The writing career is interesting. Everyone has an opinion (especially these days) on big house publishing, small house publishing, self-pubbing, p.o.d., electronic publishing, etceteras. As the industry tries to manage through a roller coaster of change, the writer either needs to get off the roller coaster and take charge of her writing career--deciding what is best for her--or buckle in for the ride and see where it takes her. I hate roller coasters. I used to like them when I was a kid, but not so much anymore. I usually get dizzy and feel like I'm going to puke. I think this has to do with getting older. My oldest son tried to get me to go on this loopydeloop dealio at Universal Studios with him at like 100 miles an hour or something insane like that. I was perfectly content to sip my lemonade and wait on the sidelines as the kid rode the ride. Just not into it.
Therefore, you can imagine how I feel about the publishing industry's roller coaster ride these days. Not into it. Times are changing, my writer friends. The key to writing books and selling them is still about writing GOOD books. And even sometimes Good books don't sell. Don't ask me why because I don't know the answer to that. However, I do think if you have a readership and you write good books and the publishers aren't picking them up that it can't hurt to follow Mr. J.A. Konrath's model. J.A. is the master with the e-publishing thing and I've been watching how he does this. I'm impressed. I have to tell you that I have started following his model and guess what? I am selling books. I'm uploading onto Smashwords, amazon, etc and everyday my sales are increasing. I'm receiving monies monthly on these sales and although I'm not getting advances on them, I'm okay with that because I'm seeing a monthly paycheck and that is very nice. My monthly paychecks are also increasing and that helps me provide for my family in abetter way than waiting for royalty statements that I'm not certain what my sales even might have been during the previous period, or how much is going to be held in reserve for that matter.
So, what am I trying to say here? I've been asked about this topic so I'm giving my two-cents. If you have a readership and you have a manuscript(s) that New York doesn't seem to care about then why not take a serious look at the book, trust your gut if you think readers will want it and get it out there. Hey--if you only make $10.00 at it, that is ten more than you had, right? And, you may find an entire new readership to entertain.
Secondly, I wanted to let any of my readers out there know that I have a new book out on the Kindle (come on, this is my blog and so I get to push my books) and also in print. It's a thriller and very different from my cozies and women's fiction, because of that I published it under the name A.K. Alexander. The title is "Daddy's Home." If you're interested in checking it out, here is the amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/Daddys-Home-K-Alexander/dp/1456332015/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1295542113&sr=1-1
All of my e-books are available for $2.99 except for The Nikki Sands Mysteries. They are also all available on Smashwords.
I would love to hear your opinion on the changes publishing seems to be going through and where you think it will all go?
Have a wonderful day!
Cheers,
Michele
http://www.michelescott.com/
1 comment:
Being an author who is fairly new to the game, I'm very interested in this topic, as you can imagine. I published my first mystery with an indy press, and I took away some highs and lows from the process. Since I'm also a humor columnist, I've recently published a book of my columns using Createspace and I'm currently getting the book formatted for Kindle. It's still too early to tell how it's going to work out, but I have learned quite a lot.
So my questions right now are:
1. I have a 2nd mystery ready to go, have approached a couple of agents but haven't had any nibbles yet. Should I go the self-pub/Kindle route, even tho I don't have a following, the way you do? The pros seem obvious: each sale means more $$ for me. But the cons... am I harming my career in any way?
2. I feel like there are things I could be doing to make my work more visible, yet not only do I not know what they are, but I suspect I won't have time for them. Would a publicist be worth my pennies?
Finally started reading Happy Hour and really enjoying it.
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