Must be something in the air- or the blogosphere. Recently, several writers took to the Internet to talk about money. One person bravely tells how she cluelessly blew a third of a million dollars, and others tell how to watch out for and cope with the trap of a sudden windfall from publishers or skyrocketing sales.
Makes for some very interesting reading and comparison between them all.
First was Heather.
Vincent Zandri is a sharp cookie, but even he had some difficulty after he got a big book contract.
Chuck Wendig weighs in.
And Dean Wesley Smith has some great advice.
So I'll be well prepared when the big contract comes my way. Let's hope it's soon, so I can test my strength of character coping with outstanding success and money...
Showing posts with label Chuck Wendig. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chuck Wendig. Show all posts
Saturday, September 21, 2019
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
Is Amazon Evil, With a Plan to Destroy the Universe?
Elizabeth K. Burton commented on a previous post.
http://daletphillips.blogspot.com/2014/05/amazon-and-hachette-godzilla-vs-mothra.html
Thank you for weighing in- good food for thought, because authors really need to think this through.
It's truly a battle of mega-monsters, who will no doubt trample a lot of us little folk underfoot, whoever wins. And it may well result in the outcome Elizabeth brings up.
There's some pretty big stakes for us all here- future selling capability. There's a few more places to check out for commentary, the wonderful Hugh Howey and the irascible Chuck Wendig. Different slants here, but good to get a broad picture, and fair input from pretty savvy people with skin in the game.
http://www.hughhowey.com/
http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2014/06/03/amazon-hachette-and-giant-stompy-corporations/
My words in the last post were inadequate to the whole picture. And Elizabeth caught me mixing my metaphors, when I should have explained in more detail. Let's explore some more.
The previous title reflects the real battle-- between two giant corporations, rather than big old bully Amazon is picking on a poor little Mom-and-Pop shop, as has been the slant in a number of pieces by media apologists for Hachette's side. The big publishing house and their parent corporation have an immense amount of resources at their call, and have been pushing for hearts and minds in the media.
The weakling vs the sumo image comes in when we see Hachette try to push Amazon into doing things the Hachette way, instead of how Amazon wants to do it.
Big Publishing has had at least five years to adjust to the new world, but it seems all they can do is keep blaming Amazon for unfairly taking away their divine right of massive profits. They keep making it too damn easy for Amazon to beat them senseless, and hand Bezos ever-bigger clubs to do it with.
Amazon is just way better at this game, much more versatile, and craftier, thinking long-game, while the Big Pub moves seem clumsy, short-sighted, and ill-intentioned. See how Amazon completely and easily disemboweled the argument about hurting individual writers with their offer of loss compensation to be matched by Hachette. Hachette grumpily refused (at least seemed to), in typical, ham-handed fashion. Low-hanging fruit with a huge PR win, and all Big Pub does is reload and shoot their other foot.
First, let's accept one thing- any extra money Hachette gets from any deal is not likely to go into author pockets, but rather to Hachette profits. Ditto for higher book prices. Many commentators are rightly pointing out that Hachette, as part of the Big Publishing conglomerates, is currently taking unfair advantage of authors. Heck, we have the public confession by several of their writers that working for that cartel is like grubbing for change, and if the current author Hachette book doesn’t sell properly, they’re screwed, no matter how successful they’ve been in the past.
Ouch. Not exactly a ringing endorsement for a business partner…
Okay, it’s not a holy war, it’s not the Fellowship against Mordor, it’s big monsters contending for how much pie they’ll eat in the future. But one group is doing bad stuff RIGHT NOW, and the other side is… currently treating us pretty decently…
Amazon has made it possible for hundreds, or thousands of authors to get paid (at much higher wages) for their work on their terms. We are approaching a time (if we haven’t made it there already) when more authors can make a living outside of Big Pub than inside.
And that, my friends, is what has Big Pub scared shirtless. They have to fight this idea tooth and nail. Because when the smart authors figure out they can make more money over the long run and be treated better by NOT rushing to Big Pub, Big Pub not only loses profits, but is in grave danger. That’s why they froth over the Author Earnings reports from Hugh Howey and Data Guy, who are extrapolating the data, and showing that now there are two very viable options, and one has much higher odds of success.
http://authorearnings.com/updates/
But, as many have counseled- diversify! Don’t put all your author eggs into any one basket, Big Pub or Amazon. Use multiple outlets to distribute and sell books. Mark Coker of Smashwords must be loving this dust-up, because he’s going to be a clear winner, as many authors realize he offers a terrific place to sell ebooks.
As for Barnes and Noble, why is it so hard for them to get decent customer service and a website that doesn’t suck? With millions at stake, they look like they just don’t care. Maybe they’ve just given up, which would be a shame. It’s good to have market alternatives.
