Oh, Poor You!
Published February 16th, 2010 | 
I’m a 25 year veteran author and small press publisher with both a New York and small press track record. Agin, like many who spout the "Hateful publishers are to blame" argument, has no obvious knowledge of publishing. 1. Publishers lose money on most books and make a very narrow profit margin on the rest. 2. The machinery involved in writing, editing, designing and marketing a book REMAINS whether the book is an eBook or not 3. Distributors and wholesalers make a far bigger cut on profits than authors and publishers do 4. Few in publishing decry the existence of eBooks or believe they’re going away; Agin seems to have missed a lot of info on the ramping up of eBook departments at major houses, which began many years ago. 5. the issue is readers and ignorant anti-commerce proponents who want content to be free 6. Content is not created by magic, without cost, effort, investment and a need to pay the bills 7. All we want, as publishers and authors, is to be fairly compensated for our work, and not see it given away or stolen. —Deb Smith, Bell Bridge Books
The above comment is from the Kindle Armageddon post I blogged about yesterday. Far be it for me to argue with a woman who is a "25 year veteran" of publishing and writing, but I think I will anyway. Deborah Smith’s angry, whiny comments echo those of many in publishing in recent days. I probably should respond to these point-by-point lest I be misunderstood:
1. Yes, you are right when you say that publishers lose money on most books — but why? Could it possibly have anything to do with with seven-figure book deals for Lying fucktard politicians and fake-ass reality-show celebs with their autobiographies about their sex tapes and addictions to weight loss pills and the like? Could it have anything to do with the failed payola schemes for some books while at the same time not fully investing themselves in books they cannot pre-sell— books that wind-up being remaindered off into oblivion before they even have a solid chance to shine. Could it possibly have something to do with the fact that an ungodly number of books published each year are complete and utter crap? <cough-cough. . .Dan Brown … cough-cough> I’m just saying.
2. The machinery involved in writing, editing, designing and marketing a book is factored into the budget. The editor gets paid a salary — he does not get paid by the job unless he is freelance, nor does he get paid twice for editing an eBook. Writers get paid according to whatever deal their agents strike with the publisher. They get paid an advance and they get royalties on sales, but let’s not pretend that a printed book is the same as the eBook. Even printed books don’t cost as much to produce as they used to. eBooks don’t get the same level of marketing as printed books and you damn well know it. There is no cost for printing or warehousing eBooks. Being as you are a publisher, how much does it cost you to produce and market an eBook? I’m not talking about the printed book, I’m talking specifically about the digital version. If you can tell me with a straight face that your per unit/download cost for an eBook is anywhere near what a printed book cost, I’d have to call you a liar.
3. True, wholesalers and distributors usually get 55% of a printed book. But, whereas the cost of shipping, warehousing and returns are coming out of the publisher’s end. There are no such costs with digital products and the cost of storing files usually comes out of the distributor/seller’s end or is, at very most, a nominal expense for the publisher. So, again, you’re being a bit disingenuous by equating eBooks with printed books.
4. Name one major publisher or writer who is dancing in the streets celebrating eBooks. Seriously, They’ve done nothing but decry the eBook. "eBooks are just a fad." "eBooks devalue the market." "eBooks mean the death of publishing." Wah-wah-wah. Sure, publishers are publishing eBooks, but only because the technology is forcing them to and readers are slowly starting to embrace that technology. Mainstream publishing is ambivalent at best when it comes to eBooks. At worst, they’d gladly see the market fail and eReaders and eBooks fade into the twilight.
5. The issue is what’s fair for readers to pay. Readers will pay for and download some content as long as the price is fair and of good quality. And yes, some eBooks should be free — like books in the public domain. Publishers shouldn’t be allowed to profit from electronic versions of public domain works — that would defeat the purpose of the public domain and is anti-democratic. Books not in the public domain are subject to the free market — and what the market will bear is what the readers will pay for content, not what publishers try to force them to pay.
