I'm very happy for Amanda - and I think it is totally the right move for her. She stated that she wanted to spend more time writing and less time on other things - and this will help with that but I'm not sure it will just poof and go away.
EDI: One interesting quote I saw in the NYT announcment article:
"Publishers, weary of hearing about their disposability in an age when
writers can self-publish their work on the Internet and sell it on Amazon.com,
said they were vindicated by the news."
14 comments:
Wowza that is amazing!!!
Agree. Wow!
But I wonder what price she is going to pay now that she has sold her soul to the devil.
Cinderella lives!
I don't think it's a bad idea at all for this young lady to raise her visibility to a multitude of new readers from the existing dead-tree-publishing world. Those readers eventually will follow her into the Amazon jungle, where they'll ravenously buy up her other, self-published works, on which she'll make much better royalties.
But I do think that once she's gotten these four books written and out of the way, she should return to self-pubbing, where she'll clean up financially. Hard as it is to wrap one's head around, a $2 million advance for these four books will -- over the course of her career -- most likely prove to be a loss-leader deal. Amanda has already pulled down that kind of money within a year, for her self-published books. She'll make far, far, FAR more money on perpetual royalties for her self-published works than for these four, where the terms inevitably will be skewed heavily to benefit the publishing house, not her.
--Robert Bidinotto
RobertTheWriter.com
I think this is a no-brainer for Amanda. It will give her exposure to millions of readers who won't find her otherwise. It's a win-win for her and the publisher.
If the sale of her self-pubbed books are any indication, her sales through SMP will be astounding. This will take her to the next level. And it will increase the sales on her self-pubbed books as the new fans who find her through this deal will buy her self-pubbed backlist.
I would be VERY surprised if she did any more trad published deals. She will get what she wants out of this exposure and acess to new markets - her books won't be going out of print so that will be there for a long long time - I think she'll continue to self-pub and let the traditional pub raise the level of all her boats.
Publishers "vindicated by the news". Right. Their heads are just buried a little deeper in the sand.
Amanda just blogged about this, and I think she has completely vindicated herself on the wisdom of this move. She's walking in with her eyes wide open, and she's doing it for all the right reasons.
This is one smart young lady. I wish her all the best.
--Robert Bidinotto
RobertTheWriter.com
Legacy publishers were once indispensable, they are now on the fast track to becoming "useful idiots". I wish Amanda Hocking all the best.
Thanks for posting that link, Robert. It's obvious from her post that she's a very intelligent, very shrewd business woman, and she's going into this with her eyes wide open.
By "going into this" I mean signing a deal worth $2 million. We should all be so lucky.
Merrill Heath
Alec Stover Mysteries
I agree with you, Robin, that this is a good move for Amanda because it'll enable her to concentrate on writing more.
Amanda makes two other good points on her blog as well:
1. She wants her readers to be able to find her books where they expect to be able to (bookstores).
2. Better editing
It seems to me that Amanda is taking the long-view approach. She is looking to make her readers happy and also improve the quality of her work. In doing these things she is looking beyond today to establishing herself as a much better writer who will be around well into the future doing what she loves: writing and making her audience happy.
Yeah, that quote is still making me laugh. Pathetic.
I wouldn't count out the traditional publishers yet. I have just finished reading a string of $0.99 books and I am annoyed beyond belief with the pathetic quality of writing. My first inexpensive kindle book was one of Ms. Hocking's closely followed by one of your dear husband's. I became spoiled by my success at finding great authors.
at the nyt quote. The playing field has been or is being leveled. If they can bring value to the game then GAME ON I say.
I am thrilled that Amanda will be able to concentrate on what she excels at and loves, what a sweet story!
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