Sasha’s posts about choices from a couple of weeks ago (here and here) really struck a chord with me, because I think she’s exactly right. We do control more than the story, and we do have choices when it comes to our careers. This is why it’s important to actually have a plan for your career. What would you like your career to look like? Whose career would you like to emulate? How do you do that?
Our purpose here at the blog is to talk about some of the gritty realities of working as a writer. One of those realities is the ability to say, “No,” and to walk away from a deal. When the deal benefits someone else instead of you, the writer, you have to be able to walk away.
I’ve been sitting on this news since last July, because I wanted to wait until the situation progressed a little farther and I saw what kind of fallout there was going to be. This is really the first place I’ve talked about this in any detail. Okay, here it goes.
I left my publisher. When it came time to negotiate a new contract for more Kitty novels with Grand Central last summer, we couldn’t come to an agreement that we were all happy with. When Grand Central said, essentially, “Take it or leave it,” I left. And it was as horrible as any breakup. All the metaphors I come up with are failed relationship metaphors: All those years we spent together, all the good times and feelings, all wasted now, overshadowed by fighting and ill will. Was it something I did? Am I in the wrong here? And the thought, in hindsight, that maybe I should have left a long time ago.
It’s been very strange, because while lots of us have heard of situations where a publisher drops an author, it’s relatively rare for the author of a successful series to walk away from a deal. Or for a publisher to let that successful series go. I haven’t had much of a model to go on, or much of anyone to ask for advice. When I tell this story to hardened pros, the response I’ve been getting is, “What? Are they crazy?”
The point of contention here wasn’t money — it was the non-competition clause, which we had argued over before. I have two stand-alone contemporary fantasy novels I wrote when I was waiting to see if the Kitty series would sell, and I’ve been trying to get those out there. Grand Central rejected them. I really wanted to sell them elsewhere. Grand Central really didn’t want me doing anything under my own name but the Kitty novels. I really wanted to do them under my own name. So, it was an issue of control. I wanted to be able to diversify my career, publish other novels, expand my audience, and so forth. My agent and I offered compromises, which Grand Central did not accept.
Walking away was not the hardest thing I’ve ever done because Grand Central really didn’t give me a choice. They had one vision for what my career should be, and I had a different vision. I had to go with my gut on that one. For them I was just another author, one of many. But I only have one me — I am my only business. I have to look out for my own interests, which I felt Grand Central was not doing in this case. What was hard was leaving my editor, who I really like and who really knows her stuff, and leaving a publisher that did a good job with the books. But I have more stories to tell. My name is worth something right now and I have to strike while the iron is hot.
Why did I wait to tell the news instead of spilling it all over the blogosphere while it was happening? Lots of reasons (besides the fact that I’m pretty private anyway).
1. Grand Central still had Kitty’s House of Horrors and my true nightmare scenario was that they would somehow delay its release. Now, this would have benefited no one, least of all Grand Central. But remember, I was thinking worse case scenarios here. Happily, that didn’t happen. The book came out on schedule and hit the NYT list at #16. And now my contractual obligations are fulfilled and I can move on.
2. I had to sell the series to a new publisher. I’m one of those writers who is superstitious about talking up deals before they’re finalized. I really didn’t want to air any laundry (much less dirty laundry) before I found a new publisher and established a working relationship with a new editor. Happily, this is now accomplished. I turned in Kitty #8, Kitty Goes to War, the first novel on the new contract, in November, and it’ll be due out in July.
3. Emotion. Emotions ran really high there for a little while. The worst thing I could have done was blog while I was in that state of confusion, uncertainty, helplessness, bafflement, etc. Especially before I knew how it was all going to work out. (This is also why I think blogging about relationships is a bad idea…)
The Kitty series is now with Tor Books. How do I feel about having a new home? Well. Pretty good, actually. Tor also bought those two stand-alone novels. When I pitched the series, I included — and Tor accepted — the Kitty short story collection, gathering all the Kitty and related short stories that have appeared in various publications over the years as well as an original novella. This is something I’ve been wanting to do for years, and something Grand Central wouldn’t do at all. So, I’m hopeful that I’m now with a publisher that is interested in my whole career rather than one specific series and nothing else.
There’s still uncertainty. Maybe Grand Central was right, and me branching out and publishing non-Kitty books will tank my career (that’s what I kept getting told, anyway). Another issue: Grand Central still has the rights to the backlist, books 1 through 7, as long as they keep them in print. Which should be a no-brainer — it’s minimal effort income at this point. But who knows. But whatever happens, at least I’m following the path I think is right rather than knuckling under.
