{"id":15538,"date":"2015-04-02T06:00:15","date_gmt":"2015-04-02T10:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/?p=15538"},"modified":"2015-04-02T06:00:15","modified_gmt":"2015-04-02T10:00:15","slug":"am-interview-with-hilari-bell-on-her-independent-publishing-adventure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/?p=15538","title":{"rendered":"An Interview with Hilari Bell on Her Independent Publishing Adventure"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Hilari-two-photo\"<\/a>Hilari Bell is a store favorite author here. Her Farsala<\/em> and Shield, Sword, and Crown<\/em> trilogies have been go-to handsells for me for many years. They are evergreen titles for us.
\nI was very interested therefore to get an email from her recently regarding her Knight and Rogue<\/em> series which informed me that…
\n“HarperCollins published The Last Knight, and two more of Fisk and Michael\u2019s adventures, and they garnered such loyal fans that I decided to embark on an adventure of my own\u2014I\u2019m taking the rest of the Knight & Rogue<\/i> books indie!”
\nHilari kindly agreed to answer some questions I had pertaining to her new venture.
\nKB:<\/span> Being a Farsala fan I have to ask a question about the Hrum. We have some examples of market-based empire building unfolding before our eyes in the bookselling world. If the Hrum were a predatory hydra bent on taking over the world, would they go about it differently than the real world wolves at our door?
\n\"fall<\/a>HB:<\/span> There are some similarities between the Hrum and… a certain other market-based conqueror. They\u2019re both very aggressive, and can be downright ruthless. But once the Hrum conquered a country, the conquered people got a relatively honest government (the governor in my story was an exception to the rule), even-handed justice, fair taxes, and in pretty short order, a path to full citizenship in the Hrum empire\u2014not to mention becoming a partner in the economy of the empire, which opened up a lot of markets.<\/span>
\nI can certainly see that from the point of view of indie bookstores and publishers, Amazon is only the evil empire. But as an author who is going indie, I have to say, Amazon gives me amazing, worldwide market access, and they make it easy for me to publish and sell through them. With almost no upfront cost. And semi-decent customer service. I have to admit, the idea of Amazon having a planet-wide monopoly on the production and sale of books (and sometimes it looks like that\u2019s their goal) is more than a bit chilling\u2014particularly since they\u2019re so willing to use<\/i> their market leverage. (Also very like the Hrum.) But right now, for me, Amazon is simultaneously the evil empire… and the indie author\u2019s strongest lifeline. I\u2019m quite conflicted about them, because I also have to wonder: if they did establish a monopoly on book production and distribution, how long would their generous treatment of authors last? Given their general ruthlessness, I worry about the answer.<\/span>
\nKB:<\/span> Do you see your publishing adventure as being very time-intensive for you? For example, looking at the larger picture of other established authors faced with similar scenarios, are the personal economics of independent publishing best served by individual authors managing their own works, or is a co-operative effort, a new imprint for established fantasy authors let’s say, a possibility?
\n\"scholar's<\/a>HB: It\u2019s incredibly<\/i> time intensive. In fact, this will be only the second year in three decades that I haven\u2019t written a novel. But looking at all the work I have ahead, getting my backlist novels onto the market again, and several new ones as well, not to mention having to figure out advertising, there\u2019s just no way I can write a first draft this year. (Which is very frustrating, because I\u2019ve got a book in the pipeline that I\u2019m itching to write!) I\u2019m having to retool my whole career, approaching it as a business person instead of as a writer. Not to mention the way I\u2019m burning through my savings, which may be OK if you\u2019re in your twenties or thirties, but is really unnerving in your late fifties!<\/span>
\nOn the other hand I\u2019m learning a lot, and I like that. I\u2019m facing challenges that frighten me, and slowly getting stronger by doing so. And if I can get to a point where I can make a living reaching out to bookstores and readers directly, I think I\u2019ll be in a more secure position\u2014I\u2019m willing to bet my career on readers continuing to like my books. Other gatekeepers are a lot more fickle.<\/span>
\nOn yet another hand, I\u2019d love<\/i> to see an imprint (maybe some sort of co-op?) for established fantasy authors. It would be a huge advantage for me because I could go back to focusing mostly on writing… and I\u2019d go into a deal like that a lot smarter about the business end of publishing than I was before this new indie adventure.<\/span>
\nKB<\/span>:\u00a0From my point of view the fate of independent bookselling is tied to traditional publishing. I think we need traditional filters from the standpoints of title selection, terms, marketing and distribution angles. This utopic, or possibly just myopic, vision of traditional publishers, established authors, and independent booksellers working together for our mutual interest and preservation against the forces of evil which beset us, leads me to ask two questions.
\nFirst, I will share with you that an established author producing more books in an established series cuts a very unusual figure in the swollen stream of independently published titles which are directed to my attention every day. Most of them are bilge. It is much easier, from my vantage, to see independent publishing keep a strictly vanity character, because it would be unmanageable triage to try and sift through them for quality. Is that purely a bookselling issue or does it resonate with you?
