Malik
Auror
That, they do.the times change.
That, they do.the times change.
I get you. This MS happens to have a disabled POC MC from the same tribe and Reservation as my stepfather, and also as my maternal grandfather. Plus a gay lovestory subplot and a deep-dive into intersectionality issues arising in modern-day SOF toward the end of the war, something nobody--I mean NOBODY--dares mention, even still. I didn't do it intentionally; these are stories I witnessed and need to tell. And it seems to resonate. We'll see.
(ETA: plus elves, dragons, hot sex, Navy SEALs, a government conspiracy, and a duel between a wizard and a self-propelled howitzer. Who's not gonna buy it?)
It really does. This is why my agent--who, again, reps indies--went straight to the big kids with it, and why three of them refuse to say "no," while still not saying "yes." It hits all the notes, but their big concern is that there's nothing else like it out there. (They're wrong; there is one indie series that has sold a gazillion copies on the sole premise of "Army Rangers vs. Orcs." That's it; that's the whole plot. I think it's on the ninth book, now, with thousands of reviews for each one.)That would raise the temptation, it hits a lot of the award-winning notes for the current atmosphere in publishing.
It really does. This is why my agent--who, again, reps indies--went straight to the big kids with it, and why three of them refuse to say "no," while still not saying "yes." It hits all the notes, but their big concern is that there's nothing else like it out there. (They're wrong; there is one indie series that has sold a gazillion copies on the sole premise of "Army Rangers vs. Orcs." That's it; that's the whole plot. I think it's on the ninth book, now, with thousands of reviews for each one.)
Anyway, somebody, somewhere, needs to grow a pair. I'm starting to think it might as well be me.
Malik, I'm sure you've talked about this elsewhere, but what were your expenses on Dragon's Trail before you published? Do you remember how many sales it took to break even?
Malik, from what you wrote above, you second book is not out yet?
Apologies.
Series One: Books 1 & 2 are out. Book 3 is under heavy revision, hopefully out next year.
Series Two: Book 1 is on subs. Book 2 is almost through the outline phase.
Just to confuse things more, I may release Book 1 of Series 2 as Book 3 of the whole thing, and add a couple of tie-in references. It would be very easy. Of course, then it would ultimately be a 15-book series spanning 30 years with multiple plot lines, but hey. Epic Fantasy.Ah, that's what I was beginning to pick up on, but I wasn't sure if the Sub was book 3 or a new series.
Apologies. Editing for clarity.
Series One: Books 1 & 2 are out. Book 3 is under heavy revision, hopefully out next year if I can get the money together. As I mentioned in another thread, Book 2 was heavily pirated and the receipts were disappointing.
Series Two: Book 1 is on subs. Book 2 is almost through the outline phase.
The discussion here reminded me about another aspect in the discussion that often gets forgotten. It doesn't need to be an either / or choice. Of course, for any given novel, you can only pick one. But there is nothing stopping you from publishing one novel with a trad publisher and going indie with the next.
Most writers these days, once they get going publish a lot of work. One or two a year is on the low end. Which means that if you're 10 years into the future you can easily have 20 novels out there. No reason to all publish them in the same way. Some works work better indie, while others do better traditionally published.
2 things to be aware of: If you get an agent, make sure they only get paid for work they do. Some agents have contracts that grant them a % of everything you publish. Everything includes indie works that have taken them no work at all. Don't do that (unless you like giving money away of course...).
And secondly, it's common for publishers to include rights of first refusal in contracts. Make sure you limit those as well, both in time and in to which works they get the right to first refusal. You don't want a situation where they can consider a work for a few years before saying no. And only grant this right to works in the same series. Otherwise you'll be tying yourself to a single publisher who can do whatever they want with your works.
She did, the same with electronic rights by the way. When she originally published (in the 90's) neither ebooks nor audiobooks were a thing, so she was able to retain those rights. As a result, there have been some years where Rowling was actually selling enough ebooks to be noticable as a category in ebook genres and publishers.Another form of hybrid is to use the publishers for print and to keep the audio rights. It seems I heard that Rowling has her own audio rights. That's a boom
She did, the same with electronic rights by the way. When she originally published (in the 90's) neither ebooks nor audiobooks were a thing, so she was able to retain those rights. As a result, there have been some years where Rowling was actually selling enough ebooks to be noticable as a category in ebook genres and publishers.
Another result of that was of course that publishers tend to take hold of those rights now. I can imagine it's very hard these days (as a beginning author) to only sell your print rights. Most of them would take print, ebook and audio. And given the power imbalance, these tend to be take it or leave it kind of negotiations.