Tracy Hickman Has Sobering News for Aspiring Writers
From ScienceFiction.com
Tracy Hickman, author of the famous ‘DragonLance’ series spoke with an audience at AnomalyCon in Denver.
. . . .
“I have to do more now,” he said finally. A hush went over the audience as Hickman continued to describe the conditions under which authors are laboring under today. One can write 12,000 words and sell it for 4.95, he said. At that price point, his 120,000 novel would have be $49.50, which would be impossible to market.
“I’m fighting for my life as an author,” he admitted frankly, his voice solemn.
He then said that his audience of 6 million no longer find him because the book store is dying. A booksigning in older days would have fans lining around blocks just to have his signature, but a booksigning now might only get six people. “I have a 6 million following,” he said quietly, “and they don’t remember me.”
Now, he works 12-14 hours a day writing four times the books he’s comfortable writing because he makes a fourth of what he used to.
At this point, an uncomfortable silence filled the hall. Hickman closed his eyes, and entered his thoughts, perhaps considering if this was really the message he wanted to convey to a room full of aspiring writers.
Link to the rest at ScienceFiction.com and thanks to JR for the tip.
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I don’t even know where to start with this, other than to think ‘I’m sorry you’re struggling’. :,
Yeah…
I also find myself thinking “Does he not want to be helped? Because from this article, it sounds as if he just wants a pity party and some commiseration?”
(Bear in mind that I’m speaking solely of what’s coming across in the article.)
As for the claim that it’s the bookstores that are the problem… Thinking that suggests that his online presence or promotion is the problem.
The troubling thing to me is that Tracy Hickman has been self-publishing for some time. In fact, when he spoke to CONduit 2011 in Salt Lake City, he said “I am doing my best to leave traditional publishing behind.” Apparently, though, things haven’t been working out for him.
The biggest thing I took away from this is that I should be prepared to reinvent myself multiple times over the course of my career, because past success does not guarantee future success, no matter which path I take. I wish Mr. Hickman the best of luck and hope that he successfully reinvents himself.
After reading through Mr. Hickman’s comments on this thread, it appears I jumped to some conclusions about how he’s doing. But the takeaway is still the same.
I think J.A. Konrath’s response this article is quite fair.
Ummm, that’s not really how it works.
Anyway, this is a clear-cut example of “adapt or die” at work. If his following is that big, what on Earth is preventing him from killing it in self-publishing?
Possibly, his contracts.
That was the only thing I could think of but, if that was the case, I think it’d be worth mentioning in the article. The only cause that was discussed was a lack of discoverability because of dying bookstores.
That’s the old guard, refusing to change. It’s sad that after millions of books, he’s struggling. I know that must partly be from financial mismanagement, but also partly from working in the sweatshop of Big Publishing where his success enriched publishers instead of authors. It should be a reminder to the rest of us who are enjoying things now that we have to stay flexible and open to change. We have to look for opportunities and never rely on a Big Brother to pave the way for us. Otherwise, we could be telling the same story in a decade or two.
Seems incredibly backwards. If someone else is overcharging for their novella, it doesn’t mean he has to match them.
He’s a writer, not a Canadian phone company.
Knock $43 of the price and he’ll make a lot more money.
The point here isn’t so much price point as return on investment of time. I can knock out 12,000 words in about a week. 120,000 words takes closer to three months. So if I charge $5 for a book, that either compensates me for a week of time for the smaller work or, in the case of the bigger novel, the same amount for three months. It’s unlikely that I’ll sell ten times as many of the larger book just because its bigger. So, economically, writing the longer book has a much lower ROI than the shorter book.
That’s the point I’m trying to make: that the economics of publishing have all changed and in the wrong way. You might find this article an interesting perspective regarding ebook pricing:
http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2014/content-pricing-consultant-ebooks-should-be-much-more-expensive/
You’re looking at book pricing wrong. It’s not the $5 per book on it’s own, it the volume you sell. Sure, if you sell one book a week, that’s not good. But with your back list and name recognition, you’ll sell a lot more than that.
Imagine selling one hundred books at $5. Does that sound like a better ROI? How about 500? Remember, you’ll get 70% of that five bucks. Seventy percent.
And there’s no reason you couldn’t sell your books for $6.99, $7.99, even up to $9.99 and still get 70% of the sale price.
I agree, most people are under pricing their work, but we’re still very new in this digital publishing world, and I feel that things will improve once more people start using eBooks as their main reading format.
Whatever you do, I wish you the best. I’ve read many of your books, and enjoyed them. Don’t give up, and don’t work yourself to the bone. Come over to the dark side. We have sales here (well, I don’t yet, but I know I will).
We mocked the Hell out of that article earlier today, because the premise is ridiculous.
Also, you keep saying that the economics of publishing have changed, but what you think the economics are now is completely wrong.
Tracy:
First, big fan going all the way back to the original Dragonlance series that came out when I was in high school.
I look at what a lot of self-pub fantasy authors are doing with series and ongoing characters and I see your fingerprints all over their methods — you and Margaret Weiss were doing this long before ebooks came along. I would think you could adapt to this and thrive in this environment.
I think you might want to experiment with some novellas, multi-part novels, serials, etc. And also, the big issue is how much more of a royalty you are receiving by self-publishing — 70% vs. 8-15% from trad pub…so if you write a 45,000 word novella in three weeks, post it for $2.99 or so and make $2.10 a sale…that can be some decent money.
You don’t need to sell ten times what you used to, etc. to make a really good living.
I respectfully beg to differ. I wrote a three part fantasy novel, each part written to be pretty much self-contained, priced them each at $3.99, and sold the parts on Kindle. I didn’t have nearly the success with the parts that I did with the complete version, priced at $7.99.
Now, I’m a nobody just starting out. I have no name, maybe one or two fans, and frankly my sales overall are nothing to write home about. But I’ve had more success with those larger, more expensive works than I ever expected I would. For me, the ROI justifies writing bigger works. For now, anyway.
