When I was 'attending' the BEA via C-Span, I saw an interview with Laurence Kirshbaum, resigning Chairman and CEO of Time Warner Book Group. One of the major things he seemed concerned about was the future of publishing because..."We have to get new readers."
I hate to tell him, but there are plenty of new readers out there. Hasn't he been watching the news? Harry Potter just made history by selling over 5 million copies in 24 hours...and it isn't out yet! Those are all pre-orders. The books won't be in stores until mid-July. Although a lot of grown-ups read and enjoy the Harry Potter books, the vast majority of the sales are by grown-up but for kids!
So what is the problem? Why do book sales continually go down every quarter as they have for several years?
I know. I know. I jump up and down, waving my hand. I really want someone in a position of power to figure this out.
I wonder when the publishing industry is going to figure out what the music industry did when they started losing sales because of Napster.
Before computers and the internet, used books didn't hurt new book sales. When you went into a used bookstore or found a box of books at a garage sale, new sales weren't impacted. The buyer couldn't pick and choose; they took what was available. Buying a used book was pot luck and I'll bet a lot of authors garnered new readers because of used book sales. Now that you can type in the title of any book you want on your computer and come up with 69 choices to buy used, right along side the new one that is ten times the price, what person with any common sense is going to spend 24.95 (or more) for a book they want when they can buy it used without having to wait or hunt; heck, without even leaving home.
The book industry is in trouble, but 5 million people buying the new Harry Potter book before it's even out should tell someone that the biggest problem may not be a lack of new readers. Duh!
Saturday, June 18, 2005
Fakin' It With the Best
I love CSpan Book TV. I've never had the pleasure of attending the BEA--yet, but I always feel like I have, via CSpan. Last Saturday, I was right on the front row for the most highly touted events. (Not the parties, darn it. But the 'official' events.)
I was amazed--but not really since I've had the conversation with so many other authors in the kinds of private, late night sessions we tend to have toward the end of writer's conferences in some 24 hour coffee shop or over the phone with only the closest of friends--to find that Nick Hornby, and I have a lot in common. We are both not 'really' authors. He also doesn't think 'like an author,' at least not the ones you hear in public.
When he hears an author say, "Write for yourself. Write what YOU want to read," he thinks, "Why would you do that if you want to get published?" What if what you want to write is 400,000 words and what the publishers are buying is 100,000? No one is going to read it. And if you were really writing for yourself, why wouldn't you write 40,000 words. (It would take a lot less time and effort.) Why spend all that time writing background that you already know? Or adding in detail so that someone else can share your vision of the scene. You have the vision. You don't need the detail.
My major catch phrase for feeling like I'm not really an author is "I've always known I would be a writer." (I didn't know until I was almost 30.) And listening to other authors talk about their backgrounds, I'm always sure I'm a really lucky fake. Every other author seems to have at least one traumatic incident that defines them. Some of their childhoods sound like they could be plopped straight into a tragic, tear-jerking novel. (Comparatively, my life has been a heartwarming, occasionally amusing anecdote.)
The surprising part was that Hornby is a man and a bestselling author whose books always hit the Times list, who even started his own genre. (Lad-lit.) It's kinda nice to know the I'm-only-pretending-to-be-an-author phenomenon isn't strictly a female thing, felt only by those of us who aren't household names. Hey, I'm a fake in good company.
In his speech, Hornby expressed a lot of my feelings. This weekend, I'm attending the Virginia Festival of the Book. The Bookish Obsessions panel looks interesting. http://www.booktv.org/schedule/
I was amazed--but not really since I've had the conversation with so many other authors in the kinds of private, late night sessions we tend to have toward the end of writer's conferences in some 24 hour coffee shop or over the phone with only the closest of friends--to find that Nick Hornby, and I have a lot in common. We are both not 'really' authors. He also doesn't think 'like an author,' at least not the ones you hear in public.
When he hears an author say, "Write for yourself. Write what YOU want to read," he thinks, "Why would you do that if you want to get published?" What if what you want to write is 400,000 words and what the publishers are buying is 100,000? No one is going to read it. And if you were really writing for yourself, why wouldn't you write 40,000 words. (It would take a lot less time and effort.) Why spend all that time writing background that you already know? Or adding in detail so that someone else can share your vision of the scene. You have the vision. You don't need the detail.
My major catch phrase for feeling like I'm not really an author is "I've always known I would be a writer." (I didn't know until I was almost 30.) And listening to other authors talk about their backgrounds, I'm always sure I'm a really lucky fake. Every other author seems to have at least one traumatic incident that defines them. Some of their childhoods sound like they could be plopped straight into a tragic, tear-jerking novel. (Comparatively, my life has been a heartwarming, occasionally amusing anecdote.)
The surprising part was that Hornby is a man and a bestselling author whose books always hit the Times list, who even started his own genre. (Lad-lit.) It's kinda nice to know the I'm-only-pretending-to-be-an-author phenomenon isn't strictly a female thing, felt only by those of us who aren't household names. Hey, I'm a fake in good company.
