Interview with Jeff Rivera of Gumbo Writers

I've written previously here about how the risk of publishing will shift from publishers to authors. With publishers under increased pressure amid declining book sales and increased competition from alternative media, they're no longer able to take the same risks they once took on unproven authors.

This means it's up to authors to get out there and prove themselves. Regardless of whether you aspire to earn a big name publishing contract, or you aspire to pursue a successful career as an indie author, it's up to you to build your personal brand and readership.

For this Q&A interview, we're talking with Jeff Rivera of Gumbo Writers. Gumbo Writers is an author services firm that helps authors prepare and promote their books. Some of the freelance pros who work with Jeff previously worked as editors and publicists at major publishing houses like Random House, Harper Collins and Simon & Schuster.

You may already know Jeff as a writer for MediaBistro's GalleyCat blog (Jeff interviewed me last month). Jeff is also a contributor to The Huffington Post, where he's an entertainment reporter.

What you may not know is that in 2004 Jeff self-published his novel, Forever My Lady, and then after doing his own marketing managed to sell the novel to Grand Central in 2005.

Please join me in welcoming Jeff Rivera as our guest today.

[Mark Coker] - What led you to start Gumbo Writers?

[Jeff Rivera] - Having gone through the challenges of self-publishing and experiencing the journey of traditional publishing I saw cracks in both systems. I knew something had to be done, so I decided to match capable, legitimate editors, publicists and marketing managers who were recently laid off from the major houses with aspiring authors, both self-published and traditionally published who needed their help.

[Mark Coker] - What are the three most important things every author should do on their own to market their book?

[Jeff Rivera] - 1) Identify your market. Key in on exactly who you're appealing to. Appealing to everyone is appealing to no one.

2) Do a Google, Twitter, Facebook, message board search on platforms that cater to your target market and start becoming actively involved in those communities, creating authentic relationships without ever pushing your book to them. Join only forums that have at least 1,000 members on them and ones that allow you to have a signature when you post. The signature is the special sauce. After that, just engage with everyone and don't talk about your book at all unless they ask you about it.

3) Search groups such as associations, churches and schools that you can speak to even if you do not get paid. In my experience, at least 50% of those listening to you will buy your book after you speak.

[Mark Coker] - For authors considering hiring an outsourced service provider such as Gumbo Writers, what expectations should they have up front for results and cost?

[Jeff Rivera] - Authors cannot expect their book to be an overnight bestseller. It takes at least 90 days to begin a solid publicity or online marketing campaign that will start to bring results. The more the author is willing to work as a partner in the campaign, rather than tossing the keys over to someone else to drive, the more effective the campaign.

[Mark Coker] - How difficult is it for an author to earn a good return on their investment, and are such services right for every author?

[Jeff Rivera] - If the author is thinking long term, they'll definitely see a return on their investment. Your first book's campaign should be about exposure and nothing else so that the next book you don't have to work so hard in letting your target market know who you are. If an author is willing to roll up their sleeves, then with the right coaching, they may be better suited to do the work themselves. Otherwise, if it is too complicated or they feel they don't have the enough time, hiring the right coach or company to take on the campaign would be best.

[Mark Coker] - A couple weeks ago, you wrote a column for GalleyCat that some interpreted as you questioning the value of literary agents. In a guest post at the Dystel & Goderich blog, you clarified your position. Do agents become more important within the publishing ecosystem of the next three to five years?

[Jeff Rivera] - Absolutely, but an agent is not for everyone. With the floodgates now open for anyone to become published, independently published authors truly have a chance to go head-to-head with major publishers on an even playing field, at least within the eBook world. Gatekeepers will become more necessary as people will seek out someone they trust to tell them what they should read. A legitimate agent's stamp of approval, a prominent blogger, a major house's "published by" label, even your best friend's endorsement of a book could be such an outlet. In order to stay relevant in the next 3-5 years, I see lit agents taking on more of a role as a manager of an author's entire career not just selling their publishing and ancillary rights (but rather including film, TV rights, public speaking, new media, sponsorship & merchandising deals, etc. ). This is similar to what lit managers such as, Rob Weisbach are doing. That's going to mean they'll need to represent fewer quality authors rather than a roster of hundreds.