Tracy, I like your writing (and my wife has read all of your Dragonlance work), but neither of us are likely to pay more than 7 or 8 dollars for a story anymore. We use eReaders almost exclusively and our sense of brand loyalty only carries us so far in the face of traditional publishing houses’ pricing practices.
Millions of fans of the Dragonlance series might just ‘find’ your new titles if the prices are attractive. Just a thought, but it seems like readers might already be finding your author page through that series, and not ‘finding’ you because the price is just a bit too high to pull them back in.
Anyway, you’ve been working on this for years, so perhaps you’ve already tried?
Actually, Mr. Hickman, you are likely to sell ten times more of the longer work if for no other reason than that novels sell better than short stories. However, those that point out that brand loyalty carries you only so far is correct.
You can receive an excellent RoI on novels selling in the $4.99 to $7.99 price range and it is one that encourages purchases both from your fan base and from new readers because it is a reasonable price. At the pay rate one receivesfrom the retailers, and I am going to ignore traditional publishing, there is no reason on earth, imo, to price higher than that.
I cannot speak on the author’s personal situation. However, many full-time authors make ends meet based off their advances, not royalties like indie authors. If you need that next big check to pay the bills and can’t wait, then it’s hard to say no to the contract and go indie. You are invested in that system. I know this has affected a few authors, requiring a delicate transition.
I’m not sure how he’s measuring his “following,” but if he’s counting Dragonlance fans, that’s his first mistake. All of his DL work that I’m aware of were coauthored with Margaret Weiss, and I don’t think they own the franchise. So yeah, he can’t count the DL following as his own.
As an anecdote, I’ve read several of his DL books (his most popular) and I’ve read just about all of David Dalglish’s books. Dave started indie publishing a few years ago, yet I’d say he’s the better writer. My $0.02.
I’d have to say that with the growing irrelevance of the holy anointing of the Big X, readers are choosing to read other writers instead of Tracy.
I don’t know where to begin either. Wow. I’m like Dan he has to adapt or die and if he has that amount of followers then I don’t get it. He can’t probably self publish because of contracts? I don’t know. I like his work and he could do ANYTHING. The world is his for the taking. But he hasn’t got a clue.
He should be mad at Penguin, MacMillan and Wizards of the Coast that are ripping him off.
I don’t really understand this. There is some kind of HUGE disconnect between this man and what he’s saying.
I think at the absolute HEIGHT of his writing career (which I guess was quite a few years back) he may have briefly had 6 million readers.
No offense, but George RR Martin produces a book- what?- every six years and he’s killing it. Even before HBO.
I hate to be mean, because he’s obviously a very well respected author. But if he has to write that much these days to not even get half of what he used to…he’s doing it wrong. Or traditional publishing has him by the short and curlies and he can’t find a way out.
If he honestly, right this moment, has 6 million readers, he’s just absolutely blowing it. Big Time.
Assuming each one of his six million readers bought just one of his books, he’d have to have sold at least six million copies of various titles at minimum. I wonder if he’s exaggerating.
Even if he DOESN’T self publish–6 million readers is a lot of readers. What’s wrong with him and his reasoning?
Well, believing that this is the cause of his woes is a big problem.
Except that they are finding him. I clicked on a few of his titles (maybe seven or eight?) and they’re almost all ranked under 100k, and most (of my sample) are ranked under 20k.
The only one I saw that was really sinking was the pre-order for July at 128k, I think. It was published by Tor.
Bookstores are going away but that still leaves Zon. Hickman has pages and pages of work on Amazon and his kindle prices aren’t that awful, 5.99 for most of his older books. May not be optimal but it beats $9.99 – $12.99
I’m so confused??? I thought BigPub had omniesent marketing power and all of their new digital pub models were such stupendous and rewarding deals for writer’s?
Maybe the opposite could be the case? With fewer storefront tables and endcaps, maybe Hickman’s problem is that he’s only seeing spare change on “net” from each poorly ranked BPH e-book, each one being locked under a contract for life.
Hmm. I guess it’s possible.
I was a big Dragonlance fan in my pre-teen years, and I don’t wish Hickman ill, but this article was a little on the dramatic side.
Things like “fighting for my life”, six million fans can’t find him, closing his eyes and entering his thoughts… no wonder there was an uncomfortable silence. This article makes it sound like the audience was embarrassed to be in the same room.
And the fiction author selling 12,000 words for 5 bucks? I wanna meet that person.
Erotica authors can probably get away with charging more for fewer words than any other kind of author, and I can tell you that most of the ones *I* know CANNOT charge $4.99 for a 12k word story. That’s a $2.99 story max.
I sell my shorts for .99, my novellas for $2.99, and my novels and collections for $5-8. It works fine considering my hyper-nicheness. How a name like Tracy Hickman can’t do the same and make a nice living (although maybe the gentleman is spoiled from the rich years, couldn’t say) is utterly beyond me.
Wallowing in self-pity isn’t a good strategy for problem solving.
This seems far too dramatic to be of any real use to anyone. O.K., so he thinks no one can find him because “bookstores are dying.” What about online? Amazon? He has heard of Amazon, right? People are going to brick-and-mortar bookstores less and less because they are doing their shopping online more and more. The readers are still there. They are just shopping in a different way from before. The ’80s and ’90s are long gone, but he still seems hopelessly stuck there. Like others have said – adapt or die.
And as my mother always says whenever I start complaining about my day job, “At least you’re not working in the coal mines.” Tracy still gets to spend his days doing what he loves and never has to worry about dying prematurely from Black Lung disease.
Maybe his 6 million readers are the 6 million people left in the world who do not read on an ereader?
That’s the only way I can make sense of it!
I’m supposed to feel sorry for you.. why exactly?
Guess what: people can’t find my books either.
OK, this confuses me. I don’t know who this gentleman is, but it sounds like he’s maybe in the depression stage of DABDA?
