#PublishingReinvented 35 - The Wheel of Change is Moving - Are You Coming With It?
Don’t get crushed.
I see a rapidly evolving publishing industry and many authors, previously trapped into traditional publishing deals or small press deals moving fast into indie publishing.
We are assisting more authors each month and have more staff to deal with a rapidly increasing flow of business as if a dam wall has been broken.
Here’s how you can ensure you are not being left behind:
Consider the idea of a Minimum Viable Book (MVB.) Don’t agonize for years. Get the main story down and test it with readers. I’m aiming for 50,000+ words now for my novels and creating a series of three at least in eac case. If you think that’s too short, do you think The Heart of Darkness, at 38,000 words and one of the most influential books ever, which even feels fresh now, was too short? We have been fooled by the requirements of book stores to provide hefty products to think that size matters.
Consider getting a development edit report, not a full developmental edit costing thousands. We make these for a few hundred dollars. Why spend thousands on meticulous developmental work on a work that may be hobbled from the start? Why not produce an MVB and test the market? Do readers like your idea? Or are you unconcerned about readers? But why spend thousands on developmental edits and proofreads if you don’t care about what readers really want?
Shun traditional publishers unless they offer an advance of at least $50,000. It will usually take them three years to pay you the advance and if it’s much less you are working for slave wages in the last remaining industry without a minimum wage.
This decade will crush those who cling to the outdated norms of the past. Be on the right side of the wheel and join us on the way up!
Here is a summary of the free services for paying subscribers to this newsletter available now:
If you paid for this newsletter and want a 1-10 score for how your book is presented please email a link to your book to me: lob@yourasms.com and I will send it to you. But please only do this if you are open to changing things too.
Free access to all our 2020 & 2021 & 2022 International Dublin Writers’ Festival recorded online sessions. And access to our upcoming Amazon ads training free. Simply reply if you are a paying subscriber and you will get the secret code to get access.
A free one month place on NetGalley (value $79) any time this year for all paid up subscribers. Simply email lob@yourasms.com with your receipt/transaction number for your payment with a mobi file or ePub and a link to your book on Amazon.
This weekly email will hit your inbox each Monday.
See previous emails in this series here.
To subscribe, for those who may have received it as a trial, click below for monthly and annual options:
Subscribe now by clicking here for credit card payments.
To subscribe with PayPal, also for only $6 per month, click below:
You can cancel anytime and pay no more.
Laurence O’Bryan
Author
Founder BooksGoSocial & The International Dublin Writers’ Festival