[Mark Coker] - Thanks Jeff!

To learn more about Jeff Rivera and the author services of Gumbo Writers, visit http://www.gumbowriters.com/

The Reunion

Imagine a story of a father and daughter separated for 25 years. A true story.

With their permission, I'm sharing their story of Thanksgiving with you today.

Rewind to ten days ago.

The daughter, now 66 and living in Southern California, searched for her father for 25 years. Nothing but dead ends. She feared the worst - the father she always loved and admired and wanted to forgive was surely dead by now. She had given up.

Yet the father wasn't dead. He's 87 and living in Arizona. He missed his daughter, but was too afraid to reach out. He was certain she hated him for disappearing without a trace so many years before. He lived his days haunted by regret of how he should have and could have been a better father.

So life went on for 25 years. Two people, longing for reunion, unable to connect for different reasons.

Last Sunday, November 15, Sally Reese Humphrey of San Diego awoke with a start. For the first time in several years, she had a dream about her father.

She fired up her computer. His name was William Reese. Maybe he had changed his name? She entered 'William von Reese,' thinking he might have merged his middle name with his last. Bingo. A website popped up with his picture.

That site was Smashwords. William is a Smashwords author.

Sally excitedly clicked the customer support link and sent a short message asking how to contact the author. She didn't mention the reason.

She didn't expect a response, she later told me, because she figured we receive emails from crackpots all the time. We responded to her, informing her that due to our strict privacy policy, we couldn't reveal the contact information for our authors but if she wanted us to pass along her contact information, we'd be happy to do so. Her response:

I'm his daughter Sally that has tried to find him for the past 25 years. When I saw him and his profile on your website I couldn't believe my eyes. I live in San Diego, CA and my phone # is XXX-XXX-XXXX. If you can help me get to him with this message I would be so grateful!!

Sally Reese Humphrey

Here's the response we received from her father:

Thanks, Mark. As you might infer, I have been a somewhat neglectful father. I thought she was mad at me. Bill

They immediately spoke on the phone. Three days later, Sally drove to Arizona for their reunion.

Two days ago, William emailed me with a report. With his permission and encouragement, I'm reprinting the email here:

Dear Mark,

Sally drove eight hours eastward on I-8 through desolate desert to see me. On her arrival we celebrated with a glass of champagne (domestic) and a home-cooked dinner of filet mignon. Our delight in being reunited is patent in the photos. We did little else but talk and touch the following three days.

Back-story: Back in '88 Sally was mad to marry (2nd time). She introduced me to an older guy working at the Red Sails Inn in San Diego. He was a bartender with aspirations of becoming a masseur. I hated the man right off the bat, but I suppressed my disapproval. I didn't want to spoil my daughter's happiness. So my wife and I disappeared into the wilds of Texas, careful to leave no breadcrumbs behind. We couldn't face dealing with the husband, though we had other motives for moving as well.

Now I find that Sally later divorced the man after a miserable marriage. He died a few years later. So I should have been honest with her up front, right? Is a puzzlement, what to do.

Story short. I applaud your deft handling of a tricky situation involving privacy issues. Thank you for thinking it through and doing exactly the right thing. With Sally you have attained the status of Godfather. You rate very high with me, too.

Cordially,

Bill

As Bill says, I think the pictures tell the story.



I would like to thank Sally and Bill for allowing me to share their story of love, forgiveness and redemption.

This isn't the first time Smashwords has helped reunite loved ones. When you put yourself out there, when you publish yourself online, you never know what might happen.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Smashwords to Supply Ebooks to Amazon Kindle Store

Smashwords today announced a distribution agreement to supply ebooks to the Amazon Kindle Store.

The news follows other important Smashwords distribution agreements we announced in the last three months with Barnes & Noble, Sony and Shortcovers.

