Author Puts Novel Online For Free... And Gets A Book Deal
from the but-free-never-works dept
alex was the first of a few of you to send over the story of how author Marta Acosta posted her "young adult vampire novel" online for free at Scribd, where it became a top download with tons of great reviews... and that helped her get a book deal with Tor, who will be publishing the book in hardcover shortly. Once again, another example of how "obscurity" is a bigger problem than "piracy" for most content creators.
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Filed Under: books, free, marta acosta
Companies: tor
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Re:
It's a far cry from the world of secrecy in either movie or music making.
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Kill me please.
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"Accounting" in the book world
Of all of the media fields, the SF&F publishing field is probably the most honest and transparent.
ttyl
Farrell McGovern,
Chair, The Conference on Canadian Content in Speculative Arts and Literature, Aug 20-22, Ottawa, Ontario, http://can-con.org
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Interesting
Essentially what happened here is that the novel was pitched to various publishers (by her agent, I assume) and nothing was heard about it for months. Then Acosta put it up on Scribd for free, and lucked out by getting great reviews and a lot of interest - and the editors at Tor took enough notice to believe that there was a market for the book, and bought it.
Putting it out there on the net for free is risky - it means one less thing you can offer a potential publisher. (Ebook rights, if I remember correctly?) Most agents tell aspiring authors to never, ever do this unless it's a work you're using for promotion only, and do not expect any publisher to want to buy it.
It worked for Acosta, and it's brilliant that it did in her case, but I would argue that this isn't a good strategy for an unknown, unagented writer. Obscurity is indeed a big problem for authors, far more than piracy, but this only comes into play for authors who have a marketable, sellable product - and very frequently, starting writers don't have that.
That it worked for her shouldn't give them the impression that it will work for them - it's far, far more likely that it won't and they'll be left with a crappy book up online that will reflect badly on them later in their career. I should know, because I've written two books already and although I thought they were pretty hot stuff at the time, I can look at them now and recognise that they're actually shit. If I had made them available to the public back then, I'd be dying of embarrassment right now.
This is not to say that it can't work, though. I'm pretty sure it can for a new author. But chances are that it won't.
(If you read blogs by literary agents, you'll find out pretty fast that they're desperate for good books. They want to be the one to find the next big thing and sell it to Random House or whoever for a million bucks. But a lot of what they get from aspiring authors is just terrible; books that are badly written, unmarketable, outside their field of expertise, too long, too short, too similar to already published works. In short, they're not turning people down just because they're the evil gatekeepers of the literary world and feel like shattering the dreams of many.)
Hmm, wall of text...
tl;dr - Yes, this can work, but the odds are not good if you're not already published.
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Re: Interesting
The way I figure it is this: you still retain copyright, if your work is any good you'll get the correct amount of attention given a decent venue. The venue doesn't have to be print, either, it just needs to be where the readers are. Scribd happens to be such a place.
--#
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Typically an artist will make something, think it's bad but everyone loves it. Or a small group of people are brought in, reads/watches whatever you made but it turns out they were completely wrong on it being good or not and is a flop.
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The best thing you can do is hire an agent who starts a bidding war for your work and makes different editors clamor to see it.
However, with Scribd or any other free service, you're effectively taking away an option for an agent. In this case the book was damn good. With unknowns, this really isn't the best way to get known.
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Re: Re: Re: Interesting
Wont work. You cant GET an agent UNLESS you have an offer an interested publisher. Its chicken-and-egg. As an new, unknown, unpublished author, you cant just run out and get an agent, it doesnt work like that.
"However, with Scribd or any other free service, you're effectively taking away an option for an agent. In this case the book was damn good. With unknowns, this really isn't the best way to get known."
Possibly, but then again, if you are new/unknown, how are people supposed to get to know your work? How about, instead of putting the entire first book up on a place like Scribd, put up half the book, or a large excerpt? There are new ways now than the traditional "send a manuscript to ONE publisher and wait up to 18 months for a reply, if you get one, then if not repeat with the next publisher" as it used to be.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Interesting
That's not strictly true. You can get an agent w/o a publishing contract, though it is EXTREMELY difficult. And you have to be an absolute God at writing query letters....
"if you are new/unknown, how are people supposed to get to know your work?"
Seems like an excellent job for social media. I know that I'm going to be sending a status update out telling people where to get Echelon for free on DocStoc later today. Part of that will include a request that if they read it and LIKE it, I'd appreciate them also doing a similar status update on Facebook letting their friends know where to get it. The hope is that, at some point, you reach a critical mass of people enjoying the work and reposting it. It's all predecated on whether or not the book is actually good....
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That's not at all true. If you have a quality manuscript finding an agent really isn't that difficult. It's difficult if you have a bad manuscript that no one is ever going to want to buy.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Interesting
I'm not saying that they should send in the entire manuscript. With regards to putting out the entire book, it's not really feasible IMO.
Rather, there's quite a few things I can think of, which I'm doing myself.
There's a few things that you can do. One is to send in excerpts. Two pages to an editor which starts the bidding war without an agent.
Another is what I like to call "bread crumbs". Think Hansel and Gretel and you'll understand what I mean. ;)
There are other ways to do this. I just felt that putting up the entire book for all to see limited her options. Yes, it is CwF, but it makes that scarcity into a common good a little early, which took away a few people's RtB. Not enough to kill the market, true. I just think there were a few extra options she could have used in this regard.
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Re: Interesting
Are you always so condescending?
