Barry Eisler turned down a half-million dollar deal to publish his new novel, The Detachment, as he decided to self-publish.
Now NPR has an article about this and his hook-up with Amazon:
The best-selling author shook up the publishing world last March when he walked away from a two book, half-million dollar deal with St. Martin’s Press. Instead, Eisler announced he would self-publish his next book electronically.
“Amazon read about it and approached me with what is essentially a hybrid deal, the best of both worlds,” Eisler tells NPR’s Lynn Neary. Eisler retained control over packaging and business decisions that were important to him. The digital title was released about a month after the manuscript was finished. And he was thankful to have “the entire Amazon marketing juggernaut behind the book” — something that you miss out on when you self-publish. “Amazon offered me the best of both worlds and it really worked out well,” he says. …
But not everyone is celebrating his success. His decision to self-publish, he says, was initially greeted with a lot of enthusiasm and excitement from people advocating for changes in the publishing industry. A bestselling publisher walking away from a big advance from a legacy publisher was a milestone for the self-publishing world.
If a better way comes along … of course I’m going to take it. Publishing for me is a business, not an ideology.
“But then, when I signed on with Amazon, those ‘attaboys’ turned to cries of ‘Hypocrisy!’ and ‘Eisler is a sell-out!’ and that sort of thing,” Eisler says.
But Eisler stands by his decision to sign on with the distribution giant. “My objectives were to make more money from the title to get the digital out first, and to retain more control over business decisions,” he says. Self-publishing was a good way to achieve those goals, but Amazon’s deal was a better way.
“If a better way comes along … of course I’m going to take it,” he says. “Publishing for me is a business, not an ideology.”
Thanks to Michael von Glahn for the link.
