There’s a lot of negative commentary out there for authors to digest right now.
The Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society out of the UK, reported in 2014 that writers earnings had dropped 29% from 2005. Major publishing houses are being called on by the Society of Authors, to do things like release rights that they don’t actively exploit (like ebook and foreign), to stop putting crippling restrictions on authors (like non compete clauses) and to give authors more of a cut of ebooks.
Philip Pullman, the author of His Dark Materials series, called authors ‘an endangered species’.
Terrifying language.
All of these changes would be lovely, but are we likely to see them from major publishing houses in the near future? I think not. Big publishing is a business first and foremost, and the only way businesses are ever forced to change, is when they absolutely, cannot choose any other path.
So what are authors to do while we wait for that major sea change to be forced on publishing?
I still believe hybrid is the way. Use the good bits from major houses, but also pursue your own publication goals.
It’s not easy. Many authors have become used to simply writing, and independent publishing is hard work. The author has to arrange covers, editing, launch dates, and then do all the backend work like crunching the numbers, paying contractors, and also the taxman.
Some authors simply don’t want to do that, and for the largest sellers they might be able to manage to ignore it. However, every other author below that level is going to have to make some hard decisions, especially as major publishing becomes more and more risk adverse.
So those that will survive are the ones that see the truck coming and move into a different lane.
In short, authors have to take control of their own businesses. They have to put aside the idea that big publishing is the only way they will be saved, and become instead entrepreneurs. Certainly, pursue contracts with major houses, keep pitching them ideas, but don’t just lay down and die when they fall on deaf ears.
Right now, I am trying to walk that walk myself. This year I will have four books (two co-written with Tee Morris) coming out, and we will be in charge of them. Everything that happens will be because of our work both on the page, and behind the scenes.
I’m choosing to make exciting, rather than terrifying.
I have upped my daily writing goal, and aiming myself in a more business like direction. I’ve learned new skills in preparation. Over the years I’ve made friends and contacts who have skills I don’t. I know photographers, book designers, editors, beta readers and book bloggers.
Yes it is scary standing out there, but I am far from alone.
So here’s my tips for being a hybrid, and if you have any to add, please throw them into the comments section. Although we generally write by ourselves, it doesn’t mean we can’t share our ideas as a community.
Maybe we are endangered, but we’re not extinct yet!
Independent
- Practice Writing faster. The best way to build an audience is to have multiple titles out there; that means you have to write as much as you can. To that end use brackets [] around facts you don’t know, or names you’ve forgotten in that moment. Then in the editing process you can go back and check. For the moment, keep going. Set that daily word count and hit it!
- Write series. Readers love series, so give them what they like. Maybe the first one will not pull in great sales, but build on it. Keep going, and the quicker you can put them out the better. Big houses might make you wait 18 months for your book to be produced, but the joy of indie publishing is you can be much more swift and nimble.
- Be professional. Set yourself a publication schedule. Work with professionals like editors and cover designers. Act like the person you would like to be is pretty good general advice for life, but also works here.
Publishing Houses
- Write what you enjoy and are passionate about. Explore the limits and find an editor who will love your work. Maybe that area you love isn’t trending now, but what publishers are looking for—what is hot right now—changes all the time.
- Keep as many rights as you can. Audio and foreign rights are cash sitting on the table. If you do sell them to the print publisher, then make sure they exercise them. Have it in the contract if they are not used by a set time, then they revert back to you. That way if they don’t use those rights then you can produce them yourself (hey, remember you’re a hybrid). Don’t leave that money just sitting there.