If he’s traditionally published, then his publishers might be strangling his output or platform- I can see that happening.
But then, if he’s traditionally published, why is he quadrupling his workload for people who won’t publish it any faster? This makes me think he’s self-publishing. Which he controls. In that case…fix it? Find your fans? Open your eyes and adapt to the new landscape?
EDIT: Ok, I just clicked through to the entire article, and he sounds a little overwhelmed about this whole new turn of events, which is more understandable. Also, the lone comment talks about how we’re losing something fundamental when we can’t feel our pages anymore. Or something like that.
Want to bet he has non-compete clauses in all of his contracts forcing him to stay away from similar fantasy series so he can’t self-publish?
Wizards of the Coast has implemented horribly restrictive non-complete clauses for years. I’d not be surprised if his contract prohibits him from putting out ANY creative work outside of his contracted work.
Maybe it’s time for his “wife” or “son” to start writing and publishing themselves?
Great idea! If he’s prohibited from releasing any creative work outside of contract (I remember TSR also made its employees sign agreements to that effect), this might be the only way around the problem.
“Maybe it’s time for his “wife” or “son” to start writing and publishing themselves?”
Yeah, and open himself up for a lawsuit for defrauding the publisher if they find out that he’s using someone else as a front for his own work.
Good point. So, not a great idea. But I still liked it!
Folks have circumvented those clauses via pen names for decades.
He’s already convinced that his problem is that his readers can’t find him. A pen name would just make things worse under this line of logic.
R.A. Salvatore of Forgotten Realms fame wrote several series on his own. Obviously these guys can’t use their Wizards of the Coast characters or the world on their own, but they ought to be able to publish other stuff on the side.
Some WotC content developers had contracts that forbade ANY creative work outside the contract. Even employees working on internal projects were forbidden to put out any outside creative work, and the ban lasted for something like six months post-employment.
I’m not saying that’s the reason Hickman is stuck–solutions can be found–but differences in contract terms and lengths could certainly be hindering him.
They (him and Margaret Weiss) wrote work after they left Wizards of the Coast. And that was a long time ago. So I’m pretty sure there is nothing in the contracts that prevent them from writing in other worlds–unless he went back to WoTC at some point under a new contract.
I get the impression from the article that he’s just out of touch with the new changes in publishing. For instance, very few indies price 12,000 word stories at $4.95.
Ah, I thought he’d more recently contracted with WotC for a series, but now I see it’s with Tor.
I’ve been reading fantasy for decades and am barely aware of Hickman outside of DragonLance. The problem with writing in a world and about characters that someone else owns is that whatever fans you get aren’t really yours. They’re fans of the world and the authors largely become interchangeable in a setup like that. If you quit, your characters can just be handed off to someone else.
Judging by the rankings and reviews on his non-WotC works, he has more like 6 true fans than 6 million. That’s… something to work on.
Yup, this. Thirty years ago, Hickman was partially responsible for a HUGE golden age for TSR, the company that created Dungeons and Dragons.
The problem is, that’s THIRTY YEARS AGO. And it was all media tie-in novels. As Lindsay says, the fans follow the series, not the author. They MAY later branch out, because your books in the series were particularly good, but on the other hand, they might only care about the series and barely notice who’s writing each book.
Can lightning strike twice for Tracy? That’s the question.
I followed him from Dragonlance to the Darksword trilogy, which I loved even more. It was the last fantasy I ever read, because I was thirteen and outgrew the genre after that.
Outgrew the genre at 13? Are you trying to start a riot?
Real fantasy fans, upon hearing such a comment, just say “Okay, Lucy,” quietly to themselves, chuckle, and move on.
From my experience, writers that put out amazing stuff in someone else’s worlds put out inferior stuff in their own worlds. A favorite writer of mine is that way; sad irony is that one of his very best works is from his own world, it’s a standalone, and he thinks there isn’t a market for it.
Well, here’s a question for all of us– Aren’t we all fighting for our lives as writers? Isn’t this, and hasn’t it always been the most prominent existential challenge for an artist regardless of medium? Discoverability? Will our work be noticed? Will it sell? Will we make enough money from our artistic endeavors to pay the rent? Will we be recognized in our own time?
Very well put.
That’s true, and that’s always been the case.
I think there are two choices: Write what you think people want, in a way they expect (in other words, adopt someone else’s voice), or strike out on your own and draw readers who want stories told in your unique voice.
The first route is easier, relatively speaking, but harder to keep readers, because you’re not distinctive enough. Look at a lot of writers in any genre — thrillers, mysteries, romances. How many of those writers are distinctive enough that you say, “I want the next [name]?”
That’s tough to do.
I was at AnomalyCon, and actually was on a panel earlier in the day with Tracy Hickman and Paul Lell, talking about developing desktop games.
Some of this is taken a bit out of context. The point Tracy was trying to make is that writing full-time is not an easy gig. He always takes long pauses when he talks — that’s the way he’s always talked. Sam Knight and I told Betsy Dornbusch, who was interviewing Tracy, about the way he takes a moment as he formulates what he is about to discuss so she would know to give him an extra moment or two to make sure he wasn’t in the middle of his thoughts.
Yes, it’s tough for a new reader to find him, just as it is for the rest of us authors. Every author has to work and struggle to get new readers to find their work. Tracy was just noting that sometimes it can be a struggle, even for the established writers, to make enough.
Some are saying he has to change, and (surprise!) Tracy has been aware of it for years. He’s branched out to new book projects, and even expanded out with a new gaming system called Sojourner Tales that was crowdfunded and is almost ready to ship to stores. Tracy is one of the hardest working authors and innovators in the industry, and he’s legendary when it comes to helping and mentoring others.
So, take note that becoming a bestselling author is not a ticket to easy street. It’s a constant struggle to get new work out and to get a new audience stream. Yes, I know that’s the indie motto, but now you have it from a traditionally published pro that it’s tough in every market for every author. It’s not a “woe is me” message, it’s a “be aware of this so you’re not blindsided in the future” message, from someone who truly wants you and your book, no matter how it was published, to bring you success and happiness.
