Publishing in the 21st Century (Part 2)

(This is part 2 of my series on publishing in the modern world. I hope you enjoy it and, as always, I encourage you to email me and offer feedback).

LETS LEARN ANOTHER LESSON FROM THE MUSIC WORLD


Before we leave the world of pay per view writing altogether, let me offer one more observation. This one is again from the music world whose often self proclaimed representatives fought furiously against illegal music downloads during the early days of the current century. To hear them wail, you would have been convinced that Napster, with its access to free, albeit illegal, music downloads would be the end of the music industry. The kingpins in the industry - both well-known musicians and less well known (although probably more powerful) "suits" behind the scene - fought it all out in court, taking not only Napster, but also several of the amateur downloaders to trial. The music industry representatives, at least at first, seemed to win. Napster disappeared from the web and colleges across the country set policies against their students downloading music. But, in the end, it was a losing game for the industry, at least the way their lawyers were fighting it. Nearly at the speed of light, other downloading software and services appeared on the web, replacing Napster with hundreds, if not thousands, of substitutes. People who wanted to download music found a way. The music industry was ultimately on the wrong side of industrial history.

However, some companies quickly realized that many, if not most, of those people out in cyberland would actually pay for downloads, if they were cheap enough. WalMart currently sells tunes for 94 cents; iTunes for 99 cents. Selling it cheap is better than not selling it at all, especially if you're selling in large quantities. And nothing produces large quantities like the Internet.

That also goes for authors. In other words, "keep it cheap." Don't try to sell an ebook for the same price you would a paper and ink ("Pandi") book, or even (ala Stephen King) for anything nearly as expensive as a Pandi book. That doesn't necessarily mean you will never make any money from your ebook. After all, your expenses should be extremely low. You can use a free website, advertise cheaply online, and never need to pay for cover artists, editors or even for paper. Also keep in mind, you have the potential online to reach a much more vast audience than authors or publishers still dealing in the paper and ink world of traditional publishing. And, the money you take in with a self-published ebook is all yours. So, at least theoretically, instead of earning a $1 commission on a Pandi book that you sold to a publisher, you can now charge $1 per download for an ebook and whose rights you continue to retain. And, although your chances of selling ten thousand downloads are admittedly extremely slim, they are still better than you being published by a major publishing company and actually selling ten thousand copies of a Pandi book. This is primarily the case since, once again, 99 percent of authors will never be published by a major publishing house.

Of course, the question arises: What about that other one percent, the ones whose book actually "makes the big time?" Of that small number, there are doubtlessly a few who would have benefited far better with the old, Pandi style of publishing. Although, even for those lucky few, the difference may not be as great as one would suppose; think once again about the $1 commission vs. the $1 download example I cited above. Your chances of making the big bucks on a self published ebook are probably about the same as selling your novel to a large publishing house and having a best selling book: about 1 in 100.

Even if there is a sea change in the publishing world and online publishing becomes the norm, there will still be a small band of writers who make it big. And those people will still become millionaires. Once again, $1 is $1 and a $1,000,000 is $1000,000, whether you earned it through a book commission or from sales of ebook downloads.

And this, I suppose, brings us to the most important advantage of self publishing an ebook: at least some people will get to read it if you put it online. Of those 99 percent of online writers who never make the big money, they will still know that their works are being enjoyed by readers somewhere. That's not the case for those 99 percent of Pandi authors whose works never get published.

There were other lessons to be learned from the Napster vs. the Music Industry conflict, one of which centers on the fact that in the midst of that legal war, some musicians were actually happy that people were downloading their music for free. In fact, some went so far as to bypass Napster altogether and offer their tunes free on their own websites. These were largely either beginning musicians, trying to gather a flock of happy listeners and/or they were those who made the bulk of their money from live concerts, rather than recordings. Listeners who grew to like a particular group's music from free downloads were certainly more likely to pay for a ticket when the band came to their town. So, I suppose, the lesson can be stated as: "It's sometimes better to give it away, than to try to charge for it." Perhaps, you might be better to offer your writings for free online, rather than try to charge people for the privilege of reading your works. In fact, if you offer your works for free, you are bound to draw a larger audience and are therefore more likely to be able to sell advertising on your website, which is certainly one potential way to garner some cash for your writings.

This is a lesson that apparently was not learned by the satellite television industry. We'll speak more on this later, in the section on script writing. In the meantime, let's move on to another way of seeing your writings in print.

WHAT IF I WANT TO SEE MY WRITINGS IN A BOOK?

