That’s the thesis in an article in the Mail Tribune:
It’s always been tough for literary fiction writers, particularly first timers, to get their work published by the top publishing houses. But the digital revolution that is disrupting the economic model of the book industry is having an outsized impact on the careers of literary writers. Priced much lower than hardcover books, e-books generate less income for publishers. At the same time, big retailers are buying fewer titles. As a result, the publishers responsible for nurturing generations of America’s top literary fiction writers are approving fewer book deals and signing fewer new writers. Most of those getting published are receiving smaller advances.
“Advances are down, and there aren’t as many debuts as before” says Ira Silverberg, a well-known literary agent. “We’re all trying to figure out what the business is as it goes through this digital disruption.” Much as cheap digital music downloads have meant fewer bands can earn a living from record company deals, publishers and agents say fewer literary authors will be able to support themselves as e-books gain broader acceptance. “In terms of making a living as a writer, you better have another source of income,” says Nan Talese, whose Nan A. Talese/Doubleday imprint publishes Ian McEwan, Margaret Atwood, and John Pipkin. In some cases, independent publishers are picking up the slack by signing promising literary fiction writers. But they offer on average $1,000 to $5,000 in advances, a fraction of the $50,000 to $100,000 advances that established publishers typically paid in the past for debut literary fiction.
The new economics of the e-book make the author’s quandary painfully clear: A new $28 hardcover book returns half, or $14 to the publisher, and 15%, or $4.20, to the author. Under most e-book deals currently, a digital book sells for $12.99, returning 70%, or $9.09, to the publisher and typically 25% of that, or $2.27, to the author. The upshot: From an e-book sale, an author makes a little more than half what he or she makes from a hardcover sale.
A similar thesis I posted elsewhere, “Is this a horrible time to be a writer?” returned two opinions: It’s easier to be a writer, without the constraints of the established publishing system… and as long as you don’t actually want to make money; and It’s harder to be a writer… on the other hand, it was never easy.
Both opinions indicate that the payout for author’s works has been dropping, and will continue to drop, exacerbated by the lack of product control that the internet and ebooks give you. Some authors care more for fame than profit… others would rather pay some bills… and therein lies most of the disagreement on the subject.
Recipe for bad business plan:
1) Focus on security protections rather then sales
2) Minimize quality control
3) Minimize new product development
4) Make no attempt to know or understand your paying customer
5) Alienate your paying customer
6) Blame your business partners instead of fixing your own problems
Blaming the advent of ebooks is remarkably silly since literary fiction has been in trouble for years. The readership has dwindled, and the advances for the few new writers from the best MFA schools have been astronomical and rarely earned out, the new writers rarely do well on their second or third books so there are no more big advances or new books so the writer starts teaching in some MFA program.
Authors and publishers pray to be anointed by the NY literati and Oprah so the book will make some money, but most of the books are ignored or receive a few precious reviews which the readers ignore.
If an author becomes wildly successful, the literati declare that he has sold out to plebeian tastes and trash him. Some readers listen. Also, the simple fact that an author has more than a few books out brands him as last year’s fashion, and he will disappear off the radar of the major tastemakers and many readers hungry for the next new thing.
The literary equivalent of the midlist where authors develop a readership really doesn’t exist so the boom or bust syndrome perpetuates itself while even fewer writers are published.
Right now, ebooks are a very small factor for literary fiction because most of the readership tends toward genre so the loss of income isn’t even a tiny portion of an author’s income.
The publishing industry would do well to expand its literary fiction offerings, offer reasonable advances to most new authors, use ebooks as their midlist to build audience, and aggressively go after the ebook market.
I think this articl has it BACKWARDS- ebooks HELP literary writers m,ore than publishers. There are very minimal cash advances these days so that is certainly gone. Now, you really need to do your own publicity, which is NOT necessarily a bad thying.
AND, a publisher will only give you 25% of its receipts, rather than self-pub and keeping the 70%.
Again, J A Konrath has is right- and it is NOT only for thrillers that his methid will work.it is just as true for literary writers as genre writers (just work harder on publicity).
I suspect the model will both open up and narrow down.
Self-publishing will create an easier entry path. Most new authors will be forced through the self publishing route first. It’s easier and you will see more new authors hit the market.
Getting a publisher deal will generally require you to prove your value on your own. Successful self-publishers will be offered deals by publishers. Publishers will bring editing/packaging, marketing, and broader distribution. It’s up to the author to decide if the publisher brings more value than a continued indi experience.
So the good news is more authors get into the market and have an opportunity. The bad news is that the skill set required will change. Previously, the important point was writing that seized the attention of the publisher(s). Now its captivating writing plus self-promotion. This means that some who are excellent writers, but are poor promoters will never rise off of the self-publishing heap. Others who are pretty good writers, but excellent at self-promotion will do better. So the value of personal marketing becomes an important skill set.
One way to offset this would be the rise of ‘personal promoters’. People who are the publishing equivalent of PR reps. Not the same as an agent, who reps books to publishers. These are marketing specialists who help people who are primarily writers introduce themselves to the public.
Just like a band doesn’t just show up and get a deal with a label.
Is this Trachtenberg serious ? does he just read the Publishers press releases or does he just not bother doing any research ?
Yet another, “Ebooks are disrupting publishing so they MUST be bad” article. Just like television was going to kill the movies and radio combined.
Sure, traditional publishing is threatened but that’s because the publishers are fighting the inevitable and treating their best customers as the enemy.
Literary authors can actually do significantly better under the new model. They have the option of going directly to readers, critics and reviewers and receiving a much higher royalty from Amazon, Smashwords, and by selling directly on their websites.
All these authors need to do is write a book that people actually want to read.
— Bill Smith
http://www.BillSmithBooks.com
A very originally idea by Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg (WSJ) to calculate the income of authors by the percentage the author gets from the cover price and not by the number of books sold times royalty
Those numbers don’t really work out, because the author can now self-publish an e-book, keep 70%, and tell the publisher to take a hike.
We don’t really need to pay a lot of money to gatekeepers who add little actual value in the e-book world…
It seems natural that with more books out, with an aging base of readers, and with increased competition from authors, first book advances of $50K+ would certainly come under pressure. It would be better for the two or three rare authors who win that lottery to live in the old days where only a couple of publishers went into bidding wars to cherry-pick whomever was seen as the next big hope.
It’s a tough business. Economic recession, a wealth of entertainment options beyond reading, and reduced attention spans, have probably done more to limit literary fiction than have the presence of eBooks. Still, eBooks have tended to favor genre fiction rather than literary fiction perhaps because readers can actually pick what they enjoy without having to worry what their neighbor on the train will think.
Rob Preece
Publisher
A litany of errors in the original article (Ebooks earn publishers less income than Hardcovers? Ha!) – but one that stuck out in a “this guy is a complete bs artist” way was “Much as cheap digital music downloads have meant fewer bands can earn a living from record company deals”
Oh the horror! We certainly wouldn’t want what has happened to recorded music to happen to fiction!
So what has happened to recorded music thanks to good digital distribution?
More music, being heard by more people, more artists making a living from their music, fewer blockbusters (and more unexpected breakouts).
Surely this would be *good* for literary fiction?
Anthony
An Artist who *almost* makes minimum wage from his art now 🙂
Let me see. Publishers are not philanthropists. It has always been how much money they can make, and oh by the way, send a little to the author to keep him supplying us with income-makers. Along comes eBook. Author now makes money and publishers have to consider selling their big houses and fancy cars. I am so sorry for them. NOT.