Publishing's a Business

Publishing's a Business
By Dorinda Ohnstad


The publishing industry is a unique business, but a business never-the-less. As a business it seeks to make a reasonable profit. In fact, the Board of Directors of each publishing house has a legal obligation to its shareholders to act in their best interest by doing all they can to make a reasonable return on the company’s investments. That means that the focus of the industry is not on the best interests of writers, but the best interests of shareholders. That doesn’t mean that writers aren’t critical to the industry’s success, because clearly they are. There exists a tenuous symbiotic relationship between the two. However, we can’t overlook the fact that profits are the ultimate motivating factor of the publishing industry (as they must be), even if that is not the key motivation of most writers. As writers we shouldn’t begrudge that fact.

Publishing houses are well aware that reader preference is the driving force behind sales. However, identifying what readers want is very different (as well as very difficult) as compared to other industries. In that respect, publishing is more akin to the art world. You can ask art collectors what they’re interested in purchasing, but it would provide little assistance to the industry. One floral picture is not the same as the other, so knowing that collectors want florals isn’t enough. In addition, even if one could define exactly what type of floral painting was desired that would still be insufficient. How would an art dealer get someone to paint that picture? As artists we can only create what we are inspired or driven to create. Our work is our own.

While the publishing industry will never be able to “design” their products to meet market needs, it will continue do its best to predict what readers will buy. However, the industry’s choices are limited to what is offered to them by writers. Each submission will be viewed through the marketability lens, but every investment will still be a calculated gamble. This makes publishing a difficult industry to be successful in, but at the same time it also makes it an exciting one. A Twilight or a Harry Potter is always lurking around the corner.

As readers I think that most of us relish the unpredictability of the publishing industry. We relish finding that new voice, the new series, new book, new author that captivates us. It’s almost euphoric. I wonder what it would be like if that weren’t the case. What if the industry could be predictable and formulaic? I don’t think I would like it; nor do I think that readers would benefit. I don’t think writers would benefit either. If writing could be reduced to a formula then new voices would be unnecessary—too risky an investment. The publishing industry would continue to work with the same proven commodities. Not good for the rest of us wanting our chance to be published.

So where does that leave us? I believe that as writers we continue to write what we’re driven to write and we write it to the best of our abilities. The publishing industry should continue to do its best to make good investments. And for those writers desiring to be published, we move forward knowing that anything is possible. Just ask Stephenie Meyer or J.K. Rowling. It’s a new year with new opportunities. Perhaps your turn will be next. I know that I’m hoping that 2009 will be my year.

JUST THE FACTS

JUST THE FACTS
by Sunny

I gave two speeches this week on alternative publishing. The first was with Marilyn Meredith in Temecula, the second at Willow Bridge Books in Oakhurst.

It's hard to look at the excited and expectant faces of aspiring authors and have to lay the facts on them.

The facts, the stats of the publishing industry are not pretty. Add in the economic crisis the country is facing and the outlook is downright dismal. You can't eat books, your car cannot run on words, and I suppose we could all start burning our libraries to heat our homes, but I hope it doesn't come to that.

Fact: 132 million manuscripts are submitted yearly. 1% will be published.
Fact: 3,000 manuscripts are published daily
Of those published, only 2 % sold more than 5,000 copies.
16% sold fewer than 1,000 copies.
82% sold less than 100 copies.

IF a manuscript manages to get through the slush pile, 90% will be rejected after the first page is read.
98% will be rejected after the first chapter is read.
30-50 will get through to serious consideration.
In a good year, a publisher can put out 10 books. In a bad year, maybe 5.

New York used to be the center for publishing. Now the publishing industry is governed by 6 conglomerates, most based in Europe. Publishers know that 70% of the books they publish will never earn back their advances. The system is as archaic as the Guttenburg printing press.

There are diehard authors out there who want to believe they are the exception to the norm. They know the formula: Query letter, synopsis, the dreaded outline, the first three chapters. There is a reason this is called “submission.” The author goes through all the steps, kowtowing to the powers that be, which may be a 22-year-old with a red pen who just got out of college.

I'm a glass-half-full type of person. I don't get discouraged by any of this claptrap. If life hands me lemons, I'm making a meringue pie.

Small publishing outfits have filled the void. Computer technology means there doesn't have to be huge print runs. With Kindle on the scene, a writer can be author, publisher, editor, promoter and banker. We can finally sell our imagination without selling our souls.

It's good to have hopes and dreams and to set goals. I just hate to see writers remain unrealistic and inflexible. Stories are lost because the writer can't take another rejection. Is it really the world that rejects our efforts or are we rejecting opportunities within our reach?

Immortal Characters

Hello KC Writer's readers. Amy here.

