GOING INDIE: THE WRITER IN THE DIGITAL AGE

Event Announcement

Smaller independent publishers are enjoying a renaissance in the internet age. For writers they can offer the kind of personal attention and access to digital services that may be hard to find in the mainstream. At what point, therefore, might a writer approach small presses rather than a large publisher? What, if any, is the role of the agent in this changing world? Can it be financially viable for a writer to be published by an indie press? And – most importantly of all – who can we trust (small press or large conglomerate) to ensure that the best quality writing finds the audience it deserves?
Join Rebecca Swift, Director of The Literary Consultancy to consider these questions with a highly qualified panel:
Shelley Weiner whose new novel ‘The Audacious Mendacity of Lily Green’ is published by the go-ahead indie, Caffeine Nights
Darren Laws, head of Caffeine Nights
Rachel Ogden, Director of Inpress, an organisation that seeks to ensure that small presses do not get lost in the marketplace
Justine Solomons, whose member organisation, Byte the Book, helps inform writers about how digital publishing really works.
Thursday 22nd November 2012
Free Word Centre
60 Farringdon Road
London EC1R 3GA
6.30pm – 8pm
Tickets: £10 (Glass of wine included)
To book call Free Word at: 020 7324 2570

The end of the road for indie book stores

Are London indie Books shops now a closed shop? If you are not famous, don’t have a large following or can’t guarantee selling 80 copies (seriously this figure was quoted to me by an indie store) then there is no way you are going to get a book signing even in an indie store. What is depressing is that we hear indie stores moaning their lot, crying and whinging about how tough it is and not willing to host an event where there is absolutely no risk to them financially and only a chance for them to make money. I have run into closed minds, pretentious fools and scared rabbits in headlights. The one thing they all have in common is they are all doing NOTHING. It’s almost as if they are paralysed with fear and content to continue on this course of inaction until they put up the shutters and close their doors for good. And if this happens we will continue to hear them blaming everyone but themselves. It’s eBooks fault, it’s Amazon’s fault, it’s supermarket’s fault, it publishers fault…boy can these guys whine! You know what, it’s your own damn fault. Engage with publishers, talk to authors, you are part of a community…talk to them. Sure times are tough and that’s more reason to be pro-active. The next time a small publisher gets on the phone to you asking if you will host a book signing from an unknown author, find out what the book is, listen to the proposal and think of ways of working with the publisher to make that event a success.

National Book Awards…Entries from the Big Boys Only Please

I was excited to receive news of the National Book Awards and looking forward to entering a few of our titles in different categories until I read the entry details and realised that this is yet again another 'awards' competition that is not open to small publishers and will invariably be dominated by the big six. How disappointing to find that they are only looking for books that have made an “outstanding or massive impact in terms of acclaim and sales”. Seriously, what is the point in this competition if it cannot be judged on quality of writing. You may as well hand them out to Jordan and any other 'celebrity' hogging the limelight who can shift a few thousand copies by not actually writing a word. I could argue that all of our books have exceeded sales expectations as this is obviously very open terminology but feel it is not really what the National Book Awards are looking for. Again, how do you define a best-seller in the digital age?
Just for once, why can they not make a competition a real competition and judge books solely on their content and ability to engage and entertain the reader.
After reading the entry pack, we can only enter 1 category instead of a possible 4.
Let's look forward to another stitch-up for the big boys in the industry in this years National Book Awards.

