Slog
News & ArtsWednesday, October 24, 2012
2012 The Self-Publishing Gold Rush Is in Full Swing
Posted by Paul Constant on Wed, Oct 24, 2012 at 3:12 PM
According to a new report by Bowker, which provides ISBNs for books in the United States, self-publishing has increased by 287 percent in the last five years, accounting for 43 percent of all print books in 2011. Printed versions accounted for almost two-thirds of self-published titles as of last year, but ebooks are on the rise: Bawker notes that self-published ebooks grew by 129 percent from 2006 to 2011, while traditional print books increased by 33 percent in the same period.
I've said this many times before: 99.9 percent of all self-published books are not ready to be published. They haven't gone through the editing (or, for that matter, copy editing) process. A book isn't a book until it's been edited. (Not "beta-read" by a very stern friend or relative—edited, by a trained editor.) And it always happens that after I say 99.9 percent of all self-published books are not ready to be published, I get a deluge of self-published books in the mail from self-published authors who claim to be part of that prestigious .1 percent of authors, because their books magically don't need editing. Trust me: Your book needs to be edited. You're not in the .1 percent. Just because it's a bunch of words shaped like a book doesn't mean it's a book.
1
And for 99.9% of those 99.9%, "editing" means "recycled".
I wonder what these figures look like in terms of sales. There are a LOT of self-published ebooks that are just utter trash -- copied Wikipedia articles, mind-bogglingly lame soft-core porn assemblages, dull PowerPoint docs, and the like. And even amongst the actual written narratives, there are an awful lot that just sell no copies at all, whether they deserve to or not. Lowering the barriers to print doesn't mean more eyeballs.
I wonder what these figures look like in terms of sales. There are a LOT of self-published ebooks that are just utter trash -- copied Wikipedia articles, mind-bogglingly lame soft-core porn assemblages, dull PowerPoint docs, and the like. And even amongst the actual written narratives, there are an awful lot that just sell no copies at all, whether they deserve to or not. Lowering the barriers to print doesn't mean more eyeballs.
2
So in your opinion, will there ever be a bust? I mean hell, as an aspiring author who's trying to go the traditional route and find a publisher/agent and get an editor and etc., it does give me pause to see complete tripe like "Fifty Shades"-- so, so bad!-- get an almost Dickensian level of popularity. Are we facing the death of quality, along with the death of print? What do you think?
4
Isn't a lot of the professional "editing" just pruning the book for marketability and sales, not real editing?
5
Given how many of the authors whose works I enjoy immensely spend much of their Acknowledgements on the tremendous job their editors did, I'm going to guess the answer to your question is no.
6
I remember when the easy availability of cheap newspapers and journals that published pulp fiction as 'penny dreadfuls' destroyed the British literary scene.
Oh. Wait. That never happened. Instead we got works by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and good works were reprinted in literary journals and republished as books from episodic serials with a bit more editing later on.
We just haven't figured out the mechanisms to do that, given the transition. Certain "channels" will become known for "publishing" good works, others will be filled with dross and ignored by the serious press while billions read them, and poets will continue to be ignored by 99.999 percent of humanity and starve to death.
Oh. Wait. That never happened. Instead we got works by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and good works were reprinted in literary journals and republished as books from episodic serials with a bit more editing later on.
We just haven't figured out the mechanisms to do that, given the transition. Certain "channels" will become known for "publishing" good works, others will be filled with dross and ignored by the serious press while billions read them, and poets will continue to be ignored by 99.999 percent of humanity and starve to death.
7
1) This is by titles, not by number of books sold/downloaded/shipped - let alone by total dollar sales of books.
2) This is by ISBNs and excludes Kindle titles.
In short: this is a useless way of looking at the phenomenon.
2) This is by ISBNs and excludes Kindle titles.
In short: this is a useless way of looking at the phenomenon.
8
That report is a gross underestimate because it's only counting the self-published books with ISBNs; many of them don't have one.
I know people who are making $15k+ a month (or in one explosive case, $86k+ last month) writing self-published stuff. No ISBNs, no editors. A big part of that is because the market--erotica--doesn't give that much of a shit about the stuff editors care about. We can all laugh at how bad Fifty Shades is, but it sells. For a lot of us, just getting cash in hand matters a hell of a lot more than upholding the art of literature.
So there's stuff like His Four Daddies and Gangbang with the Beasts and you can sneer and say it's a publishing travesty, but Francis Ashe and Bree Bellucci are successful at what they do. Not all authors are in it for the art. There's always going to be a market for a well-edited, finely tuned novel, but the vast majority of readers aren't buying nothing but well-edited, finely tuned novels.
I know people who are making $15k+ a month (or in one explosive case, $86k+ last month) writing self-published stuff. No ISBNs, no editors. A big part of that is because the market--erotica--doesn't give that much of a shit about the stuff editors care about. We can all laugh at how bad Fifty Shades is, but it sells. For a lot of us, just getting cash in hand matters a hell of a lot more than upholding the art of literature.
So there's stuff like His Four Daddies and Gangbang with the Beasts and you can sneer and say it's a publishing travesty, but Francis Ashe and Bree Bellucci are successful at what they do. Not all authors are in it for the art. There's always going to be a market for a well-edited, finely tuned novel, but the vast majority of readers aren't buying nothing but well-edited, finely tuned novels.
9
I have every respect for what editors do. Unfortunately, what you hear more and more from editors' blogs is that they no longer have the luxury of spending much time on the books they buy. Most books these days get a copy edit and maybe one turnaround of relatively minor revisions. Publishers are bleeding money, desperately searching for the next big hit that they can milk in return for minimal investment. This means they're looking for "publication ready" books, not willing to spend months polishing a manuscript.
