At some point in our writing career, all of us have felt that our novel is a master piece. Some, more than others, will be of the opinion that they are the fricken Michelangelo of the written word. Then the rejections roll in… and in… and in. Many of these are due to the manuscript (MS) not being of a certain undefined standard at the time of submission (or, God forbid, we aren’t as good at crafting our Sistine chapel as we thought). However, a significant number of MS’s, particularly non-fiction, are rejected because a publisher just doesn’t see a large enough market or simply that particular subject does not resonate with their tastes. This is a fair enough decision, as money has to be made, redundancies kept in check. Not every MS can be accepted, and even if a novel does make the cut, the publishing houses are not equipped to fully market all the books they sell: they cannot afford to. Unfortunately over the past several years the number of publishing houses has decreased, hence fewer authors are being published.
However, publishers DO NOT KNOW all markets and fan bases available, nor how many people participate in these specialised niche markets. As such, they are not in the modern age equipped to serve all authors. A publisher of 30 years is not necessarily going to get the popular new trend of Crimping or the hundred thousand strong fans around the world who play Magic-The Card Game.
Currently, readers are denied the freedom to discover new voices; yet, we are entering into a future where more people will read what they are interested in and discover fields they had never considered. The opportunities provided by e-books, particularly to reach these niche markets are immense. Briefly, a niche market is a market that is fixated or interested in a particular topic. For example I have a non-fiction novel on Gap Year travel (a ‘niche’ of the travel genre), a phenomenon that is major in the UK and US but next to unknown in Australian culture.
A clear example of publishing houses inability to serve all niche markets is shown by Mark Coker, the creator of Smashwords.com, a free e-book publishing site. Mark began this site in response to his failure to traditionally publish a specialised soap opera novel (‘Boob Tube’ who could resist? Really?). Represented by a well respected New York City agency, Dystel & Goderich, to top publishers of commercial women’s fiction, his MS (co-written with his wife) was thoroughly rejected. Undertaking a major revision using the comments of the publishers, they shared the manuscript with test readers interested in soaps and received a very enthusiastic thumbs up. Again, though represented by a top firm, they were rejected. The market was too small to interest main stream publishers. The struggle sparked an idea for Mark and Smashwords was born.
E-books provide an opportunity to reach niche markets of readers, where an author knows the needs of their smaller group of enthusiasts better than a publisher. We all place such high hopes on publishers, but they are just people like us, wandering around their own little world preferring red over black, sex over sleep and who just do not want to read another teen romance, no matter how much it is like Twilight, in fact especially because it’s so much like Twilight.
TOMORROW: We discuss the global numbers game in regards to print book and e-book publishing in niche markets. I do love games...
For more information on Smashwords see http://www.smashwords.com/?ref=EmCraven
E-books provide an opportunity to reach niche markets of readers, where an author knows the needs of their smaller group of enthusiasts better than a publisher.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a very important part of modern self-publishing. Just because a book can't sell 500 million copies in the mainstream marketplace doesn't mean it's a poor book or a failed effort.
Hear!! Hear!!
ReplyDeleteYes, so far I've sold two thousand books, but have no publisher or agent, apart from myself. :0)
ReplyDeleteThere are many brilliant writers out there who have an interest in thousands of topics. I'm sure many people have no idea what a Flash Mob is, but a book on how to organise a flash mob and some ideas for a start up group to try, could be a potential best seller to people who care. Just checking now, there are over 550,000 searches for flash mob or flash mobs per month on Google.(For some fantastically entertaining videos look up flash mob on YouTube)
ReplyDeleteThe internet provides brilliant opportunities for niche markets. Internet marketers have been capitalising on this for years. Brett McFall had a ghost writer create for him a book on making money with scrapbooking. He made $40,000 in a year on it. Now he was using a ghost writer who wrote it in 14 days. Imagine what the niche market potential is for people who actually know how to write and have been working on their novel for years?!?!?
We just need to pitch to these markets correctly, a lot of this I shall be talking about in the last two weeks of the blog.
Em
PS Carole, congrats on your 2 thousand books, some authors have sold no copies in their self-publishing life time even though they were giving them away in many cases!
This is a truly wonderful post and Blog. I'm glad to have StumbleUpon it. What your saying is the truth, but at the same time you're giving hope to the flashmob of new authors. The game has changed, but you still need to tell a gripping, engaging story. If you can succeed in that and sweat a little you might just make it.
ReplyDeleteThanks again. You got yourself a new follower.
John
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DeleteI agree fully with what you say here, Emily. I was at your ASA/SA Writers E-Revolution seminar in Adelaide a few weeks ago and came away full of enthusiasm and vigour. My question, however is, how and where can I go to have my fantasy novel edited without it costing me thousands.
DeleteI have the Writers market place book but the editors are all are very expensive. Is there alternatives? I have joined Fan Story and been given an enormous amount of support in editing, but they are not all professional editors so the consistency is lacking and can become confusing. Is there any links or people that you could recommend. Thanks.
regards, Jen
Hi Jen,
DeleteWhat I did was hire an editor to go through the first three chapters of my manuscript. It is brilliant as they will pick up essential things you repeatedly do wrong, I picked a woman from the Australian Writers Marketplace called Diane Beer who lives in Adelaide. I then went and joined a writers group at the SA Writers' Centre. This is by far where I have learnt my best editing, because each of the eight members had different things that they focused on in a read through and I immensely improved from that. Secondly I got a mentorship with a fantasy author. Now you have to pay for this, and I only approached fantasy authors once I had done the two steps above. You can then apply through places like the ASA to try and get a scholarship for this.
Otherwise, there are many freelance websites such as elance.com or freelancer.com or odesk.com. Where you can post a job to hire an editor who deals in the fantasy genre. You can set a price range you are willing to pay and various contractors will bid to get the work. This is generally the cheapest way to find an editor. Make sure you check all their credentials and testimonials first though.
Finally, look at contacting other indie authors who write in fantasy such as Brian Pratt or Amanda Hocking, both of whom have hired editors (whether they look at structure or just proofread I am unsure)to go over their indie books. I am quite certain they would not have send thousands of dollars in their editing but they are both very successful.
So, those are a few ideas to get you started!
I'm so glad you enjoyed the seminar, it was so much fun.
Warmly,
Emily
Thank you John,
ReplyDeleteGlad you're onboard!
What you're saying is true. A writer will always need a well written and engaging story to do well. This is up to our imaginations! Though I will give several tips on how to edit and improve your manuscript so it's the best it can be before releasing it out into the very critical world.
Em
Hi
ReplyDeleteI completely agree. There are many cases of publishers passing on a book that went on to become a bestseller with a different group.
I believe there is an audience for any well-written book and, thankfully, the advances in technology are helping readers to get their hands on them.
Sam@I Tell Stories
www.samanthaball.ca
As both a writer and an online entrepreneur, I can't agree with this enough! There is just so much potential niche space out there that the big companies just don't bother to exploit. All it takes is a little talent and effort to take advantage!
ReplyDeleteExactly Emma. Publishers are about the mass. Self publishing is about everything else.
ReplyDelete