I'm so pleased to call each of these retailers a valued Smashwords partner, and I look forward to working with them to showcase our fast-growing catalog of nearly 5,000 independently published ebooks.

Our Amazon agreement marks an important milestone in the evolution of Smashwords. We launched in May 2008 as an ebook publishing platform for indie authors. In May of this year, we expanded the platform to support small publishers. In the last couple months, we've transitioned to a full-fledged distributor of ebooks capable of serving authors and publishers around the world. We're just getting started.

For most of the last few centuries, if you wanted to reach readers for your book, you worked with a publisher. Publishers controlled the means of production (the printing presses) and the means of distribution (access to book stores and readers).

With the rise of ebooks, we're witnessing the democratization of book production and distribution. In the next few years, I think more authors - including big name authors - will ask the question, "What can a publisher do for me that I can't do myself?"

Smashwords makes it possible for any ebook author or small publisher, anywhere in the world, to gain equal and free access to the virtual shelves of the most important online retailers of ebooks.

Authors will compete not on publisher advantage, but on the merits of their works. Readers, not publishers, will decide which books are worth reading.

Read the press release in the Smashwords Press Room.

Thank you for your support.

Smashwords Acquires BookHabit

Smashwords today announced the acquisition of BookHabit, an ebook self-publishing service based in New Zealand.

BookHabit launched around the same time as Smashwords in early 2008. In this time, they've published over 600 ebooks from over 300 independent authors.

If you're a BookHabit author or customer, you will receive an email from BookHabit with a hyperlink that will instantly activate your account at Smashwords.

Like all Smashwords authors, BookHabit authors retain all rights to your book. If you decide to migrate your book to Smashwords, please carefully follow our formatting requirements outlined in the Smashwords Style Guide. You will need to format your book to our specifications before you upload it.

Another good introductory information page, which includes links to all the most important Smashwords resources, can be found here, at How to Publish on Smashwords.

To read the complete press release, visit the Smashwords Press Room.

On behalf of the entire Smashwords community of authors, publishers and retail partners, I'd like to extend a warm welcome to all BookHabit authors and customers.

Smashwords and Shortcovers Sign Ebook Distribution Agreement

At Smashwords, our mission is to make it free and easy for any author, anywhere in the world, to publish and distribute their ebook.

So I'm excited today to announce a distribution agreement with Shortcovers, a large ebook retailer that operates online ebook stores in 189 countries. This deal follows similar distribution agreements we announced recently with Barnes & Noble and Sony.

If you haven't heard of Shortcovers, they're a hot startup created by Indigo Books, Canada's largest book retailer. They offer a family of free e-reading apps supporting all major smart phone platforms, including the iPhone, Blackberry, Palm Pre and Google Android. They also support several eInk devices.

The mobile channel, Shortcovers' strength, is extremely important to the future success of all authors and publishers. Already, more ebooks are read on cell phones than on dedicated e-reading devices. Over the next few years, billions of ebook-ready smart phones will be in the hands of consumers around the world, dwarfing the number of dedicated e-reading devices.

For Smashwords authors and publishers, this agreement will make your books discoverable and purchaseable by millions of customers.

Before dollar signs start flashing in your mind, remember we make it easy to publish and distribute your book, but bookselling is always difficult. The success or failure of your book in the marketplace will ultimately come down to the quality of your book (does it touch your audience in such a way that they want to tell all their friends about it) and how well you market it (for helpful marketing tips, check out the Smashwords Book Market Guide).

All Smashwords Premium Catalog books will begin shipping to Shortcovers this Wednesday November 18.

If you're not already publishing with Smashwords, learn how at this page, How to Publish on Smashwords.

To learn more about the Shortcovers relationship, check out the joint press release issued today by Smashwords and Shortcovers.

Smashwords Launches NaNoWriMo Promo

NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, kicks off November 1 with thousands of writers who will attempt to write a 50,000 word novel in under 30 days.

