Author Rock Star Roundup

Busy week last week for me so no roundup. This week I have one rock star on another's blog. Like getting a buy one get one free offer.

David Gaughran was on J.A. Konrath's blog talking about authors embracing change. We have to do that in every part of our lives, not just our careers. Some good advice.

Embrace Change – Guest Post by David Gaughran

Writers have it better than any other creative profession right now but it feels like we don’t appreciate our good fortune and haven’t adopted the mindset where we fully embrace change. The transition to digital is hugely disruptive – and not always in positive ways – but it’s solving a number of long-standing problems, particularly the issue of author earnings.

It’s easy to forget how bad things were before the digital revolution made self-publishing viable and gave us all more options. I was at the International Women’s Fiction Festival in Matera, Italy at the end of September. It’s a great conference in the most beautiful location and very well run, with all sorts of interesting panels and talks. It’s also refreshingly small and you get to meet everybody.

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The Amazon/Hachette dispute is often characterized as David V. Goliath. But which party is David? Hugh Howey talks about that.

Who is David?by Hugh Howey

The negotiations between Amazon and the Big 5 publishers is often framed as a war between David and Goliath. What’s strange is that who gets to play David depends on who you’re talking to. Both sides claim him. The rare moments when people equivocate between the two parties, they state that this is really a case of Goliath vs. Goliath, which is far closer to the truth. We’re talking about multi-billion dollar corporations on either side.

Read more.

Author Rock Star Round Up

What have my rock stars been up to the past few weeks?

Hugh Howey has been asked why indie authors should care about what Hachette charges for e-books.

I just got an email from a reporter asking me why indies are fighting for lower priced ebooks. I’ve seen many indies ask each other the same thing. After all, affordable pricing is one of our biggest advantages. Why would we want that to go away?

What I find interesting about this question is the insight it provides about the people doing the asking. It would never occur to me to question another person’s willingness to perform selfless acts. I’m far more curious (and wary) of those who seem to think this is alien behavior. Maybe there is a lot of projection going on here. I don’t know.

Read here.

There's more fisking going on over at J.A. Konrath's blog.

William Ockham Fisking Michael Pietsch

William: In case you haven't heard, Hachette (US) CEO Michael Pietsch is sending out a response to the emails he's getting. DBW has it: <.Phttp://www.digitalbookworld.com/2014/hachette-ceos-response-to-amazon-advocate-emails-why-we-price-books-the-way-we-do/

As you might imagine, I have a few comments:

Thank you for writing to me in response to Amazon’s email. I appreciate that you care enough about books to take the time to write. We usually don’t comment publicly while negotiating, but I’ve received a lot of requests for Hachette’s response to the issues raised by Amazon, and want to reply with a few facts.

• Hachette sets prices for our books entirely on our own, not in collusion with anyone.

David Gaughran makes the argument that indie author are saving the publishing industry.

Self-Publishers Aren’t Killing The Industry, They’re Saving It

Posted on August 9, 2014 by davidgaughran

In light of current events, I thought it would be good to re-run Ed Robertson’s excellent guest post from November 2012 where he highlighted interesting parallels between historical paperback pricing (pre-industry consolidation) and self-published e-books.

Author Rock Star Roundup

Hugh Howey had a lot to say this week about monopolies.

One of the yacht owners I worked for years ago was a master of the board game Monopoly. He did not like to lose, and so my boss left little to chance. In Monopoly, the element of chance comes from the roll of the die and the various intentions, choices, and strategies of individual actors. But my boss did all he could to bypass this democracy of the die by appealing to the emotions of the players and lobbying for sympathy and support.

Hugh Howey

Bob Mayer explains how to survive a car-jacking.

Most car-jackings occur when the vehicle is parked and within five miles of your home. Again, always have your keys ready when approaching or leaving your vehicle. If threatened to give up the keys, give them up. It isn’t worth it.

Bob Mayer

David Gaughran talks about the kind of competition publishers want.

Since the huge shift to online purchasing and e-books, a common meme is that there is some kind of “discoverability” problem in publishing.

David Gaughran

What the Media Isn't Covering.

That would be a series of blog posts, but this one is about the Amazon-Hachette dust up. David Gaughran says it better than I can.

The Amazon-Hachette dispute has caught the media’s attention. But what about the story the media refuses to cover?

The media is more concerned with one-sided accounts of Amazon’s perceived actions – when no one really knows the exact nature of the dispute.

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