Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
The Road Not Taken - Robert Frost (1915)
This week in the publishing world brought the stories of 3 authors: Amanda Hocking, Barry Eisler and Connie Brockway. All are taking different paths and I wish all of them well. But looking at them raises interesting questions and yes, it did remind me oh-so-much of the poem by Robert Frost. Mr. Frost's poem is one of my all-time-faves, and any time I'm in a position of "choosing" - first I consider myself lucky - and then, I reflect on Mr. Frost's words. I wonder if these words went through Amanda's, Barry's and Connie's minds over the past few weeks?
Barry Eisler is a New York Times best-selling thriller author who just turned down a $500,000 advance in order to self-publish. Why? Here's his discussion with Joe Konrath where Barry explains his reasons: One of the big ones is that Barry can make more if he takes all the risks and makes all the profits. It's one of the reasons, but as the discussion will show, it's not the only one.
Amanda Hocking is the indie writer who has made a reported $2 million from self publishing on Kindle and via Smashwords, to web sites all over the internet. Amanda just accepted an advance from a publishing house reported to be $2 million for her next 4 book series. Amanda says she made the decision based on what's best for her career and for her readers, rather than what's best for her writers. And she also emphasizes that she will still be self-publishing other material. Amanda also emphasized that she wanted to write, not spend her time answering emails, formatting covers, finding editors, etc.
Now comes news that Connie Brockway, a very successful romance novelist whose amazing work I have read and enjoyed for years, will be self-publishing her next two (2) full length historical romances solely as e-books - although she will have a shorter novella in an upcoming collection by Avon. Why did Connie make the choice? She says it was a combination of editorial freedom and financial issues. Connie says that the contract she was being offered was particularly not good in terms of e-books. She also notes that traditional publishers price e-books so high that regular and long-time readers often pass them by in favor or buying indie books with much lower price tags. She says " And if the publishers set the price too high, it's the authors that lose the most and I hate losing."
Connie also says that she's wanted to write a couple of sequels for years but publishers weren't interested. She says that as a writer, she's "squealing with joy" at being able to finally write the stories she's most wanted to read.
One thing Connie said that rang very true to me both as a reader and a writer, were that publishing houses had tightened so much on what they churned out that they left behind readers who wanted the stories they were no longer printing. I couldn't agree more with that statement and as a fan of Ms. Brockway's, I can't wait to see what she turns out when all the choices are hers. Indie publishing is a much, much more intimate experience.
But, I'm trying not to digress too much. The point of this post is 3 writers, 3 choices. 2 of the 3, Eisler and Brockway, had already had the big publisher, had already seen their books on the shelves of everything from Walmart to grocery stores to the big chain or little indie bookstores. Only 1, Hocking, hasn't had that experience. From what I've read, she denies it a bit. However, I joke with my family that the day I see my book at Walmart I'll probably create a truly embarrassing, and phenomenally loud ruckus that may require police assistance. Everyone wants that distribution that only the Royals still have in their clutches. Now Amanda will get it. Good for her.
I wonder, though, how she'll deal with editorial control? How will she respond to being told this can't go in and that has to come out? The political correctness police are coming. Resistance is futile. Her contract will require that she be assimilated. I'd have trouble with that. I'd have a lot of trouble with that. Hopefully, Amanda isn't as stubborn and impractical as a dyed-in-the-wool Southern Rebel like me. South Carolinians have a wee bit of history that shows we don't deal well with Big Brother.
But Amanda is right in saying her books will now be available to the masses. However, she's making the choice just at the time when those who've made a career out of getting books to the masses say that e-books will reign supreme in the next couple of years. Who said that? Barnes and Noble CEO Marc Parrish said that just last week. Parrish feels that “The book business is changing more radically now, and quicker, than movies or music or newspapers have, because we’re doing it in a matter of months.” And he says that “In the next 24 months is when this business will totally shift.” In other words, the B&N CEO believes "that eBooks will dominate the landscape with his company and with the market in general."
In terms of having the chance to work with a traditional publisher and get books out there, out there everywhere, I have no doubt that the experience would be invaluable. But Eisler and Brockway clearly have the edge when it comes to timing. They've been there and done that with traditional publishing houses. They've learned those lessons. Now they're now longer baby birds. Now both are Eagles ready to soar the skies and plot their own flight paths. Amanda is choosing to enter the traditional publishing Castle at a time when the structure is about to collapse and publishers are tearing down the walls from within. Amanda says she'll continue to self publish some new material and will keep the old stuff out there, but I wonder how much control New York will eventually seize over all her work.
Amanda, Barry and Connie have all picked their paths. I hope that all 3 do phenomenally well and sell millions and millions of books. When 1 author does well, when 1 author puts out work that interests more people in reading, then all authors benefit. I also hope that as all 3 progress on their journeys that when they look back at the road that diverged in the wood, that they will believe they picked the right path. Because, as Frost says, "way leads on to way" and it's tough to come back and get to this exact point and take the other path. Time, events and momentum all change.
I've not had to make the choice that Hocking, Eisler and Brockway made. Early on, before the rise of e-books, I queried many agents and one of them even submitted A Faerie Fated Forever to a number of publishers. None of them was interested. Perhaps I was too impatient and already too much of a rebel, for then the e-revolution was just beginning as Amazon first introduced the Kindle. The agent and I parted ways and I began publishing my work myself, making all the choices and taking all the risks. I've found it very interesting that Faerie is one of my most popular works. Lots of readers adore the story. The publishers were wrong.
These days, I'm not querying agents. I'm not submitting to publishers. I'm just publishing myself. So an agent or publisher would have to come knocking on my door in order for me to face the choice that Amanda, Barry and Connie just made and agents and publishers rarely go hunting when they are still flooded with so much work from so many excellent writers. So I'm not likely to face the choice.
By the way, "facing the choice" is the plot of Faerie. Karma's got quite a sense of humor.