Smashwords has launched a special promotion to help NaNoWriMo participants publish, update, share and promote their Nano works-in-progress.

Participants can upload daily updates to Smashwords. Their works-in-progress will be made available as multi-format ebooks, readable on any e-reading device, personal computers and many mobile devices.

All participating writers will receive promotion at Smashwords.com within a special NaNo catalog, as well as distribution of their works-in-progress to Stanza, the e-reading app used by over 2.5 million people on the iPhone and iPod Touch, and to Aldiko, the e-reading app for Android smart phones.

NaNoWrimo participants who want to publish and update their works with Smashwords can visit the Smashwords/Nano Promo page. Writers who want to join NaNoWrimo should register at www.nanowrimo.org.

The Smashwords/NaNo promotion is an experiment in social publishing, and will provide readers unique insight into the writing process.

Smashwords is offering this free promotion as a public service to NaNoWriMo participants. Smashwords is not an official sponsor of NaNoWrimo.

Editor Unleashed and Smashwords Partner on New Writing Contest: Why do You Write?

Why do writer's write?

This is the subject of a cool new essay writing contest over at Maria Schneider's Editor Unleashed writing community. Smashwords is co-sponsoring the contest, which carries a $500 prize for the winner.

Like the last Flash Fiction 40 contest we co-sponsored with Editor Unleashed, it's free to enter.

The top 50 entrants, as voted on by the Editor Unleashed community and a panel of expert judges, will be published at Smashwords in a free anthology (If you haven't seen the Flash Fiction 40 Anthology, download it here).

"Why Writers Write" will also be the subject of my next column over at Huffington Post. The topic fascinates me. As I wrote in my latest HuffPo column, like all artists throughout the centuries, most writers are severely under compensated for their work. Yet they keep writing, and they will always keep writing. Why?

Kudos to Maria for choosing such a fascinating and important theme. Learn more about the contest over at Editor Unleashed.

Tell me, why do you write? Add your comments in the comment field below.

November 16 update: My new column at HuffPo is up, "Why Do Writers Write?"

Image credit: Editor Unleashed.

Do Authors Still Need Publishers?

In my new post today over at Huffington Post, I ask the question, "Does Stephen King still need a publisher?"

I think the answer is no.

Once an author develops the platform and fanbase of a Stephen King, Dan Brown or J.K. Rowling, why not self-publish? They can hire their own team of editors, designers, marketers and sales force, partner with a couple big distributors, and sell their books for less yet still make 2-3X the profit.

If publishers are going to remain relevant, they need to do what Stephen King can do for himself, only better.

The HuffPo post is an updated derivative of one I originally wrote here back in April, in which I speculated the risk of publishing would shift to the author. Given the changes we've seen in the industry since April, I'm more convinced than ever that author will continue to shoulder a larger share of the risk of publishing, and this will lead to a dramatic transformation of the publisher-author power balance in favor of authors.

For most of the last couple centuries, if you wanted your book published, you had to work with a publisher, because they controlled not only the printing press but the means of distribution as well.

Over at the Huffington Post story, a great discussion is already taking place in the comments. MJ Rose, well known as an early ebook advocate, a self publisher, and now a mainstream commercial author, argues that publishers remain relevant because they control access to brick and mortar retailers. I don't disagree. Publishers still control access to physical shelves.

Looking ahead, especially as ebooks rise from a likely 5 percent market share in 2009 to 30 or 50 percent within the next five years, publishers will be hard pressed to maintain the same relevance.

If in five years half or more of the market has gone digital, then that's half the market any author can distribute to without the need of a traditional publisher. Smashwords already has agreements in place to distribute books to several major online retailers as well as the top mobile apps, and within the next couple years we'll have all the major retailers covered.

How do you think the role of publisher will change over the next few years? Do authors still need publishers? Comment here, or join the discussion over at HuffPo.

