Marketing for DeadBroke Writers #IndiePub #AuthorsRT #ASMSG

Marketing for DeadBroke™ Writers

Online Education 
Sponsored by ASMSG
Presented by Joel Scott

Joel Scott is a published author with six educational books in the for Dummies series and nearly 100,000 books sold. He is also an experienced educator and speaker.

The Marketing for DeadBroke Writers course was initially designed and presented by Joel Scott for the Author Learning Center, a division of Author Solutions. That company was absorbed by Penguin, which in turn, was absorbed by Random House.  Since its inception in 2011 this course has attracted more than a thousand students. Earlier this year Mr. Scott ran this course exclusively for ASMSG members. And, it’s time to offer it again.

As the results of a recent ASMSG poll showed, our members feel the need for in-depth training on author marketing in today’s confusing world of social media and promotions. Joel Scott and ASMSG have designed a special set of online classes at a steeply discounted price exclusively available to members of ASMSG.

Here are a few quotes from prior students.
“This has been the best Author Learning Center webinar I have listened to!”
“I found the technical conversations the most helpful, and enjoyed when he gave a visual example of another Facebook page.”
“I am new to Twitter and this webinar helped fill in information on how to use Twitter.  Didn't have the foggiest notion before and don't like to stumble around in the dark.”
“The information about linking Twitter to your Facebook fan Page, and creating an audio excerpt [was really helpful].”
”Once again, not only do I appreciate your time and knowledge, I want to thank you AND the group for steering me away from a frustrating experience with my publisher and into the land of Self-Publishing.” 
“Living on the other side of the world, I found accessing the course online very easy.”

Here are some key parameters.

1. Each of the ten online sessions will be about 45 minutes in length and will have a Q&A session.
2. There will be an online survey prior to the first class to try to accommodate students’ interests and levels of expertise.
3. Each class will be presented twice to accommodate peoples’ schedules and time zones. You can attend either one or both.

4. Classes will be recorded for students to access later at their convenience, so if you have to miss a session, you can tune in later.
5. Members signing up for the course will also receive a copy of Mr. Scott’s upcoming book, Marketing for DeadBroke™ Writers.
6. The entire course costs just $69 – a significant discount just for ASMSG members
7. The course begins in May, 2015 and there will be a class each week.

Scheduled Classes for 2015 Spring Semester

Each class will be held twice, at 8:30 AM and again at 8:30 PM. All times are USA – Eastern. Based on enrollment we may add additional sessions.

We hope you see the value in these classes and your membership in ASMSG. We’re working to bring you every possible benefit to help make your writing, publishing, and promotions successful.

Even though it’s an online course, seats are limited. A portion of your class fee will be donated to ASMSG to fund development of additional author benefits. Sign up now while enrollment is still open!

If you have questions or concerns about the course, please feel free to contact Mr. Scott directly at j.scott@highrockinstitute.com

HACHETTE VS. AMAZON: Amazon wrote me a letter today, I just had to respond #Pubtalk #ASMSG

I got a letter in my email today from Amazon, and I just had to respond. This is the email I wrote to Hachette CEO, Michael Pietsch, Michael.Pietsch@hbgusa.com.

Dear Hachette:

Amazon wrote me a fascinating letter today, which prompted me to weigh in with my opinion on this funky contract dispute happening in a very public format.

Here is a copy of the letter Amazon sent me: http://www.readersunited.com/

Before I tell you what I think, here's a little about me:

I am a bibliophile and an author and an Indie publisher. In July, I became a NYT and USA Today bestseller.  I have never once written a query letter to an agent or submitted a manuscript to a megacorp publisher.

My eight books are available on Amazon, B & N, iTunes, Kobo, and Smashwords. In addition, I participate in five blogs and contribute to four Emagazines in various genres that are uploaded in various websites that distribute them freely.

I have a new book planned for preorder in October, The Nightlife Moscow. I am collaborating on Passionate Bites, a vampire romance box set with 9 authors also going preorder in October, and I am partnered with another author, Kayla Stonor, to manage her new edition releases and social media marketing.

I have never cared who publishes a book. Publisher brands are irrelevant to me.