So suppose Amazon gains even bigger control of the market, and pulls off their mask to reveal the Face of Evil underneath. Suppose they give a giant F-U to the writing and reading world. Could they get away with reducing author ebook share to 50-50, or even less, if they were the only game in town? Maybe. Note that it would still be more than Big Pub! But you’d hear thundering hooves as many left the fold. They reduced the author share on ACX by a few percent, and the resulting firestorm would have made you think they ate babies. Many would continue with them, but alternatives would spring up fast, and people would split as soon as it was viable.
Not saying it may not happen, just not happening today.
Neither company is your friend. Neither is a religion. As a writer today, you view distributors and publishers as business partners who are temporary, as long as they benefit you. Last night, someone at the writing group was asking who to publish with. We told them “depends on the contract terms.” Right now, Amazon is treating authors as more of a partner, while Hachette is treating authors as serfs.
You have a choice on who to deal with. Make yours wisely, and plan for today and the future.
http://daletphillips.blogspot.com/2014/05/amazon-and-hachette-godzilla-vs-mothra.html
Thank you for weighing in- good food for thought, because authors really need to think this through.
It's truly a battle of mega-monsters, who will no doubt trample a lot of us little folk underfoot, whoever wins. And it may well result in the outcome Elizabeth brings up.
There's some pretty big stakes for us all here- future selling capability. There's a few more places to check out for commentary, the wonderful Hugh Howey and the irascible Chuck Wendig. Different slants here, but good to get a broad picture, and fair input from pretty savvy people with skin in the game.
http://www.hughhowey.com/
http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2014/06/03/amazon-hachette-and-giant-stompy-corporations/
My words in the last post were inadequate to the whole picture. And Elizabeth caught me mixing my metaphors, when I should have explained in more detail. Let's explore some more.
The previous title reflects the real battle-- between two giant corporations, rather than big old bully Amazon is picking on a poor little Mom-and-Pop shop, as has been the slant in a number of pieces by media apologists for Hachette's side. The big publishing house and their parent corporation have an immense amount of resources at their call, and have been pushing for hearts and minds in the media.
The weakling vs the sumo image comes in when we see Hachette try to push Amazon into doing things the Hachette way, instead of how Amazon wants to do it.
Big Publishing has had at least five years to adjust to the new world, but it seems all they can do is keep blaming Amazon for unfairly taking away their divine right of massive profits. They keep making it too damn easy for Amazon to beat them senseless, and hand Bezos ever-bigger clubs to do it with.
Amazon is just way better at this game, much more versatile, and craftier, thinking long-game, while the Big Pub moves seem clumsy, short-sighted, and ill-intentioned. See how Amazon completely and easily disemboweled the argument about hurting individual writers with their offer of loss compensation to be matched by Hachette. Hachette grumpily refused (at least seemed to), in typical, ham-handed fashion. Low-hanging fruit with a huge PR win, and all Big Pub does is reload and shoot their other foot.
First, let's accept one thing- any extra money Hachette gets from any deal is not likely to go into author pockets, but rather to Hachette profits. Ditto for higher book prices. Many commentators are rightly pointing out that Hachette, as part of the Big Publishing conglomerates, is currently taking unfair advantage of authors. Heck, we have the public confession by several of their writers that working for that cartel is like grubbing for change, and if the current author Hachette book doesn’t sell properly, they’re screwed, no matter how successful they’ve been in the past.
Ouch. Not exactly a ringing endorsement for a business partner…
Okay, it’s not a holy war, it’s not the Fellowship against Mordor, it’s big monsters contending for how much pie they’ll eat in the future. But one group is doing bad stuff RIGHT NOW, and the other side is… currently treating us pretty decently…
Amazon has made it possible for hundreds, or thousands of authors to get paid (at much higher wages) for their work on their terms. We are approaching a time (if we haven’t made it there already) when more authors can make a living outside of Big Pub than inside.
And that, my friends, is what has Big Pub scared shirtless. They have to fight this idea tooth and nail. Because when the smart authors figure out they can make more money over the long run and be treated better by NOT rushing to Big Pub, Big Pub not only loses profits, but is in grave danger. That’s why they froth over the Author Earnings reports from Hugh Howey and Data Guy, who are extrapolating the data, and showing that now there are two very viable options, and one has much higher odds of success.
http://authorearnings.com/updates/
But, as many have counseled- diversify! Don’t put all your author eggs into any one basket, Big Pub or Amazon. Use multiple outlets to distribute and sell books. Mark Coker of Smashwords must be loving this dust-up, because he’s going to be a clear winner, as many authors realize he offers a terrific place to sell ebooks.
As for Barnes and Noble, why is it so hard for them to get decent customer service and a website that doesn’t suck? With millions at stake, they look like they just don’t care. Maybe they’ve just given up, which would be a shame. It’s good to have market alternatives.
