Since The Bookseller’s site is down I’m reprinting this email article in full (block quotes omitted):
Since The Bookseller’s site is down I’m reprinting this email article in full (block quotes omitted):
TeleRead.com is now a static archival site, but we're very much alive at TeleRead.org. Big thanks to Nate Hoffelder of The-Digital-Reader.com, who teamed up on the preservation project with ReclaimHosting.com.
It’s nice to confirm that I’m not the only “aspiring author” who seems to think I should be able to–gasp!–make money writing, just as those who blithely download creative works without paying for them would not dream of doing their own jobs for no pay. For all the heady talk of how much creative individuals are prized in this culture, it’s amazing how shoddy they are treated by the public.
So if publishers set lower royalty rates for e-books than for paper books, he assumes that the technology is at fault. Perhaps he should actually think about why royalty rates are lower instead of just taking the luddite approach.
I think the real danger is in a writer assuming the public buys his work to support him instead of to read it.
So, as a reader it’s my fault that an author signed a bad ebook deal with a publisher? Um, no. If an author wants decent royalties, there are ways of getting them (such as self-pubbing through Amazon or B&N, or using indie publishers) but if the author sacrifices royalties just to go with a big name publisher, I have no sympathy and won’t be guilted into picking paper over digital because of it. Authors have to take responsiblity for their own financial interests and not blame readers for authors’ poor choices.
Nobody makes money ‘just’ doing one thing, though. All living-earning jobs have more than one component, and some of them you’ll like better than others. I am a teacher, but my job is not ‘just’ teaching, it’s also staff meetings and playground duty and holiday concerts etc. To say that I should be able to make a living ‘just’ teaching is disingenuous. Similarly, part of ‘making a living’ as a writer is doing the promo, like it or not. That is what separates the ‘making a living’ people from the hobbyist people, imho. The hobbyist people ‘just’ do the writing. Nobody owes anybody a living just doing parts of a job that they like. Business just doesn’t work that way. And if you are talking about ‘making a living’ at it, then yes, art is a business too. Even authors like Atwood (who is way bigger than Swift) do author tours and other promo stuff!
But this isn’t really the public that Mr. Swift is talking about is it? He is specifically talking about the way that publishers treat authors and the attempts of the big publishers to use ebooks as an excuse to shrink the royalty they pay writers. That being said, I think there is a regrettable attitude on the part of both the publishers and certain segment of the public that somehow authors are horribly overpaid and therefore it doesn’t matter if they are not compensated for their work. At least in regards to publishers, I think they may find that authors are going to be increasingly willing to use self publishing portals like smashwords, or even go independent entirely. If they don’t pay their authors, they will loose them. It might mean more work on the author’s part (he will have to hire an editor and do his own promotion), but the rewards could be much greater as well.
I think Mr. Swift should read JA Komrath’s blog about the money to be made self-publisjing ebooks. His analysis is ALL WRONG!!!