Re: consequences of shift to ebooks

--- In [email protected], Mary E Tyler wrote:
> Most buyers pay when they get the product, not when they get the money  
> from their customers. Advances against royalties make perfect sense.

Makes people happy, I guess.
  
> The buyer is the publisher, not the reader. Making it an advance  
> against royalties just means that if the publisher makes more than  
> they expect, the manufacturer (the author) gets a cut, but only
> after the publisher gets paid back. **shrug** it works.

I know how advances work. I just don't see a need for them.
Presumably the writer has a day job. Let him/her continue in that job
-- as most do, not being Stephen Kings -- and let sales of the title
determine rewards.

> And FYI, many types of book (almost all non-fiction) are sold on  
> proposal. They are NOT works of art created on spec.

Sigh. Who cares? Are we trying to make this shoe fit EVERY foot?
If some pubber wants to have something written, that's their biz.
I'm talking about Joe/Jane Novelist, scribbling in spare time.

> Writers have to have food, clothing and  
> shelter while they work too.

Some have day jobs. Some have supportive spouses. Those who feel
compelled to write novels would write them if they lived under bridges
in hobo town.

> > Nuts to an advance.
> > Just guarantee me (and my heirs) a percentage of every sale and keep
> > the company books open for sales audits.
> 
> Yeah, but for p-books the in print period is very short.

Used to be true. Doesn't have to be in these days of POD, so shouldn't
be. That's just one of the reasons I haven't bothered with sending
stuff to the big print publishers.
Try to find a brand-new copy of "The White Goddess", out of print for
decades.
But I know where to get a scanned version of a first edition, and
since no pubber will cough up a reprint, I'll use the digital version.
The paperpubbing system is inadequate for the future.
Ebooks and POD can guarantee availability long after the first run,
which makes having rights to a title actually worth something after
the last official print run.

> This attitude  
> puts ALL the risk on the author.

It's already on the author. Ask anyone who's ever submitted a
manuscript. A friend of mine in Sarasota keeps all her rejection slips
in a shoe box. (It's about half full.) But even after five years or so
of sending her MS around, she won't consider epubbing it.
Shrug. Her loss. It's good stuff and could be making her some money
while she scribbles a revised version to exercise the postal system.

> If the book doesn't sell as well as  
> the publisher thinks, the author gets nothing (or little to nothing)  
> and his book (the rights in his book) is gone. I'm sure big
> publishers would LOVE to go to a no advance system, it benefits THEM
> so highly, removing the risk that the book won't sell through its
> advance, thus saving them millions over the whole industry of books.
> I can see why 
> any publisher would want this situation. Talk about a windfall!

Spoken like a publisher.
I prefer the idea of 'shared risk, shared potential'.
True, the pubber puts a LOT up front, but would be doing so even
without the advance; everything necessary to take the MS from
submission to store shelf.
That isn't risk enough?
Why cough up extra front money for something that might not sell as
well as expected?
If it flops, the pubber is still out the cost of production.
If it soars, everybody bathes in money.
Ed Howdershelt - Abintra Press
Science Fiction & Semi-Fiction
http://www.AbintraPress.com
My Fictionwise Ratings: http://tinyurl.com/26v45



------------------------------------------------------
Post a message:   ebook-community [[at]] *
Unsubscribe:      ebook-community-unsubscribe [[at]] *
Switch to digest: ebook-community-digest [[at]] *
Switch to normal: ebook-community-normal [[at]] *
Put mail on hold: ebook-community-nomail [[at]] *
Administrator:    ebook-community-owner [[at]] *

(* == yahoogroups.com)
------------------------------------------------------- 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ebook-community/

<*> Your email settings:
    Individual Email | Traditional

<*> To change settings online go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ebook-community/join
    (Yahoo! ID required)

<*> To change settings via email:
    mailto:[email protected] 
    mailto:ebook-community-fullfeatured-hHKSG33TihhbjbujkaE4pw@public.gmane.org

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    ebook-community-unsubscribe-hHKSG33TihhbjbujkaE4pw@public.gmane.org

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/