Literary Agents: Working for You, or Against You?

I came across an interesting (and alarming) blog post today that I wanted to share with you guys:  http://kriswrites.com/2011/06/01/the-business-rusch-agents-surviving-the-transition-part-3/.

Author Kristine Kathryn Rusch breaks down her thoughts on why working with a big, corporate literary agency may be hurting writers more than helping them as the publishing world changes.

She calls out a few things that writers absolutely NEED to be aware of, such as unethical agency clauses, rights grabs, as well as conflicts of interest as more and more big agencies turn into e-publishers to keep the money flowing.

Please, if you're looking for an agent, have an agent, or had one and parted ways, check out this blog article.

What do you think?

Are agents still relavent during these changing times?

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Stay tuned tomorrow as I make an appearance over at author Callie Kingston's blog!  She was kind enough to interview me, and asked thought-provoking questions about my journey, the characters in Legacy of the Empress, and my thoughts on the publishing landscape.  Check it out then!  I'll be there answering questions in the comments :).

P.S. Remember to comment on my contest for a chance to WIN :)!

Self Publishing: Why I Changed My Mind

AKA, "Is she nuts or what?" ;)

I'll admit it. 

I used to think "self publishing" was a dirty phrase.  It conjured up images of people who got suckered into buying a few thousand dollars worth of books from a vanity "publisher" and then ended up trying to sell them out of the trunk of their cars.  I did not want to be one of those people.

Money should flow toward the author, not away from it, and I'd never heard of anyone making money with a vanity press except the presses themselves.

Recently, I learned that self publishing is not what I thought it was.  True self, or Indie Publishing, has recently been made possible by the explosion of products like the Nook, Kindle, and Sony e-readers.  Hell, even by the iphone!  Authors can upload their books and sell them directly, often receiving 70% royalties with no up front costs.

HOLY SHIT.

Why did I not know about this?  How did I not get that the e-book explosion has officially changed the power dynamic for authors?

Honestly, while I was writing and editing and learning all about the publishing industry, the publishing industry was changing around me.

Today is a brand new day, and the world of publishing is a brand new world :).  E-sales are dominating in a way they never have before, and I'm helping them by downloading fistfulls of books to my iphone, even though I swore I'd never enjoy digital as much as print.

Hell, I bought a Nook this winter.  And I *love* it.

Before making my decision to have a go as an Indie Publisher, I did some research, and it was hearing from these authors and bloggers that really made me do my 180. 

Author J.A. Konrath is a huge advocate of indie publishing, and has basically made a total killing off it, as opposed to going with a traditional/legacy publisher.  Check out this amazing, in-depth conversation he had on his blog with author Barry Eisler about Barry's decision to turn down $500,000 to self publish.  It's a lengthy read, but FULL of incredible information.  Worth it, for sure.

They both give straight talking sales numbers, and even answer commenter questions in this second blog discussion.  There are even graphs...... I love graphs!

Then I thought "Pfffffft, maybe this is only a viable option for fancy, luckypants writers.  I wonder if there are any folks in the comments section who are regular Joe Authors with similar experiences." 

Turns out, there were!  There were plenty.

For example, Sarra Cannon decided to self publish her YA series a mere five months ago and has already sold 13,000 copies and counting.  13,000.  If she's selling her books at $2.99 for the Kindle, she gets a 70% royalty.  Logically, this means she could have made $27,209 in five months.  All on her own.  As a newbie author.  (Disclaimer--I have no idea about the money she's made, I just know she published 5 months ago and sold that many books.  I am just making a point that a total newb has already sold more books than many a debut author could dream of selling.) 

Publicist and wife of successful author Michael J. Sullivan, Robin Sullivan has a blog post comparing two mid-list genre authors, one who was published by a legacy publisher, and one who chose to self publish.  There are charts there, too.  Sweet, sweet charts.

In a nutshell, she discovered that the traditionally published author with several books out wasn't quite making a living wage, while the self published author quickly went from $800/mo to $12,000/mo with sales holding steady.  They both have comparable books and backlists, yet one is living the writer's dream.  He got to quit his day job.

I don't plan on striking it rich, and I definitely don't want to be famous.  All I've ever wanted out of my writing career is to be able to stay at home and be a Full Time Writer.  Oh, and not starve while doing so ;).

It seems to me that indie publishing my work is the most practical way to accomplish that goal.  And how cool is that?  Now, I can rely on my own hard work for my success, which is something I'm very comfortable with.

I'm gambling on myself... and it feels great.