Op-Ed: The Indie Scam · 7:34pm Feb 3rd, 2016
There are a lot of blogs, posts, and news articles out there decrying the pricing of the big publisher's books. They make regular appearances on smaller author's sites, reddit's r/books, and very frequently in the circles of indie authors. "Publishers are making their books too expensive!" they cry. Look at the price of these books!
And to be fair, they have a perfectly valid point. One I was reading last week pointed out the ridiculously high cost of a new fantasy title ebook: $14.99. Too high, the post claimed, and I agreed.
Then came the bit I didn't agree with. That everyone should flock (and was flocking) to ebooks and indie because the prices were so much better.
The problem is, this isn't always true.
Let me tell you a story. About a year ago, I was attending a con and talking with a bunch of authors about ebook sales and indie publication. One man in the "group" we'd sort of formed in the hallway was a known trailblazer in the ebook world, one of the first authors to jump ship from his publisher and go straight indie, a decision that had been great for him. Naturally, he being the one with the most experience in success, everyone was letting a lot of questions and comments gravitate his way.
At some point, ebook pricing came up, and I mentioned I was trying to figure out a price for the draft I was about to finish. He shrugged and said it was simple, and asked me how long it was. 300,000-odd words, I said. Eyes wide, he shook his head, and then told me the best way to sell a book of such length:
Cut it up into 8 or 10 sections and sell them for $2-3 a pop.
This, readers, is what I've started to see as "The Indie Scam."
You can read the rest of this post at Unusual Things
So this is the writer's equivalent of Fremium games? Where the low price-point is the draw, until you realize all the microtransactions and micro-payments adds up to way more than even a regular AAA title costs. Now wondering if there is equivalent for Early-Access for writers. Patreon abuse?
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Actually, I absolutely think of it as being like freemium games from the mobile space, something I probably should have brought up in the article. Gaming's already been going through this rough patch, and we've seen where it ends up.
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Well, at least I do not believe writing is going to get the equivalent of neigh-instant bandwagon stories pumped out to be sold, e.g. Flappy Bird and the bajillion clones. Closest would be fanfics, but they would get sued for that.
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It ... already does. Just go to Amazon or Smashwords and search "Vampire" or the equivalent. Then hide as the flood arrives. I don't know if it's as bad as mobile games, but there are a lot of imitators out there.
A least they aren't inflating page count by using 12 point lettering. ...right?
I've always felt word count was a much better gauge for the length of a work.
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That would be nice. Maybe I should add page counts in on my book descriptions.
And here I feel bad for only reading pony fiction. The last book I bought was House of Leaves like 2 years ago and I still haven’t read it >_>
If the authors themselves are touting that indie is cheaper, than yeah, that's pretty hypocritical.
But otherwise, it's okay to make money! If writing is what they want to do for a living, then I think it's a fine marketing technique to subdivide a book.
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Thanks for the cringefest. But it seems to be more of a genre thing. Much like WW2 FPS focus on specific battles of that era, the romantic(and erotic) vampire genre(?) is more of a thematic copy. A closer tie in to what the copy problem is like I would actually akin to Twilight and 50 Shades, which was a legit fanfic turned novel.
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You are missing out. There's some wonderful fiction out there, and if all you're reading is fanfiction, I can safely say that even if you're only reading the most well-written of it, it's still akin to going to a five-star buffet and then only having an appetizer.
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Well, yeah, that's part of the scam. They talk up a book as a much cheaper deal, while offering what looks like a cheaper deal, when it really isn't, and con a bunch of readers out of a lot of money.
At the same time, it amplifies the same problem the mobile games market had back when it started out: Legitimate titles and thoughtfully priced stuff has extreme difficulty competing with things that appear cheap but are designed to drain someone's wallet. You end up with a scenario where a majority of the money is getting funneled into a couple of "super cheap" areas. At its worst, in the mobile gaming market over 96% of companies did not make back their investment ... and that's in a market where making a game could cost as little as several hundred dollars. Right now the book market, with the indie behavior we're seeing, is nosediving in the same direction.
And here's the thing: Authors have to eat. I'm looking at my finances with increasing alarm right now, and I can't be the only one. Eventually there will be a point when either the consumers wise up and start being smarter with their money, or we'll have nothing but the "cheap" ebooks, the big, overpriced publishers, and the newcomers who write one book and face financial starvation before going back to working for McDonalds because they "dared" charge $5.99 for their book.
The cost-value of a book is going completely out of whack right now, and that's never a good thing.
3732683 all right, want to offer me like $20 of various recommendations?
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Easy peasy! In fact, many of these will likely be at your local library, so you'll only need $20 for the few that they don't or if you're dead set on acquiring copies (digital or dead tree). I'll assume that since you're following my blog (and reading pony fanfic) that you're already fine with reading Fantasy (as MLP is very much Fantasy), but I'll throw some Science-Fiction in as well.
Clearly, I'm going to plug Unusual Events: A "Short" Story Collection, as it's my newest book, as well as Dead Silver. Non-pony stuff, still awesome.
If you haven't yet (and it sounds as if you haven't) try something by Brandon Sanderson. Writer of Fantasy Epics, Sanderson was my teacher in college and is widely acknowledged as one of the top, if not the top, fantasy writer right now. I'd recommend Mistborn if you're all right with starting a larger trilogy, or if not, I'd recommend Warbreaker, which, like all of Sanderson's works, has a very interesting magic system but also has a very unique talking sword. Or if you don't mind spoilers for the first three Mistborn books, Alloy of Law is my personal favorite (but it's book four, so no link).
If you'd like comedic satire with your fantasy, there's never a bad time to pick up anything by Sir Terry Pratchett. Sadly, he's no longer with us, but Pratchett's amazing writing lives on. While there are quite a few books in his "Discworld" series, they're all semi-connected, forming a variety of series, so you don't usually need to worry about reading them out of order. I'd recommend The Truth, Jingo, or Going Postal as three possible areas to start.
If you're not feeling the Fantasy vibe at the moment and would rather dive in a different direction, then anything by Zahn. Seriously. Pick up a copy of my absolute favorite book of all time The Icarus Hunt, or one of his other works like Spinneret or Dragon and Thief and you're in for a treat.
Looking for something more modern-era with some fantastic still thrown in? Try Larry Correia's Monster Hunter International (free at the moment) or the more noir-esque Hard Magic.
Want more indie? Read The Martian (yup, it was an indie self-pub). Or try, for a different vein, The Book of Deacon.
So many books, so little time. But there's a wealth of wonderful, amazing stories to read out there. Hope a few of these spark your interests.
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3732799 dammit, I've been meaning to read the DiscWorld Series for years now. You are saying I should start with one of those instead of at the beginning?
Know what, I have enough money, I'm going to buy your damn short story collection.
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Honestly? I would. Pratchett's older work is fun, but more serious and less satirical, as he was still finding his bearings. I'd recommend finding one of the other books he wrote later, following other characters (DEATH being a popular one) and try those first. When you love his prose and have read a couple, go back and try his earlier works. They are fun and funny, but, like my own One Drink, an earlier work and therefore rougher around the edges.
As for Unusual Events, I hope it brings you much enjoyment! Thank you for supporting me!