I'm talking a lot right now about where I'm going to live. The end of my lease is only a few months away; frankly, my parents would prefer that I never returned to Madison. I still have a lot of stuff there, though, so I'm taking the stuff that's easily portable.
Street Children and Glue
From The Global Victimization of Children: Problems and Solutions
This came up one day in my business ethics class, and for some reason I'm thinking of it today. The case study was straightforward in the facts. There was a company that made glue. Street children in third world countries were addicted to the inhalant, and they would often steal it. The company faced the decision of weakening the glue by adding mustard oil, making it so that the children could not sniff it, and diminishing sales -- or leaving the formula alone. Of course, with the way that the facts are framed, any person who wants to believe that he or she is good will decide to diminish profits to reduce the number of children addicted to inhalants.
But I had had the same case study (of the street children in that particular country) in another class, outside of the business school. We looked at it from a cultural perspective. The children were severely malnourished, and they did not have reliable access to food. As a result, they sniffed glue to reduce their hunger pangs. The children were starving to death, and we accept this as a given. So many starfish.
I reframed the question to say that either the children would starve to death and feel every second of it, or they could starve to death and not feel it.
There was a really sniffy girl in the class who said, "Well, feeding the children isn't the company's responsibility."
ME: That's right.
RSG: So they shouldn't worry about it.
ME: You shouldn't worry about the starving children's pain, which you are in a position to impact by selling them glue? Do you want them to die very slowly while in pain?
RSG had no real rejoinder to that; if you frame it like that, people who want to add mustard oil sound like sadists. The only thing that you could control as a company would be the glue formula; it's unlikely that one company would begin feeding all the street children.
It's not a question with an easy answer. It would require a multifaceted approach. My professor tried to smooth things over by talking about setting up donations etc. in the country, but no one's heart was in that option. Realistically, there are too many starfish for a company to feed all the street kids in every city where they sell their glue.
Mines in Africa and Idealism
I also took a philanthropy class. We talked briefly about the book Dead Aid, which discusses the idea that the Western intervention in African nations has actually hurt more than helped. We also talked about the idea that the Chinese, who are buying up a lot of the mines in Africa, are actually helping African countries more by building hospitals, roads, schools, etc. for their workers. They were more effective at introducing change, because the government's corruption played a smaller role in the implementation of their infrastructure improvements, which fell under the purview of business and not public works. The mine conditions are still horrible, and the miners are treated pretty inhumanely, but the Chinese entry into African nations is a net positive.
I talked to someone I'll call Snots, because that was a nickname for her. She, like RSG, got angry at me for saying that it's a good thing that the Chinese own the rights to mines in Africa. She told me, "I'm an idealist, and I believe that people should have access to all of that while having a job that pays them enough to live a good life and treats them like human beings."
ME: Great. Figure out how to do that, and I'll follow you.
Snots got angry at me, and my social life in Ecuador took a significant downturn because of that comment. That moment has stuck with me, because it was the first time that someone used idealist in a place where it could be synonymous with idiot. I do wish that the world was a place where people could have jobs that paid them living wages, and they worked in safe, healthy conditions; however, the world is not yet there. People make forward progress every day, but it will take a while. That's why stuff like social entrepreneurship (TOMS Shoes is the prototypical example because they give a pair of alpargatas to children in need for every pair of alpargatas you buy) is so great, and I hope to see more of it moving forward.
Tinder for the 1%
I was interested in a Tinder that didn't accept all comers. I don't think that I agree with the idea of a dating app that relies on which college you went to, but it's not a bad idea to select for the kind of people that you want. On JDate, you select for Jews. On Bristlr, you select for men with facial hair. I think that The League is just another selective tool, no matter how many people want to scorn it. Frankly, if they can get a lot of users, then more power to them.
January 2015 Author Earnings Report
There's significant space devoted to discussing the ISBN-less books on the market. AER says that 28% of all ebook revenue is made on ISBN-less books. It's pretty astonishing, actually. The graphs are too big for the forum software, but it's worth a quick scan to see how the data stacks up.
PV Excerpts
Subscribers Spend More Money
But no matter the age, the survey group was spending a lot of money on books. As a group, subscribers had a monthly budget of $58, while non-subscribers had a budget of $34. The survey also showed that subscription customers were willing to pay more for their subscription than the standard flat rate of $9 to $10. Men were willing to pay an average of $17, while women would pay $14.
I can't spend $58 a month on books, but I spend more than I did before KU came out. There used to be months where I didn't spend money on my books, because of the library. Now, that it no longer true. I like the selection of KU, and it's excellent for market research.
Self-Published Children's Books
It’s become popular these days to badmouth Amazon, but I happen to love Amazon and their CEO, Jeff Bezos, in particular. They are what made it possible for me, a 59-year-old author/illustrator, to share her books with the world. After my children’s picture book apps found an audience, I longed to see them in print. I submitted them to countless publishers and agents and most times never even received a rejection letter.
. . . .
I thought having my apps made into books was hopeless until I heard an interview with author Hugh Howey. I learned that after being unable to find a publisher, he self-published his best seller, Wool, through Amazon. He explained that Amazon has partnered with print-on-demand company, CreateSpace. They make it possible for authors to upload their book files and have them printed on demand (in America no less). That means when one of my books is sold on Amazon, CreateSpace prints and ships it to the buyer, and I receive a royalty. The most amazing part of it is there are no upfront costs.
Amazon keeps getting better. They recently released the ability to write textbooks, and they are pushing their children's content creator. I plan on getting some illustrations soon, and we'll see what happens. I wish I had the ability to draw, but I don't. I feel like I could pull it together on Fiverr someday. Children's books are still on the backburner, though.
