Dana Kaye
This week, most of the publishing world is buzzing about J.A. Konrath’s recent deal with Amazon. In case you’ve been living under a rock, Konrath is the author of the Jack Daniels series and blogger at Newbie’s Guide To Publishing. He has a large, loyal fan base and he recently signed a deal with Amazon to publish his next Jack Daniels book on Kindle. Print books will be available as they’re ordered, but most of sales will come from Kindle.
This is an exciting journey into a new frontier, one that early adopters such as Konrath and Boyd Morrison are having great success with. But I feel that there will be (and already has been) much backlash from newbie authors wanting to jump on the e-publishing bandwagon. They see Konrath, who is earning a phenomenal living on Kindle sales alone, and Morrison, who sold his book to a mainstream publisher because it did so well on Kindle, and they think, “I should do that.” I’m here to say, maybe not.
Why this deal is perfect for J.A. Konrath:
· He already has a strong, loyal fan base that will purchase his books no matter what form they take. His books are coming with a built-in audience.
· He has product. The man wrote a book while you were in the shower this morning and three short stories while you were eating breakfast. It works for him because he has a lot of product on the market and all of it is selling.
· He knows how to market. Konrath has a strong knowledge of the industry and how to promote. His blog gets hundreds of hits a day, he’s visited half the bookstores in the country, and frequently attends conferences, shakes hands and kisses babies. Not everyone can market themselves.
Why Kindle publishing worked for Boyd Morrison:
· He was ahead of the game. When he published on Kindle and priced his book lower than the bestsellers, not too many others were doing it. Now, the market is flooded and it’s 10x harder to stand out.
· He had an agent. He had already gotten over the first hurdle, his manuscript had been edited, and when Kindle sales were growing, his agent could immediately jump on the publishers and make them take a second look.
· He wrote a %*#^ing great book. When he and his agent went out on submission, the editors didn’t have a problem with the writing or the story itself. They just didn’t know how to market/sell it. The Kindle sales demonstrated that there was a market, but Morrison already had a great product.
Why Kindle publishing may not work for first-time authors:
· Most of the $0.99 Kindle books listed on Amazon aren’t good. Plain and simple. Traditional publishing requires many sets of eyes to read your manuscript (agent, editor, copy editor). All authors benefit from that feedback.
· You don’t have an audience yet. Unless you’ve already published books or have been marketing yourself for a long time, you probably don’t have the audience who will purchase your Kindle books.
· The market is glutted. There are SO many self-published books on Amazon now and all of them are listed at that low price point. It’s difficult to stand out.
· Most newbie authors don’t know how to market. I say most, because there are exceptions to every rule, but if you haven’t published yet, you probably have a lot to learn about the market. Even multi-published authors still admit they don’t get it. Having the support of a traditional publisher can be beneficial to learning about the industry and the process.
Again, there are exceptions to every rule and there may be plenty more Konraths and Morrisons coming out of the Amazon market. But if you’re a first-time author thinking about jumping into Kindle publishing head first, take some time and think about what I said. Publishing on Kindle is easy, selling on Kindle may not be, and the success stories may be exceptions rather than the rule.