So, like a lot of 20-something adults, I've lately been interested in teen things. I watch Gossip Girl more than I go to church, and I've missed an entire night's sleep plowing through book II (New Moon) of Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series. My mother asks me on a weekly basis when am I going to start watching and reading things about people who are closer to my age, maybe who go to college? (and by weekly basis I mean sometime between 8-9pm every Monday, which happens to be the time Gossip Girl is on).

So, Twilight series. Mrs. Meyer started writing the series just for fun, after a dream came to her about the love story between her two characters: the immortal Edward Cullen (who is a very sexy vampire, btw) and the very human Bella Swan. The thing that impresses me about this whole series of books is that she wrote four books, all around 500 pages each (2000 or so pages total), that only span the time period of, oh, let's say two years. Two years for an immortal character, oh that's nothing!

This got me thinking about how brilliant this idea is for the author. Immortal characters never die. Immortal characters can live multiple lives (multiple lives=multiple stories). An author with immortal characters can, if these characters become popular, have an entire career based on writing about these characters. For me, money isn't the number one (or even number five) reason I enjoy writing, but for those who really love to write, money is nice. When you have it, you don't have to focus your time with a real life job and real life worries (or so I romanticize in my head). No more typing at 12am on Sunday night, no more waking up at 6am to finish your chapter. How nice would that be?

So, Stephanie Meyer signed her first book deal for a $750,000 advance according to wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephenie_Meyer . That's for one book. She has four now, which are widely popular and topping Best Seller lists, and her first book is coming out on the big screen here in November (I am so excited). My personal dream is to have a book so loved that one day it can be turned into a motion picture.

Basically, Stephanie Meyer is living MY dream. So, needless to say I'm paying attention to how she did it.

I came up with my plot for a fallen angel story just yesterday. I can't wait to finish it. I wonder if I can belt it out in 3 months like Stephanie Meyer did.

If nothing else, reading this series has inspired me to write. It has caused me to think; to consider marketing and who my potential audience might be. It has inspired me to write fiction even. Fiction isn't even something I've taken a stab at yet, since I am a poet. Now I'm all interested in writing paranormal fiction--and now there's a huge market for it.

Maybe not all of you are interested in the paranormal, you want to write something a little more vanilla. Gossip Girl is a tv show on the CW based on a group of spoiled socialites going through high school. It also happens to be based on a book series. Even if you keep your characters human, they still have many stories to tell. I get nervous as the cast from Gossip Girl approaches high school graduation. What will I do with my Monday nights if it goes off the air? Never fear, their drama may continue into college (and I can smugly tell my mother I watch tv about college students!!! I'm not sure this will appease her though). Maybe even Gossip Girl's characters will have friendships that last late into adulthood, much like the girls in Sex in the City. Oh, there is hope. Even for those of you that want to keep it human, there is still wiggle room for many books with your beloved characters to last a life time.

Who would have thought? So next time you think about writing, consider the advantages and disadvantages of immortal characters. Also, if you're in your 20s or bravely embracing your high school years up until your 30s, watch Gossip Girl and read the Twilight series. And come get coffee with me.

Til next time...

Publishing Industry--Do or Die?

Publishing Industry--Do or Die?

By Dorinda Ohnstad


This blogging business is new to me. I have never written one, nor before my attempts to write this one had I even read one. My three teenage children wouldn’t be surprised; they know all too well that I barely know how to text message never-the-less know something about current communication venues such as MySpace and FaceBook. I certainly don’t know any of the texting acronyms that everyone else seems to take for granted. Any interpretation help in that regard would certainly be appreciated. My kids laughed at me when I thought that LOL meant lots of luck. Hey it fit and worked for me. I can tell you that they “laughed out loud” at that one. Nix on asking my kids for any further text abbreviations or acronyms for fear of looking like a complete Neanderthal.

By the way, what’s up with the LOL bit anyway? Why do I have to laugh out loud? Can’t I simply chuckle quietly to myself? Or what if what the sender has to say doesn’t make me want to laugh at all? Can anyone out there explain this to me in a way that someone older (notice I didn’t say old as I refuse to lump myself in that category, not yet anyway) like me will actually get it?

On top of the fact that blogging is a new adventure for me, this group blog is a new direction for our writers’ group. We’re late in the blogging game (these days it doesn’t take long to be late in the game) and we’re attempting to compete with the thousands of other blogs out there for your attention. Chances are I will fret over every word of this blog for days and have it fall on deaf ears. (Hmm, I wonder if that is even possible given these words are written not spoken.) But we authors have to write for the sheer pleasure of writing, and not for the published attention it might bring us, or we might never write at all.

Still, I hope that this elicits some response in someone other than my fellow K C Writers’ Group members who already have to put up with reading my writing on a regular basis. Besides, they know me personally and will have to look me in the eyes at our next meeting (translation: means they have to be nice to me), whereas all of you readers out there can throw your comments my way and have little concern that you will have to meet me in person. And if you do (hopefully at a book signing some day), you certainly don’t have to admit to it unless you want to.

