Ladyz and Laddez...

Various discussions around here have sparked a serious thought I would like to share...

Why bother with publishers anymore?
Why bother with distributors anymore?

You have a novel written (spellchecked and grammer checked a must)... Sell it on APPLEs bookstore...
You have a comicbook done... Sell it on APPLEs bookstore...
You have a song or a movie... etc... etc... etc...

You get the idea...

there are hundreds... nay thousands of artist/writers out there that are affected by Diamond's rules and regulations...

Why bother with Diamond anymore?

There are thousands upon thousands of people (with fantastic storys and ideas) rejected out there...

Why bother... sell your stuff directly to the customers...

This is the tip of my deep, deep thoughts on this for a couple of reasons...

1) I am making a film and bypassing the typical hollywood system...
2) I have been rejected before... and NOT because my concepts were not good... because all the places I took my stuff to were ALL BOOKED UP with 20 to 50 concepts in development and I would end up being the 51st... and that would be a long time coming before they even look at allocating resources to move it forward...

So I asked my self a long time ago... Why bother?

Now the "Why Bother?" has become very much tangible...

Don't need publishers, don't need distributors...
and I am sure they are going to bitch even more so now, blaming BitTorrent or some such... WHEN in reality they are no longer needed...

the creators can get the content directly to the customer...

The field has been flattened...

I recently had a conversation with NATE SIMPSON...
http://projectwaldo.blogspot.com/
very talented guy...

He wrote on his blog about the problems he is facing...

I suggested to him to continue... forget the publishers... get it onto APPLEs store and advertise to sell special prints of his pages signed and numbered...

sigh...

there are just SOOO much to consider, so much to RE-consider...

What do you all think?

GPG

Well, established publishers have ways of finding the customers so that they know the work is out there. How are you going to find yours? Not saying you haven't thought of this...but I've seen plenty of examples of self-publishers who appear NOT to have thought this through.

There are 140 thousand APPs on the APPLE store for download...

Correct me if I'm off...

But I don't think I would be able to review all these programs...

BUT I am able to do a specific search for something and my list would be greatly reduced to a handfull...

Additional thinking...
a) I go to a bookstore... I feel like reading a scifi/comedy book... I go to that section... I browse... I see covers... I read the synopsis... I buy book...
b) I go to iBOOK... I feel like reading a scifi/comedy book... I go to that section... I browse... I see covers... I read the synopsis... I buy book...

Is it that simple?

GPG

"but I've seen plenty of examples of self-publishers who appear NOT to have thought this through."
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I have seen self-publishers as well that have made an investment that didn't pan out as well as they'd hope...

BUT...

Before, there was a physical investment in printing and advertising... other than the personal investment of time and energy in creating the content...

NOW...

Yes, spend time creating your content... BUT... don't spend money printing and advertising...

set up an account with (say APPLE for now) and when your book is purchased and download... you get paid...

...

People WILL search for what they want or need...

IF you are in the system (iBOOKs for now) where they are looking for reading material... they will find you...


An ADDITIONAL THOUGHT...

Hollywood agents are always looking for new material... hot material... etc... etc...

This system could be a new way of seeing UN-FILTERED content...


GPG

I think it's a matter of focus. The competition is so nasty, so voluminous, in the app world and online that I don't think people have that much interest in sorting through giant piles of content. There's a narrowing down of the load, a tighter focus on what's available when going through Diamond, although the focus is going to be widening more now that they're clearing off the first issue benchmarks. Bottom line, everybody and their freakin' mothers are *all* doing comics now because everything is so accessible. No one wants to pay for anything anymore because so much is free on the net. So I really don't see anyone digging in and making a concerted effort to dutifully sort through vast, vast selections of content.

It's a lot like being the needle *in* the haystack except there is no hay, just a giant stack of needles. A needlestack. I see someone picking briefly around the top of the pile but no one's going to try and stick their arm in deep and find this needle.

So why bother? Just so you can say you did something you can be proud of. Aside from that......

