Maybe, maybe not.
My first published story, Lady of the Stars, will be out soon from The Wild Rose Press. According to the Romance Writers of America (RWA), I’m a published author because an RWA recognized publisher (non-subsidy, non-vanity, which means I will get royalties) is publishing my novella (about 25,000 words—the RWA defines a novella as a work between 20,000 and 40,000 words).
Sounds like I meet all the definitions.
However, there are other definitions.
The Wild Rose Press is an e-publisher. E-publishing is the newest game in town. I think eventually e-publishing will outpace print publishing. But—and this but is a large one—it may not happen anytime soon.
Right now, e-publishing makes up a miniscule piece of the publishing market—the percentage I heard is 1%. Yes, that number is correct--one per cent. An e-published book is a best seller if it sells 100 copies. A print book can sell that many copies in the first half hour it’s on the shelves. So, as far as the print world is concerned, I’m small potatoes.
If you notice, I've said nothing about whether or not I have a good, well-written story. It all comes down to the money. As an e-pubbed writer, I do not have the audience a print–pubbed author has, translated into not as many people will buy my book.
Which is why I’m here blogging, trying to convince people that my story is good, and you should buy it.
A very good blog on publishing trends is Maya Reynold’s blog at
http://www.mayareynoldswriter.blogspot.com/
And, no, Maya isn’t paying me for the plug.
Thank you all,
Linda
2 comments:
Good article, Linda! This is info to think about. But I do know something else: e-pub authors can get noticed by the big print houses if their writing is good enough, and enough people like what you write. Don't stop submitting to your target market in the print world if you want to someday land on the bookstore shelves!
Hi Kaye,
Thanks for commenting. It's true that e-authors can make the switch to print pub. In the past, it mainly happened with erotica authors, because print was slow to take up erotica. I don't write erotica, but we'll have to see.
Post a Comment