That Can't Be Right!

[J.P. Reedman]

I know someone who had a book published by a mainstream publisher. They did no PR for it, and it sold about 1000 copies.
Alternatively, there is a local author called Kit Berry who self published her 3 fantasy books after 4 or 5 years of trying to get published with no success (even though she had an agent.) She sold about 2000 copies of each book on her own, and then was picked up by a mainstream publisher.

 

[Graylorne]

By switching I expanded my audience and it made it easier for my foreign rights agent to sell my books overseas

Funny, Michael, I read this post of yours only today, and just now I saw on of of our local forums that your Riyria books 1 and 2 are going to be published in Dutch by Luitingh. So I'd say, welcome in the Netherlands.
(If you're interested, it's at Fantasy Realm - Frontpage)

 

[mijo]

Jesus Steerpike what a buzz kill, hell I was trying to deceide between a Bently and a Bugatti Veyron Super Sport with my Amazon.com $4.02 royalty check.

I vote Bugatti.

 

[MichaelSullivan]

Funny, Michael, I read this post of yours only today, and just now I saw on of of our local forums that your Riyria books 1 and 2 are going to be published in Dutch by Luitingh. So I'd say, welcome in the Netherlands.
(If you're interested, it's at Fantasy Realm - Frontpage)

Thanks for the heads-up. I knew the Dutch publication book was approaching but wasn't sure exactly when. I keep a kind of "screenshot" scrapbook so thanks for the link. My agent tells me that Luitingh is a very highly respected fantasy publisher in the Netherlands, so I'm very pleased that they wanted to pick up the series.

 

[Graylorne]

Yes, with Luitingh you come in at the top. They're active and run a good line of books. Their Fantasy-line is at Welkom bij Dromen & Demonen.

 

[Lawfire]

It wasn't a monetary decision. A book that is good enough to be traditionally published will (unless really poorly executed) sell more through self-publishing. There are many reasons for this (that I'll get into if anyone is interested) but let's just accept that for this purposes of this post.

I am interested.

 

[Ravana]

A book that is good enough to be traditionally published will (unless really poorly executed) sell more through self-publishing.

Just keep the above qualifier in mind while reading his explanation… 'cause it won't apply to a book that isn't good enough to be traditionally published.

Well, that may not be entirely true: a book that isn't good enough to be traditionally published is all but guaranteed to sell more through self-publishing.…

 

[MichaelSullivan]

Yes, with Luitingh you come in at the top. They're active and run a good line of books. Their Fantasy-line is at Welkom bij Dromen & Demonen.

Good to know - and thanks for the link.

 

[Devor]

Just keep the above qualifier in mind while reading his explanation… 'cause it won't apply to a book that isn't good enough to be traditionally published.

Well, that may not be entirely true: a book that isn't good enough to be traditionally published is all but guaranteed to sell more through self-publishing.…

A book that isn't good enough to be published, but is published anyways, is what we call . . . let's keep it family-friendly and go with "the problem with traditional publishing."

It might be true that self-publishers do better for a good book, but I don't think a mega-seller would have done as well, like Harry Potter orGRRM. It's hard to top being sold at WalMart and grocery stores.

 

[MichaelSullivan]

I am interested.

I did a post on the money breakdown. You can see it here.

 

[MichaelSullivan]

It might be true that self-publishers do better for a good book, but I don't think a mega-seller would have done as well, like Harry Potter orGRRM. It's hard to top being sold at WalMart and grocery stores.

True, as I note in my "show me the money post". But those mega-successes will be targeted that way when they are sold. Night Circus is a great example. It has a HUGE rollout but it had a seven figure advance. If you are getting the standard $5,000 - $10,000 you aren't going to be in Wallmart and won't hit those numbers.