Wouldn't "...getting great reviews and a lot of interest..." be a direct result of a quality piece of work, rather than defying the odds and "lucking out"?
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not the first
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Yet that wasn't even the most puzzling part of the comment. Given the first word written by the anonymous coward, a very real and frightening question presented itself: how in the world is a horse using the internet?
A shiver ran through him that had nothing to do with the conditioned air being pumped into his office. Something was very, very wrong here....
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Had to tag along :)
Feel free to help me become the next Marta Acosta, Tech Dirt!
/Shameless self promotion
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"from the but-free-never-works dept"
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Re: "from the but-free-never-works dept"
Um. But I've never argued that all digital "property" should be free. It's got nothing to do with "should."
will the increased audience from the free exposure make up for the loss of profits from selling the digital property. In many instances I don't believe the extra exposure would make up for the losses.
It's not the "extra exposure" that makes up for the losses. It's a good business model.
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OMG, I'm on a tech site!
Actually, I went the very traditional (arduous, time consuming)route to first publication, which included getting a degree in lit/writing, being a freelancer for major newspapers, and writing for non-profits.
You don't need to have a book deal to get an agent. You need a great query letter and a manuscript that is marketable. This is not the same thing as a manuscript that is brilliant. You can have a wretched book that is really hot and get an agent, or a great book that has no audience and be rejected. You can land a plane in the Hudson and get a book deal.
You should never ever pay an agent. Legitimate agents may occasionally charge for copying fees, but they never charge to represent you. Your agent should be a member of AAR.
It is counterintuitive to give away something for free if you want to sell it, but it can work for publicity. I posted my book out of pure frustration. At that point, I wanted my young adult gothic to be read more than I wanted it to be sold because I knew it was as good as the comedies-of-manners that I'd had published. (Yes, they have vampires, because I was spoofing the cliches, but that's another story.)
I don't know that I'd recommend this route to someone who is unpublished.
As for rights, I've retained the copyright and will pull it from Scribd soon. The manuscript will be rewritten after I've gotten notes from my editor. It will be polished, copyedited, proofed, etc. In my experience, a final book can be markedly different from the first version.
Now can one of you guys tell me why my videos won't load properly? I get these weird flashes on my screen and the little clock ticks away and it all confuses and terrifies me.
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Re: OMG, I'm on a tech site!
Thanks for coming by! Just wanted to let you know that I've thrown a novel I did under a CC license up on Scribd after reading this story. I'm sure you're busy, but I'd love to email you a couple of questions if possible as an aspiring novelist....
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Re: Re: OMG, I'm on a tech site!
Sure, I'm happy to answer questions, so long as they aren't "A train going 65 mph leaves Station A at 10:27 a.m..." Send me an email.
Just FYI, one thing that publishers all want to know before offering a deal is how much a writer will market the book and what connections the author has. The internet offers opportunities for those of us who don't happen to have well-known relatives/friends, or a trust-fund.
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Re: OMG, I'm on a tech site!
Thanks for stopping by.
Curious why you're going to take down the uploaded version -- especially if the final copy will be different?
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Re: Re: OMG, I'm on a tech site!
I took down the uploaded version because my agent asked me to take it down. I would have kept it up for a little longer because I think most of the people reading for free probably aren't book buyers. Maybe they are. I have no frickin idea. It's all a crapshoot.
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Re: Interesting and Jay's comments
Editors at major publishing houses will not look at a submission unless it comes from an agent. So you won't get a bidding war. (Exceptions to rule: land a plane in a river.) An editor or agent may seek out an author if that author has developed a large following. Say, you're very successful in your field and profiles are written about you in major magazines. Yeah, me neither.
However, I wrote about well-known people for major publications. It's harder now that newspapers are collapsing, but you can write online about something related to your story. You can start a blog, which is what I did, to promote yourself and your writing. Invite guests, play nice, take advice. Work on your writing. Work some more. Keep working.
If you've written non-fiction, offer to speak on the topic to community groups and schools. Add that to your query letters to agents. Say "I have x number of visitors to my site every day, and I'm a sought-after speaker to blah, blah, blah."
Nope, I don't recommend putting your whole book online. That was an irrational, impulsive act. Hey, if I was sensible, I'd be able to have a real job. With benefits and vacations days and I could call someone to fix my damn computer.
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Is that not the definition of "Hollywood accounting"? Pay you a small lump sum now, then pretend the movie(or book) was a failure when it comes time for the additional royalties to be payed out...
I'm not a writer, but I can honestly say that if I'd spent a year or so writing a manuscript and then got a whopping 5 grand when it got published, I would be pretty underwhelmed about even bothering to write another. How would anyone be expected to live on that kind of money? Even if you write three published books a year... you're making less than the 18 year old IT interns do where I work.
Kinda makes me wonder why my favorite sci-fi and fantasy authors are in the business at all.
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I'm a history author who has been published by mid-sized presses (usually University Presses) and it's not something you're likely to make a living at. For the few that do it's about bulk. Publish a book a year and hope that a few of the books go through many printings. The combined royalties from all of the books may allow you to quit the day job and focus on writing.
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Re: "Hollywood Accounting"
ttyl
Farrell
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Gives me hope
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Unless it's generating some kind of buzz that will help you get a publisher and/or agent, I would take it down if I were you before beginning the submission process. Ultimately whether it's available for free or not would be a decision your publisher would have input in.
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Vampire Diaries
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Putting out a few chapters free
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