The sky is falling?

[stacia_kane]

Yesterday on Twitter-I guess for the last couple of days-there’s been a discussion going on regarding agents, and how they’re paid, and how that affects their work. And then it morphed or branched off into a discussion about advances and whether or not writers would accept a no-advance model, and the end result seems to be another one of those

Comments

[david_bridger]

I don't believe it either.

I think the "publishing is dying" meme is maintained by people who want it to happen. I'm talking about that group of writers who are self-published because it's the only way they'll get into print.

There are lots of them, and I'm certainly not saying they're all bad writers. Some of them are probably bloody good writers. And then there are those whose work would be good with a decent edit, but whose personalities may never let that happen. It seems to me the writers I've heard singing the death of publishing mantra most enthusiastically tend to have that kind of personality.

[stacia_kane]

Yeah, I do agree that it seems the people who most discuss publishing as a broken, dying industry are generally people who dislike it for some reason; outsiders rather than insiders, who want to see it fail because they see it as being harmful to them in some way. And you know, it's fine if they want to think that. They can feel however they like. I just don't agree.

[km_ruiz]

I don't believe it's dying either. I think how people get their books is changing, and it's choking certain areas (like independent bookstores), but it's not dying.

E-books are just another way to get stories out there, though I do think it creates a kind of classism readership. Until ebook readers are cheaper and more accessible, I think it will be a while before it becomes seriously mainstream.

[stacia_kane]

Yes, well, that's a whole separate issue, which I've blogged about before. Not everyone can afford ereaders, so I'm tired of people discussing them like everyone has one or acting like getting rid of paper books would be a good thing. Heck, I can't afford an ereader! So that's an issue for me as well.

[stacia_kane]

All those people saying that? They're WRONG. WRONG. I promise. They said the same thing a few years ago when I got published, and when I got my agent, and when I sold my second series.

There is always room for great books.

Don't give up on your dreams. Don't let them shrivel and die. Ignore the people who say it can't be done. I and pretty much everyone I know are proof that it can.

[brian_ohio]

I swear! You write the best, most informative posts ever. I don't comment here much, but I always read your journal. You're smart! (Don't argue with me!)

As far as all the disasters occuring around the world (other than that stinkin' oil spill), it's always been this way, it's just, today, we all know the moment something happens. When my dad was growing up, it took weeks (if ever) to hear about an earthquake in Haiti.

I agree with your comments about Publishing... it's going nowhere. Changing, yes, Dying, No. Things will come back into balance soon.

And I think agents deserve 20%... but how do you make that a universal number?

[stacia_kane]

Oh, thanks Brian!

I don't think making it a universal number is really up to us, to be honest. It's something agents will kind of decide en masse to do, you know? The idea doesn't bother me too much; I'd prefer to pay 15% but I also know just how much my agent does for me and how hard he works for me. So why wouldn't I be happy to give him a raise, essentially?

[cookie_chef]

Well said.

And I will use that knowledge to inspire me to write more and better books, to challenge myself more, to not take sales for granted but to remember that I need to push myself to be great, to be outstanding, to put everything I have into my work. I’ll use that knowledge to inspire me to write bigger stories, bigger worlds, bigger characters; to remember that “good enough” isn’t good enough. And so even if I don’t achieve that greatness and never get to be outstanding I at least wasn’t lazy. At least I tried. At least I didn’t forget that what it ultimately comes down to are readers, and what they want, and that my job is to try to give it to them, to impress and entertain them and make them think and feel.

This is why you'll continue to be a success.

[stacia_kane]

Thanks, hon. Let's hope that's true. :-)