Still fiddling with ideas for logos, names for colophons, etc. But I think I'm going to do the self-publishing thing with 'Wealth Effects' after all. That is, after I get through fixing it.
Jase at Write Club has been a fiend, critiquing what I'd posted there (about 20,000 words if memory serves). So I need to return the favor and get cracking on his ms.
I wrote a tediously long e-mail to my friend Jay on this subject, I think working through things in my mind as much as anything. (Aside to Jay: Sorry to subject you to that, by the way, if you're reading this.)
My mission has always been to go the traditional agent/publishing company route. The advance check would be nice. The affirmation that someone thinks my novel is marketable, thinks so enough to write teh check, that's the biggest thing that would be nice about it. Given some sales, an agent might also negotiate audio-book rights, movie rights, etc.
I have no intention of compromising the quality of the book. And when I get it ready for publication, it'll be a manuscript I could send to an agent with a straight face (unlike the mess I've made so far). It's not the novel I've lost faith in, it's the industry.
And maybe I'm off my nut (I mean in ways other than the norm for me).
Oh, and the graphic layout of the book, being able to take control of that is a huge enticement to me. For that matter, I love audio books, but the best audio books tend to be 'read by author.' So theoretically, I could record my own book if I was selling sufficient paperbacks to believe the audio book had a market. Print on Demand can do CDs too, so there's that. One of my neighbors told me that when my book comes out he won't read it, but he'd be glad to listen to it. He's a total audio book fanatic, with a job that requires a lot of driving. Doesn't read for pleasure, but listens constantly.
I do both, and have a passable speaking voice. If memory serves, carried a 75% victory percentage the year I did Debate in H.S., even with a different partner for each tournament, and getting sent to the advanced tournaments after cleaning house so thoroughly in my initial 'novice' outing. Also tried out for a lark when my high school did 'The Foreigner,' and next thing I know I'm Owen Musser. That was a fun deal, since my wardrobe included a KKK robe, a real hunting knife (imagine bringing that kind of thing to school today!), etc. That robe, too, I had to make a running aisle exit from a scene, and in one performance I stepped on the robe and almost fell in the lap of our the high school's principal. She was black (you can't make this shit up).
Which is a long ways to go in saying I could probably do a fair job of reading 'Wealth Effect's' in a recording booth. Even know a couple of guys with studios, pro gear, all that.
Oh, big exception on the read-by-author thing: Elmore Leonard. I heard an interview with him, and he's got a voice made for print. Reedy, squeaky, small. His books need a Richard Poe or Frank Muller to narrate them.
2 comments:
More certain
We were writing privately about much of this but I’ll throw some idea up here too.
As I’ve said I know very little/have very little interest in the Audio Book scene, and yeah, reading you whole novel out loud, recording, editing and distributing it may be just as daunting as all the printed material, but I would think doing a ‘first few chapters’ demo and passing them out, leaving them in bookstores, etc may be a good thing.
And/or setting up MWRLobster.com with some Real Audio (etc) clips.
While I never have listened to an Audio Book, do any of them come with multiple readers? I would think an ensemble reading would make it more…interesting.
Also, for getting a book into stores. Many moons ago when running a record store we let local bands stock there tapes, I think we called it “consignment”, -had official looking little forms an everythin’ - maybe you could get some bookstores to participate in such a system.
Well, the audio book thing would be way, way down the line. I have enough friends who've self produced music CDs to have a fair idea of what it would cost to produce. I'd have to have sufficient book sales to believe I could do it profitably. I already have the equipment to do print production, I can even do it better than a lot of 'major' books get done, a lot of them are typeset for shit.
Audio books are generally licensed deals anyway, so if I had the kind of sales that might inspire me to attempt an audiobook, it might be a situation where an agent could be retained specifically to license the audio rights, or where I could negotiate a deal with an audiobook outfit. Not a lot of self-published stuff gets there. They have the same economy of scale issue I'd have doing it myself. Even without hiring Richard Poe to read it, it might take 50 hours in the studio to do a good job of recording a ten hour audio book. Maybe I'll ask Chuck how long it took to record the 'ready by author' 'Choke.' That's a seven hour recording, but I'll bet it took him more than a day to do.
Consignment at local stores is a possibility, but not a high percentage play. The web is the initial plan. I think things like The Velvet and Max Barry's blog probably sell more books than a book tour (the biggest thing a 'real' publisher can offer me that I can't do myself as easily). Especially with a first novel: anyone who comes ot the signing already bought the book.
The Borders/B&N front woud be nice to crack, and it can be done if you sell well in other avenues. When I first read 'Contortionist's Handbook,' none of MacAdam/Cage's titles were on the shelves of my local Borders. I looked pretty thoroughly, no Clevenger, no WCB, no Bauman, no Goebels. But with some (by industry standards modest) online sales, I started to see token copies, usually just one in stock.
The holy grail would be to get on the shelves of Wal-Mart and the like, but even some bestsellers don't get there.
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