« Should Favorite Books Be Reread? | Main | My 2016 Reading List »

November 18, 2015

Comments

Lexi Revellian

"The publishers aren't making any money" - Agatho, are you serious? Three years ago Random House gave all its employees (except the authors, naturally) $5,000 bonuses after the spectacular success of the surprise literary masterpiece, 50 Shades of Grey.

Whose fault is it if books are not in the shops long enough to find their readers? Harry Potter was a word of mouth success. This could not happen today - but then, today JK Rowling would not be able to get an agent. They, like publishers, are looking for a safe bet. She'd have reached her readers for sure, but via KDP.

There are many reasons why Amazon is successful. Just one of them is the uselessness of big publishing.

Mary Lawrence

Absolutely there is more money to be made selling authors ways to get their book 'seen' or in front of readers than in writing. More authors are expected to do their part promoting their titles. But more and more it's just a lost leader. No wonder publishers don't invest any money in promoting them. Why should they when so many writers still dream of becoming bestsellers and have the luxury of a spouse's income to spend on their marketing tab? Money in the bank for the publishers and the promoters of slick 'exposure' sites while the majority of authors become destitute pawns.

The comments to this entry are closed.