Today I received this email, which I’m assuming is in response to my post "iUniverse By The Numbers."
Is it bad writing that prevents a POD book from selling or many other factors? I challenge you: an established, tradional, successful writer to submit something you wrote to a POD and when it doesn’t sell
will it be because of bad writing?Additionally, everyone allows for the fact even a POD publisher is going to have 2-3 successful books per year. Well, when you consider there are at least 100 POD outfits that means they are publishing 300 books per year that are worthy of being published. The problem is not with the concept of POD. The problem is there are too many PODs with limited ethical and quality standards. Imagine if there was one POD publisher that alone printed the previously mentioned 300 books.
I wonder a hundred years from now, will the reviewers of history look upon the likes of Monk and Dick Van Dyke as highly as you view your works.
Furthermore, how many bad books gain success simply because of the stature of the author (Clinton,Fisher,Grisham) and the correct marketing plan. Correctly done, a book with 200 completely blank pages could become a top seller.I think we both agree one of us is living in a Dream
World. We simply disagree on who it is.Sincerely,
John S. Meade
I’m not sure why John is so angry with me. I guess the story told by the iUniverse stats was a very rude awakening for him. Let’s tackle his points one by one:
Is it bad writing that prevents self-published books from selling?
No, but it doesn’t help. It’s the fact that the only real market for
the vast majority of self-published books is the author’s family and
friends (as the iUniverse stats show). Nobody else knows the books or
the author exist.
But even if someone were dedicated enough to search out self-published
novels, and could get past the awful covers, the bad writing in 99.9%
of the books would drive them away screaming in mental agony. Most
self-published novels are self-published for a reason — no agent
would represent them or no editor would buy them. Why? Because the vast
majority of the manuscripts suck…and the only way they’d ever get
published is if the author paid for it.
I challenge you to visit iUniverse and read some of the sample chapters
posted online. In fact, I’m thinking of creating a new diet. I’ll call
it the "Lose Pounds the iUniverse Way!" It would go something like
this. Eat whatever you want, then visit iUniverse and read the opening
chapters of five self-published novels. Vomit into bucket. Do this
once a day and watch the pounds slip away.
Everyone allows for the fact even a POD publisher is going to have 2-3 successful books per year. Really?
That’s news to me. Also, define successful. iUniverse published 18,000
books last year. Only 83 sold 500 copies. That’s awful. Their biggest
seller sold a mere 32,000 copies. Random House turns out hundreds of
mass market paperbacks each year, the vast majority of which sell well
over 32,000 copies. Clearly, iUniverse makes their money, as Keith Snyder put
it, "from a very large number of very small
print runs that it sells mainly to people the authors know."
I wonder a hundred years from now, will the reviewers of history look
upon the likes of Monk and Dick Van Dyke as highly as you view your
works. What
makes you think I look at my TV tie-ins as great works of art? I like
to think that, for what they are, they’re pretty good. They’re light
entertainment. Are they staggering works of literary genius? Hell no. I
leave that to Tono Rondone.
I think we both agree one of us is living in a Dream
World. We simply disagree on who it is. What
is your point? Is it that self-publishing really is the path to success
for frustrated, aspiring novelists? That good writing means nothing,
that all it takes is a marketing plan to vault you from self-published
obscurity to the NY Times Bestseller list? If so, what dream world am
I living in?
Mr. Meade:
The quality of a book usually has little to do with its sales numbers at vanity presses such as iUniverse. Through the Authors Guild back-in-print program, I have put ten successful reverted novels back in print through iUniverse. These were all published by reputable NYC houses, including Doubleday, M. Evans, and Forge (Tom Doherty Associates). One won a Spur Award. Most were well reviewed.
The annual royalties I receive from iUniverse for all ten titles is around a hundred dollars. Why? Because iUniverse is at bottom a printer, not a publisher. It only minimally performs publishing functions, such as editing, copyediting, and marketing. Nonprofessionals who take the vanity press route are deluding themselves if they think they are being published, when all they are achieving is a printing of their material.
Quality, by the way, is not the only criterion that may induce an established publisher to contract a book. Publishers also look at its marketability. There are many beautifully wrought novels that have never won a contract from New york publishers. I am a former book editor, and have on many occasions turned down fine novels that had little chance of selling. Rarely was I wrong.
I know of no shortcuts: if you can write something powerful and potentially profitable, you have a chance. If you regularly attend genre fiction conferences, you will have a good opportunity to meet editors and agents and make your work known to them.
The vanity press alternative is a printed book, not a published book. It will supply you with the illusion that you are a published author. But it is only an illusion. Go for the brass ring. Stretch yourself, discipline your work, get up at five and write and write and write.
Richard Wheeler
John’s the Virtual Bookworm author so he’s operating on a narrow plain of sensitivity to vanity presses, hence the illogical and irrelevant comparison to Bill Clinton’s and other celebrity books a microscopic portion of the market over all. It doesn’t fly. John, I don’t think anyone but you will disagree on whom is in the dream world. Saying Grisham can’t write seals the deal.
Wow… 200 blank pages and a good marketing plan is all I need to be a successful author? Well I’ve already got 150 of the blank pages down, and despite my “block” I reckon I can rattle off the final 50 in the next couple of months. Anyone got any ideas for a great marketing plan? I’ll cut you in on the millions to come, promise.
I agree with some of what Chad had to say, especially the last part. No offense to Lee, but why would he say that books published by iUniverse induce vomiting when he has published with iUniverse? Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.
I happen to think that there are a number of self-published books that are worthy of publication. I am a big fan of POD-dy Mouth, girlondemand.blogspot.com, and she finds plenty of well-written books. The reality is that publishers turn down excellent books all the time. They just cannot afford to publish them all, that is why I love the whole idea of POD. They give writers a fighting chance, albeit a slight one, to find success. The reason POD books don’t sell is not because they are written poorly (although many are), but that POD authors, like most authors, are poor marketers. They are writers who rarely have marketing experience and are competeing with publishers that have huge sales and marketing forces. How about we give them a break and, God forbid, a little encouragement.
Encouraging writers to throw their money away on self-publishing is not giving them a break. It’s giving them horrible advice. Read what Richard Wheeler wrote about self-publishing. Read those iUniverse stats again. Open your eyes, my friend. You’re kidding yourself if you think self-publishing offers even a slight chance of success or a fighting chance. It’s an illusion.
I encourage writers to keep writing…and to persevere. I don’t encourage them to write a check to a self-publisher or let their desperation drive them to the likes of PublishAmerica.
And I as an iU author from years back agree. This is not the way to a publishing career.
Hi All
I am Gijo, AN iUniverse writer, I published my book in 2000 and received 6 dollars as royalty till now. I dont blame anybody, first of all we have thow money and market the book, also create awareness on POD, which nobody is doing, I would like to receive feedback on this. email:saogijo@gmail.com
Regards
GIJO.VIJAYAN
2001 for me and the only time I get a royalty is when Lightning Source puts a copy in the warehouse. There’s nothing positive about POD. It’s the grave. If you spend money to promote such a book, then, you’ll be deeper into the red than than now.
This dog won’t hunt, because it can’t in this venue.