Happy new year!
I’m back to the blog after a couple of weeks off. First, I’d like to invite you to come to one or more of the handful of newly scheduled events I’m doing in the next couple of months. (See that page on this site.) The first is February 9 in Sunnyvale. I’ll be on several Sisters in Crime panels, and doing two library talks about the way huge amounts of money are moving the art world internationally via the famous auction houses, private sales, and the experimental creation of an exchange “market” for art modeled on the stock market.
Right now, I’m trying to decide what to do with the next Dani O’Rourke novel. Candidly, the editors who liked the book felt they couldn’t justify buying it because rights to the first in the series belong to another publisher, one that wanted the second but would have tied it up for a decade as well. The book industry is rather tangled and unsure of itself these days. Many authors are throwing up their hands, heading straight to e-books they can publish and control themselves, and offering them at ultra cheap (right down to free) to generate interest. That’s even turned out to be a way to interest those same reluctant, traditional publishers to later buy the same book and re-publish it if the author has done a super marketing and sales job on her own.
The editorial feedback my agent and I have gotten for THE KING’S JAR has been good enough to make me think it is ready to share. Question is, do I serialize it for free on this site, self-publish it and the next in the series, or leave it with my agent while the traditional market stews about how to proceed in general?
Anyone with an opinion is welcome to chime in – I know I’m not the only published author struggling with this issue in 2012! What are you doing? What are your friends doing? And, Readers, is it true you’re abandoning print for e-books (at least for fiction)?
I have a friend whose wonderful book has been caught for years in the publishing wonderland. He knows someone who published her own book and decided to put together a small press to publish others as well. That’s where he is publishing. Yet another way to get your work out there.
I am not a fan of e-books and as a reader who buys several hundred books a year – I get more than a little upset when a series that I enjoy goes the e-reader route. That takes them off my list. To add to what Terry said – there are smaller publishers out there which might be a way to go. I am sure for author’s it is not easy timea, but I just cringe when I see them going the e-route. Good Luck – will be anxious to see what you can do.
Thanks Carin and Terry. I’m gathering as many perspectives as possible right now, and yours are helpful. Carin, buying several hundred books a year makes you the dream consumer to ask! Kudos to you and thanks for sharing.