\nHB:<\/span> Despite my earlier crack about fickle gatekeepers, I know just what you mean, and I\u2019ll be the first to concede that most indie-published books aren\u2019t ready for prime time. On the other hand, in my own writing critique group, I\u2019ve seen a number of novels that were absolutely worthy to be published and couldn\u2019t find a home. Those gates we\u2019re talking about are only open a crack at the best of times, they slam shut on the narrowest whim of the marketing department, and they exclude a lot of books that really should be published. And for writers who don\u2019t have my advantage of having been traditionally published first, getting any kind of traction self-publishing is probably even harder than getting published conventionally.<\/span>
\nBut as a reader, before I buy a book I also want the assurance of basic quality that a publisher provides. (And editing is essential, too\u2014both substance editing and copy editing.)<\/span>
\nMy personal prophecy for the publishing industry is that, because of the changes new technologies have brought to production, the big publishers will slowly lose market share to a host of small publishers. (At a writing conference a few years ago, I found myself sitting next to a small publisher who told me, \u201cI can do anything for my authors that a big publisher can do, including get your books into Barnes & Noble. And better<\/i> advertising, since I only publish gardening and cookbooks and I know that market.\u201d<\/span>
\n\"jimbaen\"<\/a>These small publishers, unlike today\u2019s big… are there still six?… will have tightly focused lists, and an individual \u201chouse style,\u201d so readers who pick up their books will have some idea of the book before they even read the jacket. Like Baen Books, which I\u2019m aware of because they gave several of my favorite authors their start. My understanding is that Jim Baen had a hand in the selection of every book that left his house, and even after his death, the editorial staff still reflects his taste. Or if you want a newer example, there\u2019s Entangled, a very successful new romance press that recently published a member of my critique group. And there are a number of small mystery presses…. This is already happening, and I can\u2019t think of anything that would be better for the whole book industry than a plethora of small presses, in every genre and non-fiction category, industriously publishing all kinds of different books, and the thought that we might be headed that way makes me very happy.<\/span>
\nThis is probably the point where I should mention that I\u2019m a terrible prophet, and the people I like on American Idol never<\/i> win.<\/span>
\nKB:<\/span> Secondly, there are terms issues involved too. Scholar’s Plot is a 20% discount title, which is a special order only rate for most stores. I should hate to see great books leave the handselling arena for lack of a working margin?
\n
\n\"matterof\"<\/a>HB<\/span>: I believe I mentioned that I was still learning? A lot of that learning involves making mistakes\u2014and thank you so<\/i> much for bringing this to my attention! In my own defense, I did<\/i> set my \u201cwholesale discount\u201d at 40%. What I didn\u2019t know was that, buried in the fine print of Ingram\u2019s 12-page contract, is the fact that Ingram\u2019s distribution arm is a separate company from their printing arm (which also makes money on the printing) and that if you list a title at a 40% wholesale discount, they take 20% and pass a 20% discount on to the bookseller. If I select the 55% discount they only take 15%, the bookseller gets 40% off…and on a $27.99 hardcover, if one copy is ordered, I end up making 27 cents a book. I can raise my already high prices ($31.99 would get me to a bit over $2 per book) or I can decide that the hardcovers will have to be a special order, and set the paperback prices (which work out a bit more reasonably) to give me a better margin and the bookseller a 40% discount on the paperbacks.<\/span>
\nHowever, it\u2019s worth pointing out that my backlist title (The Goblin Wood<\/i>), which I\u2019m going to price at $12.99, will get me $1.99 per single copy sold through Ingram, and on Amazon\u2019s Createspace I\u2019ll get $4.34 for the same book sold at the same price. At least some of the difference is probably because Amazon charges the customer for shipping, and with Ingram the shipping is on me, but there when it comes to my bottom line… This is why, once they\u2019d ruled a conquered kingdom for a few years, the Hrum hardly ever faced rebellion.<\/span>
\nKB:<\/span> All right, enough about all that, what can you share with us about your upcoming, or down the road a piece, book projects.
\n\"thiefs<\/a>HB<\/span>:The next book I\u2019m bringing out will be the final book in the Knight & Rogue series, Lady\u2019s Pursuit<\/i>. I had originally hoped to get it out this spring but it\u2019s more likely going to be fall\u2014and maybe late fall. (Things really are taking twice as long as I think they will.) But meanwhile, I\u2019m going to get Thief\u2019s War<\/i> and Scholar\u2019s Plot<\/i> out in paperback (with a 40%<\/i> discount to booksellers) sometime in April. One of the main reasons I decided to go indie was because I couldn\u2019t bear to leave this series unfinished. They work as standalone novels\u2014in a six-book series, they have to\u2014but by the time I finished book one (The Last Knight<\/i>) I had an overarching, six-book story arc in mind. I knew, years ago, that Thief\u2019s War<\/i> would be the book that ends with my two heroes (who spent the first three books cementing their friendship) coming apart over a matter of principle, and that Scholar\u2019s Plot<\/i> would be the book where I put them back together again. Frankly, these last three books are where the series plot kicks into gear… and I just couldn\u2019t leave the rest of the tale untold. And I have to say, the readers who\u2019ve managed to find those books despite my deplorable lack of advertising (I\u2019m working on it!) have welcomed them with great enthusiasm. There was a lot of wailing when I ended Thief\u2019s War<\/i> by pulling the whole foundation of the series apart\u2014but now that readers can get the book where things come back together, in an even better shape, I think I\u2019ve been forgiven<\/span>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The hero’s journey beckons to an established author.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15538\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}