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Guest Author: Emily Veinglory

Emily’s Disclaimer: if you disagree with my advice it is very easy to research me as well. Some people look at my online presence and urge people to take my advice as I am a “successful writer”. This is a very dubious claim and easy to check as all my books and much about my earnings can be found online. If I am a successful ebook writer the industry is in even more trouble than I thought!


Authors & E-Publishing: Time for Tough Love

I understand why so many people love e-publishing. It provides any easy way to get hold of previously neglected genres like erotic romance and gay romance, and an avenue of publication for thousands of writers. But I am disturbed when the love of an e-publisher by its authors becomes unconditional and uncritical. The final straw for me was when I saw an author on a forum crowing about “very good first month’s sales” from a press I knew to be under-performing. She also said that another multi-published author had told her these sales were high for a first book. I contacted the author by email and the “very good” first month sales proved to be ten copies. Ten. And she was actively recommending this publisher to other writers. Many writers, it seems, are not great sources of unbiased information. We are so pleased anyone with accept our work and prone to go out of our way to prop up the publisher’s legitimacy in return. New e-presses open and are soon surrounded by newly accepted author-cheerleaders.

We are inclined to overlook the fact that most e-publishers invest very little effort in an e-book; they will make a profit from a book even if it sells just a few hundred copies. The less effort they make, the fewer copies they need to sell to make a profit. The e-publishing business model, even at its best, is to sell fewer copies of more books. Obviously the individual writer does not benefit from this economy of scale—nor readers from the potentially diminished selectivity and editorial input. But readers know what to do. There is absolutely no mistaking the fact that romance e-book readers shop largely by e-publisher. They have identified which houses select better quality books and edit and present them well. And it seems to me that if readers know this, writers should pay attention too. We should not be swayed by praise, high acceptance rates, sparkly new
websites and enthusiastic but vague online endorsements from our peers. We should follow the readers; the readers buy the books and in they end their attitude about the publisher is really the only one that counts.

That is why I started the EREC (Erotic Romance E-publisher Comparison) site to collect and share information. It quickly became apparent the erotic romance publishing is a volatile and crowded market where hype is common and data is rare. I invite writers to send me any sales figures they have: first month, first year, end of contract or total to date. Incomplete data is welcome and the information is kept confidential. What I have found so far is that the average e-book sells 150 copies in the first month, 350 in the first year and diminishing numbers from then on. But these figures are biased by a few very high selling houses. First month figures go as high as 5000 copies, and as low as 2 and only five e-publishers that I have data for routinely sell over 100 copies of each title in the first month (when most sales occur): Ellora’s Cave, Loose Id, Samhain, Whiskey Creek Press and Liquid Silver Books. By far the largest factor determining sales is the publisher of the book—even when considering books in the same genre and by the same author. All the promotional activities in the world will not sell a small press’ books at Ellora’s Cave levels.

These publisher-specific sales levels show that readers have learned to detect and select the best presses and once they find them, they tend to stick with them. It is well past time that writers took the same approach.

My advice for new writers would be this:

1) Decide on your goals in advance rather than just letting them sink to whatever your publisher can provide. Make sure your goals really represent your aspirations, make them realistic and specific such as actual sales numbers. If you have other goals like quick publication or availability with specific distributors, that’s fine too, but spell them out so you will know whether you have met them.

2) Take the time to find a publisher that can meet those goals. A book can take months or years to write. Researching publishers will take a few days at least. The only real way to know what a publisher can achieve, is to see what it has achieved– i.e. actual sales figures. Look for specifics relating to your goals and check multiple publishers. Submit to the best first.

3) If a publisher does not meet your goals consider, what needs changing: the goals or the publisher? There is nothing wrong with sending your next book to a press that might do better. Each contract is between the publisher and the book–not the publisher and the writer.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 30th, 2007 at 9:00 pm and is filed under Guest Author. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

16 Responses to “Guest Author: Emily Veinglory”

  1. December/Stacia
    Posted: Jul 30th, 2007 at 3:57 am
    1

    Excellent article, Emily. Something we should all think about.

