Weekly Writers: Hybrid Authors
One day we will all be hybrids
Here’s the Weekly Writers Monday post. Thanks to my paid subscribers, today’s post is open to everyone.
Hybrid Authors
This isn’t a term for some kind of genetically-modified writer from one of my space opera novels. It is simply an author who uses both traditional publishing and independent author-publishing as appropriate. A hybrid approach that crosses over both systems. It’s worth noting that the hybrid approach is increasingly common, due to the way it can represent the best of both worlds.
Maybe the author has some works distributed via one system and some by another; or the works were in one category and changed to the other. An example of the latter would be the bestselling hits The Martian (Andy Weir), and Wool (Hugh Howey). Both began life as books published by the authors; the books were such huge successes that traditional publishers then came begging for the rights to distribute them. Andy Weir’s The Martian went on to be adapted for the 2015 film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Matt Damon. And apparently Hugh Howey’s Silo series (where Wool was the first book) led to Howey signing a print-only deal for around $500,000 with Simon & Schuster, while Howey retained full rights to continue distributing the ebooks himself. They are both great examples of the benefits of the author being in control of how they licence their work.
It can go the other way: one of my friends is a very well-respected traditionally-published author of many great books. Some of them are now out of print and the rights have reverted to her. The titles were doing nothing, unavailable to readers and providing no income. She decided to create digital files of the texts, get them edited, design new covers, and publish them again herself. I gave her advice on all those steps. Her other books remained distributed by traditional publishers. The end result is a win-win situation for everyone. She was especially pleased at regaining control over the works, since she had really disliked some of the covers her publisher had chosen, but she had been forced to accept them due to her contract stating the publisher had final say.
The key point of the hybrid approach is that you adopt the route to market that is best for the project and your own skillset.
Brandon Sanderson has a number of useful FAQs on his website, including one on hybrid approaches, where he answers the question “Should I self publish ebooks or try for a New York publisher?”:
“I would not abandon either model. Self-publishing has proved itself so viable recently that if I were a new writer, I would be looking at doing both at the same time. Maybe taking the longer, more epic-style books to New York and doing the faster-paced, more thriller-style books online and seeing what works for you best. So the expansion of the ebook market gives you more places to go.”
Although he is well-known as a traditionally published author, he has also released some books himself via Kickstarters where his contract allowed. His most recent Kickstarter raised a truly record-breaking $41 million, from over 185,000 backers. All to self-publish four new books. I’ll discuss crowdfunding in a later post.
Brandon talked about using different types of publishing for different genres, or via different routes to market. Sometimes it is simpler than that, and relates to formats. An independent author can publish an ebook with ease, and receive far greater royalties than a trade-publish author. But other formats may have cost implications, or perhaps the connections with bookshops and distribution channels a trade publisher commands could be advantageous. That’s why some independent authors choose to release ebooks and special editions themselves, but would consider using a trade publisher for printed editions, audiobooks, and translations, just licensing the rights for those. The trade publisher becomes just another business partner when it is mutually beneficial.
Last week’s post was on Anti-indie Prejudices, for paid subscribers only. Next time I’d like to talk about licensing rights and a few things about contracts. That will also only be for paid subscribers.
Until then, have a lovely week!
Karl