I sometimes wonder if there will become a time, especially w/ the new trend of self-publishing taking off so thoroughly, if there will simply be too many books to choose from and no one will sell as many as they once did. Like there will be an even bigger sea of new books and we'll drown in them, picking up only the best-selling, or most highly acclaimed.
One thing I've noticed, is that even in the VERY short time that I've been self-publishing, my numbers fall back down faster than they used to.
The trend with almost all books is that they sell really well the first month, slack off a little the second and the third month, and after about six months or so, they sort of drop off the map.
You can see this happen with huge publishers, small publishers, and self-publishers.
Are there exceptions??
TONS of them. Every year.
Looking for Alaska didn't hit the NYT until it had been out for YEARS, so... I'm just talking "normal trends."
The books I self-pubbed last spring held on higher longer than the ones I did last fall (even though the books I did more recently sold more over all. I suspect this is because my name is "out there" more and not indicative of current trends). But I do find it interesting that my numbers changed more quickly.
But with self-publishing being being more viable... When does it end? At what point will there be simply too many authors and books to wade through??
I was talking with a good friend the other day and she said - what happens when Barnes and Noble closes their stores?? The big publishers are going to be the ones with the money to take over cyberspace and push their books. How will the self-published authors and smaller publishers be able to keep up?
So my question is - will the trend of self-published authors continue?? Will it die out? Will just a few survive?
I've downloaded several self-published books lately where the STORY is good, but it feels like a first draft, not something ready for publication - I'm well aware my books aren't perfect. I've also read books by MAJOR publishers that I felt had flaws, and we've all seen a typo here and there...
My point is that when your book is in the top 50 on Amazon (or an even higher number that I don't want to say b/c I'd rather people NOT speculate as to which books I'm talking about), I want a certain level of writing and editing that just isn't always there, and is obviously not affecting sales. This is definitely not true of all self-published books. Some self-pubbed books are on my short lists of favs. Freeing Carter by Dawn, Grounding Quinn by Campbell, Easy by Webber, Suicide Watch by York... And very recently two friends of mine put out stellar books - The Truth About Faking by Moore, Tight Knit by Allie Brennan, and Reasons I Fell for the Funny Fat Friend by Ann.
I'm trying to keep my fingers in publishing everywhere, but at the same time - I sometimes feel a bit "on the outs" of the people who are strictly self-pubbed and also "on the outs" of people who are strictly traditionally published. This isn't important in the context of whatever point I'm trying to make in this post, but I still feel like there is this dividing line. I will say that it's blending away as more and more self-published authors land big deals with their self-published books. At the same time - they're sort of becoming their own elite class - or maybe that's simply my perception.
I'm not sure what the fix is, or that there is a fix, or even needs to be a fix.
It's that I find market trends fascinating, and I'm so scared of incredibly talented writers' books not getting what they deserve. It's happened in the past, and I'm so afraid of it happening even more in the future.
Maybe this is simply a plea for Barnes and Noble to stay open forever, but maybe if it doesn't, we'll end up with loads and loads of amazing indie book shops... Or maybe people will give up on "real" books sooner than we would have otherwise...
I KNOW this was a mess of rambles, but it's been on my mind a lot lately.
Thoughts?
Wanna tell me I'm being neurotic??
Because I'm about to drown myself in the new season of Downton Abbey and ignore all the things I should do before my trip to Chicago. ;-)
~ Jolene
13 comments:
I already feel like I'm drowning in books. I have a Goodreads list of books I want to read and every now and again - because there are so many new ones coming out I want to read - I have cut books off the list because there aren't enough hours in the day. I guess that makes me a horrible person, and I know I would be gutted if people dropped my book off their list but it's hard to keep up with it all. I have review copies of books in a queue, plus books I want to read just because. It's overwhelming, but I love that people CAN self-publish.
It's interesting what you said about sales trends. I had a solid five months of amazing sales - they actually went up and up every month. And now- bam. The crash has happened. Blindsided has been out three months and I've hardly shifted any copies of it, not compared to Game On and IILYG. So I am in a slight dilemma about why this is. Is it because it got lost in the millions of other books published at Christmas, or is it because everyone tried two of my books and decided they couldn't take anymore of my writing? I don't know if I want to actually know the answer lol, but it is a question I have.
Jolene,
Traditional publishers put out hundreds of volumes a year with a hefty price tag. That's one area self-publishing doesn't have. In this economy any sales are good sales.
