Comments on: I got your suggestions right here.

By: Evangeline

Evangeline — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 09:58:21 +0000

I’m a little late, but Magdalen’s comment is exactly how I felt when I went to B&N two weeks ago. I’ve been hanging out online for about six years (geez!), and have been a long-time member of AAR and have either a passing or intimate familiarity with the top reader/reviewer sites online. I also read Romantic Times ever so often. But I remained stumped by the sheer number of authors (and not even category authors, mind you) whose names and books were utterly unrecognizable. And what’s worse is that I looked at their blurbs, read a few pages, and saw why they had zero, zilch, nada buzz. Naysayers online do like to say that we in the internet writing/reader community are far from the “average” reader, but doesn’t it look funny when the books no one talks about online are the ones left moldering on bookshelves at B&N?

By: Eugene

Eugene — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 21:30:16 +0000

Here's development on steroids. I don't think I've ever read a book by James Patterson, but I respect him a ton after reading this. Of course, it's Patterson setting the ground rules and dragging his publisher along for the ride, not the other way around.

By: MoJo

MoJo — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 02:14:14 +0000

@Persephone

I’ve actually thought about putting a burned CD in the print versions. Thing is, I’m as frightened of piracy as anybody (maybe more, because I’m alone), so I might not put in a code, but I would put in a CD. Still on the fence with it, though…

By: Persephone Green

Persephone Green — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 00:31:13 +0000

I really don’t understand why book publishers don’t offer free e-book downloads with hardcovers like the film studios and record companies offer codes for free digital copies. It makes so much sense. Then again, media corporations rarely do anything these days that makes sense.

By: The Daily Square – Everybody Is A Star Edition | Booksquare

The Daily Square – Everybody Is A Star Edition | Booksquare — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 00:30:24 +0000

[...] I got your suggestions right here.Moriah Jovan looks the 80/20 principle and the idea that publishing needs to do less research and more development. And we’re going to choose to forgive her for the Hollywood Accounting comment; she may not be aware of our former career! [...]

By: uberVU - social comments

uberVU - social comments — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 22:48:17 +0000

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This post was mentioned on Twitter by MoriahJovan: NEW BLOG POST: I got your suggestions right here. http://moriahjovan.com/mojo/i-got-your-suggestions-right-here...

By: MoJo

MoJo — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 20:34:47 +0000

@Eugene

Extending the metaphor, the big houses should look to self and small publishers as farm teams where talent can be discovered and developed and new markets explored with little risk.

They’re already doing it. Quietly. IMO, what they want are semi-decent works with authors who are proven self-marketers. If the editing’s sufficient, they don’t even have to do much to that. Slap a new cover and ISBN on it and distribute it.

@Karlene

IMO, the goal of the big publishers and smaller presses, is to kill or, if that’s not possible, greatly impede the progress of ebooks. Prohibitive pricing is an excellent strategy to that goal.

As far as why the ebook format isn’t automatic for all new books, I think it’s because A) ebooks in all their forms are a giant mystery, B) they think an ebook has to look like the printed page, and the designers/typesetters don’t want to lose their jobs, and C) they’re scared of piracy. Personally, I think C is a valid fear—I fear it too—but ebooks are here. They can evolve with them and have a hand in their evolution or they can die. Not my or your problem.

In Galleycat’s micro summary of the eBook Summit, there was this quote:

Dan Costa (PC Magazine): “What can writers do to survive?”
Matt Shatz (Random House): “Write Code.”

I about fell off my chair laughing because that’s what you and I and Eugene have done.

But I’ll tell you where that job should go—the designers and typesetters.

By: Karlene

Karlene — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 18:52:13 +0000

Agreed.

On the ebook tangent– I don’t know why the ebook format isn’t automatic for all new books, nor (here’s my rant) why those ebooks are so expensive—except to cover the ginormous advances paid to authors. The cost to produce an ebook vs a paper and ink book is minimal. I’m shocked that some small presses are pricing their ebooks at the same price as the trade paperback version. And now, some of Kindles new releases are $14.95? That is just ridiculous!

By: Eugene

Eugene — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 18:36:04 +0000

Studying pedagogy in grad school, I came to the conclusion that to cut through the academic BS and see the principles applied honestly, one need only look at professional sports, because the goals are so unambiguous and the criteria for success so clear.

When it comes to publishing, I would suggest baseball’s farm team system as an analogy. Way down in the bush leagues, in terms of raw opportunity costs, players are pretty much paying to play. By the time they get to double and triple-A, well-run teams turn a profit–by putting on fan-centered shows at prices fans can afford.

They’re not making the big bucks, but they get by. It’s in the self-interest of the major leagues that they get by so cultivated talent can rise to the top. Extending the metaphor, the big houses should look to self and small publishers as farm teams where talent can be discovered and developed and new markets explored with little risk.

The beauty of such a system now is that keeping the “box scores” is so easy with the current technology.

By: MoJo

MoJo — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 14:00:07 +0000

@Ann Marie

the assumption that readers will simply buy what they’re told to

I know it! Hubris, ignorance, or contempt? Who knows?

@Magdalen

Brilliant, as always. Insert the Amen Chorus here. Really.