This is perhaps the most beautiful time in human history; it is really pregnant with all kinds of creative possibilities made possible by science and technology which now constitute the slave of man – if man is not enslaved by it.
~Jonas Salk, Polio slayer
Good morning, and happy Monday. It’s an exciting week, good stuff on tap.
Today I’d like to talk about the new great equalizer by taking two previous posts from other writers and cook them up into a delicious Writer Dad dish. First off, Hunter Nuttall previously discussed the varying values of an Ebook. Second, a few weeks ago, Men With Pens were discussing Real Authors. Harry said, “If you write, you’re a writer. If you have a blog, consider yourself published. If you create an ebook, you’re an author.”
Harry, you’re dead on.
Though I know it seems like we’re already drowning in a sea of Ebooks, we are really only at the foot of the mountain, eyes turned skyward, searching for a peak that, at present, is only a suggestion. And as the world keeps shifting, traditional publishers will find themselves on the fault lines of the new great equalizer.
In the middle (dark) ages, information was controlled exclusively by the church. People learned only what they were allowed, and things were generally pretty grim. In 1439, Johanas Gutenberg invented movable type. By doing so, he diverted the traffic of information between the overlords and the masses creating the first great equalizer of the written word.
Tomorrow’s history isn’t much different.
The internet took the ordained from our living room, and dropped them in the ring with intelligent men and woman around the globe who had nothing but opinions and an internet connection. The same will happen to publishing.
Here’s the math:
I’ve got a pile of children’s stories sitting on an agent’s desk. They are now on their sixth week of an eight week stay, where at the end, I may not get so much as an email saying, “Thank you, but no.” I do not take this personally. They accept five new clients a year, and they get three-hundred submissions a week.
Best case scenario?
We sign, and the ball starts rolling. I’ll get partnered with an illustrator and the book will go into production. A year later, I’ll see it sitting on an end cap at Barnes and Noble with a jacket price of $16.95. 10% of it mine.
Now before I move to the future, allow me to clearly state. I love traditional books and always will. They will be here forever and I will buy them as long as they are. They are beautiful and romantic and absolutely perfect in design. Even if I’m rejected by the agency’s deafening silence, I have nothing against them or the industry in which their gears must turn.
But I can smell milk when it’s starting to sour.
Okay, back to the future.
We have the internet – the great equalizer, standing stolid against an industry of saber rattling, in a war that’s already over. It makes me think of the battle between Blue-Ray and HD DVD.
Either victor is the last of his tribe.
My kids aren’t going to be carrying around hard media; their world will be digital. They’ll have versions of their favorite books in whatever media boxes we’re all carrying around in another five years (remember, technology years to regular years = dog years to human).
When I was a kid, my sister plowed through every Babysitter’s Club book there was. She loved them. By the time Mia is reading her version of the same, she’ll be carrying her collection around in a digital format, like charms on a bracelet, even if she has a dog eared copy sitting on the shelf at home. It’s difficult to imagine that within a few years of our immediate future, we won’t be seeing digital copies included with every hard purchase.
This goes for all media. It’s simple to do and makes perfect sense. Fox, wisely, already understands Internet as equalizer and does this with many of their films.
If I want to write what I want to write, then I’ve entered the perfect situation at the perfect time.
I’m sure that at some point, I’ll have books that go the traditional route. I am simply too big a romantic to discard the notion of finding my work pulled lovingly from a shelf, purchased, then traded from one lover to the other, or handed from a mother to her son.
My Grandma used to say, and she was right, “There’s a place for everything, with everything in it’s place.”
When I leave my day job behind, I want to write. Chapter books and picture books; children’s adventures and long winded novels; short essays and long works of engaging non-fiction. Some of these books will lend themselves very well to downloads, some of them would serve better as POD books, sold through a company like Lulu or Amazon.
Yes, the price for the hard product is more if I do it myself, but there is no risk because there is no inventory, and I’m catering to my own audience that I can speak to everyday. To me, that is a remarkable situation that has not been possible before. How often do you think great writers have simply fallen off because they’re either trying to duplicate a prior success or hitch a ride on the perfect ebb of the current market flow.
With the Internet as our new great equalizer, a writer can build a small but loyal audience who will be happy to see what he or she might pull from their brain next.
I love this model: deliver a new project to a loyal fan base frequently, and keep the creativity dancing.
As far as value, I’ll try to find a price point that balances how involved a project was from conception to delivery, with value to the reader. Some projects might be worth $2, others $20. Right now, I’m toying with the idea of charging $100,000 for my novel, once it’s finally finished. I see it as win-win. I’ll only need to sell a single copy, and I will not be to open to ridicule.
I’m sure someone could afford it, and the guy who does will declare it as genius, just to keep himself from looking like an idiot.
Anyway, this coming Friday, August 15, I’ll be announcing the title and release date of my first project. I’m pretty excited.
Writer Dad
If you enjoyed my words, please subscribe. I promise I’ll be back again tomorrow.
About Sean Platt
Hi Writer Dad,
How great it is for you to have a blog where you can continue writing while you wait, and wait, and wait. I wish you great success with your books, and look forward to your big announcement.
Barbara Swaffords last blog post..NBOTW Authors – Where Are You Now
Hi Writer Dad,
How great it is for you to have a blog where you can continue writing while you wait, and wait, and wait. I wish you great success with your books, and look forward to your big announcement.
