What bothers me most about self publishing right now is the attitude of “legacy publishing is a joke” that sometimes comes with. One does not have to equal the other, no more than an author has to chose between small press and big press publishing. Demeaning other completely valid paths (depending on the author’s goals) always comes off as snotty. I suppose you could say “legacy” publishing has been doing that to self publishing, but that’s because up until recently self publishing meant shelling out a ton of money to have your book printed, often poorly.

The second biggest thing that bugs me about self publishing is people who use readers that BUY their books as proofreaders. And the third is people who have a flippant disregard for editing, formatting & general reader enjoyment. Flippant, not ignorant. There’s a difference.

And while I’m ranting here, it disturbs me that so many people are raving about Amazon and putting all their work on Kindle. You know that person who always gossips to you? Yeah, you know they talk about you to other people like they talk about other people to you. You know that Amazon that is famous for bullying publishers & delisting books? Why do you think it won’t do that to you some day? It’s like owning a dog that has attacked small animals. It hasn’t bitten people (or you) YET. But the behavior is there, why risk it?

This kicked off a really good discussion in both places including this tidbit:

JessicaMeigs: Amazon kinda already is. Have you heard about their “sunshine deals” thing they’re doing now? Promoting tradpub’s works for super low, indie-style prices & getting rid of tags so the indie’s works are harder to find.

Just in case you don’t know it, Amazon only has Amazon’s best interest in mind. Someday they’ll be done attacking “legacy” (I HATE that term) publishing and done establishing Kindle as synonymous with ebooks. This is the same company that de-buttoned Macmillan books for disagreeing with them. The same company that de-categoried GLBTQ themed books (except the ones published through CreateSpace). The same company that de-buttoned Hatchett UK’s books because Hatchett UK wouldn’t agree to give Amazon a deeper discount. The same company that blindly allowed anything to be published (like guides to help pedophiles not get caught, and unauthorized editions of books that they then deleted from Kindles without the owners’ permission.)

Would you like to know what happens when writers and publishers all depend on one bookstore to sell their books? It took me a while but I found an old article from Brian Keene in 2007, just months before the biggest small press bookstore selling horror closed down. (This is part of what I’m saving for myself)

First and foremost, let’s talk about Shocklines and how it effects the small press.

Shocklines is a powerhouse. There are other reputable booksellers. Bloodletting Books. Bad Moon Books. Camelot Books. Overlook Connection. Etc. But none of them can match the sheer buying power of Shocklines.

Consider the following:

You are a small press publisher. You want to publish a novel by Michael McBride. McBride is a solid new author, but he has no real following yet. It is your opinion that he will develop a following if people read this book, because the book is good. However, as a businessman, you must also account for the fact that readers will be reluctant to plunk down $40 for a small press hardcover by an author they’ve never read.

You figure that you can safely publish 150 copies and sell them direct. Between Bloodletting, Camelot, Bad Moon, etc, you can sell another 50 copies.

That gives us a print run of 200 copies.

But then, you factor in Shocklines. Shocklines will take 150 copies on their own. Suddenly, your print run has jumped to 350 copies. You make more money. Mike McBride makes more money. And a whole bunch of new readers are introduced to a wonderful writer.

The ability of Shocklines to move 100 to 500 copies of a single small press edition has allowed small press publishers to publish more books, take chances on more new authors, and indeed, allowed many new presses to spring up—Earthling, Necessary Evil, Solitude, etc. Shocklines has also solidified the bigger houses—places like Subterranean and Cemetery Dance and Night Shade. With guaranteed sales to Shocklines, these publishers have had the time to focus on trade sales and expanded print runs.

But what if we lost Shocklines the way we lost Clarkesworld?

Do I really have to spell out the negative impact that would have on the entire industry?

If we lost Shocklines, we would lose 65% of our small press publishers. Quite simply, they could not stay in business if they lost those direct sales to Shocklines. We’d keep the big ones, of course. Cemetery Dance. Earthling Publications. Subterannean Press. Delirium Books. Night Shade Books. Wildside/Prime. PS Publishing. Perhaps a handful of others.

But everybody else? Chances are very, very good that they’d close shop.

Writers would have less places to sell their work.

Readers would have less work to buy.

And all of those mid-list professionals that rely on the small press to supplement their income?

They’re back to working in the foundry again.

This should not be. This is not acceptable.

Matt Schwartz needs to understand how his business directly impacts everyone else, and he needs to take steps to fix it.

People say that it’s not my business, but I beg to differ. The success or failure of Shocklines is directly impacting my own livlihood. Therefore, I am involved, whether Matt Schwartz likes it or not. So are each of you.

Matt Schwartz has admitted in public that changes need to be made to his business plan. He’s stated that he’s carrying too many titles that don’t sell, that he especially needs to focus on moving more chapbooks, trade paperbacks, etc.

In internet (and publishing) time 2007 is a long time ago. But Keene was right and a number of small presses in the horror field collapsed in the 3-4 years that followed. It can be argued that they deserved it because hinging all your sales on one store is crappy business. It can be a good starting point, but should never be the end goal.

Then what happened was that the horror fans who had been gleefully grabbing signed limiteds and had been dutifully buying some pretty expensive books either to support the genre, for back-scratching style purchases (you buy my book I’ll buy yours!), or with the idea that the limited nature of the books made them valuable as collectibles over the next few years discovered a number of presses were putting out shit because the market was so ripe and eager to buy anything. And the reader, who puts up the money, soured on the whole idea of the signed-limited, of buying just to support people, of buying from presses that sometimes put out one book, if any and vanished with pre-order money and the fiscal collapse of the collector market because of the hit-and-miss book quality and the crappy economy.

So now, in 2011 there is very little market for these kinds of books, and then only with people who have established themselves as solid producers of quality work. Many people refuse to buy books put out on the limited or horror small press period because of this.

Amazon’s two biggest safeguards against this are the 7 day return policy on their ebooks and the low price (people are a lot less pissed when a $.99 book is terrible than when a $50 book is terrible). But I doubt it’ll hold out indefinitely.

Plus Amazon themselves have even moved on from digital Kindle publishing to their own “legacy-ish” imprints. And as Jessica pointed out they’re already changing policy to hurt self publishers now that they have them hooked to the market.

That hasn’t stopped me from putting out a novella through Amazon (and many other places as well). But it has kept me from focusing on self publishing all my work as the sole part of my career. And no matter who posts what numbers it should keep people who want real careers in publishing cautious and aware of what’s going on.

“If high fantasy asked you to embark upon a quest to find a magic stone, then urban fantasy would be waiting in the shadows, ready to mug you when you got back.”

*ETA: I do, though have to give them credit for using a medium that was easier for us to relate to rather than showing a dry infomercial or having a long lecture.