Master of the Sock Puppets – True Crime Writing

But who’s strings are these guys pulling. Recent confessions by crime authors RJ Ellroy and Stephen Leather of ‘sock puppetry’ or to be less misleading, writing their own fake reviews. Leather openly and brazenly (with a dash of hubris) told an audience at the Harrogate Crime Writing Festival that he writes many of his own reviews to get the ball rolling. Mr. Leather, an ardent Mail on Sunday reader - if his facebook posts are to be believed, is never short of an opinion, or a review…so it seems. I wondered what sort of respect he actually gives his ‘fans’. I say fans because it is clear from many of the reviews that he is clearly his own biggest fan. Ellroy’s own reviews were as prosaic as his award winning novel ‘A Simple Act of Violence’ though maybe it should be retitled ‘A Simple Act of Stupidity’. Ellroy’s own crime was compounded by the fact that he not only accidentally signed off as Roger on one occasion but also chose to give low ratings to other ‘rival’ authors…ah, if it was only Mr. Leather, but it was not. There is no excuse for this sort of behavior especially from authors with reputations we were supposed to trust. And this is about trust and a flagrant disrespect of that trust with their readers, let alone fellow authors. It was clear from his response at Harrogate that Stephen Leather feels that he has done nothing wrong and he almost applauded himself for his sharp thinking and the way he fools his readers. Mr Ellroy at least has the decency to accept what he has done is wrong – even though he had to be ‘outed’ to actually get to that point. These are not the only authors to do this and get found out and will probably not be the last to knowingly and intentionally deceive their readers. The question is can you ever trust any future reviews this particular pair may receive. The last few weeks has given crime fiction a bad name with more puppetry on display than a Gerry Anderson festival. This practice must cease otherwise the reputation of crime fiction in this county could be severely damaged losing the industry even more readers, who no longer trust what they are reading.

A Daunting Time for Waterstones

What the heck is going on at Waterstones. This month we have had wholesale management clearouts and rumours abound about Waterstones ending book signing events for small publishers with the focus concentrating on…you’ve guessed it, the big six. One has to wonder what is coming next in what seems like a meltdown at Waterstones.

One thing is for sure is that these changes do nothing more than consolidate the position of the big six and handicap even further the small guys who are struggling to make a living. By the way Mr Daunt, these are the guys who have week in and week out brought custom and sales to Waterstones on a regular basis with non-discounted books. I should know because we are one of those little guys who have worked tirelessly up until now with the help of some very supportive staff at Waterstones branches the length and breadth of the country. We enjoy in-store book signings. They are a great way for authors to meet new readers and fans. We always support these signings with good local and regional PR to ensure that readers in the area are aware of the event. Sure, not every event is a success but many are. We make new friends, we broaden the reach of our books and we build demand for them. Now if the message from Waterstones is true this may all be coming to an end.

A spokesperson for Waterstones head office said: “We are reviewing the experience that we offer our customers and are moving away from open-ended, handselling events and asking shops to focus on well rounded event programmes that are more engaging in the long term.” The spokesperson added: “The intention is not to immediately cancel events, or to shut anyone out but over time shops might want to adjust the format of certain events and rebalance the activity that they have planned."

And I know what will happen; confusion in its messaging will filter down to branch level ending in many signings being cancelled or simply not arranged. Managers are already confused over ordering titles, now it seems this directive will add further to the murk descending on the once great book chain.

What needs to happen is clear and unequivocal directives from Daunt & Co, not this mish-mash of whispers filtered out from head office. With so many changes, instant resignations of the ‘was he pushed or did he fall’ variety at director and manager level, and bizarre decisions (Amazon springs to mind) at operational level you have to wonder if Daunt is executing a clear master plan or playing euphemistic piñata, aiming wildly at everything but with a blindfold on.

I for one am beginning to become worried by what is happening at Waterstones.

Sony take eBooks back to the dark ages. Cut price or cut throat?

Sony have re-launched its eBook platform last April but this week hit the headlines with its latest gambit to grab attention away from Amazon’s dominance in the market. The gambit being to sell selected eBooks at 20p. It sounds great for the consumer but is it good for the publisher and author? The answer is a clear and unequivocal no. This is a highly damaging and cynical move by Sony  and does nothing except cement in the mind of consumers that all digital content should be free or almost free. As a publisher Caffeine Nights is actually contemplating putting the price of our eBooks up to the £2.50 to £3 mark and moving away from low price promotions and not engaging in Amazon’s free promotions. We are a niche publisher and consumers who want our books are prepared to pay a little extra for them.

