The (sad) state of things

It’s time for another rant on publishing. First, please keep in mind I’m coming at this from a business perspective NOT a hobby one. I’m trying to make writing a career, not just see my name in print. There is nothing wrong with being a hobby-ist. But of course the approach varies if you’re trying to actually pay bills with your writing income.

It’s easy to tell there are a lot of assholes in publishing. I prefer to think of it at asshole moves and not color the people themselves that way, but sometimes it’s hard. And sometimes people don’t mean to be that way, and maybe to other people they aren’t. And other times it’s not that anyone meant to be a jerk, but they end up coming off as one anyway.

I’ve debated the issues in publishing tons, as a writer, as a reviewer and as a bookseller. Now, with over six months between Borders and myself I’ve found there isn’t a lot changing. I tried, without my store of choice, to maintain an in-the-actual-bookstore habit. Income issues aside I’ve gone out of my way a handful of times just to patron Barnes & Noble (23 minutes from me) and Books-a-Million (19 minutes from me). Every time I’ve walked in I’ve walked out disappointed. They have consistently NOT had the books I was looking for, books that were in a week of the release date, books their inventory system said they had but no one could find, books by bestselling genre authors. (To top it off BaM didn’t even have planners in stock, so I ended up picking one out at Half Price Books.)

I understand this is a flaw of the storefront model. I understand nothing is stopping me from ordering the books from their websites. Except that to get a deal price you have to pay to join a rewards club which combined with the consistent lack of the books I’m looking for always ends with me leaving the store feeling like I’m not important or cared about as a customer. When I’ve driven across the city to visit the store only to be told I can order it online and come pick it up in a week…no. I hated telling people that as a bookseller and it totally blows hearing it.

So I bought some other, general books instead, even though I don’t always have the income to do so, and then came home to make my Amazon order.

Geez, Amazon. Publishers, I DON’T WANT TO BUY FROM AMAZON. Especially knowing they do bullshit like give buyers $5 to go into a bookstore and use their app for price comparison then buy from Amazon instead. That’s just dirty.

But Amazon sent me the books I ordered in under a week. To my door. With no pressure to buy a club card. And yesterday in the mail I got a royalties check from the novellas I self published on Amazon. Meanwhile I’ve still not been paid for an anthology I was part of that came out last year.

And speaking of publishers (groan) I recently ran into (among other crap pay options) a call for stories in the 20-60k range that paid a grand total of $25.00 (until you sell 150 copies, then you get another $25). At least the press was totally upfront (unlike the places I’ve blocked on Facebook that have spammed me for non-paying anthos). But then so was the press that was looking for short stories and paying $.001 a word. That is not a typo.

So I did the calculations. Skullvines who published Rot gave me 50% of net. So for those first 150 copies compared to this other press, I made about $156. If I self published I’d make over $313. (The guidelines also state they charge “around $2.99” for their ebooks. That’s what I’m basing these numbers on.)

Now it’s absolutely true that going through an established press gives you access to other things, like better covers (usually), better editing (usually) and faith of consumers or even a pre-established fan base. Sometimes you even get in bookstores, which yeah, see my previous few paragraphs, but it does still make a difference. But what if you’re not going with an established press, but one that’s just opening? Or, maybe, one that seems to primarily be a press publishing the owner’s work?

Yeah. So you can go with that press, take your chances with the editing and cover work and get that $25 for your up to 60k novel. Or you can workshop the crap out of your story, get a piece of art from someone like Karen Koehler and make 12 times as much for those 150 books.

I don’t consider myself a self publishing advocate. But comparing the two options it’s a clear winner. Thank goodness these aren’t our only options.

I don’t think I’ve been in the game long enough to bemoan how things have changed, or the loss of the way things used to be. But I urge the authors out there to think, really educate yourself and go into any contract with an open mind. Is $25 or a thousandth of a cent per word really want your work is worth? If you don’t know then think about what sales of those projects might look like and wonder if that paltry readership is what your work is worth.

I mean, yeah, we all start somewhere. But a number of people start with sales to Apex or Asimov’s or Tor. It is now, and always has been about being published well. not just being published.