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First is the role computers play in destroying midlist authors. Author Wayne Prentice published a few books but while they were well-received, the sales kept dwindling and so did the advances. Then the publisher dropped him and no one else would touch him.
As Wayne explains it to famous author Bryce Proctorr, the biggest problem was the computers. They would see his previous book sold 30,000 copies with 5,000 returns, so the next time the computers for the wholesalers would order only 23,000 books. And so on and so on with diminishing returns until the publisher decided he wasn't going to make them money and dropped him.
The secondary problem: marketing. Marketing teams for publishers only have time and enthusiasm for winners. If your books are seeming to sell less and less, they'll stop marketing you as much. Where for the first book they had him on tour and on TV and stuff, by the third or fourth book he was on his own. I can tell you from my limited experience that when your publisher doesn't help you market the book, it's a real tough sell.
Wayne comes up with a solution of sorts: he starts using pseudonyms. Usually you tell the publisher, but Wayne only told his agent. So to the publisher, wholesalers, and bookstores--and their computers--it's a whole new author publishing his first book. Thus the cycle begins again!
Except the problem is it's hard to do marketing if you're not who you claim to be. You can't really go on tour or on TV and so on. So the results probably won't be as good and thus with diminishing returns after a year or so he has to create another name and do it all again.
That's something I probably should do with my books. I mean I've been Eric Filler for 8 years now; it's probably time to try a different name. But then I have to set up new author pages and a new newsletter and do I just drop Eric Filler and start the new name? Or do I kind of wean people off Filler books by doing them less frequently? But at least for a while I'd have to do books under two names...you see the problems there.
Anyway, while this book was fiction, Westlake published books under various names from the late 50s until after his death in 2008, so I tend to think these parts were not really fiction, but something he knew about from first- or second-hand experience.
And I'm sure that in the 22 years since this book was published, things have only gotten worse for midlist authors. Amazon's growing dominance, ebooks, self-publishing, and so on have probably only made it harder for midlisters to keep from getting canceled.
Something else to consider is the book you're reading that seems like it's written by some first-time author could actually be an experienced midlister in disguise. How often does that happen? I don't really know. Is there even a way to find out other than doing an elaborate poll of authors who may or may not tell the truth?
Anyone want to chime in?
1 comment:
That's a unique take and it adds yet another layer to the hustle culture that authors must jump through in order to just sell a product (read as "their writing"). The only thing that's missing here is legitimately, readership is on a decline in general. My friend (who is a university professor in the liberal arts) has said to me, "Mike, we are the last generation that reads." It's a bit dark, but I think that there is definitely a big shift going on in the world with regard to writing and expecting to be paid for it. I try to encourage anyone who is young that expresses a joy in writing to try and find something else to make money, because I don't think real mid-list authors stand a chance against a.i.
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