The Uprising in Book Publishing

Why BIG PUBLISHING is up *hit creek without a paddle

March 2, 2011

Mark Coker Founder, Smashwords

Warning: This presentation tackles the Egyptian Revolution, politics, religion, money, dinosaurs, ebooks, paranormal romance and the future of book

publishing, so if the amalgamation of such disparate topics strikes you as blasphemous, click here for a video of cute happy bunnies.

The 15,000 authors and publishers who use Smashwords to publish and distribute over 36,000 ebooks stand to benefit from the events now unfolding in publishing. If they benefit, I benefit because Smashwords is an ebook distributor. Therefore,

my opinions are biased.

I have enormous respect for professional publishers and the passionate people who work in the field. The business of BIG PUBLISHING may be broken, but the

people in publishing are not. Publishing is not dead. These good people are hard at work this very moment rewriting the next chapter of book publishing for the

benefit of all humanity.

An uprising is in the words

Catalysts of the Egyptian Revolution

• Lack of economic opportunity

• Economic divide between haves and have nots

• Oppression of creative freedom, lack of democratic participation

• Mismanagement, corruption, inefficiency

• Agents of change (ordinary people, empowered by simple yet powerful ideas)

• Questions that sparked the uprising

• Is this regime serving my interests?

• Is this regime hurting me?

Is Big Publishing next?

The Old World of Big Publishing

• Authors bowed subservient before the publishing gods, seeking

• blessing

• acceptance

• validation

• afterlife (a “published author” on your epitaph)

Publishers controlled passage to the hereafter

• Highway to Heaven

• The book deal opened the pearly gates to

• The respect

• The printing press

• The distribution

• The royalties

• The readers

• The fame

• The realization of all writerly dreams

Is the allure of Big Publishing a mirage?

Reality is setting in for authors

• More difficult than ever for talented writers to land an agent or book deal

• Advances are declining

• Publishers want authors with established platforms

• Most authors don’t earn out

• Most print books forced out of print before they’ve had a chance to reach readers

• Authors expected to shoulder most post-publication marketing on their own dime

• Lost rights

• Brick and mortar retail distribution disappearing

• Publishers value books through myopic prism of perceived commercial potential (publisher death panels)

Drivers for the Overthrow of Big Publishing

• Lack of economic opportunity for authors

• Economic divide between haves and have nots (Snooki got a book deal, did you?)

• Oppression of creative freedom (you suck and don’t deserve to publish until publishers tell you otherwise)

• Lack of democratic participation (authors watch from sidelines, readers spoon fed more Snooki)

• Mismanagement, corruption, inefficiency (you’re easily exploitable when you have no other option, publishers know writers will write for free)

• Agents of change (smart literary agents are now opening the eyes of big authors to alternate possibilities)

• When myths unravel, simple questions can spark a revolution

The two questions that will spark an author uprising against Big Publishing

Q1What can my publisher do for me that I can’t

do myself?

Publishing Power Shifts to Authors

• Authors become self-publishers

• printing press goes virtual, free to all

• distribution democratized, esp. for ebooks

• direct access to readers

• Rapid publishing & time to market

• publish in hours or days (indie) vs. 12-18 months (trad.)

• Indie ebook economics favor indies

• 60-70% royalties on list price (indie), vs 5 - 17% (trad.)

Q2

(the most dangerous)

Will a traditional publisher make me less successful?

Can a Big Publisher Harm an Author’s Career?

• Chasing hits, the lemming method

• Publishers acquire today what was hot yesterday and then release it 12-18 months from tomorrow

• Indie ebooks reach worldwide distribution in hours or days

• Poor author economics

• Traditionally published authors earn royalty of 5-17% list price

• Indie ebook authors earn 60-70% royalty on list price

• Big publishers over-price and under-distribute author works, limiting readership

• Indie ebook authors price low, expand total available market, and still earn greater profits per unit sold (60-70% royalty)

• At 60% royalty, an indie author earns $1.80 on a $2.99 ebook. To earn same amount from a traditionally pub’d ebook, the book would have to be priced at $10.30

• Archaic geographic rights limitations and DRM restrict availability and discoverability

What happens when authors – the creators of books – lose faith in BIG PUBLISHING?

God is dead. —Nietzsche

The Accidental Revolutionary – Amanda Hocking *

• Rejected by the major publishers

• Self-published her books as ebooks

• After years of work, blockbuster success (on track to sell 1 million+ copies)

• THE CLINCHER:

• Her success might not have been possible with a trad. publisher

• Traditional publishing practices create friction that prevents books from reaching readers

• Hocking released great ebooks priced at $.99 to $2.99 (can publishers compete here with front list authors?)

• Hocking controls her rights, the world is her oyster and she’s only getting started

* Smashwords distributes Amanda Hocking to Apple, Sony, Kobo, Diesel and

B&N (partial)

Hocking is not alone. Thousands of indie authors have joined the revolution

• 50 indie authors to watch (a partial list!)

Sherwood Smith

Brian S. Pratt

Ann Somerville

Shiloh Walker

Ilona Andrews M. R. Mathias

PL Nunn

Selena Kitt

Bella Andre

Dan Poynter

Cody Willard

Tracy Falbe Ruth Ann Nordin

Tina Folsom

Lynn Flewelling

Jack Gregory

Alexis Harrington

Shayne Parkinson

Gerald M. Weinberg

Randolph Lalonde

Norman Savage

David Derrico

JA Konrath

Rebecca ForsterEva Gordon

Dennis Batchelder

Michael Sullivan

Ginger Starr

Mark Berent

Bill Clem

Carl East

Dan McGirtFelicity HeatonDerek Ciccone

Zoe Winters Boris Tzaprenko

Lucinda Brant

Rupert Colley

Michael McCollum

Nicky Charles

Wesley Allison

Sylvia Day

RJ Silver

Norah Wilson

L.L. Bartlett

Philippa Balantine

David Dalglish

Pat Ryan

Janice Daugharty

15,000+ more at Smashwords.com

Thanks for considering the future

Learn more about indie ebook publishing

• Free Resources

• Smashwords Style Guide (how to create, publish and distribute an ebook)

• Smashwords Book Marketing Guide (how to market any book, 25+ ideas that cost nothing)

• The Seven Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success (best practices for publishing, distributing and selling an ebook)

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