{"id":469,"date":"2013-03-13T12:43:37","date_gmt":"2013-03-13T19:43:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/?p=469"},"modified":"2013-03-13T12:43:37","modified_gmt":"2013-03-13T19:43:37","slug":"self-publishing-and-the-theology-of-free","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2013\/03\/self-publishing-and-the-theology-of-free\/","title":{"rendered":"Self-publishing and the theology of free"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"write<\/a>Artsjournal.com links today to a story from Publishers Weekly at SXSW on self-publishing and the “theology of free.”<\/a> But what exactly is<\/em> this theology?<\/p>\n

Called Self-Publishing in the Age of E, Deahl\u2019s panel featured bestselling self (and now conventionally) published novelist Hugh Howey, author of the bestselling sci-fi series Wool, Erin Brown, a former St. Martin\u2019s and HarperCollins editor and now an Austin based freelance editor, and literary agent Kirby Kim of William Morris Endeavor. It didn\u2019t take long to get to core issues around self-publishing: quality, the seemingly ever-growing sales of e-books and the role of conventional publishers at time when many authors have grasped that they have other options\u2014and sometimes more lucrative options.<\/p>\n

Originally published by small press, Howey quickly decided to go the self-publishing route generating an enormous word of mouth following that turned his books into e-book bestsellers on Amazon. Indeed Howey said at one point he was generating $30,000 to $40,000 a month in sales and selling hundreds of thousands of e-books. His mantra is \u201cbuild your audience and the editors and agents will come.\u201d Responding to Deahl\u2019s question about pricing Howey didn\u2019t hesitate: \u201cFree is the best price,\u201d he said, \u201cbut Amazon wouldn\u2019t let me give them away, so I priced them at 99 cents.\u201d In fact, he acknowledged that his book are \u201cunderpriced,\u201d but \u201cits all about building an audience.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’s not much of a theology – rather, it is the very old idea of giving away samples to build an audience that will at some point be willing to pay. For any writer to make a living, revenues have to come from somewhere<\/em>. You might be delivering readers to advertisers, who will pay you for that. Or you might at some point have content (which might be different than what you give away for free) that people are willing to pay for as readers. “Building an audience” is great if<\/em> one day you can earn some revenue from that audience. Otherwise, it’s not much of a business model.<\/p>\n

This surprised me:<\/p>\n

[Howey] now has conventional publishing deals with S&S and Random House UK, but only for print\u2014unheard of in a publishing market that\u2019s being driven by digital sales\u2014and he outlined how he turned down a stream of 6 and 7 figure offers from publishers over the years because they kept demanding print and digital rights. \u201cPublishers never do that,\u201d Kim said about Howey\u2019s deal, pointing out Bella Andre another self-pubbed author with a similar pact.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy print sales are tiny in comparison,\u201d Howey said, \u201cyou only want to print if you want to see your books in stores,\u201d though he was quick to note that \u201cpeople still want print. I\u2019ve got the best of both worlds S&S does what they do best with print and I do my thing with e-books.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Surely there are gains to having all marketing and coordination of pricing under one contract? The music industry has been moving towards integrating all sales and licensing under single contracts, now known as 360-degree contracts<\/a>, in part so that prices of various products can be coordinated, that cross-subsidies can be efficiently exploited, and that there is effectiveness in promotion. Consider: won’t S&S and Random House UK hedge on the amount of promotion they do of Howey’s books if they know that only a fraction of the resulting sales will be of the print copies of books they sell? Isn’t there coordination of prices for print and e-books that could increase the total revenue from sales? The model seems like a bad deal for author and publisher, they are leaving money on the table that could be had through a comprehensive agreement. What am I missing here?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Artsjournal.com links today to a story from Publishers Weekly at SXSW on self-publishing and the “theology of free.” But what exactly is this theology? Called Self-Publishing in the Age of E, Deahl\u2019s panel featured bestselling self (and now conventionally) published novelist Hugh Howey, author of the bestselling sci-fi series Wool, Erin Brown, a former St. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[26],"tags":[29,30],"class_list":{"0":"post-469","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-issues","7":"tag-books","8":"tag-coordination","9":"entry","10":"has-post-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3dIW5-7z","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1548,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/09\/this-is-not-censorship\/","url_meta":{"origin":469,"position":0},"title":"This is not censorship (updated, again)","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"September 30, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The New York Times reports on authors forming a group to back publisher Hachette in its quest to have Amazon.com charge consumers higher prices for books. A literary agent is quoted: \u201cIt\u2019s very clear to me, and to those I represent, that what Amazon is doing is very detrimental to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"this is censored","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/dream-of-ding-village.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1458,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/08\/amazon-and-orwell-and-penguins\/","url_meta":{"origin":469,"position":1},"title":"Amazon and Orwell and Penguins (Updated)","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"August 12, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"By now most everyone who follows artsjournal.com and the Amazon dispute has heard of its strange use of George Orwell in its (shockingly mishandled) dispute with the publishing sector. The New York Times reports: The freshest part of Amazon\u2019s call to arms was the history lesson. It recounted how the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"weapons of mass destruction?","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/penguin-books.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/penguin-books.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/penguin-books.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1050,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/02\/is-amazon-good-for-readers\/","url_meta":{"origin":469,"position":2},"title":"Is Amazon good for readers?","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"February 14, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I enjoyed George Packer's New Yorker article on Amazon, and recommend it. ArtsJournal's link to the story has the heading \"Is Amazon good for books? Not just publishers, but books themselves?\" The New Yorker's own sub-heading is \"Amazon is good for customers. But is it good for books?\" I find\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/02\/is-amazon-good-for-readers\/#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"good for this reader","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/amazon-warehouse-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/amazon-warehouse-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/amazon-warehouse-2.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/amazon-warehouse-2.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":702,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2013\/04\/arts-policy-research-is-expensive-a-contrasting-view\/","url_meta":{"origin":469,"position":3},"title":"Arts policy research is expensive: a contrasting view","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"April 23, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"In an earlier post I noted the high expense of \"gated\" academic journals, and questioned why the global network of research universities has continued to use a system where academics produce research articles (sometimes at high cost), serve as peer-reviewers, and as editors, without renumeration, and then pay publishers significant\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"this costs real money","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Printing-For-Beginners-VI-Correcting-Proof-Proof-r-168-250x300.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1371,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/06\/fixed-book-prices\/","url_meta":{"origin":469,"position":4},"title":"Fixed book prices (updated)","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"June 27, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"France has passed anti-Amazon legislation. Publishing Perspectives reports: On Wednesday, the French parliament passed a long-debated law that will end Amazon.com\u2019s ability to offer a combined 5% discount and free shipping on books shipped to France, according to\u00a0Livres Hebdo.\u00a0 France\u2019s fixed book price law, dubbed \u201cThe Lang Law,\u201d was passed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"paid full price","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/french-reader.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":636,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2013\/04\/arts-policy-research-is-expensive\/","url_meta":{"origin":469,"position":5},"title":"Arts policy research is expensive","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"April 9, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"In an earlier post I talked about how firms with a large set of distinct items to sell - a cable television provider with many channels; a museum with many rooms - would find it most efficient to offer only a package deal to customers, with no a la carte\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"expensive reading","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/journals-219x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}