Posts by Lucy Stewart
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If you're not afraid of war ghosts entering your vagina, you can just decide to go ahead and go, right?
That seems to be the case, but it certainly wasn't obvious from the way Te Papa originally phrased it. Nor from some of the defense of that original phrasing.
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And some of the titles I've read from reputable publishers I have wondered how on earth the book made it through without being rejected/having major revisions.
It's worth remembering that publishers are looking for what is currently selling well, not what might sell well - hence the total swamping of SFF sections in mainstream bookstores by urban fantasy (read: supernatural creature porn) because that's what is seen as hot right now, Which is why it's hard for something good that's new or different to get a look-in.
But I have heard from several editors I've talked to that if you think what gets published is sometimes problematic, you should see the rejection pile. There's the odd Denniston Rose. There are a lot more than are just awful.
I do really appreciate the potential of self-publishing/self-marketing as a tool for getting books out there that are good but unpublished, or getting authors more of a share. (Lord knows if I ever publish anything I'd like more than 10% of the cover price!) It just seems like you'd probably end up with a lot of not-very-good work swamping the good, and a lot of technical problems in distribution and marketing. But I'd still love to see someone try.
• Editing, proofreading, design: plenty of freelancers for that.
• Marketing: Yeah right. Anyway, there are also freelancers that will happily help with publicity.You seem to be equating "freelancers" with "cheap". That is unlikely to be the case - and then you get back to the capital problem.
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I should probably just let Craig answer this, but I really don't think KiwiBlog is in any way representative of National or its supporters.
I think it's representative of a subset of National supporters, in the same way that The Standard represents a subset of Labour supporters, and the Tea Party represents a subset of Republican supporters. However, a subset is not the same thing as the entirety, nor are supporters the same as the party hierarchy, and those distinctions are worth maintaining and maintaining often.
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I'd have thought that blogs written by published authors would be pretty compelling and appealing -- but I may be wrong. And, for myself, one of the reasons I do read NZ authors is to read about NZ. But these are good points, and as I say, I may be wrong about this.
I find that author blogs basically depend on the author. Blogging is a different ballgame from novel-writing. Some people can do both. Some can do one. Some can do neither. There'd probably be a few good ones out there, though (see: PA.)
And if it was successful, I can imagine that established authors might self-publish new titles and have control over the whole process. (or is that a daft idea?) They could offer exclusive editions, only available online, with special features such as their own introduction, or background notes on the book.
The problem with self-publication - especially of novels - is that it takes away a layer of filtering. There are far, far more books written than published, and realistically? Most of them are crap. Which is why I am wary of the self-published. Plus you need a lot of capital to do it and you're likely to still lose money, unless you're established, as you suggest - in which case, I imagine it's easier to get the publisher to do it and have them take care of editing, marketing, etc - i.e. all the things publishers do well. It can work out, as Gareth says, but it's risky.
As for the special features - personally, unless they're extremely extensive, background notes are the kind of thing I expect to find free on an author's website or in interviews. I'd be unlikely to pay for them, unless they were an author I really adored. (Whether this is fair or reasonable is probably another question.)
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I would also have the Commerce Commission on speed-dial as I foresee collusion by other players in the market to thwart this kind of thing. Could large chains pressure publishers to stop selling to authors at trade rates? I wonder.
If nothing else, I imagine there would be tremendous pressure to cap how many books authors could buy at trade rates, either as a percentage of the total print run or a certain number.
Another question that springs to mind is: in the US, I have seen exactly the same books (publisher, title, format) for $7.99 or $8.99 US that regularly sell here for $22 - 24.99 NZ. Allowing for currency conversion, that's still close to a 100% markup. Where does the rest go? I know authors in the US get similar royalties, so it isn't going there. Are booksellers and/or publishers' costs that much higher? Is putting a container of books on a ship really that expensive?
I am willing to concede there may be a perfectly good reason for us to be paying twice as much for the same editions of the same books, at no additional benefit to the writer, but it had better be perfectly good.
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Strangely that is what I thought I was doing by using the local bookshop and that does point to the downside - the impact for the independent local booksellers.
It would be interesting to know how much of that $10.87 is actually profit, for your average independent bookstore. I always assumed a much bigger amount went to the publisher - but I'd still like to know what their profit margin is, too (averaged over a number of books, I guess.)
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but we do that by attacking the idea, not by attacking Paul Henry.
I sort of thought the idea was that it was so self-evidently obvious the GG is a 'real New Zealander', whatever one means by that, that saying it at all (and, moreover, defending it) spoke to Henry's character in a way that made attacking him - or at least his place on our nation's TV screens every morning - quite permissible.
I know, I know, play the ball not the man, but, seriously: if people continually engage in really despicable behaviours, there comes a point where you have to say that it's not the behaviour that's the problem - it's them. And, yes, for a TV host it just might be a persona, not their personality; but I'm not sure that's an excuse.
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I like it. But a first thought: is there anything in the standard author's contract that would prevent them re-selling copies they buy from the publisher for a profit? Authors, will you/can you comment?
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So one of our Christmas traditions revolves around us getting cards addressed to 'Mr and Mrs'. I laugh while she fumes. Then she kicks me in the nuts so she can have a laugh.
Do you get the Mr and Mrs His Full Name ones? We did, last Christmas. I went rather beyond fuming.
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i think Paul should come to the Diwali Festivals later this month. He'd be the centre of attraction.
Sadly, I fear this would still be giving him what he wants.
(In a deeply twisted way, but then...)