What Does Amazon's Purchase of Goodreads Mean for Authors?

If you follow publishing/bookselling news, you will have heard that Amazon has purchased Goodreads, the huge, 16-million-member, social media site where readers and writers come together to discuss, review, promote, and share a love of books. I’ve been a member for over three years and have found it to be a terrific way to discover writers from around the world.

So, why does Amazon want it? I suppose the obvious answer is to continue building a monopoly. Let’s face it, Amazon has expanded big time in recent years, not only in their bookselling ventures, but in publishing. I don’t have to elaborate on their success with CreateSpace and Kindle. Amazon purchased Shelfari in 2008 and they also own a portion of LibraryThing. Does it sound like Amazon intends to rule the book world?

It’s likely that Amazon will eventually turn Goodreads into one large promotion venture to serve their interests, which may or may not be good news for writers, depending on your viewpoint. Authors whose books aren’t selling will welcome the appearance of a buy button next to their titles.

Amazon’s excelled at book selling on some levels but has also failed authors in others. Kindles have helped new authors gain readers and earn money, yet when Amazon introduced secondhand print bookselling, it pretty much killed print sales for independents and small publishers. Other new policies have also hurt writers and publishers, and for me this is a worry. Will Amazon’s bookselling strategies extend to Goodreads? Will it become an Amazon sales only please, world?

Needless to say, blogs, articles, and discussions about this have sprung up everywhere, so here’s three links to get you started. The Publisher’s Weekly article gives a pretty interesting account. In fact, Amazon is quoted as saying that they “want to improve the user experience of Kindle owners”. So, what about the 75% of readers who still buy print? You can find it at http://publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/digital/retailing/article/56575-amazon-buys-goodreads.html#path/pw/by-topic/digital/retailing/article/56575-amazon-buys-goodreads.html

Another interesting take on the situation comes from Tim Spalding of LibraryThing, who thinks the acquisition is good, even though Amazon’s purchase of Shelfari has left it more or less languishing. He also notes, probably correctly, that once Amazon is running things, Goodreads may very well drop, and be dropped by B&N, Kobo and Indies, which isn’t good news for a lot of people. To read his piece, go to http://www.librarything.com/topic/152033

Meanwhile, Authors Guild President, Scott Turow, sees Amazon’s monopolization as a means of squelching potential competition, given that Goodreads was rumored to be entering the bookselling business. Also, Goodreads is the site people go to for honest book reviews. What will happen when Amazon starts controlling things? You can read his remarks in http://www.authorsguild.org/advocacy/turow-on-amazongoodreads-this-is-how-modern-monopolies-can-be-built/

What do you all think about this? Is Amazon’s purchase of Goodreads, good, bad, or somewhere in between? Like I said, I’m a little worried.

Special Guest: Paul Rega, author of How To Find A Job: When There Are No Jobs

Today's special guest is Paul Rega, author of "How To Find A Job: When There Are No Jobs." Paul, welcome to The Write Type ~ Multi-Author Musings. Today I'd like you to share just a bit about your book.

Paul: I want to take a moment to thank Cheryl, for inviting me to share some information regarding my career book on this great blog. It's quite an honor to be here.

Cheryl: You're very welcome. We're happy to have you here. So tell us, Paul, what motivated you to write your book, and how long did it take you to write it?

Paul: My book, "How To Find A Job: When There Are No Jobs," is as many are discovering, much more than a job search book. The book took me nearly 14 years to write. I simply wanted to share the knowledge that I had gained as an executive recruiter with the public. It depicts a journey through life that we are all on, or soon shall be.

The book was the result of merging my knowledge of the employment field over the past 27 years, with the circumstances occurring in my own life. A recurring theme throughout the book is that, "As your life changes, so often does your career." I think it is because of this unique combination that the book is resonating with many people currently suffering in this economy.

The book was published in December 2011, and was an instant success, hitting #1 on Amazon's bestseller list for job hunting books in March 2012.

Cheryl: We wish you every success with your book. I am sure it will help many people.

Paul's Bio:

Paul Rega began his writing career while attending Western Illinois University as a staff reporter for the Western Courier. Upon graduating from WIU with a degree in biology and journalism, he spent the next thirty years in business having started his own executive search firm in 1984.

His passion for writing stayed with him throughout his business life and he started writing his first book in 1994. He published, "How To Find A Job: When There Are No Jobs" in December 2011. The book was an instant success and hit #1 on Amazon's bestseller list for job hunting books in March 2012.