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Wow. Brave woman, Carrie. Kudos for taking the risk. Sounds like it was well worth it. I’m not sure what I’d have done in a situation like that. Odds are, I’d have used a psuedonym for the other books. Then again, I’m on my debut book and not established. Mentality is likely different further along in the career. I also have a fantasy novel that I will someday publish, even if it’s purely digital. It’s a far cry different than the paranormal suspense I’m coming out with, but my pub doesn’t do straight up fantasy. I’ll have to check my competition clause about that. I’m curious now.
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Carrie,
By demonstrating that writers have options–and will exercise them–you bumped up the value of your place in the market, and improved the real estate of your neighbors, current and future, as well.
As a guy who sincerely hopes to be one of those future neighbors, thanks for that. And thank you for the insight.
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As a reader and a new fan, I’ll follow the book to whichever publisher you go to next.
On the career front, I had to make a similar choice a few years ago. It’s not easy to walk away from a situtation you know isn’t good for you, but everyone advises you to stay in that situation. For what it’s worth, I think you did the right thing and I applaud your bravery.
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Tough situation, but I’m so glad you chose to look after yourself. I can’t wait for the short story collection, and anything else you put out there. Diversifying is not a bad thing, and your courage and professionalism are inspirational.
Thanks for sharing.
I also love the Kitty books, and will follow them where ever you take them. I think
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Wow Carrie, thanks for sharing. That was very brave of you and I have to admire your control at having kept this all in until now. Very professional. A lot of authors could take note of that.
I love the Kitty books and will follow them wherever they go. It’s your writing not the publisher that makes a difference to me.
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Good for you, and hooray for a new home for Kitty.
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Thanks for this post – it’s really useful to know this kind of detail about issues I haven’t yet encountered.
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Thanks for the comments, everyone.
We get so used to thinking that publishers, and even agents, hold all the cards and have all the power, since they’re the “gatekeepers.” But we as writers have to remember that we do have the power to say “No” and make choices.
I had considered using a pseudonym early on. Then it became apparent that my name was actually worth something, and it was worthwhile to pursue that.
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WOW Carrie good move! That was pretty brave, but I think it will pay off. No one should force you to pigeonhole yourself. I admit I have never heard of Grand Central, but I know Tor is a huge publisher of Fantasy books. A lot of my favorite authors are published by them! Great move!!!
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Wow. Rough decision. However, by the same token GC expecting you to start another series under a different name when you went through a lot of trouble building on Carrie Vaughn … that’s unreasonable.
Personally, just to let GC and other publishers know, if I like an author, I will continue buying her/him no matter what publisher they’re with. If you’d kept your Kitty books with GC and then published the other series with another publisher, I would have purchased both. Because I like your work … not because Publisher A if better than Publisher B. Does that make sense?
Congrats on landing with Tor. I can see the next book in the series. “Kitty has a New Home”.
Good luck.
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Goodness. Sounds like you had some hard choices to make and then decided to do what was best for you–which you well should since it’s your career. Thanks for the advice…I’ve been hearing a lot lately about making choices about agents, book deals and now your perspective about leaving a publisher if necessary. Needless to say, it’s all good advice and I’m very thankful that you’re sharing.
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Bravo! Bravo!
You reinforced a new Motto that I have on my desk, “We decide what to do with the time we are given.” I’ve been trying to use that every day.
Congrats!
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I applaud you on making a tough decision! It’s GC’s loss because I will do like so many others here: follow YOUR work (Kitty or otherwise) wherever that may lead because of the quality of your stories.
I have friends who are also authors so I know the importance of supporting a writer’s work by buying from a Big Name Bookseller. Your work is so consistently good that I’ve been known to buy more than one copy so I can share with my friends or my local library. I’d go the extra mile & pre-order the Kitty books to give your sales an added boost, but then I’d actually have to wait for the release date + shipping time.
Much better to start haunting the bookstores a week or so in advance so I can grab it & start reading ASAP!!!
Thanks for sharing such a difficult decision. If you’ll keep writing, I’ll keep buying! Pardon me while I go pre-order Discord’s Apple before I forget!
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I’m a big believer in branching out, and in having some control, so I can understand why you made the decision, although man, that would be a hard one.
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Nice job on handling a tough situation with such class! Good luck at your new home.
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Good for you, Carrie. I applaud your courage and belief in your work and self. I love Kitty, and will follow you anywhere you take her. Looking forward to the non-Kitty books too!
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Following your passion can be scary under the best of circumstances. It seems almost impossible when everyone around you is screaming “have you lost your mind.” Thanks for showing the rest of us how to walk bravely into the unknown!