Also, a note to Randall Wood: Laura Hickman has been writing both with Tracy and solo for years, and is also a highly-regarded author.
“He always takes long pauses when he talks — that’s the way he’s always talked.”
House Hunney does that, calls them his “dramatic pauses” and the habit drives me NUTSO.
Mine too. And then, if I start talking during a pause, he gets upset because I’ve “interrupted” him. Um, how can I interrupt you when you weren’t saying anything?
They MUST be related because House Hunney says that too! Or, I think he’s done talking and leave. That really ticks him off.
Patience, milady, have a little patience… I really feel for your “hunny”…
I was going to say, this article didn’t sound right. He was teaching us (as part of his Scribes Forge service) about adapting to the changing marketplace years ago.
He’s also warned us that it’s not easy.
I agree with you that it seems the article authors attributed melancholy to what is, in fact, just the way he speaks. Saying that the market has changed and that he has to work harder to reach his readers is not the same as *complaining*.
“So, take note that becoming a bestselling author is not a ticket to easy street. It’s a constant struggle to get new work out and to get a new audience stream.”
This!
Having said that, I’m going to look up his books. Haven’t read fantasy in decades – was all ‘Scotty’ (technical manuals) for that time.
Loved the Darkover novel I just read. Maybe I can be a one-Nook wonder for B&N. LOL
“I have a 6 million following,” he said quietly, “and they don’t remember me.”
This statement… does not compute. If people don’t remember you, then they can’t be following you.
I don’t think this guy understands what it means to be a fan of a work and/or author. It doesn’t mean you swear to be a fan of that author and/or work forever. If he had a 6 million following at some point that doesn’t mean he’s guaranteed to always have it.
DragonLance was popular at one point. But these days, people mostly recommend it out of nostalgia if at all. It just hasn’t stood the test of time and doesn’t, it seems, hold up very well against the huge amount of choice fantasy readers now have.
Konrath’s response is, of course, spot on: http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2014/04/a-wake-up-call-for-tracy-hickman.html
It was surprisingly gentle, and very good advice. I’m having trouble accessing the article; but I would hope someone gave him this advice in person.
I never read him; I rarely read tie-ins, but I did play some of those gold-box D&Ds that TSR sold. If he wrote any of those games then I wonder if he could approach the heirs of the companies that made those games? He just has to be willing to think outside the box a little.
When Tracy Hickman came to CONduit in Salt Lake City in 2011, he said “I am doing my best to leave traditional publishing behind.” I don’t think Konrath realizes that Hickman has been taking control of his career, and has been self-publishing for some time. The problem, as far as I can see, isn’t that Tracy Hickman isn’t self-publishing, it’s that his self-publishing efforts have run into some snags and he isn’t sure what to do.
It would have been helpful if the article mentioned that, Joe. As quoted and interpreted by the writer of the article, Tracy comes off as whining–and these include direct quotes.
Happily, this is the Internet, not a newspaper, so Tracy can join in the discussion at anytime.
That’s good to know, but if the quote about pricing is accurate, I’m not sure how informed he is.
I remember listening to a podcast interview years ago with Hickman where he talked about a new ebook subscription system he had developed where you could read each chapter as it was written and get a print book at the end. I had never read his work, but listening to him talk – his enthusiasm was contagious and I went to the site to check it out. The $50 cost wiped out all that built up interest I had from the interview. From looking at his site now, http://www.dragonsbard.com/subscriptions/ it seems like pricing may be part of the problem.
$142.50 for a box-set? I think you’re right – pricing is the problem.
Oh wow. I thought his comment in the article about having to charge 49.50 for a book was just an exaggeration to make a point… but he’s serious. He’s trying to charge 48.50 for a completed book from that site and 142.50 for the 3 book set. Just… so wrong.
Someone needs to start a kickstarter campaign to get this guy some economics 101 lessons.
I know someone who definitely shouldn’t run that campaign.
Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww!
:: bad-pun groan ::
I’ll run my own kickstarter campaign, thank you Sarah:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/trhickman/tracy-and-laura-hickmans-sojourner-tales-board-gam
Yes, that over-funded to over 200% of our goal.
What you should probably understand is that when I started the collectible novel project, kickstarter was not an option. If I were to do another collectible series, I’d go the kickstarter route.
Thanks all the same, Sarah, but my subscribers are very happy with their collectibles. And, may I suggest that you take a closer look at those economics? The final book in the series sells for $48 alone. The first and second books are ONLY sold in sets for $99 for the pair. You cannot purchase the earlier books separately. So, the first two books are just under $50 a piece. All three come at a slight discount. This pricing allows us to offer additional discounts when we take the books to conventions — which is our primary point of sale.
I’m not TRYING to charge $48.00 a piece … I’ve succeeded in charging $48.00 for each collectible book AND I’ve sold the mass-market rights to a publisher on top of that. So I think I’ll skip the remedial economics, thank you all the same.
Okay, you guys got me to go check his site.
Comparing it to his Amazon page (I didn’t click through all 12 pages of his Amazon “page”), it looks like he is offering his new releases only in these collector’s editions.
Too bad. Offering expensive, signed, slip-covered editions to collectors can certainly be one revenue stream. But why ignore the mass market? Why not do ebook and ordinary POD (and audio, while you’re at it) and make them available on Amazon, et al?
Happy to disappoint you. The mass market edition of the first of these collectible books is found here:
http://www.amazon.com/Tales-Dragons-Bard-Book-Eventide/dp/1609088972/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1396573544&sr=8-1&keywords=eventide+hickman
The mass market edition of the second book is found here:
http://www.amazon.com/Swept-Up-Sea-Tracy-Hickman-ebook/dp/B00CKX3U7A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1396573630&sr=8-1&keywords=swept+up+by+the+sea+hickman
And, yes, I did sell that book twice: once to my subscribers in the collectible form and again to a publisher. Tell me again how I don’t understand the economics of this business?
