gilstrap. I think that the 80-20 (or is it 90-10?) rule applies. 80% of authors make 20% of the writing income pool. It’s not an easy place to be, whether indie or traditional. These stats from the Author’s Guild are from 2023, but I doubt there have been majorly significant changes.
https://authorsguild.org/news/key-takeaways-from-2023-author-income-survey/
When I decided to tackle this writing gig, the advice was always “Don’t quit your day job” as most authors (which were all traditional because there was no indie publishing unless you count vanity presses) weren’t making nearly enough to live on. The “rule” was to have at least 5 years of income in the bank before going full time.
I was with a ‘traditional’ (library focused) publisher for three books and made about $25.
I started writing in 2012 and published my first book in 2013. With a book published every 8 seconds, I’ll never hit any bestseller lists, however I have a third career that I can do the rest of my life. Here’s what I loath about TP- it’s an opinion of one – trying to find a gatekeeper that will let your work through. I have thousands of reviews that tell me my work is great (or it sucks), and that is the reader’s reflection of my work. I’m locked out of the biggest awards in the Mystery/Thriller genre because I’m Indie, but those awards are rigged. I’ve seen books with overall ratings in the threes be nominated as “best something” all from TP. I know someone who was nominated by TP for one of those major awards in 2018 and they just started receiving royalty checks in 2023 when they earned out their advance. My career as Indie has brought me higher sales and more earnings. At the Simon and Shuster/Penguin trial, the CEO of S and S admitted there were no mid-list authors, they just didn’t want to call them low list. Most advances are now less than I’ll earn in a year. Indie, however is not for the author that has a single great American novel in them as you’ll never learn enough to be successful and rise above all the books dumped out into the world. Just my 2cents worth.
Excellent food for thought. I have to second JSB’s comments.
On Saturday I gave a talk at the Rainforest Writers Retreat on digital self-publishing (Publish Yourself). After defining digital self-publishing (i.e. modern self-pub) I discussed possible goals in publishing. Becoming a best-seller, earning mega bucks etc is certainly a goal, but a long shot for many. Like Alec, I’ll never be in that category but I do earn money from my publishing, and I have a job for life.
I then went into the importance of making your book as good as you could before publishing it, including getting feedback from beta readers, critique partners, even developmental editors. My first published novel was the sixth I’d written. Practice doesn’t make perfect, but it helps, especially when you lean into craft study.
External validation is one big thing traditional publishing has that self-publishing does not. However, I think focusing on what you can control is a better mindset for all writers, regardless of what path they take.
As a mostly traditionally published author with a few Indie Novelas, I will admit I enjoy being traditionally published. While my sales are pretty good, I couldn’t live on the income. But it’s nice to get paid for doing something I love.
My publisher has a decent marketing budget so I don’t have to do as much marketing as some. That said I do as much as I can.
Whether you are indie published or traditionally published, it is hard to make a noise with all the books being released each year.
I have a hybrid experience with trad- and self-publishing.
My first novel was traditionally published by a small publishing company. They walked me through all the steps of publishing and gave me ideas about how to market. I will always be grateful for that experience, and I intended to continue with them for the next book in the series. However, the contract they offered me for the second book was less generous than the first, so I talked to some industry professionals and read JSB’s book How to Make a Living As a Writer. My husband and I decided to self-publish the next book. I explained my decision to the managing editor, and we parted on good terms. I think that was the right decision for me at the time, and I love having the control over the schedule and marketing of my four novels.
In 2024 I completed my first middle grade book, and I decided I needed a traditional publisher since I don’t have any experience in getting books into libraries, bookstores, schools, and home-schools. I contracted with a traditional publisher, and the first MG book will be released this spring. The second is due out in the fall.
Again, I’m grateful for the experience of working with a publisher for some of my books while continuing to self-pub others.
The bottom line for me is not how many books I sell, but how well I write the stories I want to tell.
Well, there’s a lot to agree with here. But to disagree, too, in defence of self-publishing.
For me, wanting to break into the genre fiction writing/publishing world, I had several objectives:
* be a pioneer and write a story that no one had seen before;
* have that story—and more to come—be read by as many people as possible;
* make some money at it.
And there was really only one choice for me: Indie or self-publishing. And it worked. I now have six novels in print, audiobooks on three, and a TV/movie deal on one. Now, I’m not a big-time author by any means, but I AM a published author. With thousands of books sold, 4+ million pages read, and decent royalties to date (against very little financial outlay). It’s not huge, but it’s something. And most importantly for me: it’s under my control. It’s my IP, my timetable, my everything. I control my future, and that’s how I want it.
Thanks, John, for this précis of the two paths open to us.
“There is no one common path for everyone. But before choosing your path, or dismissing one, I urge you to evaluate your goals and objectives.”
Agreed…
Have a great day! ☺️