"So why bother? Just so you can say you did something you can be proud of. Aside from that......"
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Interesting statement...

I was present at a social a while ago where I heard something along the same line...

the person receiving the statement said... "Why did we go to the moon?... Because it was there... Because it was hard..."

and I remember it was spoken by President Kennedy...

When I see awesome stuff like:

http://projectwaldo.blogspot.com/

and anything in this thread on another forum:

http://www.imagecomics.com/messageboard ... 022f4e7bcc

Why bother?

Because the obstacles that prevented alot of talent are disappearing...

I suspect Diamond saw the scripture on the wall and changed their bogus position or else they would've been left behind...

GPG

There's a narrowing down of the load, a tighter focus on what's available when going through Diamond
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And THAT is how alot of publishers, production companies, distributors, etc... etc... operate...

They FILTER who is in or out...

Why filter at all...

Let the customers decide...

And THERE ARE ALOT OF CUSTOMERS out there... or else why would Apple and Amazon go to the trouble to building the system... to sell hardware... yes... but hardware is finite... content is forever...

GPG

I see what you're saying and I agree with it, I'm just laying it out there that the tough part is to find an angle to rise above the rest in some way. Quality alone isn't enough, sadly. There's quality stuff like Darwyn Cooke who's big time yet his sales sadly don't reflect it, which kills me because the man is amazing but not as appreciated as he should be. Just like with every other business, it's who you know.

You need some unfair advantage to get a spotlight that others can't. If you can manage that, you are golden. It's just a matter of finding the angle. If you can sign on to a big publisher and have them do a lot of the promoting and heavy lifting, that's one way but of course, that's a tough nut to crack, too.


It's all down to the goal. If the goal is to do a quality piece of work and get it out there *available* to the public, it could literally not be easier. If your goal is to get a lot of people to buy it and make it a commercial success, that's another kettle of fish.

In the past, I've put out/published 9 different books through Diamond, all to differing degrees of success. I've also put out a few without Diamond but *with* Amazon and various other web publishing, to virtually no sales. The nice thing is that if The Dark (my latest with Markosia through Diamond) does grab some big attention, it could lead to a discovery of some of my older stuff as well. The other stuff remains out there and it will remain so forever, which is a limitation with Diamond though.

Fascinating thread. Thanks for sharing. I'm looking into the best way to get my book out there once it's finished. And I've got my work cut out for me. I'm not even sure there's a market for Christian/Sci Fi novels...

Anyways, this was really helpful.

I'm not even sure there's a market for Christian/Sci Fi novels...
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So many options exist...

Yes there is a market...

Check out my first movie, recently completed...

http://www.historyonjesus.com/

The DVD is selling, I just finished the book and the Audio Book on the film is almost done...

All of which bypass the established system...

AND...
I've sent out my content to publishers and distributors to consider...
But that's just me collecting "not interested" letters...
It makes the goal that much more satisfying,
being able to climb a mountain of NOs...

So many options exist...

The Left behind series is one of the biggest selling series of all time, so there's certainly a market out there for that sort of thing.

Gosh... I had forgotten about that...

Good series...

Thanks for pointing that out, Eric. It's a good point. I guess I'll see how it all turns out once my book is ready...still, getting it out there, whether through an agent or publisher or ebook will be a huge challenge.

I would think the Christian thing is fine, just as long as you have a strong story and compelling characters. If you don't have both, your book won't have a chance.

Thanks, you're right. I'm gonna do my best...people do want strong and well developed characters. I came up with a new origin and background story for the Mimickers for that very reason. I want people to be able to really relate to the characters as much as possible.

If I'm reading a book and something doesn't hook me or reel me in within the first ten pages, I don't bother with the rest, generally.

If you have strong and engaging characters, people will want to read your book.

Just be careful with your message, Francine -- and by that, I mean don't hit people over the head with it. Find a subtle way to weave it into your narrative -- It'll be more effective that way.

OK, thanks, I'll keep that in mind.