As you may know if you read one of my absolute favorite blogs, Joe Konrath who writes A Newbie's Guide to Publishing (and writes under the name J.A. Konrath) has made an absolute killing selling his backlist and never-before-published work as ebooks for Kindle. He's encouraged others to follow his lead -- sort of.
He's cautioned those who would rush to publish their work as ebooks to stop and consider a few things. Fair enough and I agree. You shouldn't rush to self-publish anything -- print or ebook.
In fact, Joe (for the most part) has emphasized the importance of running the traditional gauntlet of queries and rejections (he's gotten more than 500 of them, I believe), as a necessary rite of passage before getting published.
However, lately Joe's views seem to be changing -- in fact, he recently blogged about his "crisis of faith." As in, he wasn't sure what advice to give newbie writers today. Like, maybe that gauntlet he had to run doesn't apply so much, anymore? (Imagine that.)
It's interesting that Joe feels so conflicted, yet (and I quote) "I never wanted to be the poster boy for self-promotion, even though my efforts (chronicled on this blog) have made folks think of me that way. And I certainly don't want to be the new poster boy for self-publishing."
Well, God forbid! (And, hey, I'll accept the title, once I earn my stripes -- assuming that happens.)
And what's really interesting is that Joe takes issue with the notion being spread about that (quoting again) "Konrath is selling well because he has a name and a fan base." He goes (in great detail) into the reasons why he doesn't believe this is so. (So, about that query-and-reject gauntlet -- still necessary?)
Okay, you say, it's Joe Konrath. He's been kicking around the publishing world for years now, promoting like crazy, traveling around the country, visiting bookstores and libraries, blogging it up, querying and submitting, on and on and on and on, etc. Surely, his great success is attributable to all these efforts.
Well, the answer, at best, is maybe. Okay, I'm being kind here. The answer is clearly NO, when you consider the story of Karen McQuestion, who's outselling Joe and who's interviewed on his blog. McQuestion has NO traditional publisher. NO name recognition. NO backlist. None of that traditional publishing route stuff. Yet, she's selling more ebooks than Joe Konrath. (Again, imagine!)
Joe even says that ebook success isn't so much about making print sales the traditional way, but (more quotes here) "price, quality, and professionalism."
He also says:
"Many years ago, I was arguing with someone who said the secret to selling a books is simple: just write a good one.
"I disagreed. First of all, there is no set definition of what 'good' is. Second, many 'good' books go out of print, and many 'mediocre' books become bestsellers (at least in my subjective opinion.)
"The success of as [sic] book, I posited, depended on how much money a publisher threw at it, how big the coop was, how large the print run and distribution.
"In the age of ebooks, where print runs and publisher dollars don't mean anything, there is still an unknown Factor X that determines why some books sell well and others don't.
"But I'm also changing my thinking a bit. Writing a good book, with an interesting premise, a professional, eye-catching cover, a decent description, a low price, and a hooky preview, does help sell ebooks. Perhaps even more than it ever helped sell print books." [Italics added.]
Okay, NOW do you people believe me when I say ebooks are changing all the rules?
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