Excellent! Once I’d followed your link over on Konrath’s blog to your own blog post and then checked your site there, it became clear you know exactly what you’re doing and that the Baugartner article was simply a drama piece going for clicks. Glad to know I’d gotten the wrong impression and that you are doing well.
I find the tone of your replies off-putting. You come off as a defensive know-it-all.
Let’s give Tracy the benefit of the doubt. Every person I know who’s interacted with him has had nothing but wonderful things to say about him, and their experiences are backed up by stories told by writers in the SF/F field.
I think he’s a good guy, just under some pressure.
After I replied to his first post above, I saw Konrath’s post and then Hickman’s own. My impression is that he thinks his experience and body of work entitles him to sell books at outrageous prices (Yeah, collector’s editions. Nice, but not a cash cow.) while bemoaning the audacity of someone charging $4.95 for 12K words. Which it seems is what he’s doing. Eh?
For having five years experience doing the self-pub thing, he doesn’t seem to get the new reality of publishing. Ah well, another buggy whip manufacturer on the way out, I guess.
Oh, feh!
Looks like it was all just a drama piece concocted by Ms. Baumgartner.
Mr. Hickman knows what he’s doing, and is likely doing just fine.
Heard Five Years Ago
Good God, he’s married to this “12000 words = $4.95″ thing. I can’t wrap my head around the fact that he flat out refuses to just sell a novel at $8.99 or whatever and be done with it. Instead, he insists that he has to break it up into multiple chunks and sell it for $5 each, and then complains that it’s not fair to the reader.
He’s literally creating a pricing model out of thin air and staying that it’s how the economics of self-publishing work.
What?
When your book is one in 100 books on the shelves in the bookstores you have at least 1% chance to sell your book. Now you are one book in a million, your chance to sell your book is .0001%. Terrible. This the new e-world, going away from a controlled market to free for all.
But isn’t this the way it is with everything? Do aspiring musicians or artists have it any easier? How about aspiring actors? Life is though, but only the good will make it, the better will do well, and the best will be at the top.
“. . . and the best will be at the top.”
So E.L. James is therefore the world’s best writer, correct?
According to the readers. Are the best ($$$$) movies awarded the Oscar?
No, the biggest grossing films frequently lose out to less commercially successful, arty films.
According to Google’s keyword planner, “Dragonlance” gets 6600 searches a month, on average, in the US, UK, and Canada. “Tracy Hickman” gets 1000, which is generally considered to be the minimum volume level to make it a keyword/phrase worth targeting.
It’s inbound marketing. There’s some interest there. Nothing huge, but definitely worth working with. And he’s much better off than those of us who are starting out with no name or property at all.
He just needs to work with the right person to get his site in front of the people who are already searching for it.
It’s a hard lesson, but one smart writers should pay close attention to.
Traditional Publishing- 30 years of quality work, a popular series, and millions of fans: equals one depressed writer who feels he can’t make a living…
Versus 12K words at 4.95 a pop, giving the writer over $3 per sale…
Even a half-smart Indie with only 1% of his number of fans would be a millionaire.
Somebody, show him the Author Earnings report and explain the math to him.
Why are these people getting such terrible business advice?
When they’re at this point of public breast-beating, why do they not change?
The ship is sinking- get on the lifeboat!
TRACY.
STOP DICKING AROUND WITH PUBLISHERS AND SELF-PUB.
I am a nobody and it already looks like I’m probably going to double my income from last month, which was already the best month I’ve had in two years of publishing. I am moving into a fancy-pants new apartment next month, in the second-most expensive neighborhood in Seattle, a city whose cost of living in all neighborhoods has long since gone beyond the range of “laughable.”
Let me reiterate: I AM A NOBODY. A nobody with four books in a not-particularly-popular genre…certainly I’m not somebody with an instantly recognizable brand like Dragonlance, in a the very huge genre of fantasy. It drives me nuts to see established authors feeling so despondent and struggling with their wages slashed while the publishers who use them continue to enjoy record profits on ebooks. It just enrages me. It’s not right.
You could do so much better than you’re doing now, Trace. Not even kidding you.
WHY do authors continue to do this to themselves?! It’s so stupid to keep yourself shackled to this abusive sinking ship just because it’s what you’ve always known.
Hopefully he’s not stuck there because of terrible contracts, but if he is, there has to be something form his backlist he can take to self-pub. If I can do this well with only four books under my control, how much better could he do?
This cannot be serious! It makes no sense.
Did anyone else read the comments on that article? According to the first comment, it seems Hickman’s words were taken out of context.
“I’m in the picture (I interviewed him) and I feel this article is pretty skewed to prove some point. I don’t feel Tracy is disheartened by writing or selling books, but of course it is frustrating to build a career like his and have to work harder than ever with no end in sight. He seemed saddened by the downfall of bookstores, and I happen to agree, even as someone who reads exclusively on kindle, that a great deal is lost without actual books. (Incidentally, the question had to do with his and Margaret writing thirty books in five years during the 80s and it led to his present day habits, which apparently haven’t changed all that much!)” — Betsy Dornbusch
I read that on two different sites, but it doesn’t negate what was quoted in the article. As I said over at Konrath’s, unless Hickman was misquoted, the assessment is accurate.
“I don’t feel Tracy is disheartened by writing or selling books … ” isn’t an effective rebuttal against actual quotes in which the author is clearly disheartened by the amount of work vs. the payoff, the lack of discoverability by what he believes are millions of fans, and that he’s “fighting for his life as an author.”
Hickman’s quotes may only appear disheartened because of the way they’ve been characterized by Alison “Boom” Baumgartner in the piece. We don’t know what’s missing or how Hickman actually came across or whether everyone was silent with the heavy air of depression that is painted in the piece–we only have Betsy’s refutation of Alison “Boom” Baumgartner’s characterization of the interview. I’m inclined to give Betsy more credit, but have no evidence to support that other than my gut.
