Booksigning
I didn't report on the booksigning but it was the best ever at a store! Really, sold quite a few books, met nice people, had fun stories told to me, talked publishing with Lynda and Melissa.
All in all a lovely time.
May you enjoy your day,
Robin
All in all a lovely time.
May you enjoy your day,
Robin
posted by FantasyAuthor RobinDOwens | 12:01 AM
4 Comments:
Can you comment on hard print versus electronic print books? I ask because I noticed yesterday when I was creating my listmania on amazon ( I notice you have one or two) that authors can now upload Kindle formats of books that work on their platform.
Authors have always been able to self publish if they can afford it. Ebooks have made it easier and possibly more profitable to attempt. I know Darrel Bain is a best selling ebook author, what that translates into when it comes to hard monies, I couldn't guess. Is it possible to be a full time author and e-publish?
It seems these platforms give authors the ability to sell even if they can't find editors or publishers for hard copy format.
But is it a good idea? Without publishers and agents, the signing and conferences authors attend would seem to stay restricted to more traditional media. Could fans ever get that thrill of having a copy of their book signed by an author if only eprint was used? Would they be able to relate as well?
Authors wouldn't have the contacts necessary to get a waldenbooks signing tour if they are publishing only Kindle editions.
Fans are likely to download and become jaded by garbage that has been poorly edited and written.
And it probably does not generate enough income for talented authors to rely on only this technology.
But it seems to have some real benefits. Authors can publish books that editors declined. Can explore ideas with aliases and get a real feel for story ideas by audience feedback. And if ebooks and Kindle editions are successful enough, gain some real bargaining power about what they want to write and how they want to write it.
So how about it? Look into T'Vine's crystal ball and give us an idea what you think will happen to publishing.
Right now both my publishers have the electronic rights to my books, so I can't publish them. They make the decision which to publish, how and where. Also NY publishers tend to pay a LOT less royalties to authors than those published solely with e-publishers (something like 3% vs. 30%). That's because the NY publishers offer an advance and royalties and epublishers usually offer royalties.
I have heard that in rare cases you can make a living epublishing. I actually had HeartMate out to a small press and an epublisher (Hard Shell) when I sold it to Berkley.
I'd imagine that self publishing in the epublishing biz might make more money but you DO have to deal with all the business stuff, setting up a site that will take credit cards/online payments etc. and do a LOT of promo to make up more costs. Of course it's hard to make a living on print publishing sales, too.
Also note, any books you buy from eharlequin online (Luna books) I get even less royalties. Just a fact.
I've watched the epublishing business and to be honest I have no clue what will happen. Sometimes I really think it's the coming thing, sometimes I don't think people will read in the future at all, sometimes I think print will stay supreme. Depends on the day and what I've heard.
Regarding quality, I do have a friend who is one of the readers for a new publisher (print), and she says the books she's read have "not been undiscovered gems." I read ebooks myself, and like that I can have several on my (old) Cassiopeia, and I bought the Cassiopeia to read ebooks on. Some of the books are bad, some are bad but I like them anyway (very small amount) and some are good. But you can get poorly written books in any genre and any format.
I've run across print books that I've wondered how they got published.
Robin
Do I understand correctly that you receive the most royalties if we buy a book from a store like Waldenbooks but less if we buy directly from the publisher's website? I would have thought that it would have been just the opposite.
Tine
Tine,
That is correct, I get more royalties from a bookstore or an online bookstore as opposed to having the purchase through the eharlequin site.
Robin
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