Links

[alanajoli]

These links have been keeping tabs open in my browser until I wrote about them, so here's me clearing off my desktop:

• My review of Grave Dance by Kalayna Price is up over at Black Gate. Spoiler: I loved it.


• Target has decided that selling Amazon's kindle is a conflict of interest, Bryan Bishop reported over at The Verge. So, what's going on between Amazon and Target? I suppose we'll known in a few weeks – or it'll fade from the news and we won't figure it out.


• Penelope Trunk wrote a really interesting post on Venture Beat on "Why Smart Authors Are Cutting Amazon Out." She's advocating what ends up being even more self-publishing than I usually see: effectively, be your own publisher and bookstore. I'm not sure I'm 100% behind her sentiment, but I do think it's a well-written and well-reasoned argument.


• Tor/Forge e-books are getting rid of DRM, as announced on Tor.com and at PW. Thank you, Tor! I'd not actually noticed your DRM before, so at least you made it the kind that wasn't annoying previously. But I appreciate that you're getting rid of it entirely! (Especially as it's in time for me to buy Safehold 5 when it drops to mm price this fall, and, of course, Three Parts Dead, which is not yet listed as a nook book, but I'm assured will be.)


• The success of Fifty Shades of Grey (the slightly-edited-to-not-be-Twilight-fanfic bestseller) is somewhat baffling to me -- PW reports that it was the top fiction seller in the country the last week of April. Smart Bitch Sarah Wendell posted with other recommendations over at Kirkus, and one of her comments made me suspect something: Fifty Shades of Grey may well be appealing to people who don't usually read or didn't previously read romance. I was reminded how I was relatively unimpressed with The Da Vinci Code when it came out, but it had huge, widespread appeal, perhaps also among people who were not typical readers or book buyers. I've nothing to back that up other than its just being a random thought. I've not read, nor do I intend to read, Fifty Shades of Grey.


• PW also reported that B&N has just gotten into bed with Microsoft for their digital initiatives. If this means I will eventually be able to play Jade Empire on my nook (rather than my X-box), I am completely doomed.

• Speaking of B&N, the nook's new advertising campaign (reported on by Lauren Indvik on mashable) is amusing.


• And last, PW's coverage of the upcoming ruling on Authors Guild v. Google.

Comments

[cerebralpaladin.livejournal.com]

Penelope Trunk is smart, witty, interesting to read, and thought-provoking... but nothing I've read by her has ever made me think that listening to her advice is a good idea. Some of her advice is simply wrong (she relies a ridiculous amount on Myers-Briggs Types, which would be fine except for the fact that MBTI is roughly as scientific as phrenology, meaning that building a business around people's Myers-Briggs types is like building a business based on having the right mix of astrological signs).

In particular, I agree with her that publishers as we knew them are doomed, and that the traditional tasks of publishers are going to be split between authors doing more, authors hiring professionals for important tasks (e.g. copy-editing, maybe editing (it's important, but I'm not sure how many authors will spring for it), graphic design, etc.) And I agree that a mailing list can be very valuable. But I'm not at all convinced that giving up the big marketing shelf that is Amazon and building more of the infrastructure yourself is a winning move. It could be, and it probably is for some individuals. But I suspect that for most authors, self-publishing through Amazon (and other sites) is the correct strategy, not self-publishing and shunning Amazon.

[alanajoli.livejournal.com]

Ah, I'm not familiar with other pieces of advice from her -- this is (as far as I know) my first encounter with her work. I tend to agree with you that giving up amazon as a marketplace is risky in the current market. But I also know that authors like jimhines have had problems with their books being reduced in price without consent or notice, so selling through amazon comes with risks, too. (The latter are smaller, I think, than the former if what you're looking for is successful sales!)