I have over 1900 books on my Kindle, which I read on my PC, phone, and tablets. I get new books every day.

I rarely read a paperback these days. When I do, its from authors I have been a fan of for many many years, like Dean Koontz and Laurell K. Hamilton.  When I buy paperbacks, its because I caught a deal at the Dollar Tree, or a used copy off Amazon for $4-$5, or I found them in a used paperback store.

I used to read three+ books a week, now I'm too busy writing and publishing, so, its more like one book a week -- apart from editing and critique work I do for several author friends.

Moving on, here's what I think about the debate of Amazon vs. Hachette, and its harm to authors:

Amazon, a retailer, knows exactly how their business works best for them and their consumer.  Their interests are not necessarily the best interests of megacorp publishers, regardless of the fact that these megacorps are making shittons of money off of Amazon's phenomenal book discovery engine -- the best system of its kind.

Side note: did you see the new thingy on Amazon, below each book, "Frequently Bought Together" which miraculously directs the buyer to get even more books in one purchase?  Isn't that awesome?

Back to my point: Megacorp publishing contracts typically pay authors a pretty crappy royalty on ebooks, which is quickly decreasing their overall royalty payouts as ebook sales overtake paperback, and yet still publisher revenues are increasing with the continued growth of the ebook market...

How is this?  

Because ebook sales booms often happen at lower price ranges (which is what Amazon is all about).  Sadly, at those prices, the author's royalty is also lower, and often, megacorp publishing contracts cut the royalty percentage lower for special sales discounts.

What's funky, ebooks have zero cost, and zero distribution issues, and yet, megacorp published authors still make less money on them? Ebooks should be the highest profit/royalty item for an author, because no one has to print, warehouse, or ship them, no infrastructure necessary to the supply. There is no overhead to ebook sales and distribution.

Ebooks are the fastest growing sector of publishing sales, accounting for huge gains in profit margins of megacorp publishers last year and this year thus far, yet authors are making less royalty because of funky publishing contracts?

Who is supposedly harming authors? Amazon?

My message is this: I have loads of sympathy for authors of Hachette who are being victimized by their megacorp publisher. 

Hachette gets no sympathy from me. The company is whining in its beer -- very publicly about how Amazon is hurting the authors, about how authors are losing sales (read $$), but, its the contracts that Hachette uses and the royalty percentages that Hachette pays its authors and the asinine insistence on price-fixing (to the detriment of sales volumes) that is the true source of harm to authors. 

Lets not forget the monster antitrust lawsuit against Hachette and other publishers for price-fixing. Hachette is now attempting the same kind of tactic with Amazon.

Today's world of book retail is focused on highly competitive price structure, where discounting digital products is expected by consumers. Yet Hachette is fighting tooth and nail to retain the right to price-fix their ebooks, and block Amazon from discounting.

How does price fixing and blocking a retailer's ability to offer discounts help authors?  

It isn't helping the megacorp authors whose books cannot compete with lower priced offerings. It isn't helping consumers who statistically buy more volume of books when offered at lower prices.  It isn't helping the propagation of quality literature.  

Price-fixing is an attempt to preserve paperback sales, against the natural flow of the market as it adapts to and falls in love with ebooks and other digital entertainment and information products.

So, all this screaming and crying and arguing and other BS is for what? 

So that Hachette can try to preserve its paperback sales by having ebooks priced the same as paperbacks?

How the hell does this have anything to do with the concept of protecting authors and quality literature?  

Sounds like Hachette has engaged its book publishing PR organization to spin propaganda and fling it across the media worldwide to put pressure on Amazon in their negotiations.  

Since when has Hachette ever publicly stated they are the self-appointed protectors of authors and literature? From their demands on Amazon, it would seem they are a megacorp who wants to protect a certain business model, and that business model is proven harmful to authors.

My bullshit detector is screaming like a firetruck.

From where I stand, Amazon isn't the one in this negotiation that is responsible for hurting Hachette's authors.

Hachette needs no help at all to hurt its authors, its been doing a fine job of that all on its own.

