Chronicles of an Indie Book Publicist: 5 Things Self-Published Authors Need to Stop Immediately
Chronicles of an Indie Book Publicist: 5 Things Self-Published Authors Need to Stop Immediately.
History of a Published Novel
It started with a title, which became an idea, which became a story, which became a manuscript, then became a book.
Red Wine for Breakfast is the most published novel you’ve never heard of. The novel has had three agents, been optioned for a movie, has five publishers and was one of the very first print-on-demand titles to hit book store shelves.
Before M.J. Rose reached fame for her e-book on a disk, Red Wine For Breakfast was published by Book-On-Disc.Com (June 24, 1999). Before Dan Poynter made his fortune as the marketing guru in the Print-On-Demand industry, Red Wine for Breakfast was one of the first books published in that format by iUniverse (July 2, 1999).
To say the novel has been there, did that, is an understatement and the fact that with all it had going for it, sold a mere 5,000 copies is a mystery ever author has been trying to solve since the first time a pen and ink was put on paper.
But this isn’t a tale of what might have been, only what was and sharing it with all who have interest may entertain, or delight, or bore you to tears, but for better or worse, here it is;
The title was derived from a conversation I had in a bar with a good friend who mentioned that he enjoyed a glass of Beaujolais in the morning. I joked why would anyone have red wine for breakfast” and later that night wrote it in my diary that it sounded like a great title for a book.
That was 1972.
Two marriages, three daughters and 25 years later Red Wine for Breakfast did indeed become a novel. In 1996, for those of you who remember that long ago, the internet was in its infancy. Cell phones were a luxury and ebook readers were a device used by the crew of the Starship Enterprise. None of which I owned at the time. What I did own was a computer, HP laser jet printer and a WordPerfect program that would format a document in a book format.
What I also owned was a stationery store which was conveniently located next to a full service print store. The first printing of Red Wine for Breakfast was spiral bound with a red card-stock cover that cost me $10.00 per copy to print that I sold at my store for $14.95. Customers would buy the book, I’d sell out the five or so I printed, then walk over to the print store and print another five and sell them one at a time. You could say I was the original “Print-On-Demand” publisher long before the term, or the industry was every heard of.
I did sign with an agent in Los Angeles who sent the manuscript off to several mainstream publishers, most of which are no longer in business. With each rejection, I found something positive to spin, but when Doubleday rejected the manuscript after 9 months, my agent gave up and we parted ways.
Then came the movie producers. I won’t bore you with the details, you can read the nasty tale “A Hollywood Horror Story” on my website.
A few months later, AOL was forming a new club for aspiring writers who wanted to have their books published at very little cost. I was looking for a printer who would charge me less that $10.00 per book and also provide something called an ISBN number so my books could be sold in stores other than mine.
AOL Writer’s Club became the first publisher of Red Wine for Breakfast. As a published author, I began going to writer’s meeting and events. I met another author who had published her books in a CD format for people who wanted to read her books on their computer. I met her published, he liked my book, so Book-On-Disc.com became the third publisher of Red Wine for Breakfast.
Shortly after the novel was on Amazon in CD format, I received an offer I couldn’t refuse from a new publisher who was in the process of buying out the Writer’s Club and wanted all the titles and a new contract with all their authors. The company was iUniverse. The forth publisher of Red Wine for Breakfast.
Because they were buying out our contracts, there was no charge for any of the authors to had iUniverse publish our books. It didn’t take very long for that promise to go the way of the “Be a published author for only $99” deal. The Print-On-Demand revolution was fading quickly, “The Revolution Continues”. At that time another author who had also signed with the Writers Club decided to open his own publishing business and wanted me to join him as his premier author.
Lighthouse Press became publisher #5 in 2001. Red Wine for breakfast also received a new cover and a new author, Raven West. The book did farely well for a number of years, then another new publisher who was branching out Internationally contacted me with what was a too good to be true deal and Lighthouse and I parted ways in 2009. Chalet publishers were now #6 for about five weeks. Not unlike iUniverse way back the day, most of what they promised never materialized. I wasn’t that surprised to discover they went out of business in 2012.