OCTOBER 18 UPDATE: The column at HuffPo has sparked some interesting debate and discussion, at HuffPo, on Twitter and in the blogosphere. Some Twitterers, apparently concerned I was questioning the value of publishers (I love publishers BTW!), created a special Twitter hashtag of #publishersmatter and a spirited debate ensued (click the link to view the thread). Kate Eltham, a writer out of Brisbane, Australia, and the CEO of the Queensland Writer's Centre, contributed to the discussion with an intelligent response on her blog, Alphabet Soup.

Stephen King photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinguino/ / CC BY 2.0

Self-Publishing Book Expo November 7

November 7 in New York is the first annual Self-Publishing Book Expo.

I'm presenting a session titled, The Rise of Ebooks. My presentation will review the past, present and future of ebooks, and provide attendees actionable advice on how to publish, promote and sell their books. Stop by and say hi!

If you live near New York and you're either already self publishing, or considering self publishing, you'll get a lot of out of this conference.

The conference is packed with several other great looking sessions and panel presentations covering publishing, book distribution, book publicity and social media marketing. Some of the speakers on the other sessions include Bob Young of Lulu, Janet McDonald of Ingram, Brent Sampson of Outskirts Press, Andy Weissberg of Bowker, and publishing consultant Laura Dawson who also runs Bloggapedia. See the complete list of speakers and sessions here.

The event will be held 9:30am to 5pm, Saturday, November 7 at the Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers at 811 Seventh Avenue, at the corner of 53rd Street. A mere $30 gets you in to the exhibits and session presentations. If you're an indie author and you want to show off your book with your own table in the exhibit hall, the cost is $325. Visit the Self-Publishing Book Expo web site for more information.

Why Ebooks are Hot

The subject of my second column at Huffington Post, clocking in at a healthy 1,200 words, is "Why Ebooks are Hot and Getting Hotter."

For those of you who want an abbreviated version (with a few new details thrown in), here are my top ten reasons:

1. Screen reading now rivals paper - Screens now offer a reading experience almost as good as paper. For some readers, especially those with vision impairments (like all of us over age 40!), screen-reading is often better than paper.

2. Proliferation of multiple high-quality e-reading devices - There are numerous killer e-reading devices, and odds are you're already holding one - your cell phone. Or, you're reading through one - your computer. More cool new e-reading devices and apps announced every month.

3. Oprah Winfrey - Oprah Winfrey sung her praises for the Kindle one year ago and set the ebook market on fire.

4. Early adopters are the new evangelists - Ten years ago, ebooks flopped due to high prices, limited content, poor screens and DRM complexity. Most early adopters were unimpressed. What a difference a decade makes. Today, most people who try an ebook have a "WOW" experience, and go on to evangelize ebooks to their friends.

5. Greater content selection - Hundreds of thousands of ebooks are available today, and many of them are free. Within a few years, it's likely nearly every book known to mankind will be digitized and accessible at a click.

6. Free books are gateway drug - Someone give Michael Hart a Nobel Peace price for creating Project Gutenberg, the non-profit, all-volunteer organization he founded in 1971 to distribute out-of-copyright works as electronic books. While it's difficult to name any single person as the father of e-books, it's fair to say Michael Hart shares DNA with the common ebook.

7. Portable library in the cloud - Books are moving from physical repositories (personal libraries, public libraries, book stores) to virtual repositories (personal online libraries, online public libraries, free online repositories, and online bookstores), and the reading world will be all the better for it. I still love my print books though.

8. The slush pile, digitally liberated - Indie authors are embracing ebooks in a big way. Why wait months or years for your book to be published in print when you can publish now on Smashwords in seconds? Like a giant slush pile of digitally liberated books, thousands of new titles - many born digital - are coming online each year. They comprise gems of undiscovered brilliance alongside works that might make your eyes bleed. Publishers are disintermediated as exclusive gatekeepers, the authors control their own destinies, and the readers decide what books go on to become big hits. Word-of-mouth meets viral social networking, and book marketing will never be the same.