If it helps, I was also there, and Betsy is correct. While everyone who listened has their own interpretation of what they heard, there was important information for context both before and after those quotes.
So, he was actually bursting with excitement when he talked about having to write four times as much because he was making 1/4 of what he used to make, and he couldn’t be more psyched by the 14-hour workdays. My mistake.
Note to self: Tracy Hickman can never, ever be sad or disappointed.
All kidding aside, why is it so hard to believe a guy might be bummed by such a change in his writing career? I know I’d be pretty salty.
I loved those first three Dragonlance books, but does this mean I’ve got to go out and buy the trilogy again? Two more times?
What am I supposed to do with this but feel awkward and hope for it to end so I can leave the room?
Poor Traditional Authors – Complain and you will be heard
Poor Self-published Authors – Who are you and why should I care?
Actually, this might be getting flipped on the head. Self-published authors are always complaining about prices and perceived slights now. It’s tiring.
We’re all free to leave the room any time we want.
I left the room a long time ago.
No. Wait. Not sure I ever entered the room!
Unless we’re talking about the “room” here at TPV. Now, that’s a great place to be!
Sounds like he is describing a competitive free market.
I am always amused to read what everyone says that I said or what I meant when I said it. Of course, they could just ask me but where’s the fun in that?
While the quote above is very dramatic and a lovely piece of prose writing, you might want to take a look at my actual take on the above without the descriptive prose — and a more accurate reflection of my own feelings on the state of publishing today. You can find it at:
http://www.trhickman.com/wake-up-call-five-years-ago/
Tracy Hickman
Quoting from the post you just linked:
“Let me fill in some of the blanks for you. There is nothing preventing me from writing 12,000 word publications and selling it for $4.95. My actual point is that this very fact spells the death of the ‘Great American Novel’ as we once knew it. I’m a working writer, a professional for thirty years. It’s not a hobby for me; this is my bread, butter and mortgage payment. The economics of words is part of my career. It is precisely this fact that requires me to do exactly what this article asked: write shorter fiction in serialized format in order to be properly compensated for my time, my talent and my three-decades of craft. What perhaps needs to be said is that now that same 120,000 word novel I once sold as a whole now might have to be sold as a five-to seven-volume serial – and now ends up costing those who want to read the entire story that same $49.50 in order to get all of the installments.”
If you have actual readers who are willing to buy a 120,000 word novel from you for $49.50, congratulations, those are True Fans. But, to be frank, this is an outrageous price. I can’t see you developing many new fans if you’re going to price your content like that. I certainly will never read you or contribute my hard earned money to such a ridiculous scheme. I don’t care how many words you put in your novel or how many hours you spend working on it.
You conveniently forgot to include the very next sentence in my post:
“I’ll be the first to stand up and say that hardly seems fair to my readers — and that, too, is my point: that the economics of publishing today are messing over writer and reader alike.”
And, in point of fact, I DID sell a series of novels at $50 per book: http://dragonsbard.com where I sold subscriptions to a limited edition serial novel where each subscriber received a hardback novel, each one signed, numbered and registered, from a private, limited-edition printing. Each book was an instant collectible. It wasn’t meant for the mass market but it resulted in a fine series of books which continues today to a select, elite market.
If you’re going to quote me, please keep the context in mind. I was agreeing with you.
Tracy, I’ve read these paragraphs literally ten times and the next paragraph doesn’t change the context at all.
Do you believe that your 120,000 word novel should ultimately cost the buyer $50, or not? It’s your work, you can price as you can see fit, and you’ve stated that you should be “properly compensated.”
However, what I see is you’re literally making up an apocalyptic picture about the economics of self-publishing, and how it’s killing the Great American Novel. There are a whole lot of self-published authors who would argue that the GAN is alive and well, and they’re charging a flat-rate of under $10 for their novels.
I’ve bought plenty of collectible hardbacks in my time, Dan, many of which cost a lot more than $50. I don’t have any of them now, though. When my family came along I sold them all, doubling and in some cases tripling the original cost of the book.
Ultimately, those books didn’t cost me anything but made me a tidy profit. How many readers have ever read, enjoyed and then profited on an ebook they have bought? This is one of the reasons why I’ve never prescribed to the demise of paper. Digital is great, but while you can create an exact digital copy of the Mona Lisa on an HD TV, it is still just ones and zeros.
Thanks for sharing, but this has literally nothing to do with what we’re talking about. You’re talking about a niche collector’s/reseller’s market, not trying to draw in new readers.
Indeed.
I myself have spent more than the usual amount for very nice, collector’s editions of some of Tolkien’s works. But this was not until I had been a True Fan of Tolkien for some time. If, when Tolkien was first recommended to me as a teenager, I had gone to the bookstore and discovered that I could only buy a copy of the Fellowship of the Ring for $50, I would never have purchased any of his works. As it is, I have 2 shelves worth of Middle-earth related material, including a very nice leather edition of LOTR and a hardcover edition of The Silmarillion with illustrations by Ted Nasmith. Collector’s editions work as additional options to more affordable editions. I used a battered mass market copy of The Sil for years before I could afford the nice one. You just don’t attract new readers (unless they’re rich, I guess?) if you’re pricing new content at $50 a book.
Erm … Tracy said he sold ‘limited edition’, signed collectibles (ie niche collectors/reseller items) for $50, and you questioned whether readers should ultimately pay that. Apologies for responding to a point that you made, but if it has nothing to do with the conversation, why did you bring it up?
Dan, let me be as clear as I can for you and everyone on this comment thread.