  2. Ann Bruce
    Posted: Jul 30th, 2007 at 5:08 am
    2

    Great post, Emily! Sadly, there will be no shortage of writers who will do anything to get published. And when that small pub goes belly-up for various reasons, writers who don’t see it coming go, “Huh? What went wrong?”

  3. Teddy Pig
    Posted: Jul 30th, 2007 at 8:31 am
    3

    Hey Emily!

    By the way, you rock so hard!

    I like the idea for your site.

    Who would you say represents a successful eBook author?

    I mean someone who is only eBooks though, most people look at someone getting a contract to a NY Publisher to be the big success.

    BUT… are there authors who almost seem to be only available in eBook and yet should be seen as successful in that format?

    What names come to mind in that case?

  4. Teddy Pig
    Posted: Jul 30th, 2007 at 8:33 am
    4

    Oh, and I note no mention of Amber Quill Press in your list of big names. Is there not enough data there?

  5. veinglory
    Posted: Jul 30th, 2007 at 9:04 am
    5

    At that point I don’t think I have any data at all on Amber Quill :( I have data for just over 100 books now, but many publishers are still missing and for others the data is out of date (the better presses have a clear upward trend in sales over the years). I am particulalry interested in knowing more about successful, established presses as the findings for the many smaller, newer ones are largely predictable.

    I think what makes an ebook writer successful is meeting their own goals–goals that are specific enough to meet or not meet. My goal used to be 3c a word but that proved a poor choice for ebooks (over what period, for shorts, novellas and novels?) My long term goal now is to make $1000 a month. Should I meet that I will probably raise it. For me the opposite of successful is not so much ‘unsuccessful’ as ‘motivated’–so long as the data is trending int he right direction.

    Of course with a move and new job I am short on new releases and down to $300 last month. Many of my writer friends make significantly more, especially those writing full time or publishing with Ellora’s cave. When they ask me for advice I have to laugh.

    Not that is is *all* about money. I, personally, have never submitted to a NY press or to Ellora’s Cave.

  6. Jules Jones
    Posted: Jul 30th, 2007 at 9:25 am
    6

    Here’s another titbit for authors to think about when looking at a press that can’t manage to sell 100 copies in two years, never mind in the first month:

    We know from their own promotional material how many copies the print vanity presses like xLibris and AuthorHouse manage to sell on average — it’s around 75 to 150 copies of a title. That’s what you can expect to sell by pimping your book to your family, your friends, and their friends — the people who will buy your book simply because they know you, whether or not they have any intention of reading it.

    Now, a lot of erotic romance authors don’t make any attempt to sell to their family and friends (I certainly hope my family don’t even know about mine), but even so… If an epub can’t manage to sell 75-150 copies within two years, it’s not even doing as well as the notorious print vanity presses. You might as well self-publish by putting it on Lulu.

    I wasn’t exactly quiet and retiring about RWA’s first stab at defining vanity publishers, but while they may have cocked it up by saying that epub was vanity pub by definition, they did have a point about vanity presses. Loose Id shifts enough copies of my books that many of my titles meet the requirements for PAN membership under the new rules. They’re small press, but the numbers clearly show that they’re a legitimate small press where an author can earn reasonable money. I’m not earning a living from my writing, but I’m earning rather more than beer money. The money from the bottom end of epub might buy you a beer. And if you say that you’re not in it for the money, but for the joy of reaching an audience — ten books isn’t much of an audience.

  7. Bettie
    Posted: Jul 30th, 2007 at 1:29 pm
    7

    Great article! I’m bookmarking it, and the EREC site.

  8. Bonnie Dee
    Posted: Jul 31st, 2007 at 6:52 am
    8

    Thank you, thank you, thank you, and I wish I’d known all this as a newbie a few years ago. I had to struggle and make one very poor choice before I learned the truths about the epub industry. Emily, I’ll be sure and give you some of my numbers to help in your survey site.