6. No, writing is not magic, but readers, like it or not, are only concerned with what they choose to read, and not with paying a writers "bills". Remember, readers are important too. It is a privilege for writers to be read not necessarily the other way around. Unfortunately, writers often act like they don’t get this, like they are themselves magical and their readers just something they stepped in.
7. Don’t you realize by instituting greedy pricing policies in an effort to "be fairly compensated" you are, in effect, creating a thriving market for thieves and pirates? Piracy will almost certainly always be a small part of commercial activity, but like I said in my earlier post, if they can’t get an eBook fairly cheap, they’ll get it from someone who offers it for free and the more difficult you make it for a sustainable fair-but-cheap market to exist the larger piracy’s dark flag looms. Prohibitive pricing costs writers sales. And besides, if you are unhappy with your royalties from digital content, take it up with your publisher because I can almost guarantee you that if you think Amazon is screwing you, your publisher is probably screwing you worse.
Posted in Books, Current Events, Happy Horseshit, New Media, Publishing, The Last Word, ebooks, random thoughtsOne Response to Oh, Poor You!
Okay, you want a point by point discussion of my “whiny” remarks:? Here goes:
1. You say most publishers lose money because they spend “7 figures” on advances. No. Most publishers spend very low five-figures on the majority of books they buy. Ask most authors below the Stephen King range how much they’re paid. The myth of the expensive author overload at publishing houses is just that, a myth. And yes, I am a 25 year vet of NY and small press publishing; I’ve paid my bills as an author and publisher during that entire period; I have made 5-figure, 6-figure and 7-figure advances, also 3-figure and 4-figure; I’ve had one NYT bestseller; and yet, like most in the business, I still find it hard to sustain a dependable income. Yeah, I do know what I’m talking about, and from multiple perspectives.
2. Call me a liar if you’re that ignorant, but I repeat: the overhead to produce an ebook is THE SAME as the overhead to produce a print book minus the small amount devoted to printing costs, which averages 1-3 bucks a book. Advertising isn’t free; editing isn’t free, distribution isn’t free, office supplies and insurance and ET CETERA are not free.
3. So . . . even though distributors get 50 percent or more of the retail price of the ebook . . . uh, what? You have no point, here. It’s a mystery to me what your argument is.
4. Name one publisher or author who is dancing in the street praising ebooks??? you’re kidding me, right? are you so out of touch you haven’t noticed more than a decade of dedicated small press ebook publishers and a growing army of authors who make their living writing ebook only? Did you miss the part where I publish every book at my press in ebook as well as print? I was one of the first authors published in ebook by Warner Books more than six years ago. Yes, Virginia, there is a large and growing and enthusiastic ebook community out there among publishers and authors, and they are eager to make a go of it. Despite folks like yourself, who demand that they give books away dirt cheap and thus, go broke.
5. “Readers simply want to pay a fair price.” Well, duh. Yep. Who says otherwise? I’d like to pay 10,0000 bucks max for a brand-new car, please. To me that’s a fair price. Doesn’t mean it’s a sustainable price for manufacturers, though.
6. “Readers aren’t concerned with paying writer’s bills.” Okay, using your logic, then readers don’t care if books exist. They don’t care if there’s another Asimov or Stephanie Meyers or J.K. Rowling or NAME YOUR FAVE AUTHOR HERE. They want free books, by god, or 99 cent books, and thus they will get . . . books that aren’t worth more than 99 cents. You get what you pay for.
7. “greedy pricing policies.” So . . . if anyone charges anything for any product, that greedy manufacturer is just beggin’ people to steal it? Cause, like, if you ask people to pay for stuff that’s wrong, and they are thus spared the title of “thief” when they take your stuff? Boy howdy, using that philosophy, let’s all go to the local convenience store and grab some beer without paying. Cause, you know, the store asked for trouble when they put a price tag on the Budweiser. Sheesh.