This week! Books!
First off, thanks for the great responses on Wednesday’s post on the toughest writing challenge you’re facing! With social media becoming a less hospitable place, I’m definitely feeling the energy around bringing blog comment conversations back. So keep an eye out for more Wednesday “You Tell Mes.”
On to the links!
Some pretty significant news arrived this week as some of the smartest and most experienced people in publishing are joining forces on a new imprint called Author Equity. Its business model says a lot about where we’re headed as an industry.
Essentially, Author Equity pledges to put authors first, and they won’t offer advances. They will instead offer the “lion’s share” (the former agent in me is shouting, “HOW MUCH IS THAT EXACTLY”) of the profits, and will maintain a lean staff that relies on freelancers for editing and production, with distribution by Simon & Schuster. Its author investors (including Atomic Habits author James Clear and The 4-Hour Workweek author Tim Ferriss) probably point the way toward the types of books they’re likely looking for. Namely, entrepreneurial bestsellers and bestsellers-in-the-making who are willing to forego the upfront investment of the advance in favor of making more on the backend.
Those of us who have been in this business for twenty odd years know that parts of this publishing model aren’t new. The no-advance-but-marketing-guarantees was adopted by the imprint Vanguard Press at the Perseus Books Group, which I profiled way back in 2008. (Vanguard was shuttered in 2012, and Perseus was acquired by Hachette in 2016). There have also been more behind-the-scenes deal structures like this that I’ve come across/heard about that I can’t really talk about specifically for confidentiality reasons, but trust me, they exist.
As Ron Charles notes, one thing imprints like this do is to shift more of the prospective investment of a new book onto the author. Which, again, has been around before, but I’ll be interested to see if it spreads more widely to the Big 5, where it’s never really caught on in a big way.
What feels new to me is the reliance on freelance labor. On the one hand, sure, I’m a freelance editor! I embraced the lifestyle even before the pandemic. If you offered me double what I make now, I’d still have a hard time imagining going back to a more traditional job.
But freelancing isn’t for everyone. I have a platform. I have a robust network. I can handle the precariousness of an unstable income, getting my own health insurance (thanks Obama!), and that feeling of fixing the plane while you’re flying it. But did I mention it’s not for everyone?
It’s one thing for publishers to shift the precariousness of the investment of a book onto authors. It’s another to shift it onto employees who would rather be working in a traditional job. And good luck to the freelancers who want to collectively bargain. There could also be a collective brain drain as fewer people apprentice full time at traditional houses and gain that invaluable experience if it becomes more widespread.
And let me now plug Freelancers Union and plead with everyone reading to fight for a more robust safety net for the freelance workforce. If companies are going to start relying even more on freelancers, we need to give freelancers more of the benefits associated with traditional employment.
Whew! My soapboxing has put me behind on my work, so forgive me for just listing the other links this week.
Author Complaints at City Owl Press – Victoria Strauss, Writer Beware
Big Swing at a Big Pitch – Kate McKean
Adelle Waldman’s Journey From Brooklyn Literati to a Big Box Store – Michelle Goldberg, New York Times
Chinese Science Fiction Before The Three Body Problem – Livia Gershon, JSTOR Daily
Why Does Every Famous Woman Have a Book Club Now? – Emily Gould, The Cut
This week in bestsellers
Here are the top five NY Times bestsellers in a few key categories. (All links are affiliate links):
Adult print and e-book fiction:
- The Women by Kristin Hannah
- Three-Inch Teeth by C.J. Box
- A Fate Inked in Blood by Danielle L. Jensen
- Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
- Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros
Adult print and e-book nonfiction:
- Blood Money by Peter Schweizer
- Burn Book by Kara Swisher
- Attack From Within by Barbara McQuade
- The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk
- Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann
Young adult hardcover:
- Powerless by Lauren Roberts
- Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross
- Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross
- Where the Dark Stands Still by A.B. Poranek
- Murtagh by Christopher Paolini
Middle grade hardcover:
- Wonder by R.J. Palacio
- Max in the House of Spies by Adam Gidwitz
- Heroes by Alan Gratz
- Finally Heard by Kelly Yang
- Wonka by Sibéal Pounder
This week on the blog
In case you missed them, here are this week’s posts:
- Why protagonists need to be active
- What’s the biggest writing challenge you’re facing?
- Make the attraction vivid (query critique)
Don’t forget that you can nominate your first page and query for a free critique on the blog:
And keep up with the discussion in all the places!
And finally, Caught Between Zodiacs: A Capricorn Daughter Remembers Her Translator Father – Grace Loh Prasad, LitHub
Have a great weekend!
Need help with your book? I’m available for manuscript edits, query critiques, and coaching!
For my best advice, check out my online classes, my guide to writing a novel and my guide to publishing a book.
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Marilynn Byerly says
One of the scariest things an author can hear is “We are doing this for you.” I’ve never seen or heard of a case where this isn’t the opening promotion for a massive scam. Good luck to authors who become involved in this not-new publishing. And authors have taken the brunt of the investment in the promotion, etc., for their books for many years. They have used a major chunk of their advance to do this. With no advance, they will be pulling money out of their savings. Again, good luck with this.