My advice to Hachette:

Hachette, instead of inciting authors across the world into frenzied arguments over half-truths and BS propaganda, why don't you take your dispute and go to court, quietly. I'm sure the DOJ would love to preside over this dispute in court, and I imagine they are watching these proceedings very closely.

Hachette, leave the authors and your monster PR campaign department out of your contract negotiations. This is a polarizing issue, causing nothing but strife between authors at a time when we need to be united and working together to face a rapidly evolving industry. Many authors are so confused about the future of publishing, that some will choose not to publish, simply because of this ugly mess of propaganda you have dragged out into the media.

My advice to authors:

Want to learn  the down and dirty, nitty gritty about this heated debate?  

Check out JA Konrath's blog: http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/

:)

Do you really need an Agent? What is the value of an Agent? #Pubtalk #ASMSG

Literary agents ~ once upon a time they ruled the world.
Now ... not so much.

Syndicated from: http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2014/authors-views-on-the-value-of-agents/

Authors’ Views on the Value of Agents

Categories: Expert Publishing Blog | Tags: Agents, Authors
May 1, 2014 | Dana Beth Weinberg | 0

   

 

 

Do I need an agent?

The longstanding advice to new writers was that if they had any hope of a successful career in publishing, they absolutely needed an agent. Myriad books and blogs have been devoted to the topics of how to pitch agents and how to find the right agent. Unfortunately for most authors, winning an agent is easier said than done, and rejection is the rule rather than the exception. With the growth of indie publishing and of presses that will consider unagented work, entrepreneurial authors are starting to ask how relevant agents are in today’s publishing world.

Are agents worth their fifteen percent? The 2014 Digital Book World and Writer’s Digest Survey asked more than 2,800 published authors (those in the sample who had started, completed, or published a manuscript) their opinions on various ways that agents help authors. While the survey is a voluntary sample and may not be representative of the population of authors, the responses reported here reflect the opinions of a large number of authors on different publishing paths: 1,563 indie-only authors, 674 traditional-only authors, and 597 hybrid authors.

Related: What Advantages do Traditional Publishers Offer Authors

Overall, the published authors in the survey were quite positive in their estimates of what agents offered authors. Asked whether they strongly disagreed, disagreed, neither agreed nor disagreed, agreed, or strongly agreed with several statement about what agents do, the majority of authors agreed or strongly agreed with each of the statements presented with one exception. Authors were unsure whether agents were helpful to authors who are self-publishing, with 47.6% neither agreeing nor disagreeing with the statement.

The appraisals of the value of agents was indeed quite high, with over 80% of published authors agreeing that agents are worth their commissions. However, a minority of published authors in the sample, only 9.3% currently had an agent.

Authors who had only traditionally published were the most likely to have an agent currently, 16.1%, and authors who had only indie-published were the least likely, 1.6%. Hybrid authors, who are both traditionally published and self-published, were more likely than the other types of published authors to have had agents in the past but to have parted ways, 20.6%.

Given the rosy estimates of what agents can do for authors, one might expect the proportion of published authors seeking literary agents to be quite high. However, just over a third of unagented published authors, 37.7%, are actively seeking agents: 35.2% indie-only, 45.5% traditional-only, and 37.13% hybrid.

In total, 39% of the published authors in the sample have discarded the prevailing wisdom and opted out of the agent search, never having submitted their work to literary agents and not seeking one at the time. Of these, about two thirds, 67.5%, were indie-only authors.

In Part II of this series on agents, I will examine the contribution that having an agent may make to the income authors received from their most recently traditionally published and indie published books, respectively.

Related: What Advantages do Traditional Publishers Offer Authors

   

 

 

About Dana Beth Weinberg

Dana Beth Weinberg, received her doctorate from Harvard University and is Professor of Sociology at Queens College – CUNY, where she directs the MA Program in Data Analytics and Applied Social Research. Her research focuses on organizational behavior, work, and occupations. Inspired by her own personal experiences as a novelist, her current research examines the way that digitization is changing the book industry for readers, writers, and publishers. Find Dana at danabethweinberg.com or @DBWeinberg or https://www.facebook.com/danabethweinbergwriter