So suppose Amazon gains even bigger control of the market, and pulls off their mask to reveal the Face of Evil underneath. Suppose they give a giant F-U to the writing and reading world. Could they get away with reducing author ebook share to 50-50, or even less, if they were the only game in town? Maybe. Note that it would still be more than Big Pub! But you’d hear thundering hooves as many left the fold. They reduced the author share on ACX by a few percent, and the resulting firestorm would have made you think they ate babies. Many would continue with them, but alternatives would spring up fast, and people would split as soon as it was viable.
Not saying it may not happen, just not happening today.
Neither company is your friend. Neither is a religion. As a writer today, you view distributors and publishers as business partners who are temporary, as long as they benefit you. Last night, someone at the writing group was asking who to publish with. We told them “depends on the contract terms.” Right now, Amazon is treating authors as more of a partner, while Hachette is treating authors as serfs.
You have a choice on who to deal with. Make yours wisely, and plan for today and the future.
Monday, November 19, 2012
Great interview out today
Happy Monday, and Happy Thanksgiving Week! Don't forget the cranberry sauce...
Today I'm interviewed on the blog of Serena Akeroyd, fledgling Romance Writer, and I get to give long-winded answers to a lot of great questions, giving writing advice and dropping names of other writers giving even better advice: Stephen King, Dean Wesley Smith, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Chuck Wendig.
This is the third interview in the last few weeks-- lots of exposure for the work, as I feverishly hammer away at A Shadow on the Wall, the third Zack Taylor mystery.
Today I'm interviewed on the blog of Serena Akeroyd, fledgling Romance Writer, and I get to give long-winded answers to a lot of great questions, giving writing advice and dropping names of other writers giving even better advice: Stephen King, Dean Wesley Smith, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Chuck Wendig.
This is the third interview in the last few weeks-- lots of exposure for the work, as I feverishly hammer away at A Shadow on the Wall, the third Zack Taylor mystery.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Make a Better World
There was a recent terrible tragedy, where one person perpetrated an act of absolute brutality, ending some lives and destroying others.
This senseless act of violence is so deplorable, and leaves us questioning life and the randomness of the universe.
How do we respond? One of the best ways I saw was on the blog of Chuck Wendig, who challenged his readers to post something *nice.* I'm going to quote from the site, because it matters:
"We balance out the horrors of a day like this by willfully doing good for others.
So, hug your kids, give to a charity, rescue a puppy, something, anything.
Evil can’t be undone, but good can outshine it.
So, if you feel like it, post something below in the comments that’s good and nice in this world. Don’t talk about the shooting or other bad shit. Don’t politicize anything (today is not a real good day to defend the second amendment, or talk about naughty pop culture or liberal-conservative fol-de-rol). Just post something nice. A story. Charity. Something your kid said or did. Anything at all.
This not in service of forgetting tragedy or ignoring it, but rather, to remind ourselves that people aren’t all bad and that one aberration a species does not make."
One of the posters responded to this with a personal story:
"A week ago, I was picking up odds and ends at Walmart on the way home from work. There was a family ahead of me in the checkout line that was having issues paying. The dad’s credit card was being rejected for the n-th time, so he decided to give up and started giving back the bags they had loaded into their cart. After taking a quick peek at their loot (mostly frozen dinners, rice and beans), noting that they weren’t buying any alcohol or tobacco, I offered to pay for it. It was about 60 bucks worth of stuff. Not much, but the mom teared up, making me almost tear up, and so on.
After helping get their bags back in the cart, I turn to the cashier to pay for my items. Only, the guy behind me, sporting a big, shit-eating grin, had paid for my items. At that point, the lady behind him, insisted to pay for his, and so it went in a line of about 8 people. It was a great moment of good will, and I’m glad to have kicked it off."
It's that kind of act we should remember, and celebrate.
So-- go forth and celebrate at least one human act of kindness, of connection, of just pure goodness. Evil deeds are done by the weak and stupid. It takes real strength to build something good.
This senseless act of violence is so deplorable, and leaves us questioning life and the randomness of the universe.
How do we respond? One of the best ways I saw was on the blog of Chuck Wendig, who challenged his readers to post something *nice.* I'm going to quote from the site, because it matters:
"We balance out the horrors of a day like this by willfully doing good for others.
So, hug your kids, give to a charity, rescue a puppy, something, anything.
Evil can’t be undone, but good can outshine it.
So, if you feel like it, post something below in the comments that’s good and nice in this world. Don’t talk about the shooting or other bad shit. Don’t politicize anything (today is not a real good day to defend the second amendment, or talk about naughty pop culture or liberal-conservative fol-de-rol). Just post something nice. A story. Charity. Something your kid said or did. Anything at all.
This not in service of forgetting tragedy or ignoring it, but rather, to remind ourselves that people aren’t all bad and that one aberration a species does not make."
