Thursday, May 14, 2015

New opportunities for writers, and the future of NY publishing




In my best Jennifer Coolidge voice, HEY EVERYBODY! I just love Two Broke Girls and her character of Sophie. And believe me, these days I need a few laughs. I said over on my blog that one day soon, when I have the energy, I will fill everyone in on what's going on. And I will do so on Mb4 too. Until then, just know that I am staying busy. *enter mysterious music here*

So-- how about yall? Who's writing? Who's submitting? Who's self publishing? I read an interesting article this morning at PBS.org and wonder how fast I can get on the new gravy train called "services for writers".

It is becoming apparent that this opportunity is growing in popularity and at a fast pitch since self publishing has now become more of a norm rather than an exception.

I think I could do content editing, or keeping continuity, or advising an author on how NOT to get screwed (let's face it, this industry has a LOT of crooks).

At any rate, it is going to be the wave of the future in my opinion. Either you write, or you work for a writer, because NY publishing is hurting again, or still. According to the May 2015 Author Earnings report, "In the last three months, the Big 5 publishers have seen a 26% reduction in the number of titles on Amazon’s Best Seller lists. This means fewer titles are selling well enough to make these lists, and it also means fewer titles are receiving that added visibility." The article goes on to say that the reason could be that they pricing structure used by NY publishers is way too high and few people are buying at those price points. Good article read it here : Author Earnings Report

What do you think?

1 comment:

Terry W. Ervin II said...

It's wise for a self-published author to hire experts (editors, artists, etc.) to produce a professional product that is better equipped to compete with other titles available.

Some of the slide is from established authors re-releasing out of print titles or self-publishing their own new titles that they think can do better with than via their publisher. Some publish short stories or novellas in between novel releases with their big 5 publisher. Those self-published titles make the list.

But yes, pricing is an important component as well.