Is there a limit on self pub titles, not really. The fact that online ordering is a 24/7 proposition has helped the readers, but is bad news for brick and mortar bookstores. There will always be a market for reading material.
I've been in self-publishing for over a year and kept track of sales. The ebbs and flows are normal compared with other businesses. Old readers fall away as new readers find you.
I will say this. The more titles you have out there, the easier it is to find you.
I plan to self publish, but I don't want to be the 'feels like this was their first draft' book, so I plan to have the books professionally edited. But this takes time. So by the time I'm ready to publish, it will be even harder to be noticed. But I have no desire to compromise on this.
With Amazon, the books that are selling the most are the books that keep coming up as suggestions to buy, which entices people to buy them, and they continue to get promoted by Amazon. Not great news for authors who don't have enough people buying their books to begin with because no one knows the book exists. :(
Can't wait to see you, my friend! :o)
You're kind of touching on something here that's been bugging me--everyone rushing to jump on a trend. I'm more dismayed by the trend they're jumping on, but whatevs! :D
I wholeheartedly agree that it's bad, bad, very bad to put out manuscripts that aren't "ready." I understand the pressure of feeling like it has to get out NOW!!! But at the same time, I can't believe it's good for continued business to be thought of as a poor writer.
Then again, it didn't seem to hurt Ms. James... :D
I think we're in a time of HUGE transition and transformation, and as I've felt from Day 1 w/TTAF, I see myself like a little paper boat floating on a stream with lots of rapids: Holding on tight! No telling what's around that next bend, or if I'll stay on top of the water!
For now, *grabs hands* we'll keep on truckin~ <3
I don't have much to say to that, other than I, too, will be self-pubbing soon; and yet, I want real, physical, book stores to stay open FOREVER. The closest book store (new books, not used) to my town is an hour away... so maybe it's knowing the opportunity to up and walk into one whenever I please isn't there that makes me hold on to paper books... I don't know. Things are going to go back and forth for a while still as more people come into the ereader game and decide if it's their "thang".
And regarding putting a book out before it's necessarily ready... the moment we begin to feel as though something is going to be missed if we don't act right NOW, we should realize that something just isn't right!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Jessica
This is a really interesting post. I was not really aware about how the self publishing industry was doing. Not really. Very enlightening.
Self-publishers and indie pubs are like small businesses. Some will make it big, some will make a living, and some will fold. That's just the market. But it opens the dream to more dreamers and that's a beautiful thing!
I wish the market would take care of those totally not-ready books, but unfortunately it doesn't.
I've been watching a self pubbed book, which I read, and I am astounded by the 4 and 5 stars she's getting. With all the continuous grammar mistakes, plot inconsistencies, breakage of almost every basic writing rule and I could go on. Yet, she has only 3 out of 27 reviews that are 2 or under. Maybe it's too new, and the few people reading it are friends and family. Who kows.
So maybe since self pubbing has become so easy, you get a lot more doing it. But hopefully it'll slow down once the 'not ready' writers are pushed out. And it'll be more of the 'better' writers like the books that are in the bookstores.
I don't know. We'll see.
I would cry if B&N closed :(
I see where you're coming from and it really is a scary thought that well written books might never see the light of day.
Hopefully things find a way to balance out. I also hope people will always value a hard copy of a book over an ecopy.
Following on from Kyra's comment, yeah - I'm totally drowning in books too. My GoodReads TBR is over 500 books long. haha
I will never stop loving a "real" book. I might stop buying as many simply because I've run out of room. Or else I need to get into more of a "pass it on" habit, instead of hoarding every physical book I buy. Even the ones I didn't really like. No, don't need to keep those around. ;)
I agree with you about quality. When I buy a book (regardless of its publishing roots) I expect a certain level of fluidity to the story and quality editing. Self-pubs tend to miss the mark more often, but the big boys put out some stinkers too.
I think should Barnes & Noble fail, there will be other entities that step forward in cyber space to level the playing field. The publishers will try to push their books in cyber space, but the people will find a way to bring forward the good independents.
Here in Canada we don't have Barnes and Nobles, we have Chapters. It's a mega bookstore, all the same. And it's killed off nearly all of the independent bookstore competition, which I think is unfortunate.
As for self published, I've read some awesome ones, and some ones that totally seemed like a first draft. Your point about drowning in books is a good one. My TBR pile on Goodreads is also around 500. Gah!
Who knows what will happen?
So its not just me! Been flying through a string of ebooks lately and after the first 3 pages I want to shake the author and force them to an editor :P I hope the book market doesnt become too saturated
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