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Thanks for writing about this, Carrie. I’m sure it will become a reference point for me.
I was thinking, as I read about the failed relationship metaphors, that as painful as it was to go through the breakup of my previous marriage, I would choose to go through it again in order to get to where I am today: happily married and fully appreciated.
Thanks again!
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It still surprises me when Authors feel that they have to stay with one house for everything forever- particularly if you have a series. A series is a franchise and like most major film/media/brand franchises you should take your work(s) where you see the most benefit. Congratualtions to you!
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Carrie,
Can’t even imagine how difficult the last year has been for you. Really appreciate your honest, professional information that will help many of us down the line.
Thanks!
Joan
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I’m not only a fan, but have also been in the book business for 19 years. I generally have little to do with authors, because I was an executive on the financial side, and have spent the last few years consulting and teaching, but I have heard a lot of hashing over of negotiations from the publishers’ side.
Losing a successful author over disagreements about how best to publish his or her body of work does happen more often than you might think. It’s never easy for either party, although it may be somewhat less emotional for the publisher.
I congratulate you on sticking to your plan, and for making things happen the way you want them to happen. It sounds as if you may have a better plan than GC did. For purely selfish reasons, I hope that your career continues to grow.
On the other hand, I have seen authors whose plans weren’t well-thought through make some truly bad calls. If anyone out there is in this situation, and has read this far down the comment stream, let me give you some free advice. It’s worth every penny you’re paying for it!
Don’t just think about the work, the literary merits of the work, or about how you would like the work to be seen. In developing a publishing plan for your work, you must first, and foremost, think about the reader. What does your reader want from your books? How can you best deliver that? Where are your readers to be found in large, dense clusters, and how can you let those readers (and potential readers) know that there’s more of your work to be found.
If you’re bringing out work of different types, will any of it confuse the market? Will some readers not find what they want in it, and be turned off of trying your next book? If so, you’ll need to work on a strategy for being clear about what each book is, and what it offers, so that they don’t feel betrayed.
You are the primary force managing the presentation of your work to the world. Obviously, this has to be done in concert with your publishers’ marketing department, and after careful consideration of their advice, but you need to be on top of the issues. If they’re making decisions that make no sense to you, ASK them to explain. 99% of all book people I’ve ever known are thrilled to do so, and to share what we’ve all learned about the world we love. Who knows, they might be looking at something you don’t have access to, and it might change your point of view.
Now, I’ll get off my soapbox. I’m sure Ms. Vaughn already knew all of the above, and hope she’ll pardon me for horning in here.
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Thank you for this perspective! It’s much appreciated!
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You’re more than welcome. Like I said, I’m a fan.
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Seems like the right move. Publishers seem to be offering a worse and worse proposition to writers these days, in terms of loss of control, loss of rights, loss of options and an increasing emphasis on writers themselves carrying most of the burden of marketing. Best of luck with your new direction.
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Thanks again for the comments, and the support!
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Thanks for sharing your story. It sure sounds to me like you made the right decision. Your name is well worth fighting for. As others have said, I’ll be happy to follow your series whoever publishes it. And I look forward to seeing what else you have to offer!
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Carrie, as an editor for a small trade press, I applaud your decision. I’m still shaking my head at Grand Central for their lack of foresight and for killing a golden goose. The logic eludes me. Best of luck to you.
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What Grand Central wanted is crazy. I can’t see a new fantasy series under your name cannibalizing readers from your Kitty series. You should get (a) additional new fans and (b) some Kitty fans reading your new series. Not all Kitty fans would, of course, but it’s highly unlikely they would drop Kitty in response. Readers don’t work that way; it’s not like selling Coke and Diet Coke.
I’m glad you found a new and less crazy home.
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Wow! As a fan of Kitty and you, all I can do is say thank heavens you kept a level head and looked after yourself. I am really pleased the stories will continue! But more importantly, am looking forward to reading all your other offerings because, yannow, you have tremendous word skills!
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Good luck! Breaking up with an employer, especially a publisher you have been with for years is hard.
Wishing you the best!
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Good luck with Tor, it sounds like a better fit for you if you’ve been fighting with GC for this long anyway. I can kind of see their point in some authors’ cases though. I know a certain author who writes both YA and erotica both under her own name and my daughter picked up the wrong book at a bookstore once. (The error slipped by her, her uncle, and the clerk who rang them up.) Needless to say I was surprised when she showed me what books she got for her birthday. There are times when it’s appropriate for a publisher to protect a series/author’s name, I just can’t see this being one of them from the information at hand.