9. Prices dropping - In my last HuffPo column, I argued Why We Need $4.00 Books. Response was generally favorable, though a few pundits thought I was nuts. This morning, I stumbled across this post from my buddy JA Konrath, who makes a strong case for why authors can earn more money self-pubbing low-priced ebooks as opposed to selling ebooks at the higher prices advocated by traditional publishers. Considering I've been preaching the concept of low priced ebooks = greater author profit for 18 months, I'm pleased Joe has proven the concept with real world experience. Check out his post.

10. Impulse buying - Ebooks are super-easy to sample and purchase in bulk. Some of the early data I've seen indicates ebooks readers buy more books. Very exciting. If anyone out there can point me to real data (supporting or contradictory - I want the truth!), let me know and I'll update this post.

If all of the above interests you, then my longer column over at HuffPo might interest you. Check it out, tweet it, share it and tell a friend.

Think 10 reasons aren't enough? Did I miss anything? Feel free to add a #11, #12, etc. below in the comment field.

Smashwords Billion Word March

We just hit 150 million words of original indie ebooks published at Smashwords, up 50 percent from only seven weeks ago.

I believe in big goals, so here's crazy one: Come join with Smashwords as we strive to reach one billion words by the end of 2010.

It took us 17 months to get where we're at today. Can we grow 700 percent in 15 months? Sure, why not, let's go for it.

As Smashwords grows, it opens up exciting new opportunities for our authors and publishers to connect with readers around the globe.

Please encourage every author and publisher you know to upload their books to Smashwords. We offer free, easy and instant ebook publishing, and free distribution to major online retailers. No hidden fees or packages to buy. 85 percent net back to the author or publisher.

To learn how to make your books available to a worldwide audience in minutes, visit this link for How to Publish at Smashwords.

Update - November 3, 2009: We hit 200 million words today, up 33% in less than one month.

Update - January 7, 2010: We hit 315 million words today, up 57% in two months. Only 685 million words to go.

Update - April 14, 2010: We hit 500 million, halfway there!

Update - June 4, 2010: We hit 600 million

Update - September 10, 2010: We hit 872 million. Wow. Over a quarter billion words in three months, almost 100 million per month.

Update - October 23, 2010: Goal reached ahead of schedule!!! See the blog post here.

Update - December 27, 2010: With five days to go in the year, we hit exactly 1.25 billion words at about 1:20 Pacific time today.

Time for the $4.00 ebook?

The Huffington Post launched a new books section today, and I'm one of their new bloggers. For my debut column, I challenge publishers to offer $4.00 ebooks.

No, I'm not suggesting we destroy the livelihoods of publishers and authors. Instead, I want to help save publishing from its slow downhill march to irrelevance as more and more readers abandon books in favor of lower cost forms of information and entertainment.

Books today are too expensive for the vast majority of the world's literate consumers. Imagine how much smaller the book market would be today if books were only offered in hard cover? We need lower cost formats, now.

I don't argue that all books should be priced at $4.00. The new price point would be for ebooks only, and only for a subsection of a publisher's catalog. For example, wouldn't it make sense to resurrect a publisher's out of print backlist via $4.00 ebooks?

While I'm sure some people will think I'm smoking opium to suggest such a low price point, my proposal isn't really that outrageous. Book prices are already dropping, and authors are helping to drive the drop. At Smashwords, we already have hundreds of authors who set the price of their books at zero. Don't quote me on this, but the last time I checked, about 20 percent percent of our titles were priced at free yet they accounted for over 80 percent of our downloads.

Authors and publishers should consider creating new lower cost formats for their books, just as trade paperbacks and mass market paperbacks are lower cost alternatives to the old hard cover book.

Since ebooks cost so little to produce, print and distribute, the format is ideally suited to the $4.00 book. For authors who sell a $4.00 book at Smashwords, they still net $3.05, or about eight times more than the average 5 percent royalty on a mass market paperback.

If we don't offer the consumer what they want, publishing is in for a world of hurt. The challenge is to learn how to balance what the consumer wants against the rights of authors, publishers and booksellers who deserve fair compensation for bringing us these books.

Read the column at Huffington Post.