  9. Lauren Dane
    Posted: Jul 31st, 2007 at 10:37 am
    9

    You’re totally right. It’s a point that’s often lost. In the rush to get a book bought and published, some folks tend to not take into account the size of the publisher. So sure, a relatively new epub will buy you and put your book out two months later, but you’ll sell 5 copies. If you invest patience and send it to a bigger epublisher and wait for a reply - you can sell a hell of a lot more at EC or Samhain. It may take up to a year but thousands of copies in your first month versus ten is worth it, IMO.

    There are other things to think about than sales - how you’re treated, if the publisher is invested in you as an author, what the final product is like (as in, how’s the editing? What do the covers look like? What does the cart look like, is it easy to use or does it only take paypal when you dance around the room counterclockwise on the first Tuesday of the month, etc). Are they responsive to you? I hear about authors emailing editors ten times before they get an answer for something totally simple. That’s unacceptable. Do your questions get answered?

    This stuff is all big picture stuff, which is hard sometimes, to focus on when you’re brand new and you want to be published so badly. But it’s important and in the long run, you’ll regret it if you miss the forest for the trees so to speak.

    All of us have our own goals. We find different things important so it’s not like my bottom line is yours or someone else’s. But I’m glad your site is there for people to get the info to make decisions better.

  10. Emily Veinglory
    Posted: Jul 31st, 2007 at 2:41 pm
    10

    I agree that other things are important, although in my experience larger presses also tend to be the one with more responsive and more skilled editors, better cover art and more interaction and investment. Whereas new small presses that promise to be friendly on the website let loose the dogs of war when questioned ;) IMHO some presses have it all.

    There are some of the smaller, newer epresses that I have a ‘publisher crush’ on but that is a subject for another day :)

  11. Wylie
    Posted: Jul 31st, 2007 at 3:33 pm
    11

    Brilliant, Emily. I sure could have used this info 2 years ago!! But all is well now that I’ve learned the hard way ;)

  12. AllyBlue
    Posted: Aug 3rd, 2007 at 7:02 am
    12

    I totally lucked out, getting in with Loose Id with my first book, then later being invited to submit to Samhain. My sales from either won’t support my family, but I think I’m doing pretty well. Forgotten Song, my very first book, still sells at a steady rate each month. And it still sells a far cry more than TEN copies, btw LOL. That’s been the case with all my titles so far. And both publishers have been responsive, helpful, and professional across the board. I do love that I have print books as well, from Samhain *g* Those have been doing very well, btw. Willow Bend consistently stays in the top ten in gay/lesbian fiction on Amazon.

    Thanks for an interesting and informative article, Em :D I keep meaning to send you info for the site. Prod me, maybe I’ll remember eventually O_O

  13. Emily Veinglory
    Posted: Aug 3rd, 2007 at 2:35 pm
    13

    [prod]

    ;)

  14. vanessa jaye
    Posted: Aug 26th, 2007 at 6:27 am
    14

    I have a number of writing buddies who are pubbed by ebook and NY who were more than willing to share info and their experiences with various publishers, but if I didn’t have that type of luck, your site would have been a life saver, Emily. Kudos! I’m still bookmarking your site cause it never hurts to understand the larger picture.

  15. Dil Marion
    Posted: Sep 1st, 2007 at 4:48 am
    15

    This is a most interesting and useful site. I wish I had discovered it some time ago. It will be interesting to see how many, and if, my two current releases sell. One is with The Wild Rose Press, a great and most helpful company to write for, and the other is with the older established company, Wings.
    Dil

  16. Karma
    Posted: Sep 1st, 2007 at 4:54 am
    16

    Not sure if this information helps, but a few days ago it was announced that Amber Quill Press is now considered a “recognized” RWA publisher since several of their authors have applied and have been accepted for PAN status (meaning their book sales are high enough to qualify). Since Amber Quill puts all of their e-books into paperback within 1 to 2 weeks after the e-book is released (they don’t have any “quotas” of e-sales before doing the paperback versions), several authors (M. L. Rhodes, for one) have had books on the Amazon best-seller lists. M. L. Rhodes even hit #1 on the “Gay Best-Seller List” for her book “Falling.” Therefore, the sales numbers at AQP between e-versions and paperbacks combined must be quite nice for several authors.

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