If you’re a romance writer and at all savvy in the ways of the ‘Net and keeping up with news of the industry, you know about Dorchester’s announcement to drop its mass market publishing program in favor of ebooks with eventual trade publication down the line. Or something like that. I’m in the midst of edits for my December 2011 Five Star Expressions release, and while I’ve been following the talk throughout the weekend, I haven’t had time to pay the attention to it that I’d like. What I do know is that I have friends who write for Dorchester, and I feel for them. I hear even the editorial staff was surprised by Dorchester’s decision. But Dorchester has fallen on hard times, and at least the company is trying to do something about it. Whether how they’re going about it will make authors happy remains to be seen. If Dorchester is abandoning the mass market publishing model, does that mean they’ll also abandon advances and offer higher royalties instead? I don’t know. I figure the people who are more likely to discover these things are the people, the writers, who have a vested interest in them. IE. Dorchester authors. And so I’ll hand you over to the likes of Anna DeStefano, a Dorchester author who is blogging about the changes at Dorchester on her blog as she experiences them. She’s doing a great job. The link I just provided will take you to the first in Anna’s articles on the subject.
I admire several Dorchester authors, and I have bought several Dorchester books. In fact, on Friday, just before I heard that the rumor bandied about on Twitter was in fact not a rumor, I received notification from my favorite on-line bookstore that a Dorchester novel I’d ordered was on its way in the mail to me. I expect to receive it this week. And I really want to read it (Book 4 in Gemma Halliday’s High Heel Mysteries series). But maybe I should wrap it in plastic and store it away instead—as one of the last mass market paperbacks Dorchester might ever print.
Who am I kidding? I’ll read it. I love Gemma’s writing.
I’m an epublished author (or “digital author,” if that’s your preference). (“Digital author” makes me think of little Jack Horner sticking his fingers into a pie, I must say). “Digital first,” as some larger publishers are now calling themselves. That means ebook first, then trade paperback somewhere down the line, whether it’s a month later with the trades printed with Print on Demand technology (basically no warehousing involved) (by the way, this was how my first two cindypks were published with Amber Quill), or digital release (there’s the finger popping out of the pie!) with the trades releasing several months down the line (like Samhain and others; I only mention Samhain because they have a great reputation and I know several of their authors, so I’m familiar that they indeed do publish their ebooks in print several months down the line). Some publishers use POD technology for the trade paperbacks, and others run small print runs.
Okay, so I’m an epublished author, we’ve established that. Why does hearing that Dorchester is dropping mass market sadden me? Because, to me, “mass market” (meaning a printing format) = distribution. And distribution = a greater chance at sales. A greater chance at earning an income beyond what I fondly term The King Family Kraft Dinner Fund. I know a lot of people who pretty much only buy their books in mass market format—at the grocery store, maybe once in a blue moon through a trip to a bookstore. I don’t know many people who order books on-line (I do, because I don’t have to leave the house and I order enough to qualify for free shipping in one go), I don’t know anyone outside of some American writer friends who owns an e-reader or plans to buy one. Yes, this will change as the publishing industry changes. I don’t even own an e-reader yet, but have plans to buy one next year (must wait for a good reason, like a birthday, and my most recent birthday was in January). Yes, as an epublished author who first ventured into the arena ten years ago (I signed my first epublishing contract in 1999 or 2000, but then cancelled it before the book came out because I’d learned some not-so-good things about the company), I’ve been hopeful and waiting for the time when e-readers would come down in price and the public would begin to embrace ebooks. But I didn’t envision that happening at the expense of other publishing models, like mass market. And that, honestly, isn’t what’s happened. The recession in the U.S. has played a major part. I WANT the public to embrace digital publishing, but I don’t like seeing any format disappear. Certainly not a format to which I aspire to publish my books. I’m sad for new authors who recently sold to Dorchester and thought they’d finally achieved their dream of mass market publication, only to discover that all the bucks they’d spent on promotion, etc., might be for naught, because Dorchester’s entire (now trade) print publishing schedule is being pushed back. I feel for authors who have 3 or 4 books out in a series in mass market who are facing the last book in the series getting published “digital first.” Will their mass market readers follow them? If those readers don’t follow them, what will that mean for those authors’ careers? I feel sad for readers who can’t afford e-readers and don’t use credit cards (I know such people), which are useful little items for ordering things on-line. I think, as the industry changes, readers as well as writers will get caught in the crunch. We are living in exciting times…as long as you aren’t personally affected by it. We’re living in exciting publishing times…you know, when you look back on it fifty years hence and can think, Hey, wasn’t that kind of like when the whole Gutenburg thing happened? And I was part of it. Cool. But right now, the times, they are uncertain. Authors careers, they are uncertain. If you are a reader and you have a favorite author, the best thing you can do for them is support them and buy their books new. Not from a used book store and, for heaven’s sake, not by downloading “free” ebooks from a pirate site. Those “free” ebooks are illegal copies and authors don’t earn one penny from those downloads. Authors don’t earn money from non-existent “sales.” If authors don’t earn money, publishers might axe them—because publishing is a business and businesses like to make money. If publishers don’t earn money, then they might drop entire publishing programs. And if you like to buy your books from the grocery store, then that WILL impact you.