The eBook market is maturing and readers are always in the search for new content. As a publisher we cannot keep reinforcing the idea that this content has to be cheap. There will always be cheap and free content out there, plus pirated content for those who really don’t like paying. But the majority of people consuming excellent eBooks are honest and want to pay a fair amount for the content. I agree that because of the differing overheads with the production of eBooks this should not be the same price as physical content but it should be a fair recompense for the author and publisher. I would like to reach the stage where £3.99 is a standard entry point for eBooks. This is not a lot of money for hours of entertainment.

Sony’s move with its strong focus on 20p eBooks moves the market back three years. Publishers need to convince consumers that they have to pay for decent content. There is nothing wrong with that. It now seems that we have to convince the platform owners who have dictated the rules for far too long already. eBooks give the same value and enjoyment as paperback or hardback novels, so why the compulsion to give them away for next to nothing. When the market was new there was a strategic necessity to get readers to move from looking for pirated content to cheaper content to ensure they associated paying for digital content. As that market matures and is prepared to pay for what it wants it makes sense to gently lead it toward understanding that they have to pay a little more for that content. This is how the Internet evolved from its pioneering days where things were regularly given away and there was a bargain at the end of every URL to the behemoth shoppers paradise that we know today.

Sites like Sony and Amazon will play an important part in our future ePurchasing for eBooks but there will be other changes coming which at present we can’t foresee as the market not only matures but looks to break the stranglehold of the likes of Amazon.  New platforms are being developed that will work closer with publishers and traditional book stores moving control over pricing away from Amazon, Sony and the lowest common denominator. I am not arguing for a blanket price rise by publishers that hurts readers, far from it. We must recognise though that we cannot continue giving away content and then expect the readers to understand when publishers either go broke or in a last minute state of desperation suddenly hike prices up in a bid to survive.

Game changers or game players

Over the past few weeks there have been some developments in the world of tablet computers with Microsoft and Google both entering the foray. Microsoft’s Surface is a really interesting addition on a number of levels, not only will it operate on Windows new 8 platform but it benefits from the recent link with Barnes and Noble bringing the Nook and B&N’s ingress into an established eBook platform to potential buyers.

Then this week Google announce the Nexus 7. The Nexus 7 is operating on an improved Android platform ‘Jellybean’ promising a faster, smoother experience and fully integrating with Google ‘Play’, Google’s rebranded ‘Marketplace’ and a much needed absorption of Google Books or Editions or whatever Google fancied callings its digital book platform this week. What is amazing about Google and eBooks is the enthusiasm it approached the market and the total lack of impact it has had with sales. Hands up those who have purchased an eBook from Google? Not many.

 

Google are pricing Nexus 7 at an astonishing £159, a price that would make other Nexus 7 models, Roy Batty included blink bug eyed. Clearly this is an aggressive stance to try to steal thunder from Amazon’s Kindle Fire and not Apple or even Microsoft’s coming Surface.

Microsoft are being cagey about their pricing of the Surface but this will be a machine aimed squarely as a serious contender for the iPad. None of these machines are true dedicated eReaders they are entertainment consoles which offer the ability to read eBooks, so are they game changers or just game players. The truth is this is an evolving market and there is room for each and each will find an audience. Sales wise Google are staring from ground zero and will make the initial gain on sales growth (probably at the expense of Amazon) with the Nexus 7 being priced so favourably. There will be much hyperbole from all camps and from each camp’s dedicated followers but when the dust finally settles all that we will see is a more mature market. The surprising thing is that despite all of the colour and functionality many will prefer reading eBooks from boring old slate grey dedicated eReaders such as Kobo’s eReader Touch or the Kindle. The good news for publishers and readers though is the expanded choice offered to them.