[Christopher Smith]

Matt Bialer is my agent at Sanford J. Greenburger, a pretty influential agency in New York that has Dan Brown, Brad Thor, etc.  He likes my new Wall Street thriller, "Running of the Bulls," but in all due respect to Matt, who is amazing, I've decided that the 18-month publishing wait I was facing is too long.  Eighteen months??  I know that's the norm, but after publishing a few books instantly with solid success, that seems ridiculous.  So, next week, "Running of the Bulls" goes e-world.  This book has been finished since the end of March and it's been killing me not to publish it through Kindle, Nook, etc.  Have others been going through this?  It might as well be Attention Deficit Book Disorder.  I'm sure you're out there and understand.  It's an e-world and I'm embracing it.  Let's hope I and others don't shoot ourselves in the feet for taking the leap when offers are at hand--but I don't think we will.  I feel kind of pumped.  Now, readying the manuscript for CreateSpace.

 

[daringnovelist]

I can't say I've been through it, but I certainly understand it.

IMHO, the publishing industry is going to change so much in the next 18 months... you're better off publishing this yourself while you wait to see what it's going to look like.

Camille

 

[MosesSiregarIII]

That type of situation would be really tough for me. Hopefully this will lead to bigger and better things for you and Matt.

 

[Julie Christensen]

What Camille said.  She is dead on.  
And I agree with you - how could you wait 18 months?  Of course, I waited eleven years to publish Searching For Meredith Love, but that's because I couldn't find an agent, and epublishing didn't exist.  With my book that's almost finished, I can't imagine waiting 18 months, or even five months to publish it.  Good luck.  I hope you do really well.

 

[Christopher Smith]

Thanks Julie and Moses--

Camille doesn't know it, but she's the one person whose advice I always find spot-on.  I love it when she posts.  I haven't posted here in some time, but that's because I've been on a writing binge.  And we know how rare those are.  When they come, capitalize!

What's weird is that Fifth Avenue, for some reason, is climbing the charts again in the UK.  Is this what will happen with all of us?  The odd rise, dip and flow of the tide?  It's just another reason to be indie, to look over our "children" because we have the power over price, blurbs, etc.  But after 7 months, the damn thing is making a go of it again.  And for anyone who is indie, we get the profits.  So cool.

 

[Sara Pierce]

Just be sure there's no language in your agent contract about them having rights or privileges to anything you publish. I've read some agent contracts have language giving them the right to 15% (or whatever commission is set in place) to anything you as a writer choose to publish.

 

[Christopher Smith]

Thanks Ladyeclectic!  I did check and as with the best agencies, we had a one-page agreement that was super simple and defined none of that.  Greenburger is a class act all the way.  Hell, they signed Kafka!

 

[daringnovelist]

Camille doesn't know it, but she's the one person whose advice I always find spot-on. I love it when she posts.

Huh wa who? SOMEBODY LOVES MY WRITING? Okay, so it's just here, but it's still show business!

Thanks. I guess I spend too much time analyzing what's going on around me and not enough time doing real stuff....

Camille

 

[Emeline Danvers]

I totally get it. That's one of the big selling points of indie pubbing for me. I just entered a pitch contest and didn't win, although I was told I could go ahead and submit through normal channels afterward. But another author who got published for the same line told me it took TEN months to get an initial response on her submission. Then a revise/resubmit, more waiting, they bought the book, then editing...sheesh!

I'm pretty sure I'm just going to self publish it. Why wait 2 years or more to see money on a book when I could see decent money within the first year of publishing it myself?

A lot of people in the legacy publishing industry would like to think most of us are indies because we weren't willing to put in the work or weren't good enough to go legacy. For some people that may be true. But there are plenty of us who put a lot of thought into it before deciding on indie, and for good reason, too.

 

[Terrence OBrien]

"Why wait 2 years or more to see money on a book when I could see decent money within the first year of publishing it myself?"

If book-1 is ready now,
book-2 could be ready in 6 months,
book-3 ready in 12 months,
book-4 ready in 18 months, and
book-5 ready in 24 months.

So two years from now you could have five books earning.

 

[India Drummond]

This is the reason I decided to go indie as well.