1) I do NOT believe that a 120k novel should be priced at $50. This was a case of reductio ad absurdum though people seem to be hung up on the details. I used the 12k to 120k example because it’s a simple shift of a decimal point to demonstrate by exaggeration that longer works of fiction no longer make economic sense. Here, if you prefer, is a more real world example. If it takes me two weeks to write a novella to sell for $4.95 and it takes me three months to write a novel to sell for $7.50 then the ROI for my time is much better for the novella than the full novel.
4) Self publishing IS hard and it DOES take backbreaking work. Anyone who tells you differently is trying to sell you something.
5) Here’s my advice to writers: it is no longer about being published … it is all about being read! It’s all about having an audience, being in touch with them and writing for them. Publishers today don’t provide a market for the author; they actually demand that the author bring their audience to them. A writer today does not need to sell a book to the entire world: all a write needs today is a dedicated audience willing to buy their work.
6) I think the future of the written word is brighter than ever for those who are willing to evolve. It’s evolve or become extinct and I can tell you right now I’ve been evolving for five years.
7) Finally, I’ve been earning my living in this craft for thirty years, I’ve got 60 books in print and I’ve been on the NYT Best-Seller list 13 times. My titles have sold 20 million copies world wide and I’m still making my bread today. Yes, it’s harder than it used to be and I will most likely never see another Dragonlance again but that doesn’t matter: I’ve got a stories to write, I’ve got readers to transform those words into performance and enough of them to make a good living. So I might — just might — know something worth knowing about this business.
Those who believe otherwise, frankly, have not walked in my shoes.
Thanks for all the fish. If you have any questions, you know where to find me.
I’ll be honest: I’m hung up on what happened to numbers 2 and 3.
LOL. Tried to edit it but took too long. Lost those two points due to an unfortunate backspace. Here you go, Dan.
2) The quote above was written in a sharp prose style with plenty of pathos and drama. It unfortunately did not accurately depict the event. I had painted a picture of the difficult nature of my business today. What I said immediately after this quote was “…and it’s wonderful! It’s wonderful!” I then told them a story which is very personal to me that was for me a glorious vindication of all the personal trouble that this career can bring. I asked that the door be closed because it was personal and private: I normally only share it with people on special occasions. The author of the quote appeared to honor that, but in doing so essentially cut the redemption part of the tale. The result was like going to a performance of the musical ‘Oklahoma’ and leaving at intermission, thinking that this story was a terrible bummer.
3) Survival means innovation, not stagnation. Laura and I have kickstarted a board game last year which combines ebooks and board games into a combined social experience. Anyone can create stories to play with our game. It’s at http://sojournertales.com. The point is that we’re not standing still in some tar pit.
There. Numbers complete.
I appreciate the detailed reply. There are some things we disagree on, but hey, America. All the best to you.
His problem is that 99% of his influence as an author is wrapped up in the Dragonlance logo. Without that, only a handful of people will recognize the name and care enough to give an indy title a try.
Other big-names of the 90′s are probably wrestling with the same problem, like Stackpole and Farland/Wolverton. All their eggs are still in their publisher’s basket, and now that they need to survive on their own chops, they find that they have no email list, no advantage on Amazon, and no understanding of how to market themselves. Those six million readers are Dragonlance fans, not Hickman fans, and Dragonlance is old news now anyway.
The lesson here is to wrangle your own readership and build your own brand. If you outsource that to someone else, you’ll lose it some day.
Nice hyperbole but much of my ‘success’ as an author was actually outside Dragonlance … in ‘The Deathgate Cycle’ to be exact. The lesson you state is certainly good advice for anyone but the rest of it is nonsense. We ‘big names of the 90′s’ got here on our own chops, we’ve got better email lists than you think, we don’t need Amazon as a crutch and we’ve been marketing ourselves for decades.
Yeah, I actually never read Dragonlance, despite being an AD&D player — I wanted to make my own worlds.
The Deathgate Cycle is one of my favorite series. The world building and the characters are *amazing*.
Thanks, Katie. That was great to hear.
Agreed.
Deathgate Cycle is great. (Haplo!)
I hate that Tracy’s getting the ‘anti-legacy’ treatment here. I feel like it’s based largely a failure to communicate on someone’s part.
“What we have heah is a failure to communicate!” Why am I hearing this movie line?
Yep, communication breakdown. Honestly, kicked off by Ms. Baumgartner’s very misleading piece. And fueled by seeing Mr. Hickman’s collector editions in isolation.
I don’t normally comment here, but I spent years trying to track down the various bits of the Deathgate Cycle when I was in my teens (it was out of print, I think, or just not available in local shops; this was pre-Amazon) and I just wanted to stop in and make dazzled fangirl eyes. Also for the Rose of the Prophet trilogy! Same applies, but it took less time to collect the set, and I imprinted on those books so hard. Many, many thanks. <3
Yes! Rose of the Prophet! I’m pretty sure people would be all over it these days.
… I will shut up now. I’m just barely trying to figure this stuff out, and Mr. Hickman obviously has a lot of experience to draw from, more than I gave him credit for.
It’s a good lesson of how popularity can ebb and flow. So, for anyone that has a really good financial run in the writing racket, don’t expect that it will necessarily last forever. Continue to live within your means (your long term means) and save or wisely invest your unexpected wealth. And try not to give too much of your money away to publishers, agents, editors, etc (though some of these may deserve a cut, depending on your circumstances).
Wow, it seems like PG’s comments thread is a terrible place for anyone not singing ‘All Indie All The Time!” at the top of their lungs.
And what the hell happened to civility, people? Some of you can be right jerks.
It’s usually not this bad here, Jim. I chalk it up to everyone being traumatized by David Letterman’s retirement.
I’m still not over the Burt and Loni thing.
For those of us coming late to the party (yesterday was soooo hectic, let me tell you), the snark’s pretty mild here, and it’s useful that Tracy came in from time to time to discuss his remarks. Very helpful.
It seems like what was said and how it was expressed, heard by people who were there, versus those who read the OP, versus those who read TPV’s post, versus those who are reading the comments, can lead to misunderstandings.
