Yesterday I suggested that authors probably won’t be charging admission to readings and selling t-shirts, to which people (correctly) wrote back: “Why not??” I should have said “most” authors won’t be charging admission, but I definitely take their point.
So this got me to thinking. We’ve been talking about how e-books are going to affect the economics of publishing and the bottom line for authors, but let’s take that one step further.
How are authors in the near future going to be making their money? Do you think books are still going to be the main thing? Or is the “other” category, such as subrights, appearances, and yes, t-shirts going to be more important? How should authors utilize the new technology to earn more money?
Regarding the Publishers Weekly article (thanks for the link, Carly!): that sentence taken out of context does not show the full picture. Also quote this paragraph:
In terms of technology, the study found that more children ages eight and up spend time online than read for pleasure on a daily basis. However, the finding has a silver lining. “High frequency Internet users are more likely to read books for fun every day,” said Heather Carter, director of corporate research at Scholastic in a statement. “That suggests that parents and teachers can tap into kids’ interest in going online to spark a greater interest in reading books.” Nearly two-thirds of children ages nine to 17 “extended” the reading experience online, including activities such as visiting an author’s Web site, using the Internet to find books by a particular author or visiting a fan site.
I am not surprised at all by the preference to read physical books. Well, actually… I am surprised that one-third did not state that preference. I don’t remember anyone saying in these three days that reading online is more pleasurable than reading a regular book.
What many of us are saying is illustrated in the paragraph I pulled from the article above: That electronic and print are commingling. Children who go online are more likely to read books. But children who read books often go online to supplement the book experience.
The authors and publishers who see this and leverage it will be the more successful (note to self: take your own advice).
It is also instructive to note that top-box scores for reading drop precipitously in the teen years. The primary reason kids love books is that their parents read to them. It’s parent time, not necessarily the books. Online time is primarily individual play and does not involve parent interaction, so kids understandably like it less.
This may very well signify that the market for printed children’s picture books will always be strong. It is difficult to imagine an e-reader ever being able to replicate the experience of Mom reading a pop-up board book to Junior in the soapy tub. But books for older people (including teens), where the story is 99% of the experience, are simply easier and more efficient to deliver electronically.
Anyone who thinks authors can make money from readings or signings should go to a reading or signing. And not one for an author who’s already famous, because he or she is already making money from selling books.
I agree with Steve Axelrod. Why shouldn’t author be paid for ebooks? They’re already paid for them in forums that have this right. (Amazon *not* being one of them).
T-shirts? Only for books that are massively popular. Last time I looked, I’m pretty sure my contracts said I can use my cover art to promote my books but not for selling stuff.
The comparison to the music industry is only a little bit apt. Concert tickets are expensive relative to a book and it’s understandable that someone would want to buy a CD or t-shirt to remember the concert experience. For the most part, book reading is not akin to concert going. Readers aren’t going to read a book AND buy the T-shirt. They’d run out of money and probably end up buying fewer books, too.
Regarding serialization: Fanfiction often operates this way, where a writer will post a chapter at a time, in intervals of a week or a month or even longer. It doesn’t seem to stop fan readers from devouring the chapters as they appear. I’m a seat-of-the-pants writer who needs to do a lot of revision, so I think I would have a hard time writing that way. But I can see it being very successful for others.
Regarding gatekeepers: They are absolutely useful, but gatekeepers don’t necessarily need to be (print) publishers. E-publishers have the same function. Bloggers who do reviews are another source, as well as word of mouth in general. I rely on industry bloggers, friends with similar taste, and genre awards to help me sift through the mass of books available – and that’s after the books have already made it through the slush pile and into print. As more authors bypass traditional print publishing, gatekeepers will only become more important.
Reprints in journals, anthologies; both elec. and print.
@wonderer (1:59 Wed) — good point.
Cam
“And the thing about ebooks is that they don’t scare me due to the fact that I don’t know one person who would sit there and read a book from their computer, a task that is usually accompanied by straining of the eye. People like to have that feeling of a book in their hand. Yes, this is the digital age and I’ve had my finger on the internet since sixth grade but my prediction is that ebooks will most likely become more of a norm years from now when the green movement has wiped out paper.”
I just read the first of the Dresden Files novels on my laptop the other day. Ditto Cory Doctorow’s “Little Brother.” Tor is now giving away free e-books, too, and Cherie Priest’s is next on my list. The formatting is pretty rad.
And the thing about it is this; why not? I spend most of my time writing on a computer, so why not read on it? Plus, the whole thing about people’s online time; what do people think Internet users are doing? Children may spend more time online than reading a book, but aren’t they reading while they’re online? Speaking of: we’re all reading Nathan’s blog, aren’t we?
For everyone who says they don’t want to give up their paper and books–you’ll never have to. For all those who say they don’t want to read on a screen–you already are.
It’s all about the movie rights. I don’t care if it ever gets made, just let me sell the option for a different book every year.
I recently came across a site called lookybook.com where you can browse entire picture books. With my child on my lap we read the book, The Man Who Walked Between the Towers, by Mordicai Gerstein. The pages flip on the screen just like a book and the pictures are vibrant. I had the same experience reading this as I did when I read the physical book to my other child on the couch, namely, I teared up at the end and had trouble reading the last page.
It was a great experience for me, the reader. But it made me wonder why someone would give this away for free?
What does Mr. Gerstein get out of having his wonderful book given away for free?
Oh, you want the REAL ending?
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I run a drug cartel on the side.
kidding…
I think authors of tomorrow won’t make money. Optimist, me. We’ll all work two jobs and write between midnight and 3am.
But that’s not going to stop me from writing.
i think that authors of tomorrow will make money by trying to improve their craft, just like authors of yesterday did, i think as an author selfdoubt is defeating, books are there 2 be written, new ways of expressing oneslf are there 2 be explored and, yeah, that is just how i see it, words are there for the taking 2 be arrranged and rearranged, whether on paper or in cyberspace and, by the way, it helps if an authors background is something completely different, music, biology, a differing slant, a thoroughly different exploration of what words can do and where they can take us- well maybe this is nothing but bullshit, but it sounds good