Quitting Day Jobs
In July of 2012, I released my second novel, This Shattered Land. The following month, total sales of the first two novels were over 8,000 copies.
I remember in late July of that year showing my wife the sales figures, and the look on her face, and the tone of her voice when she said, “If you make ten thousand dollars in a month, you can quit your job.”
August 17th 2012 was my last day at Vanguard.
And I haven’t looked back. I have released three novels since then, all of which have done well enough to keep me writing full time. I’m currently earning more money now than I have ever earned in my life, and I have Amazon and KDP (not to mention Createspace and ACX) to thank for it.
I don’t know what the future holds for all of publishing, but I know this: Authors have more choices now than they have ever had in the history of the world. In this business, there are no guarantees, but if you have the talent and the drive and you are tireless and you never give up, your chances of making it are better than they have ever been.
I am the writer Joe Konrath and Barry Eisler and others predicted. I’m the guy Traditional Publishing needs to be afraid of. Not because I was rejected by them and went on to find success on my own, but BECAUSE I NEVER EVEN TRIED.
And I can guarantee you this: I am not the only one.
How many writers labored for years under the old system only to never find success? How many found success only after decades of effort and mountains of rejection letters? Those writers will tell you there is no guarantee of success in self-publishing. And I agree. However, your chances aren’t any better in the traditional world, and at least with self-publishing you don’t have to query an agent, deal with an editor, or surrender control of your work.
I like being in control. I like being able to write whatever I want and publish it as soon as I am finished with it. I like 70% royalties. What I don’t like are onerous contracts, sharing my profits with an agent, or giving up more than half of my royalties to a publishing house. That’s why I self publish.
Also, don’t let anyone tell you self publishing is expensive. It doesn’t have to be. I published my first novel for ninety dollars–that’s $90.00–and it has gone on to sell over forty thousand copies. Pretty good ROI if you ask me.
So if you are considering self publishing, my advice is to go for it. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. You might not be an overnight success–hell, it took me two years to reach the point I could write full-time–but you can make money from your work while you strive to take your writing to the next level. That’s what I did.
Those first royalty checks weren’t enough to retire on (still aren’t, actally), but they made paying the bills a heck of a lot less stressful. So do what I did: start making money from your hobby. Trust me, it beats the heck out of getting a part time job. In many cases, it pays better too.
Now stop reading this and go write something.
The first bit reminded me of Heinlein's THE TALE OF THE MAN WHO WAS TOO LAZY TO FAIL from Time Enough For Love.
He makes it sound easier than it is, but I'm so glad for people like him. He's one of the breakout successes, sure, but he's also pretty normal. Guy with a 9 to 5 escapes. It's a good story. I'm taking all of his KU books out, just to support him. It's a drop in the bucket for a guy like that, but I like supporting other authors. I don't read (and/or like) military or zombie books, but I can see when someone's a good writer. Wayne Stinnett's books are good, and so are this guy's. I think both of them are strong at evoking emotions and sensory stuff. When I read their books (and yeah, honestly, just quickly leafing through to get to the 10%) I feel like I'm physically there. To be able to do that to someone who is tabbing through is unusual.
I also am interested in the cross promotion between him and Joshua Guess. What's interesting about James Cook's prologue to Victim Zero is that he talks about how many copies he's sold. It's a badge of honor. He also talks about it in his omnibus, where he discusses his journey. It's a good way to have social proof, even when the sales rank drops.
Libbie Hawker
Virtually everybody who first sets out to make a career as a writer does so under some form of delusion–take your pick: that it’s easy, that it’ll make you rich, that once you have a book deal your problems will be solved, that all you’ll ever have to do is write, that all good books get published. I found the process of snapping out of these various delusions rather painful–what do you mean, the career I’ve wanted since I was eight years old isn’t anything like the media and other writers and the whole damn world have led me to think?–and I’d rather not see more writers hurt by the same uncomfortable wake-up calls. So I think it’s important to disseminate the truth about writing–about what it means to be a working novelist.
Interesting. It's good to have commentary on the idea that not everyone makes lake money.
Dean Wesley Smith on SP vs. Trad
Reason #6… Non-compete in contracts. Seriously, why would a publisher put this in a contract? As much as I write, I could never, ever sign one of these. I have no idea why any writer signs these clauses. But writers do.
. . . .
Reason #4… Money. I can make a ton more money writing and indie publishing my novels and stories than I ever could or did with traditional publishing.
. . . .
Reason #2... Control. In indie publishing, for good or bad, I have a measure of control. Instead of some bored editor writing the blurb for the sales force, or some “let’s-try-him-out” artist doing a cover, I get to write my own blurbs and either do or approve my own covers.
No control in traditional publishing at all for 99% of all writers. The top 1% might have some control, but none of the rest of us do. Traditional publishers just don’t have time to give us that control in any measure.
If you write at pulp speed, noncompetes are insane. There's simply no way to make as much money as you should. And the people who cry loudly because Amazon's presence is eroding literary culture is just sad that readers will buy books MORE eagerly if the books come out faster.
D2D and Tolino
If you want to release ebooks in Europe, you go to Tolino. I'm so excited that D2D now offers integration with them (partnering, whatever). I wish I knew German, which probably means that I'll start learning it. The idea of noun declension scares me, because I've had to deal with it for Latin, and it stinks. But someone told me that the nouns are the hardest part, and the rest is easy. It won't hurt to pick up the 101 level of German, like I've got for Portuguese. I've been moaning about not knowing German for way too long; it's time to start taking action.
Statistics: Posted by cimorene12 — Thu Jan 29, 2015 2:19 am