Barbara Swaffords last blog post..NBOTW Authors – Where Are You Now
My only worry with ebooks is that Amazon through some pretty nasty tactics will become the defacto standard (kind of the way Windows did) without actually being very good for the authors.
http://accrispin.blogspot.com/2008/03/victoria-strauss-use-booksurge-or-die.html
Especially since they also control Kindle, which I’ve heard good things about so far.
I for one won’t go digital until I can take an ebook into the bath with me.
Alex Fayles last blog post..Commitment to Growth: Tina Su Interview
My only worry with ebooks is that Amazon through some pretty nasty tactics will become the defacto standard (kind of the way Windows did) without actually being very good for the authors.
http://accrispin.blogspot.com/2008/03/victoria-strauss-use-booksurge-or-die.html
Especially since they also control Kindle, which I’ve heard good things about so far.
I for one won’t go digital until I can take an ebook into the bath with me.
Alex Fayles last blog post..Commitment to Growth: Tina Su Interview
I dropped in to see what was up, and damn, dude! Look at your comment section go!
On a related note, our ebook isn’t in print form. But it followed the same process as a print-published book and also has a registered ISBN number. The only thing that’s lacking is the emotional feel and tactile sense involved in holding a book in your hand.
I dropped in to see what was up, and damn, dude! Look at your comment section go!
On a related note, our ebook isn’t in print form. But it followed the same process as a print-published book and also has a registered ISBN number. The only thing that’s lacking is the emotional feel and tactile sense involved in holding a book in your hand.
Robin: Until they get the tactile part figured out, digital will have a slow crawl. If someone can figure that out (and I wouldn’t be too surprised to see it happen sooner rather than later) than we’ll see exponential growth.
Barbara: Yes. I felt like I had to do something to keep myself engaged while waiting. I didn’t want to go crazy.
James: The comment section has been a big surprise for me Really rewarding, and fuel for my fire. That doesn’t surprise me about your book. It seems like you and Harry do everything to the nines.
Robin: Until they get the tactile part figured out, digital will have a slow crawl. If someone can figure that out (and I wouldn’t be too surprised to see it happen sooner rather than later) than we’ll see exponential growth.
Barbara: Yes. I felt like I had to do something to keep myself engaged while waiting. I didn’t want to go crazy.
James: The comment section has been a big surprise for me Really rewarding, and fuel for my fire. That doesn’t surprise me about your book. It seems like you and Harry do everything to the nines.
This is such a great post. It’s given me inspiration to think outside the traditional box for future projects.
Dubes last blog post..Someone damage your faith? Now you too can be filthy rich
This is such a great post. It’s given me inspiration to think outside the traditional box for future projects.
Dubes last blog post..Someone damage your faith? Now you too can be filthy rich
Looking forward to your announcement on Friday, WD!
I don’t think I’ll ever give up old-fashioned, hard cover or paperback books when it comes to pleasure reading. Although I am reading more and more blogs these days. ;-)
Looking forward to your announcement on Friday, WD!
I don’t think I’ll ever give up old-fashioned, hard cover or paperback books when it comes to pleasure reading. Although I am reading more and more blogs these days. ;-)
Dube: Thank you. My ideas are crystalizing further. Please be there tomorrow for sure and Friday if you can.
Linda: Thank you. Me too. I’ll never give up old fashioned books either. I think the two can compliment each other.
Dube: Thank you. My ideas are crystalizing further. Please be there tomorrow for sure and Friday if you can.
Linda: Thank you. Me too. I’ll never give up old fashioned books either. I think the two can compliment each other.
I have a little love/hate relationship with technology. I love it and have been in IT related jobs for the past five years. I see great opportunities in the Internet. It is the great equalizer.
However, I also love solid tactile things. I just got a old hardcover copy of Pearl S. Buck’s The Good Earth from Bookmooch.com and I’m so glad to be able to hold a book that has such history in my hands.
I have a little love/hate relationship with technology. I love it and have been in IT related jobs for the past five years. I see great opportunities in the Internet. It is the great equalizer.
However, I also love solid tactile things. I just got a old hardcover copy of Pearl S. Buck’s The Good Earth from Bookmooch.com and I’m so glad to be able to hold a book that has such history in my hands.
Matthew: I’m with you. I can’t imagine ever being willing to leave the tangible behind. I can’t conceive of a technology that would be worth it.
Matthew: I’m with you. I can’t imagine ever being willing to leave the tangible behind. I can’t conceive of a technology that would be worth it.
Cars and lightbulbs are really nice, but we still use horses and candles at times. While your kids will live in a digital world, I’m sure they’ll also have a few books printed on the corpses of brutally murdered trees. Gee, the future sounds less morbid in that light, doesn’t it? :)
Thanks for the link love, but the first link is missing an “l.” I actually own that misspelled domain, and it redirects to the real one, but would you mind adding an “l?” I think Google might see more love in the link that way.
Cars and lightbulbs are really nice, but we still use horses and candles at times. While your kids will live in a digital world, I’m sure they’ll also have a few books printed on the corpses of brutally murdered trees. Gee, the future sounds less morbid in that light, doesn’t it? :)
Thanks for the link love, but the first link is missing an “l.” I actually own that misspelled domain, and it redirects to the real one, but would you mind adding an “l?” I think Google might see more love in the link that way.
All taken care of, Hunter! My pleasure.
All taken care of, Hunter! My pleasure.
@ WD, uh-oh, both links are losing letters instead of gaining them – should be 2 t’s, 2 l’s. :)
@ WD, uh-oh, both links are losing letters instead of gaining them – should be 2 t’s, 2 l’s. :)
Alright, my man, I think we’re good to go!
Alright, my man, I think we’re good to go!