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In this case, the stand-alone books were also contemporary fantasy, with the kind of female protagonists I thought would appeal the readers of the Kitty series as well.
Heck, my YA books are even contemporary fantasy…
I believed I could expand my audience, not confuse them. GC thought otherwise.
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Or, they didn’t see it being worthwhile to bother since a) it might not work or b) if it did you’d actually have the leverage of two series when negotiating your next round of advances, etc.
Warner was sort of notorious for this sort of thing even back before it was all gobbled up by Hachette.
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Yeah, so I gather. There are a few people I told this story to who weren’t at all surprised.
I can totally see them thinking it wasn’t worthwhile. And that’s fine. Even more reason for me to go somewhere else.
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Been there, done that…scary as all get-out in the period between leaving and getting another contract, but in the long run, definitely best for me. The right publisher at one time in your life may not be the right one later on.
Congratulations to you.
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Good for you, Carrie!
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Carrie, I do applaud you for doing what you think is right. But, as someone who works in publishing, I feel it’s my duty to try and defend the other side — as several comments here seem to illustrate, there is often a misguided conviction in this industry that the big, mean publishers and agents are cannibalizing the writers, that they disrespect them and think of them only as means to their own financial ends. But I have yet to find an editor/publisher who made a decision without weighing the welfare and wishes of the author equally with their own.
Your series has earned Grand Central a lot of money — yes, that’s true. You start receiving royalty payments once you’ve “earned out” your advance; that is, when the sales of your books equal the amount you were initially paid in your contract. Then, you receive royalties — but Grand Central has at that point only broken even on your advance.
Before they can make any profit, they still have to recoup the considerable initial production costs, including marketing and publicity campaigns, as well as compensate those behind the scenes who made the book’s success possible: designers, managing editors, sales reps, and contract staff, to name a few.
To understand the business model of publishing, you have to think of things like high-earning series as brands. Grand Central made the large initial investment because they believed they could build a significant and sustainable brand. To ensure continued profits for both them AND you, it is their responsibility to do what they think best for continued success.
It’s clear they thought publishing these other books would dilute your “brand” and possibly confuse readers, thereby negatively affecting sales and devaluing you and work. You have every right not to agree with them, but they are doing what they think is in everyone’s best interest — if they suffer, so will you. What you call their “take it or leave it” attitude is simply them protecting their interests in a manner that is justified. I’m glad you’ve found a new home, but I think it is unfair to malign them in quite this manner.
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We’ve just heard GC side. And for the record, I fail to see the maligning by this author.
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Thanks for your input.
I don’t think I’ve been unfair. I worked hard not to do any maligning when I wrote this post. (Which was part of why I waited for 8 months to say anything about it.)
I’m aware that they were protecting their interests. But I’m not convinced they were protecting *my* interests. They made that very argument, that publishing anything else would dilute my brand. I didn’t agree with them. Neither did my agent, or Tor Books (which picked up both the series and my stand alone books).
Trust me, the decision was not made lightly at all. It took months to reach. I did not write this post with the intention of painting GC as a bad guy. As I said in the post, they had one vision for what my career should look like. I had a different one. End of story. In about a year we’ll get to see which of us is right.
I suppose some people would think I owed GC a great deal of loyalty for the work they did on the series. But… writers tend to get these deeply ingrained victim complexes that encourage us to simply defer to the authority of our agents and publishers. But we don’t have to, really. We have to look out for ourselves because no one else will do it for us. One thing the bulk of these comments have demonstrated is that this message is much needed and appreciated.
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I actually do hope you are a publishing insider.
Earning out the advance was done with what 7.5% or 10% of the retail MSRP? With standard 50% discounts off MSRP to the trade, and 10% for Carrie the other 40% was there to pay for the editor, art, copyediting, marketing, printing etc. If GC had 4x times the money in their hands as when the advance earned out, if they couldn’t make a profit off that then they have some serious problems.
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With all due respect, Mr/Ms Insider (and I don’t mean that part sarcastically — I just don’t know how else to address you), your statement of the publisher’s position simply does not respond to what Ms Vaughn said.
As Ms Vaughn specifically stated, it wasn’t about the money; it wasn’t about problems with the editor; it wasn’t about cover designs. It was about control of a trademark that, legally and economically and above all ethically, belongs to Ms Vaughn: her name. Not her publisher’s imprint; not even the characters (which, one should note, were published by others than GC both before the novels and after the novels began appearing). Further, given the gross incompetence pervasive in the publishing industry regarding brands and trademarks, simply airing this as a concern is insufficient.