When I was a reporter covering governmental meetings, I was impressed by how people understood differently a speech. They were all in the same room, listening to the same words, and yet it seemed like each of them heard a different speech.
This comment thread is that magnified by a thousand.
That this still remains a relatively civil thread, that many of us can express our conclusions and can have them challenged or at least rebutted without exploding tempers, reflects creditably on the site and its contributors. That’s why I like coming here. Thank you all.
Uh, if you think these people were being outright “jerks” then you haven’t been on the Internet for very long.
You cannot imagine how low some people will go to verbally assault someone’s character (online). I’ve seen the worst of the worst, and the people here are FAR from the worst.
You guys are funny. You get a snippet of a speech that has been clearly overdramatised (I mean look at the adverbs alone) and freak out. Then the man himself comes and instead of asking him how his experiments worked you explained to him why they didn’t. Except you have no way of knowing how well or poorly his projects worked out, just your own assumptions.
You are so in love with your business model that you can’t fathom that anyone else is doing well with a different one. What’s that battlecry of the self-published? adapt or die. Here’s a guy who is trying new things. A guy who was self-publishing before Amazon existed. He could have taught you things if you had decided to listen.
Let’s be clear, here. The only thing he’s taught us is that he can sell collector’s editions to existing fans at conventions (which is awesome, by the way). His knowledge of the current self-publishing climate is, to put it bluntly, up for considerable debate, seeing as my rankings on Amazon are higher than his (and I’m both a nobody and very lazy).
Let’s stop acting like three decades of traditional publishing has made him an expert at self-publishing in 2014. He’s just another writer who’s trying to figure it out.
Oh, I think that’s kind of a narrow way to look at it, Dan.
First, I think Hickman is an author most young fantasy authors today have learned from, at least when it comes to story, world-building, and probably a lot more stuff I don’t know.
Next, I’m sure a lot of people could learn a few things about building a fan base, and not just over a few years, but maybe a few decades.
Finally, we can learn a lot from what authors say and do, especially when they might not be the wisest or smartest of things. In this case, seeing a few pricing snafus and the reaction to them is quite informative for many, probably especially those that aren’t commenting.
All in all I thought this was one of the better posts on this site in several weeks, and was only made better by the author’s willingness to come and talk, even if they’re getting bumped around a bit in the process.
Yes, I think Tracy Hickman can teach us a lot of we want him to.
Well, we’re not talking about craft. On that score, I agree, he could teach a lot of authors some really good stuff. But this post is about marketing/pricing/self-pub, etc.
Vernon was referring specifically to what Hickman could teach people about self-publishing, and his basis for that belief couldn’t be more wrong. His past performance in an entirely different world doesn’t mean much today.
People could learn a lot from my mistakes, but that doesn’t mean I’m qualified to teach them.
I definitely appreciate the fact that Tracy came here and engaged; it was productive, I think. But we have to keep it realistic.
Yes, that’s all he taught you because that’s all you wanted to talk about.
I can’t seem to find your author ranking at all, but he’s number 66 in fantasy. Can you give me a link to this ranking you have that’s higher than his.
Let’s see: his self-published novel (because that’s, you know, what we’re talking about) “Tales of the Dragon’s Bard Volume 1″ is at 582,000+ overall on Amazon. My novel “Orpheus” is at 147,000. And my novella “Orpheus Born” is at 290,000.
I will concede that his traditionally-published novels will probably generally be much higher, but I’m pretty sure that’s not relevant to this discussion.
And if you couldn’t find my ranking at all, your search skills suck really hard, and you should stop responding.
Well, ahem, I’m sorry to say The Hirelings is beating you all out. #1,409,193…Ha, take that!
The part that should make you happy is that the Dragon’s Bard kindle edition isn’t even self-published. That was put up by the publisher he sold it to after his collector’s edition.
His self-published novel “The Immortals” is at #207,369 which doesn’t beat Orpheus but it’s in the same neighborhood. What Amazon doesn’t tell you is how many he sells direct from his website which is where his main fanbase tends to go first. That way he doesn’t have to give Amazon a cut. Perhaps that’s something he could have taught you.
Please stop pretending that having three books out makes you too wise to learn things from someone who has done more than that in the last year alone.
And that’s exactly what I said earlier: he showed us that he can sell to existing fans. That isn’t related to any type of self-publishing prowess whatsoever. If I had his traditional publishing history and built-in fanbase, I’d be selling directly to my fans, too.
You’re clinging to the notion that his previous traditional publishing experience equates to expertise in self-publishing in 2014. They’re two completely different animals.
I’m not pretending I’m in a position to impart any wisdom, or that I’m too wise to listen to others. I listen the s*** out of Konrath, KKR, DWS, Howey, etc. Because they’ve proven time and again that they know what they’re doing regarding SELF-PUBLISHING and gaining new fans.
Anyway, this is now on the second page, and I’m probably going to be too lazy to check responses. Agree to disagree.
Having checked out Tracy’s website, I think there are a few simple things that would help.
Some links to Amazon product pages are dead.
It would be great if Tracy offered direct ebook sales to readers (Gumroad) and also prominently linked to Kobo, B&N, ITunes and uploaded on Smashwords. (Personally, I prefer Smashwords and Gumroad because I can get DRM-free downloads easily.)
Tracy is well known as a great creator of epic fantasy worlds and the way ebooks work, where series tend to build upon each other for added sales, plays PERFECTLY to his strenghts.
I would love to see him create a new “branded” world. Use short stories as free samplers and a couple of 99 cent novelettes to lay the foundation for a future epic novel series. (And maybe eventually even edit a couple of anthologies of short stories with contributions by other authors.)
Blogging about the new world and stories, contacting SFSignal and other prominent fantasy and SF sites, and getting word out to the RPG community should get the ball rolling. It takes time to build a new brand, but there are MANY people who fondly remember his earlier work and would no doubt check out his new works.