Paul currently lives in a small town along the Gulf Coast of Florida where he is working on his next book.

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0056PFONW

Twitter: https://twitter.com/paulregabooks

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/people/Paul-Rega/1636494613

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/paulrega

Amazon Author Page: www.amazon.com/author/paulrega

Website: http://www.howtofindajobwhentherearenojobs.com

The Latest E-book Sensations

Many writers work hard and long for a number of years before making a name for themselves, or even enough money to pay a few bills. Every once in a while, though, a new writer comes along, publishes an e-book and sells enough to attract the interest of a big six publisher. It’s happened again recently. I’m almost reluctant to share the info because I don’t want to readers to think it’s always this easy, however, the latest e-book star to sign a big contract is a seventeen-year-old high school student, named Beth Reeks.

She wrote a teen romance that didn’t involve vampires, werewolves, or fallen angels, and readers loved it. Not long after Reeks self-published The Kissing Booth she had 40 million hits, and an email from Random House UK, asking if she’d written a sequel. She had. Last October, she signed a 3-book deal and The Kissing Booth will come out in paperback later this year. The todaynews.com article says that she churns out novels while doing all the normal teen things like hanging out with friends and going to school. To read the piece, go to http://todaynews.today.com/_news/2013/03/19/17375313-teenager-lands-3-book-deal-with-record-breaking-romance?lite

The other new sensation is 32-year-old writer, Jennifer Armentrout, whose new adult romance, Wait For You, hit Digital Book World’s #1 e-book, bestseller list (the first self-published book to do so), which resulted in a 3-book, six-figure deal with Harper Collins. What’s amazing about this is that she started writing in 2007, has had thirteen books published with small indie presses, and wrote Wait For You in just twenty days, after getting an idea in the shower. She also has more books in the work.

These two ladies are clearly on the fast-track to success, and it’s good to see self-publishers doing well. But for most writers, it just isn’t that easy or simple. Armentrout, for example, had an agent to help her along the way. There’s an interview with her in Digital Book World, which you can read at http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2013/best-selling-self-published-author-jennifer-l-armentrout-signs-six-figure-three-book-deal-with-harpercollins-for-wait-for-you/

Plotter, Pantser, or Panther

Panther. I made that up myself. See, we were talking about plots at the writers group tonight, and of course we discussed whether we were Plotters (write a plot outline before beginning the story) or Pantsers (writing by the seats of our various pants).

As it turns out, most of us are Panthers. We sort of plot but we sort of don't.

Some of us diligently write out our plot points. Some of us make storyboards, with each scene having its own little square of space. Some of us write the story's through line in paragraph form. Some of us write without a plot until we get stuck, then we work one out.

One way or another, we stalk the wild creativity where we know it's most likely to be and then, when we spot it, we leap! We leap upon it! Fast! Like: LEAP!

Plotting outlines seems to be a way many of us use to creep up on creativity. If we have an outline, we don't have to worry about where the story is going or how it will end. If nothing better comes to us, we've got that covered. We have a story arc. We have a resolution. We don't have to worry about it. With that out of the way, we're free to let character, situation, and randomness carry us along a different arc to a different resolution, if that feels better. If it doesn't work out, we know we already have something to fall back on.

If you're having trouble working your way through an entire story to the end, try hammering out a plot with the heartless intention of abandoning it if a big juicy Bambi crosses your path.

Then, if you're in a writers' meeting, and somebody asks if you're a Plotter or a Pantser, you can say, "I'm a Panther, baby!"

How cool will that be?

Marian Allen
Fantasies, mysteries, comedies, recipes
Marian Allen is the author of numerous short stories and novels. Her latest is The Fall of Onagros, Book 1 of SAGE, published by Hydra Publications (not associated with Random House).

Author Lynne Cantwell Chats about 'What It's All Been For.'

Age has its advantages.

I mean, it has its disadvantages, too. The other day, I made what I considered to be a hip cultural reference by quoting Darth Vader’s revelation about Luke Skywalker’s parentage in “The Empire Strikes Back.” “Star Wars” is hip, right? With Disney planning to make Episode 7? Yeah, well, then I did the math. “The Empire Strikes Back” was first released in 1980. That was thirty-three years ago. And I was already out of college then (although not by much!).

Since then, I got married and divorced, raised two kids, spent many years working in radio news and a few more in TV news, worked briefly as a paralegal and longer as a legal secretary. I also earned a masters’ degree in fiction writing – which together with three bucks will get me a tall latte, as long as I don’t want syrup.

