Scott Pack on the influx of self-published work to ebooks:
So I welcome this influx, these previously unpublished hoards.
There’s more:
And here’s the thing: a ‘traditional’ deal is still the goal of most of these authors. OK, so there are many who have eschewed the system and will continue to do so but the majority would love the credibility, support and, er, lower royalty rate that a deal with one of the major publishing houses would bring. Most do feel that publishers add value and see the self-publishing option as a new route to being ‘discovered’. And if they remain undiscovered they are still able make a few quid, which can soften the blow.
I guess I’m one of these authors looking for a traditional deal. Frankly, I’d rather have professionals take care of the cover, copyediting, and so on. Many e-self-published writers feel this way. That’s the major plus against the minus of lower royalties.
Who says you need to give away away 75% of the revenues of your book, forever, to get professional cover design and copyediting? What madness is this? Why would you give someone a percentage of your earnings forever — never mind an enormous percentage — for what is essentially day labour? When you have someone paint your house and landscape your yard, do you give them 75% of the sale price of the house? (Or, worse, and more aptly, 75% of the rental revenue — into perpetuity?) Don’t you know you can hire the same freelance editors and designers that the big publishing houses rely upon for all this stuff — but pay them a reasonable, fixed rate… instead of selling them the rights to your work until 70 years after your natural death? [Citation: I’m mainly just echoing J.A. Konrath and Dean Wesley Smith here.]
Hey, Michael — Have I finally found a comment system that you can’t break? I kid
All agreed, and then some…
Yes, it was a great pleasure and relief to post something here and actually have it appear. 8^) About two seconds after doing so, though, I was suddenly tortured by the possibility that what I was replying to was in fact one huge troll… Heigh ho, onward.