For those writers of a certain age (and I readily include myself in this group), there is no substitute for seeing your writings on paper, stuck between two hard covers with some professional, symbolic illustration on the front and your photograph on the back. We are the writers who grew up in the pre-Internet era, when computers were something only seen in a James Bond film and the World Wide Web was something Spider Man might strive for. Although, I suspect there are many younger writers who also believe that they will never be fully satisfied until they can sit at a table in a bookstore and sign their names on copy after copy of their book for a procession of fawning readers.

For such people there are still alternatives to traditional publishing. Print on Demand (I use the term "PonD" or "Pond") companies are currently springing up throughout the world and can readily be found on the Internet. The term "Print on Demand" simply means that the company prints up book orders when people want them. This differs from olden (and in some cases, not so olden) days when major publishers would print up thousands of copies of a book long before any sales took place, hoping that the books would actually sell. This latter style of business could obviously become extremely expensive for the publisher, especially if he had judged the public's tastes incorrectly and was stuck with a warehouse full of non-selling books. Because they abandoned this style, Pond companies take little or no risk on an author. They cannot lose money on the writer since, if his works don't sell, they simply won't print any of his books. These companies are generally divided into three categories: (1) those who are somewhat selective in their choice of authors (although not as selective as traditional publishing houses), (2) those who will publish anyone with the cash, and (3) those who will publish for free, making their money only from book sales.

There are probably advantages and disadvantages to all three alternatives. With the first, you have a few bragging rights. After all, "your" publisher doesn't accept just anyone. Whether that translates to anything you can actually put in your wallet is probably doubtful. For an example from my own experiences: I went with Virtualbookworm.com when I wanted to see my writings on paper. The Virtualbookworm officials maintain that they are selective in their choice of authors, although of course there's no way I could prove that. I will say however, that I have largely been pleased with the service I received, and continue to receive, from the company. I've paid a total of about $200 for their services through the years and (get ready to laugh) I still hope to someday actually sell enough books to recoup my expenses.

With category number two publishers, the biggest advantage centers on the fact that you're sure to get your book published. However, it could cost you more than going with number one and it will certainly cost you more than going with number three. In return, with number two, you will get help (for a fee) with editing, advertising and even with rewriting the weaker portions of your manuscript. I hesitate to offer an example of this category, since I have no personal experience with such a publisher. But perhaps, some of my readers can offer up their own experiences.

With category number three, the author provides the rewriting, editing, typing and almost anything else you can think of. However, if you do the work, you'll see the results on paper, even though you will probably need to purchase a copy of your own book to do so. The company makes its money almost totally from book sales. A well known example of this category is Lulu.

I fully realize that the boundaries between these categories are so fuzzy as to be almost nonexistent. For instance, all three categories offer editing services for a fee. In other words, it's simply the primary focus of the particular publishing company that determines its category. Virtualbookworm, for instance, probably makes more money per author from their fees than does Lulu, since the latter's focus is apparently on those authors who handle their own editing and other services.

"Vanity press" is a term associated with publishing houses who require an author's money before putting ink to paper, as opposed to traditional houses who cover the expense of their printing and promotional services without cost to their selected authors, that one percent of writers who have been selected as "sellable" by the houses. As a result of this difference, vanity press houses garnered a shady, or at least mercenary, reputation. This was largely a result of the fact that their services could be extremely costly to the author, to the tune at times of several thousand dollars.

To be perfectly objective, Pond houses (at least those in categories one and two) are a form of vanity press. However, the cost to the author nowadays is minimal. He risks relatively little and, if his book actually sells well, he could earn a goodly amount of money. Most Pond houses allow the author to set the price of the book and, at least theoretically, if his book is outrageously popular, he can charge an equally outrageous price, although I wouldn't advise it. Remember, "keep it cheap."

You, of course, will improve your chances of breaking even, or even making some money from your Pond book if you handle all your own services, such as editing and promotion. So, my advice: do everything you can yourself. When it comes to promoting your book, one of the cheapest ways can be online, with a web page or blog. Several online companies offer these free of charge, as long as you allow them to advertise on the page. Some, such as blogger.com, will even pay you a portion of the receipts received from those advertisers.

One thing you should be aware of: when it comes time to actually sell your writings, some bookstores will not handle Pond books. However, I've found that some small independent bookstores will offer you space for a portion of your profit or even, if they are especially kind-hearted toward struggling writers, offer it free.

Remember, with Pond publishers, you will only make money when you sell books. So, you will need to hustle if you want to profit from your writings. There are authors who travel across the country with a box of their Pond books and actually make money. In a former life, I was a librarian and I purchased a couple of books from such authors through the years.

(In my third, and final, chapter, I will offer some ideas on protecting your rights as an author by using such means as ISBN numbers and copyrights and by registering with the US government. As promised, I will also venture into the sometimes shadowy world of script writing, pornography and "crowd sourcing."