This is not me. Unfortunately, I have only two arms. Below is the best take on the Hocking/Eisler switch-a-rooni I’ve read.
From Salon.com
“What we stand to lose in a world where writing a great book isn’t good enough.”
I don’t often suggest you all do anything, but I do suggest you read this article. I have been going insane - desperately aware that self-promotion is essential, but struggling with the immutable fact that there are only 24 hours in a day, knowing I cannot write and promote at the same time. Let alone sleep, eat, exercise, shower, speak with anyone, cook, pee, run errands, pay bills, do my taxes, take care of my kids/pets/yard/garden…et al.
A quote from Laura’s article:
“Hocking, on the other hand, is ready to say goodbye to all that entails. In a series of impressively sensible blog posts, she explained to aspiring authors all het up about the riches awaiting them that they shouldn’t think it was easy. “This is literally years of work you’re seeing,” she advised. “And hours and hours of work each day. The amount of time and energy I put into marketing is exhausting. I am continuously overwhelmed by the amount of work I have to do that isn’t writing a book. I hardly have time to write anymore, which sucks and terrifies me.” To the New York Times, she said, “I want to be a writer. I do not want to spend 40 hours a week handling e-mails, formatting covers, finding editors, etc. Right now, being me is a full-time corporation.”
Amanda, you so nailed it.
*Also worth reading - http://misssnarksfirstvictim.blogspot.com/
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“Let alone sleep, eat, exercise, shower, speak with anyone, cook, pee, run errands, pay bills, do my taxes, take care of my kids/pets/yard/garden…et al.”
I notice that kids/pets/yard/garden make the cut but not hubby. Poor guy, relegated to et al.
Ah yes, Yoshi, I am remiss! Poor hubby! Didn’t mean to lump him in with et al.
This is so true. I blogged about it recently. It’s so difficult to be a writer these days. I don’t know what to focus on any longer.
I made that decision. While I am not OLD at sixty-one, neither do I have years and years to spend on marketing when I would rather be writing. So…while I will spend SOME time promoting my books, the largest amount of my time will be divided between my spouse/life and writing. I simply came to writing too late in my life to squander the years I have left on rabid marketing that may-or may not be effective. At this point, I’m going to write the best books I can write because that’s really all I have left.
On my deathbed I know I’m not going to regret trying to write but I might wish I wasted less time promoting my writing in a storm of promotions…
This is one of those tipping points in the publishing world. No one is an expert because no one knows what will happen next. It will be interesting to see what develops. I suspect a variation on the old model will pop up. Very few authors are suited to do all publishing jobs well at all times and write quality work.
XXOO Kat
Um, and the promotion stops simply because she has a big-six contract? Um, methinks not….
Granted, she has a name, and she’s worked hard, and all of that doesn’t go away…but the promotion doesn’t stop once you’ve landed a huge contract. It’s not all done for you. There is still some level of promotion to be done, personally. The personal touch is never a bad idea, at whatever level you are publishing and selling books.
Just my initial two cents worth.
Hi Maddie. I agree, promotion never stops, but I think she is looking forward to a support system. You’ve built up a following over a much longer period of time. You are a very popular author and your books practically sell themselves. I have to fight for every single sale - get my name out there day in and day out. The time involved is waaaaay more than a full-time job.
Do I think Amanda Hocking has paid her dues? No. That’s an honest answer. She’s young, she may have worked her ass off, but she hasn’t been around, trying to break into the publishing world for 20 years, experiencing rejection after rejection after rejection. Still, I think she’s made the right decision for herself. She wants the financial support and security to write more books. When you get down to brass tacks, I think that’s what we all want, to write books that are read.
Hi Kat. I could make a million dollars if I could find that tipping point! I’m hoping things do sort out, because the flux in the publishing world is crazy right no.
Yeah, Anny - just keep writing. You do it very well!
Amber, you do get a lot of writing done, tho. You are sort of a wonder-worker in that regard.
Funny, I blogged about this today as well. Though I didn’t intend to speak for Ms. Hocking and hadn’t seen the article above, I did presume she sold to NY for exactly the time management mentioned.
Promotion is a double-edged sword. Yes, it takes time, but writing great books that never make it into the reader’s hands isn’t good. Time from writing to promote is a necessary evil IMHO.
Going to a traditional publisher to widen her audience (the majority of book buyers still buy actual books, not ebooks) is a good idea. That gives her the best of both worlds-she can publish traditionally and continue to self-publish. In that sense, it’s a good plan.