It's now very easy for authors to reach readers directly, and doing so has obvious benefits for the writer. with the decline of bookstores and the rise of e-publishing, it makes less and less financial sense for authors to turn over the rights to their work and the lion's share of their royalties to these publishing conglomerates. So the self-pubbing trend is not going to die. But the savvier writers are hiring contract editors before putting their books on the market. Self-published shouldn't mean unedited, and it doesn't have to.
It's now very easy for authors to reach readers directly, and doing so has obvious benefits for the writer. with the decline of bookstores and the rise of e-publishing, it makes less and less financial sense for authors to turn over the rights to their work and the lion's share of their royalties to these publishing conglomerates. So the self-pubbing trend is not going to die. But the savvier writers are hiring contract editors before putting their books on the market. Self-published shouldn't mean unedited, and it doesn't have to.
10
"Isn't a lot of the professional "editing" just pruning the book for marketability and sales, not real editing?"
What did you think editing is? The basics are to get rid of grammatical errors, formatting errors, and spelling errors, but a good editor (in most realms of the arts, not just writing) does a whole lot more than fix simple errors. That's the easy stuff. Example:
Say your book has five acts. Say each of the five can reasonably be divided into five chapters, and each chapter has three main beats. So your book is basically 75 sequences of 3-5 pages each. Fairly typical, for a 225 to 375 page novel. The editor will tell you things like, possibly:
Sections 3, 10, 25 and 50 are shit. Redo them.
26 & 27 make no sense together. 26 should be 28.
#1 should be a prologue.
#75 should be an epilogue.
Having your character Bob do xyz in sections 6, 9, and 61 are wildly out of character and make no story sense at all.
You need to significantly expand on [certain events].
Do you need to spend 8 pages on that thing in #55?
And so on.
What did you think editing is? The basics are to get rid of grammatical errors, formatting errors, and spelling errors, but a good editor (in most realms of the arts, not just writing) does a whole lot more than fix simple errors. That's the easy stuff. Example:
Say your book has five acts. Say each of the five can reasonably be divided into five chapters, and each chapter has three main beats. So your book is basically 75 sequences of 3-5 pages each. Fairly typical, for a 225 to 375 page novel. The editor will tell you things like, possibly:
Sections 3, 10, 25 and 50 are shit. Redo them.
26 & 27 make no sense together. 26 should be 28.
#1 should be a prologue.
#75 should be an epilogue.
Having your character Bob do xyz in sections 6, 9, and 61 are wildly out of character and make no story sense at all.
You need to significantly expand on [certain events].
Do you need to spend 8 pages on that thing in #55?
And so on.
11
Ok, so you've figured out a new web startup.
www.Editbonobo.com
Send us your manuscript, and for $n.nn per word, we'll be your editor.
www.Editbonobo.com
Send us your manuscript, and for $n.nn per word, we'll be your editor.
12
If you were right, Paul, I wouldn't be able to make a living as a copy editor for self-publishing authors. And I make a pretty decent living.
I've had more than seventy clients over the last two-plus years. I'm booked up for three to four months in advance. I get five to ten inquiries a week. I'm good at what I do, I'm heavy-handed, work well with my clients, and I charge at a rate commensurate with my established skill level.
My perception is that the perception of what it takes to be a successful self-publishing author has changed, drastically, over the last few years.
Everything I hear — and I keep my ear pretty close to the ground in writing circles — is that such authors have wised up. They know that the only route to self-pub success is through well-written, professionally edited books, eye-popping cover design and display text, and good muscular online promotion campaigns.
As such, they not only crave my constructive abuse, they're grateful for it after I'm done. And they spread the word within their usually wide circles of writer friends. I'm buried in referrals.
I understand that perception takes a while to catch up to reality, though.
I've had more than seventy clients over the last two-plus years. I'm booked up for three to four months in advance. I get five to ten inquiries a week. I'm good at what I do, I'm heavy-handed, work well with my clients, and I charge at a rate commensurate with my established skill level.
My perception is that the perception of what it takes to be a successful self-publishing author has changed, drastically, over the last few years.
Everything I hear — and I keep my ear pretty close to the ground in writing circles — is that such authors have wised up. They know that the only route to self-pub success is through well-written, professionally edited books, eye-popping cover design and display text, and good muscular online promotion campaigns.
As such, they not only crave my constructive abuse, they're grateful for it after I'm done. And they spread the word within their usually wide circles of writer friends. I'm buried in referrals.
I understand that perception takes a while to catch up to reality, though.
13
I would love to get my work properly edited and published through traditional channels, but after suffering through the horrible query process and not finding an agent after years of trying I may soon go the self publishing route. I just want to write and get better and get my work out there. The business end of all of that, currently, is beyond demoralizing. I hope the changes happening due to self publishing can result in a better way.
Advertisement
Most Commented on Slog
-
It's Spring! Who's Ready for Street Harassment? by Cienna Madrid
-
SL Letter of the Day: Insane Demands by Dan Savage
-
New Gun Enthusiast... by Dan Savage
-
SL Letters of the Day: Just Say No to DSGs by Dan Savage
-
SL Letter of the Day: Gonna Boil My Laptop After Answering This One by Dan Savage
-
Bigot Florist Files Countersuit by Dominic Holden
-
America Doesn't Care About Black People by Charles Mudede
-
"Bus service shouldn't be optional—it should be a right." by Cienna Madrid
-
US Military Grants Itself the Power to Police American Streets and "Quell" "Civil Disturbances" by Brendan Kiley
-
Fucking NBA Rejects Kings Move to Seattle by Goldy
Stranger Personals
The Stranger
RSSSeattle Art & Performance Quarterly
A complete guide to Seattle's current art, film, dance, and theater season.
Facebook
Twitter
Comments (13) RSS