The internet is a fascinating place. In addition to the wonderful people one meets and converses with on a daily basis through blogs, one can follow paths that veer off this way and that to all manner of interesting things. I thought that today I’d post some links to a few interesting destinations that I arrived at last night.
While visiting Neth Space, a very interesting blog with a science fiction/fantasy bent, I came across a link to this article by fantasy author Brandon Sanderson entitled Why We Like Hardback Books (you may have to scroll down and skip past his opening comment about the image accompanying the post to get to the essay itself). It is a fascinating article about the money that authors and publishers get from hardback sales vs. paperback sales. Sanderson admits that the article might seem like a thinly veiled sales pitch and while it does have that aspect I think he did a great job answering questions about writing and sales that I have always wanted to ask but was afraid to. Heck, I didn’t even have the courage to ask Colleen Gleason about this in my recent interview with her.
I really enjoyed learning what he had to reveal about Amazon sales, author and publisher and agent percentages on books sales, etc. I won’t reveal anything. Go read it and let’s talk about it.
Interestingly enough I own two of Sanderson’s books in hardback form, both of which I purchased because I had heard good things and loved the cover art. They are both on the to-be-read pile and at least one will probably be a fantasy challenge read.
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While visiting Torque Control I came across this interesting discussion of a reviewer’s ideas on the purpose of science fiction. What was so interesting about it to me was that it referenced this post on John Scalzi’s site (remember him? Author of Old Man’s War, The Ghost Brigades, The Android’s Dream? The guy I talk about so much now that I appear to have a man crush on him?) John Scalzi first links to this article on his works in the NY Times (if you cannot get in, sign up, its free and worth it). After reading I thoroughly enjoyed Scalzi’s insightful discussion about points in the article.
And this is where things got even more interesting. In his response, Scalzi points out this review of his work Old Man’s War. It is a well articulated, interesting negative review of the book. By and large the reviewer’s problems with the books stem from his assumptions of John Scalzi’s political views and the way he read into certain aspects of the book. I don’t know about you, but negative reviews about something I really like always insight a bit of instaneous passion followed by taking the time to consider the person’s opinions, looking at them as objectively as possible realizing that we all like different things. What is great about this review and the following discussion is that the majority of the conversation is actually quite mature, reasonable, and intelligent. In the comments of the review John Scalzi himself responds to some of the reviewer’s objections and does so in a way that increased my respect for him as both an author and a person. Scalzi is both gracious and thoughtful in his responses. He is not condescending or inflammatory or denigrating in any way. The exchange that ensued between the two, supplemented by other people’s comments, makes for some excellent reading as well as some thought provoking material. How much should an author’s political, religious, etc. beliefs affect our enjoyment of his/her work? Should we assume that an author’s beliefs and views are what he is espousing in his book? John Scalzi makes some excellent points about an author’s responsibility to create a world and go with the story and that his views aren’t necessarily those of every character in the story. There are also some interesting ideas put forth on the nature of judging a trilogy by the first book, not knowing exactly what the actual ‘message’ of the book, if there is one, will be at the end.
On a side note there are some comments about old age that the reviewer makes that causes several “older” people to respond. It is quite a humorous backlash and gives interesting insight into the nature and beliefs of what it means to ‘get old’.
I came away from this exchange with a respect for a person whose opinions I did not agree with and a renewed interest in looking at the way I respond to things I don’t agree with so that I can do so with both passion and dignity.
Anyway, this might all be worthless reading to you on a Thursday, but I spent a significant amount of time last night doing some intriguing reading and felt passionate enough about it that I had to share. I hope you all have a wonderful day!
That’s an interesting article on where the money goes, but I don’t really buy books to support an author. I buy books because I want to read them. Plus places like amazon don’t do free shipping to Ireland. Which is a whole other reason to moan 😉
I get his reasoning, that it makes more sense for authors, but I prefer the look at feel of most paperbacks. I do sometimes get hardbacks, but very rarely. Surely authors should get the same % deal on pbks as they do on hbks, they usually take up less space so shipping should be less. And I’m guessing it costs less to produce? They’d still make less cash on an individual purchase, but make up for that in bulk.