Red Wine For Breakfast is now in the digital world of ebooks with Smashwords, publisher #7. I still own all the rights and occasionally when I have a few hours, will pick it up and re-read the story. As soon as I can reformat the cover, I’ll put it out again with Createspace, who will be publisher #8.
I always said that overnight success takes about 20 years. I have at least another 5 to go!
Author Raven West 
Know Your Rights Before You’re Left Out!
Raven West ♦ February 13, 2014 ♦ Leave a comment
The first contracts were a simple agreement between the publisher and author. Publisher agrees to pay author a percentage of each book sold. For awhile things were going along quite well and everybody was happy. Then, one day, the owner of a local theater read a novel and decided it would make an interesting play. A new contract had to be drawn up between the author of the original work, the publisher of that work and the theater owner (renamed “Producer”) who wanted to use the work of the talented author for their own profit, Thus the term “Dramatic” rights was added to the vocabulary and things started to get a little complicated. Authors and writers needed help in the ever growing “rights” industry and a new profession was born: the Literary Agent. (Not to be, but often is, confused with another profession held in equally high esteem, the Lawyer.)
In the early days of horse and buggy when books were delivered only to a small area, local rights were all one needed. But with the onset of trains, planes and automobiles, “international”rights became part of the contracts. Along with the birth of the motion picture industry, came the added line “film rights” which begat television rights, which begat video tape and audio books rights as well.
The relationship between all parties was going along quite well for most of the 20th century. Authors were writing, agents were rejecting author’s writing, author’s kept writing, agents sent manuscripts to publishers, publishers rejected manuscripts, agents got lucky, agents got 10%, publishers got rich, agents got richer, authors got burned out. Then, during the latter part of the 1990’s, the entire industry took a dramatic turn with the creation of a brand new publishing medium: The Internet, and it begat a brand new term never before heard of in the history of the published world: “Electronic” rights.
As recently as 1995, the Writers Market didn’t even show a listing for ebook rights. For the writing novice, all they listed was the usual explanation of First Serial Rights – or North American Rights, Second serial (reprint) Rights, Subsidiary Rights, and Dramatic, Television, and Motion Picture Rights, which are usually purchased on a one-year option, generally for 10% of the total price by an interested party, usually a producer, who then tries to sell the idea to other people. (Remember our friendly little “theater owner”?)
Electronic rights can cover a lot of territory. Take this article for example. It’s being read on your computer screen, but you can also download it to your hard drive, make a print copy, or several print copies, and send it out across the world in an instant. And the author, me, wouldn’t receive one dime for any of it. However, before you hit that button, check the top of this page, and you’ll see a little © symbol. Hey, it’s “copyrighted”! Which means if I catch you making money off my work, I’ll see you in court. It also means that anything I write cannot be reproduced in any form without my express, written permission. (So, just go ahead and ask first!) But the ebook rights go much further than simply the reproduction of articles. It includes full length books, and is now a very important part of any legitimate book contract. It’s also something that every author and writer should be totally knowledgeable about before signing any contract. If you have an agent, there is a good possibility they aren’t up on all the legalities of this new industry. But, I’m assuming that since you’re reading this on an electronic device, most of you are more knowledgeable than most on the wonders of ebook and epublishing.
The writing and publishing profession is changing almost daily. Print-On-Demand companies are giving traditional publishing houses a run for their money. Ebook publishers, such as Smashwords.com and many others are making huge strides in the electronic market which is growing at a furious pace. Literary agents and traditional publishers who aren’t totally aware of this new industry or thought that this is only a “temporary phase” are finding themselves out of a job.
You only need to follow the recent law suit brought by the Author Guild against GOOGLE to see where the future is going, and it’s not a good one for writers.
Authors who are not fully knowledgeable of their rights in this new electronic age, are going to find themselves losing vast sums of money to them that do. The bottom line is, KNOW YOUR RIGHTS before you sign on that same bottom line. Your reputation as well as your bank account demands no less.
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