Author’s note: This was the most comprehensive panel on this subject I’ve been on, and also the one where every participant took every option seriously. Shout out to the panelists for a great job!
Moderator: Wesley Chu
Sarah Carless
Bob Crum
Jesi Lean Ryan
James Frenkel
Moderator Wesley asked about the state of publishing currently.
Jim: Publishing is very exciting. Ebooks impact paper sales.
Jim talked about Tor’s model of sharing ebooks.
Mentioned that where publishing is taking more of a beating is mass market paper back distribution
Sarah: She’s a digital book seller. From a global perspective, she is finding that ebooks are helping borders to fall. they are also opening doors and opportunity.
Jesi: She was once published by a small press, and now self-publishes. She did not have a good experience with her small press, but she learned a lot. For her second book, she decided to do it herself.
One of the things that helps Jesi is that she has an MBA in marketing.
Distribution is her biggest hang up.
If you are going into self-publishing, go in with your eyes open. It’s a lot of work.
There are pros and cons to every approach.
The panel shared a handout of the pros and cons to 5 entry points
Print books aren’t dead.
There is a fragmentation of the industry.
Specialization and niche markets (ie Vinyl is making a comeback!)
Pricing models are a mess right now.
One of the benefits and curses of the ebook is that there is access to more literature.
It’s tough to get to the good stuff and find the good stuff.
Self publishing needs quality control.
Distribution is the largest problem for an Indie Publisher.
You can do what a major publisher does, but you have to spend A LOT of time and money doing it.
Self publishers need a business plan.
The self publishing gold rush is over.
As with traditional publishing, the cream rises to the top.
An agent helps with the business plan if you go a more traditional route.
Questions of consulting a subject matter expert versus the agent taking their cut.
How much control does an author have?
In traditional publishing, little control.
Frenkel disagrees with this. Author has last words on edit.
But he agrees. No control on cover.
In epublishing, you need to be both passionate and dispassionate about your product.
Be willing to listen to others.
You get to do everything.
How do you establish prices?
Traditional looks what competition is doing.
Indie: Perception from audience about value of book based on price.
Some discussion about reselling ebooks as used ebooks
Some discussion about library ebooks.
Traditional publishing has marketing support for author. First books are often supported. There is enthusiasm .
Have you thought about your author platform? Social media plan?
Obscurity s your enemy.
Some authors do less social media and they do suffer.
The indie author has own website. There’s an ecommerce store front. Facebook is a given, as is soliciting Amazon reviews.
A discussion on the effectiveness of various social media.