Okay, I’m rambling. I’ll admit it. Time to stop. I don’t know if anything I’ve said here makes sense. The publishing industry is changing, not all of it for the good, and as an author I need to learn as much as I can about those changes. And I need to adapt and change along with them. Which I intend to do. But first I have to honor my contract and get those edits in under deadline. Because I’m a writer, and that’s the way we roll.
~~~~
UPDATE! Dorchester now has some information about the transition to their new publishing program on their website.
Great piece, Cindy. All really great things for everyone to think about.
I will add that Amazon recently reported that ebook sales were higher than sales for mass market printed books. We’ve had Sony readers and the like for a while now, but with the advent of Kindle and now widely recognized selling points like Smashwords climbing ladders by two steps at a time, ebooks are gaining in popularity like never before.
The benefit for authors with econtracts is that royalties are higher than print. Here’s an example. My recent contract for a printed book gives me 7.5% royalties on the price of the book, which fluctuates depending on sales. I bought several copies of my book to use for promotions from Amazon.co.uk when they were £7.13. A few days later when the books were shipped, I noticed the price for the books went up to nearly £8. It stayed there until they realized there weren’t anymore UK sales coming and lowered the price again. Same thing happened with the US site. I ordered several copies when the book was selling for $8.99, then the price shot up to retail, $12.49. Now it’s down to $10.67, as they realize no one is buying at retail. Amazon is known for discounting things so why buy at full whack? But what this means is that I can’t count on 7.5% of one price because that price fluctuates.
With ebooks, epubs contract for an average or 40% royalties. Sure, the books are a bit cheaper than mass market, but would you rather sell a few at an elevated price or a lot at a little price?
As you mentioned, this is all about money for publishers, and it should be for authors too. If you’re getting 40% for an ebook and sell 5000 copies at $2.99 that’s around $5980 royalties, where as those same 5000 print copies at 7.5% and a retail price of $6.99 is just $2621 and change. If that’s the case, I’m all for ebooks!
There’s something important authors need to think strongly about and decide for their futures. Do they want to be rich or famous…ie, make money or have their name on books? If they just want their name on books, then by all means, self publish. Do whatever it takes to get your name in lights. But if they’re looking at this as a business, then it will be mostly about the money…how ever they make it. If that means making 40% royalties on esales, then that’s what they have to do.
Personally, while I love writing and sharing my stories with people, ultimately I’m publishing because I want to make money at it. And if it means going with Dorchester and making good royalties on esales, then I’ll do it.
Of course, Dorchester’s electronic royalties are yet to be released, but I’m sure if they’re smart, they’ll look at the industry standard as it’s been set up by traditional epubs and they’ll have to go with the flow or loose authors to long established epresses.
I’m going indie with CATTITUDE. I had an agent for this book, and I’ve come close to selling with others, but no bites. I feel that my books fall between the cracks for genres for print pubs. I’ve been reading J.A. Konrath’s posts on epubs, and I decided to give it a go. Right now Kindle is offering 70%, so I feel I would be foolish to not grab this opportunity. Although if Carina Press comes knocking … 😀
I have writer friends with Dorch too. Great writers! I know they’ll come out of this okay, but I feel for them right now.
