Monday, February 6, 2012

The Brave New World of Publishing


The last few weeks have been an extraordinary experience for me. My former agent had been trying for years and years to get El Aguila published, but the book was rejected by every publishing house in the country. Editors found it to be charming, but nobody was willing to stick their necks out on a book that exposed such deep truth.

After years and years of rejections, I finally tried a long shot and entered it into Writer’s Digest’s YA Fiction Contest. It didn’t even place, so I said to hell with it and decided to see what happened if I published it on Kindle Direct.

El Aguila was published by my corporation, Weil Editorial Services, Inc., on January 14, 2012. I didn't put it on promotion; Amazon did that for me. They also put the book in the Free Historical Fiction category, which puzzled me because El Aguila is a contemporary novel. It hit the bestsellers list within seconds. I was blown out my chair as I watched the numbers flip before my very eyes. During its five day promo run, it hit number 35 in that category and never dropped below 60. It stayed in the low 50's during most of the run. Its Amazon Best Sellers Rank now is: #348,911 Paid in Kindle Store.

Not even my former agent knew what to do with Esmeralda. It defies categories. She was a little squeamish about the sex, but I refused to take it out. My work stands the way I write it, and editors who think they know better usually don’t. Esmeralda was published by Weil Editorial Services, Inc. on January 19, 2012. I never announced it. I let it sit until El Aguila's run was over. I announced it on Facebook on Wednesday, February 1, 2012 and put it on promo. There was no way in hell Amazon could find a category for Esmeralda, so they dropped it in general fiction. Its best ranking during its three day promo was 1,345 in all free Amazon fiction, which I achieved on day one. It hovered above 2,000 for a couple of days, and then dropped to about 2,600 before I stopped the promotion on the third day. Its Amazon Best Sellers Rank now is: #310,652 Paid in Kindle Store.

This is astonishing and disturbing at the same time. It took awhile to figure out what happened, but once all the dust settled, I finally did. Amazon is destroying the publishing industry brick by brick. Once they entered into the publishing industry, the brick and mortar houses got squeezed out of the e-book market completely. Beyond that, they are traditionally publishing their own books, so the big houses can’t possibly compete with a behemoth like Amazon.

The Brick and Mortar houses are folding imprints left and right, and editors change faster than baby diapers. The midrange book category has been all but eliminated by the big houses, and the only way to nail a big contract with the big houses is to have a REALLY big name, or a manuscript that they believe with all their hearts will make it to the top of the charts. They only want blockbusters. 

This eliminates newcomers almost immediately, so their only option is to go with a small indie house. This is also a huge problem, because the smaller houses are getting hammered by rising costs, less readership, and their distributors. Some of the smaller houses can’t get picked up by Midpoint, and that can be a problem and a blessing at the same time. Midpoint has a tendency to order too many books and then slam the publisher with returns for those that don’t sell. They also pay several months after the book goes into the distribution channels, leaving the small publisher in a cash bind. That kills cash flow for the small publisher, as well as royalties for the writer.

So, it has never been more difficult to get traditionally published in this day and age. Authors all over the world are rebelling against the Brick and Mortar houses, and are taking the option to self-publish through Kindle Direct or SmashWords. Both are free, and if your book takes off, you can make a name for yourself, but you will make pennies on the dollar, especially if you go Kindle Direct. 

Amazon Prime members pay $79.00 per year, and for that price they have access to thousands of e-books for free, yours included. Amazon has destroyed the publishing model forever with this policy. Yes, both my books were in the bestsellers list as long as they were offered free of charge, yet as soon as I ended the promotion, nobody is buying the books. I am certain Prime Members are downloading my books to their hearts’ delight. And I am not seeing a dime. I am getting screwed nine ways to Sunday.

I have seen several amateur writers who have made it pretty high up in the paid category, but they are only charging .99 cents for their books. After Amazon’s take, they are getting peanuts. And even worse, people have short memory spans, so they will drop off into oblivion unless their book is recognized as a modern-day classic.

Welcome to the Brave New World of Publishing. This has always been a whore’s business, but now it has become a filthy whore’s business. The outcome will be the destruction of the New York Brick and Mortar Houses as they collapse one by one when Amazon sits on their arrogant heads.

Love to all!

James M. Weil

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