There were certainly times, when my life and/or my career went sideways, that I wondered what it all was for. I had to learn video editing in college for my degree, but then I never had to use it professionally. What was it for? And why did I bother to get a paralegal certificate, only to move into a legal secretary’s chair less than a year later? And I’d thought the M.A. would put me on a fast track to getting published; if that wasn’t true, and it didn’t appear to be, then why did I blow several thousand dollars on the degree?

But then a group of people I knew from an Internet discussion board decided to put together an anthology of our fiction and poetry. I wrote my first short story in years, and it was accepted (not everybody’s was). Then we did another anthology, and the story I wrote for that one was accepted, too. We made three anthologies in all, and I had stories in each one. When our editor, Joy Calderwood, opened her own e-book publishing venture and asked if I’d be interested in having her publish two of those stories, I said, “Why not?”

And people actually bought them. Not many people, but a few. So I wrote a novel – The Maidens’ War, and Joy published it, too. Then I wrote another novel. By then, Amazon had started Kindle Direct Publishing, so I self-published SwanSong in order to get it up on Amazon. And then I started working on my first urban fantasy, Seized: Book One of the Pipe Woman Chronicles.

I was having a great time as an indie author. But more than that, I began to realize that I was using all those weird, disparate skills I’d picked up over a lifetime. Video editing? I make my own book trailers. The paralegal certificate? It helped me make the main character of the Pipe Woman Chronicles, who’s a lawyer, sound believable. The years in journalism? I “write tight.” The degree in fiction writing? I learned both how to patch holes in my own work, and how to read novels not as an academic exercise, but as a way to figure out how other writers do what they do. And my interest in mythology keeps showing up in my books, too.

Now I’m releasing the fourth Pipe Woman Chronicles book, Gravid, and beginning the fifth and final book. And the biggest advantage of age, to me, is being able to see all the bits of my life coming together. I really did go through all of it for a reason: it has helped me become an author.

~ * ~

Bio:

Lynne Cantwell grew up on the shores of Lake Michigan. She worked as a broadcast journalist for many years; she has written for CNN, the late lamented Mutual/NBC Radio News, and a bunch of radio and TV news outlets you have probably never heard of, including a defunct wire service called Zapnews. In addition to writing fantasy, Lynne is a contributing author at Indies Unlimited and writes a monthly post for The Indie Exchange. She currently lives near Washington, DC.

Links:

Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/author/lynnecantwell

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/696603.Lynne_Cantwell

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lynne-Cantwell/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LynneCantwell

Blog: http://hearth-myth.blogspot.com

More Contract Concerns for Authors

Last week, I wrote about the controversial contract that Random House was offering science fiction writers under its imprint Hydra. Well, it seems their contract has created such a stir that Random House has backed down, in part, and tweaked its contract to offer writers two different publishing models. One is a more traditional publishing option which includes an advance; the other is their profit-sharing model, with no advance.

If you read the contract, you’ll note that under the profit sharing model, the author and publisher split profits 50-50 based on net sales, after production costs have been deducted for both print and digital versions, and shipping costs deducted for the print version! Here’s what they also say:

“Hydra, Alibi, Loveswept, and Flirt acquire rights to every book for the term of copyright, subject to an “out-of-print” clause, which provides for the author to request reversion of his or her rights three years after publication if the title fails to sell 300 copies in the 12 months immediately preceding the request.”

I’m not a lawyer, so if I was signing such a copyright, I would need to know exactly what the publisher means by “term of copyright”. Is it something defined by the publisher, the author, or is Random House referring to the standard lifespan under copyright law, which in Canada and the U.S. is the author’s life plus 70 years.

To read the contract, go to http://www.atrandom.com/eoriginals/index.php and thanks to Katherine Wagner for sending me the link.

I’m also bringing up the copyright matter because Dean Wesley Smith referred to the Random House issue in his blog, where he focuses on reversion clauses, like the one quoted above. Smith says that it is now standard practice in American contracts for publishers to demand the right to the copyright for its entire life! Smith is so against it that he refuses to sign any contract containing this clause, for good reason.

It means that authors, their children, and even their grandchildren will not be entitled to get the rights back from publishers, who will be able to do anything they want with the book. They could let it go out of print, or sell it to future technologies for mega amounts of money, all without the author’s support. Scary, isn’t it? Smith has much more to say on the topic, which you can find at http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/?p=8743