Game Changer of the Day

So the big news in publishing is there are no game changers anymore. We must bury the words. The game changer was the internet  way back more than 12 years ago. Now  anything and everything is possible. And anything that can happen will happen. Not all of it is good and not all of it is bad. But  one thing is for sure -- no one knows what is going to happen. 

There is no one solution. Everything is a solution. That means writers can't jump on every bandwagon thinking this one is going to change my life. 

This is a terrific article. Please read it. Jason Pinter has it exactly right.

We have to understand that technology is not a short cut to hard work. And we have to understand that what worked for  Jill  might not work for Jack.  

Before you jump on a bandwagon,  look at the the path that writer took before you evaluate his results and try to follow them.  

When an author like Seth Godin self publishes a novel after having several NYT bestsellers and a strong tribe of followers and sells 100s of thousands of copies  - it isn't proof that self publishing works. It's proof that Seth made something work.

Ultimately its about the book. 

Sadly I meet authors every week who self publish  books and spend $1000, $5000, $10,000 and more and sell less than 100 copies. I recently met one who spent $100,000 and who wound up selling 200 copies. What happened? People went to their websites or online booksellers and read the excerpts and didn't like them. 

I'm not saying don't be innovative. I'm not saying don't try new things. 

We must keep being innovative. 

But I am suggesting we shouldn't be followers without studying the paths we are about to take and making sure our footsteps even can match up with the ones we're sticking our shoes into. 

We can't all self publish a book and expect to have the success of The Lace Reader if we don't  have that specific that book and that PR budget and most of all that  group of bookstores willing and able and excited about hand selling a book that has to do with their town.

750,000 books were self published last year. 250,000 traditionally published.

That's a million books a year! And no one can buy a book they never heard of. No one asks a friend or a bookstore owner or a search engine "Tell me about a book you never heard of and I never heard of but that I will want to read."

I believe - I want to believe - I am desperate to believe  - that talent will always rise. But I'm a realist too and I can see that the path to that rising will become more complicated than ever.

 

 I feel certain creative minds will figure out ways to help the cream rise to the top.  A friend of mine suggested that one way is  more expensive books - not less expensive. Maybe that will happen.

Free books are already failing to translate to bought books. Many are being read by people who only read free books. 

 

One friend had 89,000  downloads of his  free ebook. His next book - which was not free -  only sold 1000 copies. What happened? Was the free book bad? Did the readers just not like his work enough to buy the next one? Or did they just not want to buy a book if it cost money? 

 

But whatever we do we have to remember one thing - the most important to me -the thing so many writers seem to shrug their shoulders about when it comes up is that  we have work hard and take our time and learn our craft. 

 

If we want to keep readers- not just get them once - but keep them - we have  to do everything we can to write good books. And there are no short cuts to that. 

 

There are no game changers there. 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Thereadingape.blogspot.com]

Like most truths, this one is as simple as it is hard. It does seem like the tools are overwhelming the craft right now. Perhaps this will subside as digital publishing choices become more familiar and, well, boring.

Thanks for this.

[Shilohwalker.wordpress.com]

We also need to remember there are no shortcuts-a lot of people are going to look at this as a shortcut, think it's a way to skip the slush pile, to skip the rejection, to skip the hard work that goes into the polishing the craft, refining your work...in short, putting in the time needed. There's no way around it, people are going to look at this 'game changer' as a way to skip all of that, but there are no short cuts.

Getting those rejections hurt, but we need them. It's how we improve.

[SuspenseMan]

Truth is most would-be successful authors will never be successful, no matter how dedicated to craft. Mediocrity now has a venue. (But is that really so bad?)