出版与作家生涯2009dir.salon.com编辑精选
一个半成功作家的自白
The confessions of a semi-successful author
导读
这是一篇“半成功”作者对传统出版业的坦白：中游作者在预付款、推广、渠道和收入分配上处境艰难，远不像外界想象的那样风光。对写作者来说，值得读的地方在于它把“写完书”之后的商业现实摆上台面：合同、读者、营销和行业结构，都会直接影响作品能否被看见。
可以直接用的写作要点
- 01
签约前先准备好替代方案，例如自出版或其他出版社；手里有筹码，才敢拒绝糟糕合同。
- 02
尽早用博客、邮件列表等方式建立自己的读者名单，别把全部希望寄托在媒体推荐或大平台背书。
- 03
承认出版是生意，少抱怨ROI，多思考自己能控制的直接营销和读者关系。
- 04
用“成功书数量/写书数量”的比例看待现实，别只等守门人放行，要尝试换一种游戏规则。
HN 评论精选
传统出版合同应作为商业谈判来评估：先有替代方案和自有读者，才有谈判筹码。
作者正在写第一本书，签约前认真权衡过传统出版与通过Lightning Source自出版：后者可在亚马逊和Ingram相关书店分销、无库存压力、每本约75%利润、全程可控；他还有约1.4万人的博客读者名单，早期销量主要靠它。最终签传统合同，是因为出版社给出六位数以上预付款、买全球版权，而他保留多媒体改编权。他的结论是：合同谈判就像商业谈判，要有选项、确认自己握有价值筹码，并敢于走开。
joshkaufman查看英文原文
Very timely article: I'm in the midst of writing my first book, which will be published by a major business imprint in late 2010. I thought long and hard before signing my trade print contract: my next-best alternative was self-publishing via Lightning Source, which would give me full distribution at Amazon and all Ingram-affiliated bookstores (without shelving, probably), no inventory requirements on my part, ~75% margins for each book sold, and full control over the process. I have enough technical and design skill to pull it off well, and my publishers know it. I also have a list of ~14k people to sell to, which I established via my blog. Most of the early sales of the book will come from this list, trade contract or no, and most of the ongoing marketing for the book will be my responsibility. I signed the print contract because my publisher made it worthwhile: six-figure+ advance for worldwide rights, and I retain multimedia rights so I can freely adapt the content for online courses and other programs. That was a good deal for me. If I want to write book #2, they'll have right of first refusal, and if they don't want it for some reason, I have other options I can pursue. Book contract negotiation is like any other business negotiation: always have options, ensure you're holding the valuable cards before you decide to play, and be willing to walk away from a bad deal.
中游作者应绕开守门人，用博客和邮件列表直接经营铁杆读者。
这类故事听过很多。出版业过度依赖过时低效的卖书方式，仿佛作者只有两条路：被奥普拉或《纽约时报》这类守门人选中，或者亲自巡回签售、把书一本本递到读者手里。作者应该建博客和邮件列表，能叫出铁杆粉丝的名字并直接联系他们；中游作者尤其该自己做营销、直接对话读者、尽量去掉中间人。
patio11查看英文原文
I have heard variations of this story quite a bit (two members of my family nurse on-again-off-again dreams of going into the business, and I read a lot). The industry is very, very overdependent on outdated, inefficient methods of moving books because it is the only thing they think they have -- basically, there are no options between getting approved by kingmakers like Oprah or the New York Times and doing book tours to have the author hand books to readers directly. This is insane. Can you imagine how little work I'd get done if, after being rejected by the New York Times, my marketing effort was going to little collections of teachers, giving a speech, and trying to persuade them to play bingo with their classes? And I make a lot more off a marginal sale than the average midlist author does. Thankfully, some authors are finally starting to get clueful. They're doing things like having a blog and an email list. (I will bet you any amount of money that the anonymous author cannot identify her hard-core fans by name or contact them in any way. What the heck. Screw the New York Times, these are the people who you should be most worried about getting your next book to because you know they will love it and tell everyone they know about it.) I think that is pretty much the way forward for midlist authors: do your own marketing, talk directly to your readers, cut out the middlemen wherever possible. Midlist authors don't make a lot of money or sell a lot of books in the status quo. You can probably do better just being a micro-celebrity on the Internet: beloved by the "thousand true fans" that know and talk to you, and selling to folks a bit wider than that social circle. It beats sitting at the kitchen table waiting for rejection letters.
作者收入低是供需和守门人结构所致，写作者应换一种直接面向读者的游戏，而不是只抱怨出版业。
抱怨“出版是生意”“他们只看ROI”很容易显得像发牢骚。作者其实知道大预付款意味着大推广预算，两样都想要；但她的书似乎没让任何人赚到钱，她只是分到一块很小的饼。作者报酬低，是因为太多人想当作家，这是供需在起作用。守门人世界令人沮丧，这种沮丧又让作者回避“成功书数量/写书数量”的清醒比例。作家需要换一种玩法，比如Seth Godin、Tim Ferriss、1000 True Fans、Trent Reznor式的直接面向读者。
netcan查看英文原文
Interesting read. A few thoughts * Lamenting that 'publishing is a business' or 'ROI is everything to them' inevitably sounds whiny. Authors seem to be very aware (probably even overestimating in order to preserve ego) that the "I" part is very important. As much as she seems desperate for an advance, she obviously knows that large advance = large promotion budget & wants both. * Her books seem to have failed to make anyone money. It's not that everyone but the author got paid. She got a slice of a small pie. * Authors get paid so little because of how badly they want to be writers. This is actually evidence of supply-demand at work in job markets, something that is hard to come by. Without knowing any numbers, one might predict that garbage collectors get paid more than writers, professors, etc. No one want to collect garbage & lot of people wants to write. Supply of writers is high, price is low. * Apart from the financial consequences, I imagine it would be very frustrating for a writer to live in this world of gatekeepers where you need permission all the time. * I think this frustration is what makes writers sound whiny. Since they are constantly trying to get over the gatekeeper barrier, it seems like this is what is standing between them & crazy success. This lets them avoid the sobering ratio: # of books successful per year/ # of books written per year. * Writers need to play a different game. Seth Godin/ Tim Ferris/ 1000 True Fans/ Trent Reznor/ etc. inspired (depending on taste) direct promotion. Also, try to make money indirectly. The Author cites how being a published author is already being a mini-celebrity. It might be possible to capitalise on this some way that isn't just selling books.
首作15万美元远高于行业均值，说明她拿到的是冲榜级机会，不能用“中游作者”来概括。
提醒一下：她第一本书的预付款是15万美元。这不算中游，而是出版社认真瞄准《纽约时报》畅销榜的信号。科幻/奇幻小说首作平均预付款约7500美元，有经纪人的作者第n本书平均约1.75万美元；这里也有幂律，约1%的作者拿走50%的预付款。她拿到的首作机会是大多数职业作者永远见不到的，却搞砸了。
cstross查看英文原文
Let me just note in passing that her first book advance was for $150,000. That's not midlist; that's indicative of a publisher taking serious aim on the New York Times bestseller list. Average first novel advances in SF/F fiction are on the order of US $7500. Average n'th book advances for agented authors are around $17,500. Of course, there's a power law at work here; about 1% of the authors get 50% of the advances. But Jane Austen Doe was handed an opportunity with her first novel that most professionals will never see -- and blew it.
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