Friday at 4 p.m. London time, 11 a.m. New York time, join us for a conversation on Twitter, hashtagged #FutureChat – we’d love to have you with us.
This is the author Steven Pressfield in his podcast interview (with transcription) this week with author Joanna Penn:
“Hachette was the original publisher of The War of Art, and I would get 35 cents a copy, that’s all, on a book that was selling for $12.95. And now I get $3.50 a copy, so ten times as much, publishing it under Black Irish [Pressfield’s self-publishing imprint]. So, there’s a lot to be said for that. You only have to sell one-tenth as many books to make the same amount of money.”
Pressfield’s comment on his experience with one of his books — first published traditionally and then self-published – isn’t the main focus of the interview, nor do he and Penn dwell on the point.
In fact, Pressfield makes it clear that he’s gladly publishing his new book, The Lion’s Gate, with Sentinel, a Penguin imprint: “That had to be brought out by a mainstream publisher,” he tells Penn. “It was too big a book, and it needed the push that a publisher could put behind it.” And he stresses that without being first established by traditional publishing, his self-published success wouldn’t be what it is.
This is the kind of nuanced conversation we could use more of in publishing. We’re too eager to reach for one-size-fits-all solutions and advice. It’s great when Pressfield calls decisions about traditional vs. self-publishing “a tough question.” And I hope you’ll let his frankness prompt you to come along for a #FutureChat discussion about how frequently publishing’s issues seem to be played, unnecessarily, as more clear cut than they are.
By Porter Anderson | @Porter_Anderson
The FutureBook: Giving Voice to Innovation: Add Yours in Our #FutureChat
Read the full post at: The Bookseller’s The FutureBook