TBT: Shopping This Weekend? Buy a Book (any book)

It's that time of year - the time where we go crazy for deals. If you're going shopping (either at a brick and mortar or online) don't forget to support your favorite authors.

Enjoy!

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In today’s brave new world of publishing it can be easy to pit indie pub against trad pub in a real, Katniss-vs-The Capital sort of way (can you tell I just saw Mockingjay Pt1? LOL). And although that can be fun, I’m not sure it's entirely accurate.

I think it can be easy to believe Authors, especially those with fancy, trad published books at your local book store (be it big or small) as just another cog in the wheel of big business. After all, they got an advance(maybe), they get royalties (possibly), they have a big 5 house backing them and doing their marketing and publicity….right?

No. Not right. Not all the time, anyway. Not even most of the time.

Authors are a small business of one. Yes, even those who contract with a big 5 publishing house to make their book. Still a business of one.

If the Author chooses to hire an agent (that’s right, I said the author chooses to hire the agent) then great, business of two. It’s the Author’s revenue that supports the Agent (and don’t get me wrong, Agents, from what I can tell, are worth every penny). If the Author chooses to hire an editor in addition to the agent, now you have a business of three. It goes on and on from there.

The author is the creator of the product. Everyone else is contracted by the author to represent, polish, fabricate, sell, or market that product the author created. And more often than not the Author is spending their own money on some or all of these services (marketing, editing, publicity, travel, you name it, they spend on it).

Authors are CEO’s of their own business (and sometimes more than that – sometimes they are CEO, COO, VP of Marketing and Distribution, etc. etc.) The publishers, whether indie or trad, are vendors hired by the Author to produce the book. That’s how I like to think of it anyway.

Somewhere along the way we stopped seeing authors as entrepreneurs and shifted into seeing them as something…else.

Well, not all of us. Chuck Wendig has been calling himself an author/entrepreneur for a good long while. *tips hat to Mr. Wendig* If I had a beard I would scratch it in your honor, good sir.

I say all of this as a reminder that this weekend, after the turkey has been devoured by you and your family, and you’ve pulled yourself out of bed at an unholy hour to go shopping , we shouldn’t forget to support an Author.

Shopping Friday?

Buy a book. Any book.

Shopping Saturday?

Indie pub’d? Great. Buy it.

Trad pub’d from a local bookstore? Still great.

Shopping Monday?

eBook? Awesome. Buy it.

Online bookstore? Still great.


Because with each and every purchase some of that money is flowing back to the author. The small business at the heart of it all.

Can't afford to buy a book? Consider supporting an author another way.

This weekend, get out there and support an Author.


Want more about Author as entrepreneur? Check out these posts:

Supporting Small Business

Self Publishing Truism Bingo by Chuck Wendig


Check The Box: Do You Want To Be Your Own Publisher, Yes Or No? - by Chuck Wendig

Shopping This Weekend? Buy a Book (any book)

In today’s brave new world of publishing it can be easy to pit indie pub against trad pub in a real, Katniss-vs-The Capital sort of way (can you tell I just saw Mockingjay Pt1? LOL). And although that can be fun, I’m not sure it's entirely accurate.

I think it can be easy to believe Authors, especially those with fancy, trad published books at your local book store (be it big or small) as just another cog in the wheel of big business. After all, they got an advance(maybe), they get royalties (possibly), they have a big 5 house backing them and doing their marketing and publicity….right?

No. Not right. Not all the time, anyway. Not even most of the time.

Authors are a small business of one. Yes, even those who contract with a big 5 publishing house to make their book. Still a business of one.

If the Author chooses to hire an agent (that’s right, I said the author chooses to hire the agent) then great, business of two. It’s the Author’s revenue that supports the Agent (and don’t get me wrong, Agents, from what I can tell, are worth every penny). If the Author chooses to hire an editor in addition to the agent, now you have a business of three. It goes on and on from there.

The author is the creator of the product. Everyone else is contracted by the author to represent, polish, fabricate, sell, or market that product the author created. And more often than not the Author is spending their own money on some or all of these services (marketing, editing, publicity, travel, you name it, they spend on it).

Authors are CEO’s of their own business (and sometimes more than that – sometimes they are CEO, COO, VP of Marketing and Distribution, etc. etc.) The publishers, whether indie or trad, are vendors hired by the Author to produce the book. That’s how I like to think of it anyway.

Somewhere along the way we stopped seeing authors as entrepreneurs and shifted into seeing them as something…else.

Well, not all of us. Chuck Wendig has been calling himself an author/entrepreneur for a good long while. *tips hat to Mr. Wendig* If I had a beard I would scratch it in your honor, good sir.

I say all of this as a reminder that this weekend, after the turkey has been devoured by you and your family, and you’ve pulled yourself out of bed at an unholy hour to go shopping , we shouldn’t forget to support an Author.

Shopping Friday?

Buy a book. Any book.

Shopping Saturday?

Indie pub’d? Great. Buy it.

Trad pub’d from a local bookstore? Still great.

Shopping Monday?

eBook? Awesome. Buy it.

Online bookstore? Still great.


Because with each and every purchase some of that money is flowing back to the author. The small business at the heart of it all.

Can't afford to buy a book? Consider supporting an author another way.

This weekend, get out there and support an Author.





Want more about Author as entrepreneur? Check out these posts:

Supporting Small Business

Self Publishing Truism Bingo by Chuck Wendig


Check The Box: Do You Want To Be Your Own Publisher, Yes Or No? - by Chuck Wendig

Supporting Small Business aka your favorite author

Pursuing publishing as a career has made me acutely aware of small businesses and the way they operate.

Because, *cue big reveal* every author is a small business. Just like your local book store or indie coffee shop is a small business. Even your local doctor’s office, accountant's office, or attorney's office. All small businesses.

Recently, a traditionally published author who I love/follow posted a blog about why she can't give away free stuff. It started a bit of a sensation. In this post she revealed her actual advance and other real elements of her contract with a big publishing house. Of course, a few hours after the post went live she was forced to take it down (it apparently violated the non disclosure terms of her contract). I read it while it was live and understood the main objective to be this: Authors aren't rock stars. They don't get bags of money. They don't get tons of support in marketing their book. And they certainly don't get unlimited free copies of their books they can give away for free.

In other words, authors are small businesses.

Even if an author has a book published by a traditional publishing house they are still, first and foremost, in business for themselves. The big 5 publishing company is just their partner. And it definitely doesn’t mean said author is instantly rich and famous.


Small businesses fight daily to stay a float, to feed their families, and to continue providing their awesomeness to the public. If you can, you should support a local or small business. Because your business, no matter how small, makes a difference to them.

It's something of an oddity to think your single purchase makes a difference in our current global economy. Walmart will go on without you but the local coffee house/bookstore/doctor/lawyer/author needs you.

And you should definitely not steal or use pirated materials. I know, you’re thinking, ‘it’s only one download, or ‘it’s really no big deal,’ or even ‘If they didn’t jack their prices so high I could afford it. They’re really forcing me to steal it.’

Stop right there. Pricing is not a conspiracy against you. It’s business. And business is aiming to make a profit. But not all profit is evil. In fact, I’d argue that no profit is evil (but I digress). Profits are what keep your favorite actor working, or your favorite writer writing. Profits are what keep your favorite TV shows on the air and what drives movies to be made.


You wouldn’t work for free, and neither would your favorite small business person (aka author, actor, writer, artist, doctor, lawyer, accountant, etc.)

Everyone wants to be paid for their work. Be apart of the writing/bookselling economy. Support your favorite authors. #shopsmall