The Journal: A Bestseller Goes Indie (and Why)

In today’s Journal

* Quote of the Day
* See the rest
* I wrote nothing
* The Numbers

Quote of the Day

“Which brings us to the huge burning question: what will the publisher do for us that will be worth giving up 3/4 of our money forever? A publisher would have to make a very compelling argument and that argument can’t be just ‘We will give you a big advance.’ Here is why the advance argument falls flat on its face.

“Let’s say we get an advance of $100,000 for a book price $4.99. The book sells 30,000 units in one year.

“Traditional model: the publisher earns $3.49 off each copy, and then pays us 25% or 87 cents.

“Self-published model: we get $3.49.

“Traditional : 30,000 units will bring in $26,100 for us. A little over 1/4 of our advance.

“Self-published: 30,000 units will bring in $104,700. We have made as much as the advance given to us by the publisher without strings attached. Math is our friend.”

See the rest in “Flowers and Questions” in “Of Interest” below. It’s a good post that touches on a few other topics as well.

Per Dean Wesley Smith’s blog, this romance bestselling author, Ilona Andrews, is “going indie.” Per the blogger herself, “we are going to take the year off from traditional publishing [emphasis mine],” not necessarily abandon it altogether.

I get annoyed when people pull a bait-and-switch with me, so I don’t want you to think I’m doing the same thing. But it’s still an interesting blog post. Go read it for yourself.

I wrote nothing yesteray other than the blog post. I just wasn’t in the mood, and I don’t like to bring my problems into my writing. Today I’ll climb back up on the saddle.

Talk with you again soon.

Of Interest

See “Hybristophilia — the Bonnie & Clyde Syndrome” at http://dyingwords.net/hybristophilia-the-bonnie-clyde-syndrome/.

See “Flowers and Questions” at https://ilona-andrews.com/2021/flowers-and-questions/. A blog post from a bestseller going indie and why. Deah recommends reading this post, as do I.

See “Stretch That Tension” at https://killzoneblog.com/2021/01/stretch-that-tension.html. Yes. As I keep saying, take your time when you write.

See “Why I Turned Away From Realism and Began to Write Surreal Fiction” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/why-i-turned-away-from-realism-and-began-to-write-surreal-fiction/.

The Numbers

The Journal…………………………………… 360 words

Writing of The Journey Home: Part 6 (novel)

Day 1…… 1628 words. Total words to date…… 1628

Total fiction words for January……… 64731
Total fiction words for the year………… 64731
Total nonfiction words for December… 17280
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 17280
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 82011

Calendar Year 2021 Novels to Date…………………… 1
Calendar Year 2021 Novellas to Date……………… X
Calendar Year 2021 Short Stories to Date… 1
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 55
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 8
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 215
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31