The other day one of the members of our writers’ group, Sunny Frazier (author of “Fools Rush In”), passed on an interesting and timely New York Times Magazine article titled “The End” written by Boris Kachka and published September 14, 2008. In short, this article discusses the current publishing industry crisis and speculates at its potential demise. As an unpublished novelist wannabe, I found that to be a rather disconcerting prediction. If the publishing empire is going to fall, I would rather it wait until I’ve had my opportunity to grab the brass ring first. My own publishing desires aside, writers and avid readers alike should be very concerned about the doomsday message this article carried. If you haven’t read it yet, I strongly encourage you to do so. (To view the article and posted comments online go to http://nymag.com/news/media/50279/.)

According to the article the problems plaguing the industry are:

· Blockbuster strategies that have led to bidding wars and the payment of astronomical advances for manuscripts with potential for huge commercial success; many of which fail to live up to their expectations.

· The industry is struggling to figure out how to reach readers in light of the fact that traditional marketing (media, book reviews, and blurbs) is no longer effective.

· An archaic consignment system that results in publishers having to buy back books that aren’t sold by book outlets and having to shred them leading to waste and lost profits.

· The market for fiction is shrinking.

· The imminent loss of Oprah’s book club which has fueled book sales.

· Borders’ crisis could lead to the elimination of competition with Barnes & Nobles, which would lead to less leverage for publishers for placement in Barnes & Nobles.

· Big box outlets & Amazon account for almost 80% of the book sales market, and publishers fear that Amazon is moving toward controlling every facet of the industry and intends to edge out the publishers in the process.

· Some industry experts believe that the future of books sales is e-books, print on demand, online subscriptions and other alternatives to print books.

The burning question I had after reading this article was: What’s the best resolution for readers and authors alike? Like it or not, we all have to recognize that the world has changed drastically since the Gutenberg bible was first printed. Technology rules the world. Our youth are more comfortable with its use than we are and have more entertainment options than ever before as a result. For those of us middle-aged and up, growing up we didn’t have the entertainment options available today and books were the primary venue to wile our time away. In addition, youth today have more demands on their time (e.g. sports, school or other extra-curricular activities) and less free time to read even if they had the inclination. Fewer youth than ever are gaining a love for reading, and those that do are more likely to prefer an on-the-go friendly e-book reader to a paperback, and the rest will simply wait until it’s made into a movie and see it at the local theater.

Those of us who grew up loving the printed word have discovered that technology has provided us greater and easier access to a wider array of books through the convenience of shopping from home. Like it or not, Amazon has tapped into something big. I will admit to turning to Amazon to purchase books because I’m an extremely busy person and I can avoid a trip to the local mall, dealing with traffic, parking, etc. and get books I want delivered to my home. On top of that, I don’t have to worry about whether or not the book store will have the book I’m looking for. I’m not the only one who feels this way. I have a friend who is as ardent a reader as they come (she reads at least four books a week on average), who on a recent visit to San Francisco took her book wish list of 25 authors to both Borders and Barnes & Noble and came home with only 4 crossed off her list. She had hoped by going to bigger book stores in the big city she would have access to more books than she would find in the local Hanford book store, but that wasn’t the case. Of course, both stores said they would be happy to special order the books for her, but she pointed out to them that she could do the same herself online through Amazon, where she could not only find the books she was looking for, but find a used much-less-expensive alternative to buying a new one at the book store.

A key part of the publishing industry equation that wasn’t mentioned in the article is the access to the used book market in a way that has never happened before. In the past, you could buy used books only at a used bookseller’s store or the local library book sale, where it was hit and miss as to which books you could find. Now you can find what you’re looking for through Amazon with a click of the button and don’t have to dig through dusty books for hours hunting for that one book. In my early days, the only real organized used book market was the used text book market in and around any major University, but now even that is an online market too.

Bottom line is that today there are more options than ever for readers, while at the same time there appears to be fewer readers to market to. Technology has forever changed the market for books and will continue to have a tremendous impact on the evolution of the publishing industry. So what does that mean? I think that for the reader it will mean more options than ever before, which should be a good thing so long as it doesn’t diminish access to literature. I think that one way to ensure that access to literature isn’t unduly impacted by the ensuing change is to make sure that publishing houses survive to ensure competition within the industry. My suggestion is that publishers take a page from Amazon’s playbook. With more buyers turning to online purchases there is no reason that publishing houses can’t sell their books directly to the end buyer, and provide it through multiple formats, including e-versions and print-on-demand. In the end, I think that could be a good thing all around for authors. As the market shifted to looking to a few big commercial blockbusters it provided fewer opportunities for authors who didn’t fit the bill. Yet, we know that there is a market for more than just the Dan Brown’s of the world. Those avid readers out there, like my friend Victoria, crave more. If the publishing industry moves in a different more flexible direction it would provide more options than the expensive traditional print book options, which should be a good thing for reader, author and publisher alike.

So what do you think?