3.22.2011

Tipping Points in Publishing

Before Joe Konrath became the patron saint of quality independent publishing, he was the grinder of all grinders. Joe was the hustler of all hustlers, doing thousands of talks and conventions and interviews and book tours to support his many titles.

And he never busted through with the legacy publishers the way he's busted through by putting his books out there in all kinds of different formats (he still sells paper books pretty briskly through CreateSpace).

He's an excellent writer--a wordsmith who cranks out compelling horror stories and thrillers with the best of them. The writing has never been an issue.

I've been reading his stuff for a long time, and he deserves all the good things he's made happen for himself.

His blog is both hilarious and informative, and maybe none of his posts exemplify that combination better than this long and rambling and excellent interview with Barry Eisler. Mr. Eisler turned down a $500,000 offer from a legacy publisher to maintain the rights to his next book.

$500,000. No typo.

$500,000.

Drop by and read this, and then go back through Joe's archives. You might want to grab a couple of cold'uns and pull up a chair. Lots of interesting stuff in that particular post...

2 comments:

Aaron Polson said...

The interview/conversation Konrath posted really blew my mind. Of course, indie darling Amanda Hocking is being courted by big publishing for serious money--just the flip side of this coin. Will she take it?

Hmmmmm...

Daniel Powell said...

Interesting point on Hocking, Aaron. I think the post is, frankly, thrilling. It's one thing to take shots with the medium, but another altogether to see heavy hitters dictating control and quality and then, having the comfort of knowing that any mistakes made are their own.

It's a great post, and an encouraging sign...

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