Thank you for your thoughts, Kemberlee! We’ve been chatting back and forth about this very thing on Facebook, and I agree with a lot of what you said. The thing mass market distribution gets you compared to going epub, either with a traditional publisher or self-publishing, is more exposure to a greater breadth of book buyers. Some writers are making excellent money off ebooks, but the majority of us aren’t yet. That said, considering both my AQP books have been out for a few years now (2005 and 2007 publication dates), I am pleased at the Kindle sales that have begun picking up with them. The sales numbers aren’t anything to write home about. The resulting royalties still basically contribute to the King Family Kraft Dinner Fund. But they are sales that might not be occurring if Kindle hadn’t come to be. I love my Kindle sales!
It will be very interesting to see what Dorchester presents to the world (submission information and the like) as they make this new shift in September. Because, to be frank, if the company was experiencing money issues (payment issues to authors) before the change in the publishing model…would an established e-author be more likely to submit to one of the already well established e-publishers before Dorchester? Or will the Dorchester name lure them in?
From what I have heard from writing friends, they are, for the most part, happy with their editorial experiences at Dorchester, and that counts for a lot.
Hi Edie,
Thanks for chiming in. When you say “going indie,” that means “self-publishing,” right? I’m just trying to get the lingo straight, because it seems to be changing a lot lately. “E-Publishing” is now “digital publishing.” If the e-publisher might eventually put out a print copy in some format, now the accepted term seems to be “digital first publisher.” Is “indie” the new way of saying “self-publishing”?
For YOU, who I know has been at this a long time, whose works fall between genres and therefore NYC won’t bite (unless a new trend surpirses them, like the now getting-old vampire trend did, and then they’d bitig all over the place) (just not on the neck, haha!) (okay, bad pun). I lost my thought… I don’t think self-publishing is a bad choice for a writer who has been around the block, who has heard “nearly” several times, been through editorial revisions, maybe had an agent for some time, etc. A writer like you. And some might say, like me. For myself, though, I would submit to established epublishers first. I like having my work vetted, and I learn something new from every editor with whom I work.
I’m on a new writers’ loop with multi-published authors who are looking to republish out of print books via the Kindle program you’re using. I would like to do the same with an OOP piece I have, if I ever get a spare moment.
But I do worry about the Amazon thing drawing in a lot of writers whose work really isn’t ready for the marketplace. Because whether it’s ready or not isn’t a concern for the self-publishing printer. The Amazon Kindle model works differently, because you don’t have to pay them to publish your book, like with a true self-publishing “printer.” They of course get a percentage of sales, because otherwise why would they do it?
I will be very interested in your experiences with the Kindle program, Edie. Wishing only the best for you!
I’m anxious to hear what their new submission guidelines will be like, and what they’ll be offering people who’ve been in the submission process already. And what guarantees does anyone have that promised and contracted advances and royalties will be paid if they can’t seem to play their current authors? Is this going to be a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul?
I think they’re going to miss a lot of sales in the coming years. Where they once had great distribution, they’ll now be just every other epub out there. What makes them any different from the likes of Samhain who publish digital first and print for their best sellers?
Time will tell, as they say.
Kemberlee, those are excellent questions. Of course, I don’t have the answers. I would like to see Dorchester remain an advance-paying publisher. There are epubs that pay advances, even if they’re smaller than traditional NYC advances. The houses that started the no advance model were upstarts, new starts, whatever the lingo is. Dorchester is established. They’ve fallen on hard times, but they’ve been around forever. Advances help writers through the time between acceptance and publication. Especially if Dorchester retains the traditional twice a year royalty schedule. If you’re going to retain that schedule, then I think a publisher owes it to the authors to pay advances. If you’re paying royalties quarterly or monthly, as the vast majority of epublishers do, then the advance issue isn’t such an, well, issue.
I’m anxious to hear the new submission guideslines, too. They have an announcement on the website that it will be awhile before they’re up. Starting the new venture has created a back log. It will be interesting to see if they will become open to new genres they weren’t open to before, like erotic romance.
Hey, Kemberlee, you make some great points. But Amazon actually announced that they sold more e-books than HARDCOVER, and that’s not really a big thing. Every other format sells more than hardcover. 🙂 Some news articles just said more e-books than print books, though, which was very misleading.
Someday, your math will be applicable, because format sales will even out as more people embrace e-books. But right now, they aren’t the same. Dorchester said 12% of their revenues come from e-books, and many mass market readers don’t even know e-books exist, so the sales won’t transfer.
But Dorchester is an odd duck in the publishing world, and I don’t think very much of their situation is applicable to any other portion of the publishing world. 🙂