I’m getting some new stiff competition in the coming months. I’d name names, but the fact is, this week alone I’ve read no less than four emerging proposals for new serial fiction stories. These are coming from professional writers, and in two of these cases, the writers have made this decision only after entering dire financial straits.
First let me make it clear that I welcome these writers to the web market, and I will be checking out their stories as soon as the first parts are published. If I like them, I’ll both donate funds and take time to do some freebie promotion for them. The only reason I’m not promoting them now is that I don’t know any of the writers or their styles. I don’t like giving a blind referral without having some idea of what I’m selling. I’m funny like that.
Still for as much as I hope these writers succeed, it bothers me that not too many of the pros would consider coming down to whore on the the direct market until after they were strapped and in need of money for important shit like bills, grocery, and worse, medicine for the kids.
I see no problem if a professional writer sits down to crank out new web page posts once a week in exchange for cash donations. It’s a direct market, supply and demand in the simplest form. If the story is good, then the readers will supply cash to meet the writer’s demands. I have faith that the pros will be offering some good stuff, and then their private market will explode like a field of fireworks on the fourth of July.
A number of pro writers have started e-publishing this year, and while not all of them did so to stave off the fiscal wolves, a lot of them were previously disparaging of the web as a marketplace. Print was the Manhattan escort service to be with, and the web was a Jersey back alley filled by ugly whores.
But you know what? We’re both hookers, and at the end of the day, the only way we ever earn a dime is if somebody likes our wares. It’s true that my wares are not very glamorous compared to the pros, but I know how to suck a dick. Hrm, I suspect I’ll need to abandon this analogy now.
I digress, I expect to see more professional writers diversifying to embrace a direct market. This is because their print publishers may provide a steady check, but it’s a check that comes either twice or four times a year, depending on what you agree to in the contract. With the web, you set up a Paypal account, and your readers pay you directly. So if you can pull your print market audience onto the web to get them to pay you, there’s no waiting for the checks to clear.
You get paid what people think the story is worth. Some folks might only chip in 0.50 cents, but others will drop a 5 or 10 in the pot with each donation. And aside from paying taxes as usual, you get to keep what you earn. You don’t have to give your agent any fees, and the publisher won’t randomly decide to deduct expenses from your sales figures. Can you think of a reason why this is a bad thing? Because before, publishing online was “cheapening the value of the work,” and now many of you seem to be grasping that it is instead recouping all the costs from your writing, editing and marketing efforts.
It’s true, now that you’re on your own, you have to do all of the editing and promotional work. But you were doing that stuff anyway, weren’t you? Every story you’ve sent to the print markets has had to be edited within an inch of its life. What’s more, print publishers have had you doing promotional work at real life events for years. Now you just have to adapt to market your online stories both to your print fans and to new online readers. I suspect that in most cases, you pros already know how to do that too. You were already drumming up new readers for your print books using online techniques, so moving onto the web will be easy for you. You won’t have to put up with the long learning curve that a neophyte writer does, and you already have an audience built in. Hence, your chances of success in this market are very good.
But this was true five years ago, and it frustrates me how only now in lean economic times do you finally dip your toes into the water. We’ve only been telling you that the water is fine for a few years, and you wouldn’t believe us. Well hop in people, and bring your readers with you.
As more professional writers embrace the web, you make things better for all of us, even obscure web indies like me. Whatever your motivation is, putting work on the web tells your print readers, “I think this market is worth looking into.” By encouraging them to get online to read your stuff, you can also prepare them for the wide world of online fiction. There is a lot of it in every imaginable genre, and even in some made up genres. Our audiences have usually been smaller than the typical print market, but the participation of print writers in the electronic market can only help to expand the audience available. There’s plenty of room in the pool for all of us.
Adding the pros into the pool will make competition harder, yes, but as with any market, the real talent will rise to the top, buoyed by stronger traffic. The losers who can’t write will sink to the bottom of the talent pool, just like they sank to the bottom of the slush piles with the print publishers.
And one final thought: Print publishing isn’t going away, but publishers need to embrace e-books and electronic markets. You people talk about how you want to brand yourselves as the “content filters” of good fiction, but the fact is, you’re currently working as an analogical filter. If you still want to be a content filter in the digital age, then get your asses in gear, stop whining about those mean old pirates, and take your proper places in the electronic market as the leaders. Right now, you’re just the anchors holding back your best people by discoruaging them from working online.
... I write dark fiction in a variety of genres. My blog contains my rants and rambles, and some short fiction that can only be found here.
I can be pretty fucking offensive, so viewer discretion is advised.