I’m not sure that going with a traditional publisher will give her more time to write. There are time costs associated with that too. But the money she’s making from self-publishing, and the advance on her contract, will give her the ability to pay other people to do a lot of the work she’s been doing herself and let her concentrate on writing. I don’t think she needed to go with NY to achieve that, but there are plenty of other valid reasons for doing so.
Nina - as Maddie says, promotion never stops, but Amanda Hocking will be getting the money up front. And she’ll have a PR machine behind her - whatever that means these days. The most important thing is, and always will be, writing a great book…but there are a whole lotta great books out there that never, ever get read, regardless of how much the author promotes their work.
As a counterpoint to that, there are a great many bad books that sell well because of nothing more than the author’s name.
Where do I stand in this brave new world? I haven’t a bloody clue.
Gail, yes and yes. Her reasons make sense. I hope things work out for her. Did she have alternatives? Given the money she made self-pubbing, I suspect so.
Exactly Gail. I mean she has a ton load of money so she could hire people to do some of the work for her. Amanda is a writer and I can only speak for myself but if I had to choose between making lots of money doing it on my own and reaching just a fraction of an audience or going with a big publisher and reaching even more people, having my books in major bookstores. I’d go with NY.
But the sad point of that article is that there really are some good books out there that will never be read simply because the author does not have the NY machine behind him/her and that by simply being NY published a horrible book will sell by the thousands.
Thanks for posting this Julia!
That will always be the sad thing, Delilah - the good books/authors overlooked. Nothing new, I guess, but yeah, it continues to be an issue.
I think we need a clone….
Savannah - no kidding! I need a wife!
I agree wholeheartedly…but unfortunately, I cannot afford a professional promotions agency to do it all for me. So I relegate advertising my books to chats, blogs, social sites like Facebook, etc. Heck, I barely got my muse back after two years of doing all the non-writing stuff an author must do, and I don’t want to lose her again. It’s been a long dry spell.
Oh yes, Fran. I know how difficult it’s been for you - with all the promo you do for everyone, not just your own books. It really does drain the energy from your muse! I know! I want you to write, woman!
HI Julia, This is such a great topic to blog about - and I really agree with her statement. I have had one book self published and the others bought by editors, and the marketing on the self published one had no support and was much harder. It is a continuous and exhausting job and I am struggling to always balance writing new material. Amanda is not an overnight success. She was finally recognized for a long line of work and time that finally paid off.
Hi Jennifer, thanks for your comment! Whether you’re self-pubbed or indie pubbed, promo falls to you. Just a fact. It’s a full time job. I think Amanda made a very pragmatic leap. It will be great for her career - you can’t please all the people all the time.
At the risk of having stones thrown at me, I have to agree first of all with those who said promotion doesn’t stop when you sign with a traditional publisher. I have may friends who have signed contracts only to discover that what you see isn’t what you get. There has been a discussion for weeks on the RWA-PAN loop about this very thing. Allison Brennan, bestselling NHT author, really hit the nail on the head when she said it’s 90 percent luck. I write for four digital publishers. They treat me well, I have a great backlist, my books are reviewed on a regular basis and, not to brag, but I make a very nice living. Do I spend a lot of time promoting? A fair amount but it’s organized. I have a daily schedule I keep to and it’s working for me. I post this only to point out it’s not all doom and gloom in the epub world. And hundreds of midlist print authors have fought to get backlist rights back and are self-pubvbing digitally or subbing to epubs.
Just my two cents.
Oh my gosh, Desiree, nobody is going to throw stones. You have so much experience in the epublishing world! I completely agree that promo never stops, but for those of us who are bottom tier, the promo is exhausting - we’re not on anyone’s autobuy list. Over the years you’ve reached your tipping point. You put out a lot of books, your stories are in anthologies and you have a very loyal following. To a certain extent, you can rest on your well-deserved laurels.
But with the increasing number of e-pubs out there, the increasing number of books released every single week, the increasing number of authors from all publishing sites…it’s very hard to stand out in the crowd.
Bottom line, there is no perfect publishing solution. We each have to figure it out for ourselves.
And Julia, you really said it all. For each person there is an individual solution. What works for one won’t necessarily work for others. And especially today when competition is greater than ever we each need to find what works.
Yeah, Desiree - it’s like that ‘one thing’ in the Billy Crystal movie. Whatever that ‘one thing’ is, it’s different for every single person.