I certainly did learn a lot because of my first publishing contract, mostly about editing and what it really takes to make a manuscript shine. I'm glad I went through it, but now I know there's nothing my publisher was doing for me that I can't do faster, cheaper, and sometimes better myself.

Plus I have the advantage to setting my prices myself. My indie book (Blood Faerie) is way outselling my traditionally published book (Ordinary Angels). Maybe it's a better book, but I think a lot of it is down to the price (and I also like the cover I designed for BF more.) As an indie, I can charge less per copy but actually EARN MORE per copy.

But the great thing about being indie is control. As an indie, if the price, description, cover, etc aren't doing their job, I can change them fast. If someone reports a typo (hadn't happened yet, but I've learned that no manuscript is perfect), I plan to upload a new copy ASAP.

I'm just not seeing a down-side. =)

 

[Eric C]

I'm in the same boat Christopher in regard to my co-written thriller, Frame-Up. We pulled it when it found representation at DGLM at the request of the agent. And my coauthor wants to follow the agent's counsel until the book is either placed or there's nowhere else to shop it. But in the future with my solo work I'm going to epublish everything right away. "A bird in the hand" and all that. It's such a crapshoot finding a deal with a major pub and baby needs new shoes.

 

[WestofMars]

Hmm. While I am in no position to say if this is the right/wrong thing to do (my question is if your agent thinks he can broker you a deal with a nice marketing/promotional support, which would give you some really good exposure and help grow your name and brand), what stands out for me is that even a few months ago, signing a Big Publishing House deal meant it would take at least 2 years for the book to hit the shelves.

Seems that the big houses are catching on. 18 months IS forever in this new publishing scenario we're in (don't blink; it'll change again!), but it's still an improvement.

Like I said, don't blink or things will change. It's nice to see that for once, things are moving in our favor.

 

[Tonya]

I completely get it! I was with a small publisher before going Indie, and I couldn't be happier going it alone. I cringe on the royalty checks I get from them, and see how I surpassed it on my novels release day! Like you, I've always dreamed of THE BIG DANCE, maybe the big dance isn't so big and we are now at the prom! Good luck!!

 

[Teresa Morgan]

Mainstream publishing requires a lot of patience.

Teresa

 

[ChristopherDavidPetersen]

I'm finishing up some edits on my book "Tear in Time" that my agent requested. She told me I can still keep the book epublished until it gets sold to a traditional publisher (if that even happens). I asked her what I could expect out of sales after that 18 months of waiting to be published and she told me somewhere around $5,000 - I'm thinking that if the book stays on the shelf for 6 months and all the copies are sold, that $5000 will come out to about $210/month for the next 24 months.

All I'd need to do is sell 100 copies a month at $2.99 to match what a traditional publisher is predicting. I'm there already - so why am I even bothering with a traditional publisher? Maybe it's ego or pride... or stupidity.

Like you, Christopher, I don't see the benifit of going traditional. Now, if they offered me a movie deal... Well, that would be a different story - LOL.

 

[AnnaM]

My latest, TAKEDOWN, is also a financial/Wall Street romantic suspense/thriller, and it relies heavily on the ponzi scheme meme. Since it is timely (and WS corruption is still in the news daily -- I constantly post on my board, including yesterday's perp walk), I do not think waiting 18 months to publish is a good idea. The topic is hot NOW.

I think you made the right move.

 

[Imogen Rose]

I think you made the right move as well. Your agent can still shop it and you can take it down if something great comes along.

 

[daveconifer]

Chris, that's exciting.  Good luck.  I'm sure it'll be another big success for you.

Just curious -- what was Matt's reaction to your inclination to go all Indie on him?  Understandably, he'd prefer that you go the traditional route, but was he understanding and/or sympathetic about your decision?  Could he see where you are coming from or did he think you're insane?  I'm really curious about how the cogs in the old system are reacting to the changes we're seeing.  Personally, I think there will always be a role in any system for agents like Matt Bialer but I wonder if he's feeling the same way...

 

[Jon Olson]

I would love to have a problem like that. Did you leave on good terms? Maybe later Bialer would take you back after you've established its popularity here.