Now that the time-intensive holidays are over, I can get back to the rest of my life. It was great to see family (and bake far too many cookies), but the end of the year is approaching which means reviewing the past year and seeing where I want to go next. Which brings me back to the writing conference…
Ken Atchity gave us almost an opposite opinion of the publishing scene from Michael Neff, who ran the conference. Several of us wondered if Michael had known what Ken was going to say. Ken proffered that the publishers are as confused as the rest of us about the future of the industry.
Four years ago, Ken reports the number of books published per year as 52,000. Last year 750,000 books were published. Michael argued that including the self-published and ebooks skewed the numbers (especially since most of them are bad, in his opinion). Ken agreed that 80% are not the best quality, but gems can be found if you work through them. Where Michael dismissed the idea of self-publishing, Ken embraced it.
According to Ken, the rise in the risk of publishing (that the book won’t make money) has provoked a defensive response from the publishers. They now expect the author to take on a greater portion of the risk in the form of reduced advances and increased marketing requirements. If you don’t have a very commercial manuscript, you need to self-publish. However, self-publishing has its own pitfalls. For example- if you publish on Xlibris, Hollywood won’t touch it.
To many writers, being acceptable by Hollywood doesn’t seem to be all that important. Some writers even recoil in distaste at the idea of turning their “baby” into that commercial venture. Ken Atchity’s experience with Hollywood was his platform for his lecture. He explained that Hollywood is not interested in simply a good story. What they want is a total package. They want the project that has underlying property. Can your book be turned into a screenplay? And a series? And a graphic novel? And action figure merchandising? A recent example is the Stephanie Meyers vampire craze.
Ken has put together a company to lead writers through the development process to avoid the many pitfalls. His websites/contact information and other resources her provided:
www.storymerchant.com email: DrK@storymerchant.com
Next time: A Different Perspective on Being a Writer
So, given that most writers aren't thinking Hollywood, what are the benefits to self-publishing?
ReplyDeleteGreat question. Let me answer that in a blog post where I can really lay it out. I'll do that topic next.
ReplyDelete