In his speech, Hornby expressed a lot of my feelings. This weekend, I'm attending the Virginia Festival of the Book. The Bookish Obsessions panel looks interesting. http://www.booktv.org/schedule/
Thursday, June 16, 2005
I'm almost a Grandma...sort of
My daughter, who is NOT going to be a writer--"Hey, I just had an idea. I thought I might as well write it down."--recently finished revising her first complete manuscript. I helped her research a few agents. She sent out 5 queries. She's had three "Sure, I'd like to see it" responses so far. So tonight she called. She decided to surf and do a little deeper 'investigation' of the agents. She discovered all the comment and bulletin boards where writers actually talk to each other. So her call tonight? "Did you know I could get rejected by these agents?"
I had to laugh. Somehow, growing up in a household with a writer, where did she miss THAT particular fact? Was she only paying attention to the good stuff? (I guess we did 'celebrate' and make a lot bigger deal of the sales and the good news. I tried hard to ignore the rejections and the disappointments.) She said she knew she'd probably get rejections from publishers. But it never occurred to her that she might get the same responses from agents. She thought she got to pick and choose. Personally, I hope she's right.
Though I may never get to know what it feels like to be a grandmother since neither of my children seem inclined to find 'the one' and settle down, I have a feeling it must feel something like this.
Keep your fingers crossed for the 'birthing' of this particular dear-to-my-heart, but not-quite-the-same-as-my-own book. It is soooo hard to send your babies out into the world, isn't it?
I had to laugh. Somehow, growing up in a household with a writer, where did she miss THAT particular fact? Was she only paying attention to the good stuff? (I guess we did 'celebrate' and make a lot bigger deal of the sales and the good news. I tried hard to ignore the rejections and the disappointments.) She said she knew she'd probably get rejections from publishers. But it never occurred to her that she might get the same responses from agents. She thought she got to pick and choose. Personally, I hope she's right.
Though I may never get to know what it feels like to be a grandmother since neither of my children seem inclined to find 'the one' and settle down, I have a feeling it must feel something like this.
Keep your fingers crossed for the 'birthing' of this particular dear-to-my-heart, but not-quite-the-same-as-my-own book. It is soooo hard to send your babies out into the world, isn't it?
Monday, June 13, 2005
Success
It's funny how your definition of success (as a writer) changes with the passing of time. When I first began, success was actually finishing my first book. It was a real and very scary challenge. And since I hadn't really told anyone but my husband (and my kids, but they were too young to understand what I was doing), I was the only one I had to answer to. But I would have been devastated if I'd failed to a least finish. After that, the next major marker was getting a publisher to read something I'd written. And of course, then it was selling. After about four books, the goal--and my definition of what would make me successful was to establish a readership. I know I did to a certain extent. After all, I did get fan letters. And every once in a while, I'd get a stroke like meeting someone who actually knew who Val Daniels was. That was a thrill, but it is probably still one of my measures of success.
Now, I find myself in a strange place. I'm searching for a new definition for me. I know at least two and a half million people around the world have read my books--or at least, that's how many people have bought them. I know some of those people have probably read at least one of them more than once. How do I know, you wonder? I had markers when I was still 'just a reader,' so those markers I applied to me as a writer, too. For example, I didn't get rid of books if I liked them enough that I thought I might want to read them again. When my first book was slow in showing up in used bookstores, I knew at least someone, somewhere, planned to read it again. I managed to make it onto Ingram's Most Requested Authors list. (Don't ask me how that happened, cause I really don't know and I'm still amazed when I think of it.) I wouldn't have known it if a friend hadn't called and told me. I looked it up and sure enough, there I was.
Anyway, I guess I've come full circle. After a couple of years focusing on my non-fiction book, I'm back to writing fiction again and finding it scary. I am trying something totally new. So that might have something to do with it, but I'm back to thinking success will be if I can just finish this new and very challenging type of story. I guess the next measure will probably be the same all over again. I'll just want someone to read it. And then I'll just want someone to buy it. And then...
Well you get the picture. How do you measure your success? Do yourself a favor and make your markers realistic so that you can find 'success' along the way and celebrate it. It will keep you going. I promise.
Now, I find myself in a strange place. I'm searching for a new definition for me. I know at least two and a half million people around the world have read my books--or at least, that's how many people have bought them. I know some of those people have probably read at least one of them more than once. How do I know, you wonder? I had markers when I was still 'just a reader,' so those markers I applied to me as a writer, too. For example, I didn't get rid of books if I liked them enough that I thought I might want to read them again. When my first book was slow in showing up in used bookstores, I knew at least someone, somewhere, planned to read it again. I managed to make it onto Ingram's Most Requested Authors list. (Don't ask me how that happened, cause I really don't know and I'm still amazed when I think of it.) I wouldn't have known it if a friend hadn't called and told me. I looked it up and sure enough, there I was.
Anyway, I guess I've come full circle. After a couple of years focusing on my non-fiction book, I'm back to writing fiction again and finding it scary. I am trying something totally new. So that might have something to do with it, but I'm back to thinking success will be if I can just finish this new and very challenging type of story. I guess the next measure will probably be the same all over again. I'll just want someone to read it. And then I'll just want someone to buy it. And then...
Well you get the picture. How do you measure your success? Do yourself a favor and make your markers realistic so that you can find 'success' along the way and celebrate it. It will keep you going. I promise.
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