One of the posters responded to this with a personal story:
"A week ago, I was picking up odds and ends at Walmart on the way home from work. There was a family ahead of me in the checkout line that was having issues paying. The dad’s credit card was being rejected for the n-th time, so he decided to give up and started giving back the bags they had loaded into their cart. After taking a quick peek at their loot (mostly frozen dinners, rice and beans), noting that they weren’t buying any alcohol or tobacco, I offered to pay for it. It was about 60 bucks worth of stuff. Not much, but the mom teared up, making me almost tear up, and so on.
After helping get their bags back in the cart, I turn to the cashier to pay for my items. Only, the guy behind me, sporting a big, shit-eating grin, had paid for my items. At that point, the lady behind him, insisted to pay for his, and so it went in a line of about 8 people. It was a great moment of good will, and I’m glad to have kicked it off."
It's that kind of act we should remember, and celebrate.
So-- go forth and celebrate at least one human act of kindness, of connection, of just pure goodness. Evil deeds are done by the weak and stupid. It takes real strength to build something good.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
25 Reasons Why it's a Good Time to be a Writer
Chuck Wendig gives 25 reasons why is this a good time to be a storyteller: http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2012/06/12/25-reasons-this-is-the-best-time-to-be-a-storyteller/
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
The War of Art
New book for you that is now required reading for any creative person.
The War of Art by Steven Pressfield is hands-down the best, most motivating take on writing and overcoming resistance that I've read. And I've read a lot of these type books.
The best recommendation is that I wrote before I did this post-- I overcame the resistance, and got it done. So it worked for today. Tomorrow we start the fight against resistance anew.
Read it, learn it, live by it. You will understand why it is that you are holding back.
***
Someone who does get it done on a regular basis is Chuck Wendig, author of the Terrible Minds blog, a top-notch blog of writing issues. Chuck is funny, vulgar, and dead-on with his advice. He gives you good lessons while you laugh at his wordplay.
And today his novel Blackbirds has been released. Check it out-- and buy it if you like it. He's worth it.
The War of Art by Steven Pressfield is hands-down the best, most motivating take on writing and overcoming resistance that I've read. And I've read a lot of these type books.
The best recommendation is that I wrote before I did this post-- I overcame the resistance, and got it done. So it worked for today. Tomorrow we start the fight against resistance anew.
Read it, learn it, live by it. You will understand why it is that you are holding back.
***
Someone who does get it done on a regular basis is Chuck Wendig, author of the Terrible Minds blog, a top-notch blog of writing issues. Chuck is funny, vulgar, and dead-on with his advice. He gives you good lessons while you laugh at his wordplay.
And today his novel Blackbirds has been released. Check it out-- and buy it if you like it. He's worth it.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Show vs Tell
One reason to pay attention to the blogosphere is that with judicious screening, one can find good advice.
A site that is entertaining, helpful, and thought-provoking is the Terrible Minds site of Chuck Wendig. He's often quite funny, but also gives good writing advice to help the medicine go down.
And so he's done it once again, with an explanation of Show vs Tell, one of those things you'll hear ad nauseum if you're a writer.
He breaks it down to describe what the differences are, and how they matter in writing.
Yes, required reading!
A site that is entertaining, helpful, and thought-provoking is the Terrible Minds site of Chuck Wendig. He's often quite funny, but also gives good writing advice to help the medicine go down.
And so he's done it once again, with an explanation of Show vs Tell, one of those things you'll hear ad nauseum if you're a writer.
He breaks it down to describe what the differences are, and how they matter in writing.
Yes, required reading!
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
How to be a full-time writer- and interview tomorrow
The irrepressible Chuck Wendig has another great post, on how to be a full-time writer.
***
And tomorrow, Wed April 4th, my interview goes up at Author Radio. It's on all day, so give a listen.
***
And tomorrow, Wed April 4th, my interview goes up at Author Radio. It's on all day, so give a listen.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Chuck is Right!
The irrepressible Chuck Wendig has a killer list- 25 Lies Writers Tell and Start to Believe.
It's way too painful for self-aware writers to read. Ouch. The bastard nails us.
Read it, if you've got the guts. Don't say I didn't warn you, though...
It's way too painful for self-aware writers to read. Ouch. The bastard nails us.
Read it, if you've got the guts. Don't say I didn't warn you, though...
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Chuck Wendig Today- Happy Valentine
I'm putting together the print version of my latest book Jumble Sale-- and it's a ton of work.
So I'm going to let Chuck Wendig entertain and instruct you today, as my little valentine. He's going to tell you 25 Things You Should Know About Protagonists.
Read it and laugh and learn. The guy can put together a great lesson.
So I'm going to let Chuck Wendig entertain and instruct you today, as my little valentine. He's going to tell you 25 Things You Should Know About Protagonists.
Read it and laugh and learn. The guy can put together a great lesson.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)