I prefer hardbacks myself, mostly because I generally like to hold on to and the books I buy and I think hardbacks hold up to wear and tear much better. Trades are my next favorite with paperbacks being my least.
I wouldn’t stress too much about Amazon not doing free shipping to Ireland. As beat up as their books have been lately it is becoming, in my opinion, better to just go into the store with a coupon or pay full price so that I can pick up a nice, undamaged copy of whatever book I want to read.
There really is an amazing amount of interesting stuff out there. It can be dangerous really! tend to spend too much time wandering around! The first article sounds really interesting, and I am off to read it!
In continuation of my last comment, there are some paperbacks that I love much better than the hardbacks. These are older science fiction books by Harry Harrison, Brian Daley, Alan Dean Foster…many of which I have older hardback copies but prefer the paperback ones because of the nostalgia factor from when and in what format I first read them.
I was reading the comments to the post I linked to on the Neth Space blog and he had left this link there. The results of a survey on author advances conducted by author Tobias Buckell, very, very interesting. I find all this stuff so fascinating.
I wanted to further comment on Fence’s comment. I don’t think I consciously buy books to support the author either. On the other hand I have to say that my desire for any author whose work I enjoy is for them to be able to write full time. Why? More books for me to read, of course! Taking that into account if I thought about it I might be inclined to help support them by making an effort to buy hardbacks. Since I do this anyway the article probably won’t affect my buying habits, but it will make me think about it when I’m at the register.
Hope you see this in time… Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean are doing a webcast from the Walker Art Center tonight. The web address is http://channel.walkerart.org/detail.wac?id=3651
I will probably not be able to make it since I have an appointment until 7 but you can check out Dave’s interview on Sunday at http://www.startribune.com and search for Neil Gaiman.
Hey, thanks Shannin!!!
Very interesting, thanks for sharing Carl.
I don’t consciously buy books to support authors either, I don’t think. I buy because I love to read, and because I love their work – I guess the rest just follows on from that.
I do prefer to buy hardbacks, mostly. I love the feel of reading a hardback, and I love the way they look on the shelf. Paperbacks are mostly whim purchases, or of older releases. Depends what deals are on and what I can afford etc etc. I do also have a tendency to double up on my favourite authors – with Ladies of Grace Adieu I picked up the standard hardback and the slipcased hardback, and with the recent Good Omens release I picked up both black and white covers… Anansi Boys, I again have in both normal hardback and slipcased.
With Amazon – I haven’t had any real issues with damaged goods from them. Certainly not with books. Guess maybe I have been lucky!
I guess what I meant is that I wouldn’t buy a book just to support an author, but if I’ve read one book by someone, then I’m more than willing to pick up another one. So I support them that way 🙂
I know what you meant Fence, I certainly don’t do it just to support an author either. If I didn’t like their work I wouldn’t be buying it and they’d have to go on the bread line. 😉 And I agree with what you said about percentages, I think they should be the same across the board as well.
Q, I do the same thing. I have both copies of the Ladies of Grace Adieu. I also tend to buy all the Gaiman books in hardback and in trade paperback. I don’t like the mass market paperbacks of his books though.
Hey Carl…sorry for the delay in getting over here.
I’ve seen the Todd Buckell article/link before; in fact, I participated in the data gathering end of it.
The data is good. It’s accurate, based on what I know from others and from what my agent has told me.
IOW, it’s not just an anomaly of bloggers or web surfers who happened to answer that survey–this is real life.
I haven’t had a chance to read all your column and the comments, but I’m thinking that some people might be surprised at the thought that a book is only worth $5000 in an advance.
Remember though, this is an advance against royalties… so if the book does really well, it can earn more. Sort of like a bonus. To infinity.
Of course, if it doesn’t do well, and doesn’t earn enough to earn out or pay back the publisher for the advance, then that author will have a harder time getting another contract.
Some authors have resorted to changing their names purely so a publisher will buy them again, after poor sales showings.
And, since I got involved with writing–even before I got published–I bought books to support authors, and because I love to read.
I buy copies of all my friends’ books even if I don’t intend or want to read them—because that’s how I support them. Then I give copies away (sometimes I buy multiple copies) to friends, relatives, libraries, etc.
I do this merely because I’m part of the business, and I know there are people who will do that for me too. They already have.
Hope this doesn’t sound disjointed, and I hope I’m not repeating stuff people have already said….I just finally had a chance to pop over and, like I said, didn’t read the whole thing. Yet.
But I will!!!!
Okay, I’m back…I just read the first article you posted to.
First, Space is right in many ways…but I disagree with some of the other assumptions he makes.
I like the way he broke down the numbers, and that’s nice for readers to see that each book purchase actually does help, counting toward the author’s income and record. (As I mentioned above, if an author’s numbers aren’t good enough, they won’t keep getting contracts. Such is the way of all aspects of our world!)
One thing I take issue with though is that it sounds like he’s saying a writer can’t make a decent living unless they are published in hardcover… and that’s not true.
Julia Quinn, for example, makes a hefty seven-figure-plus income (more than her physician husband; this info was reported by TIME magazine a few years ago) publishing only one paperback a year. Mass market pb, might I add.
There are other authors who do as well; I know from my own market this is the case.
Yes, once you “graduate” to hardcover, you do make more money, generally. But an author doesn’t have to graduate to hard cover to do so.
And often times by the time you graduate to hardcover, it’s because you have the audience to sustain the change, and they already know the numbers.
(BTW, what do I mean by graduate to hardcover? Well, most (genre fiction) authors are first published in mass market paperback, and then at some point, when their sales are high enough or they write a book that “feels” like a hardcover, then they graduate to that format. Often to the dismay of their fans!)
The thing is, when a publisher pays an advance to an author, that advance is directly computed based on how many copies the publisher thinks will sell. It’s not a mystery.
The publisher takes the percentage of the royalty and, based on other books of similar ilk, determines how many “should” sell–in other words, the publisher is aiming for a break-even.
There are many authors who command very high advances (in the seven figures) because the publisher knows how many books they’ll sell. And those authors are savvy enough to get it up front–instead of waiting the year or more before the royalties trickle in.
Whew…this is getting long.
I’ll stop for now. Let me know if I left something unanswered or unclear!
Thanks Colleen, for both comments. More fascinating info. I really appreciate your input. You mentioned ‘graduating to hardcover’. That statement instantly brought to mind 2 facts, #1 if you graduate to a different format I will still probably never get these first books that way…and Rest Falls Away begs for at least a trade size, if not hardback. It would actually look really cool as one of those mini hardbacks like Patricia A. McKillip’s books. #2, I’m disappointed because John Scalzi won an award for Old Man’s War which was printed in a hardback. I saw it first in trade as a sci fi essentials edition and love the cover art on the trade much more than on the hardback. Its sequels, Ghost Brigades and The Last Colony are in hardback with the same cover artist. It annoys me that I will never have a complete trilogy of these books in hardback with the same cover art. Petty? Yes, but annoying just the same.
$5,000 seems like a decent check before you start thinking about it. Thinking about all the time that goes into writing the book and the fact that it isn’t much to live on if that’s the only book an author manages to get out a year. I’d hate to see an author break their advance down into an hourly wage for how long it took them to write. It would probably be pretty pathetic until one gets ultra famous.
Hi Carl:
Glad my rambling, long-winded comments made some sense!
As for the hardcover aspect…there are times when an author gets to be big enough that earlier books are reissued as hardcovers, so there’s still hope to see REST in hardcover. 🙂
Sometimes book clubs will pick up a book and put it in hardcover or trade paperback, but often the cover is different.
Anyway, yes, the wage per hour for most authors is in the toilet, which is why the Starving Artist syndrome applies to us as well.
But, as with all artists, whether paid or not, we do do it for the love of the work.
It’s just a miracle when we can actually make a living doing it!
I’m sure that’s true, especially with the first book (or for an artist with the first big sale). I can only imagine that, as a book lover, the thrill of walking into a major chain bookstore and seeing your book on the shelves must be overwhelming. Of course that thrill is probably magnified if a writer gets to the point where they can ‘quit the day job’ and write full time and actually make it pay.
I must admit that it is really fun having the ability to talk to an actual published writer about whatever enters my head as I find the process very interesting. Thanks for being kind enough to indulge me and share your opinions with all who read here.