* GC owns its own brands and trademarks, which are generally limited to “Grand Central Publishing” and the exact cover designs and titles that it has already published.
* Ms Vaughn (or, rather, Carrie Vaughn LLC — just look at the copyright page of Kitty’s House of Horrors) owns her own brands and trademark, which include her name, the characters she develops, future (unpublished) titles dependent upon a master mark (in this case, Kitty), etc.
* It was unethical, and legally and economically unsupportable, for GC to insist that by the fact of publishing some works under the “Carrie L. Vaughn” mark, GC therefore had perpetual exclusive right to that mark, and to make that insistance a take-it-or-leave-it element of a proposed publishing contract.
Frankly, Ms/Mr Publishing Insider, the remarks you’ve made make economic and legal sense only for employees of the publisher — not for freelancers. That said, I know full well that an awful lot of people in publishing honestly believe that authors are nothing more than economic assets to publishers… sort of like outsourcing tech support to South Asia. It’s more a matter of blindness and reliance on tradition and paying too much attention to today’s bottom line without paying attention to tomorrow’s than it is of actual malice, but the motivation really doesn’t matter when it’s abusive to the authors.
This also points out that one of the areas in which agents can be most helpful to authors is in dealing with the nonfinancial aspects of a publishing relationship.
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1) The publisher starts making money considerably before the author earns out; otherwise publishing would be an even more risky business than it already is. If she earned out her advance (and as I understand it, she’s gotten royalties, so she MORE than earned out), they’ve made good money.
2) The publisher is free to think something will dilute their brand and whine about it. They are not free to tell the author they can’t publish elsewhere, if they’re not willing to pony up the cash themselves. If they can’t afford the hush money, they don’t get to hush you, so to speak. I’m an author; I offer everything I write to my current publisher (Baen) first, but if they pass on it, they do not, will not, and CANNOT have anything to say about whether I sell it elsewhere, or what name I use, or anything else (well, if I was publishing under a “house name”, like “Carolyn Keene”, etc., they can tell me not to use it, but they can’t tell me not to publish under MY name). No pay, no play.
Under NO circumstances does the publisher get to give directives to an author unless the publisher wants to pay for the privilege.
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The publisher may start earning money before the advance earns out, but that’s not always true.
It varies considerably with the initial investment that the publisher puts into a book, and with the size of the advance. Almost all trade and mass market publishers will offer an advance that is a sizable chunk of the expected earnings for the title, but that’s not even universal within that segment let alone across market segments.
And think a tad about the magnitude of certain expenses: cover design may only run to a couple of thousand dollars, but editing can be much higher. As can marketing, if this is expected to be a big book.
More: think about the cost of capital. A publisher must pay all of the production costs a minimum of 3 and more usually 6 to 9 months before they get any payments from the bookstores. Bookstores terms of trade ask for a long payment term, after all, and staff, freelancers, and printers don’t.
And the list goes on and on. The really poor financial realities of running a book publishing company are the reason why so many conglomerates end up divesting their book publishing purchases. They buy, thinking that they can do better than the obviously incompetent former managers, and then discover differently. Over and over. It’s really quite amusing after a decade or two of watching the pattern repeat itself.
All of which doesn’t really matter in any discussion Ms. Vaughn’s post. But I do hate to see mis-information proliferate.
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I’d like to object to one assumption that pervades this post, best revealed here:
The dubious assumption is that this is solely a problem for the publisher. The author’s cost of capital — actual creation cost of the intellectual property to be published, opportunity cost of other activities that are not engaged in because the author is writing, and a number of other aspects of capital formation — is considerably higher than the publisher’s, if only because the publisher’s capital costs are for financial capital only and the publisher has a fair number of alternative sources of that financial capital.
I don’t deny that publishers have capital costs. I only deny that only the publisher has capital costs, or even that the publisher’s capital costs are the most burdensome. One of the problems with valuation of everything in the entertainment industry is the tendency to assign costs only where they are easy to enumerate: The two-decade spending spree from 1978 to 1999 in the popular recorded music segment, without regard to wasting values and development issues, provides an excellent example of the problem. What concerns me the most is that print publishing has followed along in a nine-year trailing lock step with the economic status of popular recorded music for the past eighty years…
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Your series has earned Grand Central a lot of money — yes, that’s true. You start receiving royalty payments once you’ve “earned out” your advance; that is, when the sales of your books equal the amount you were initially paid in your contract. Then, you receive royalties — but Grand Central has at that point only broken even on your advance.
Uh, if GC hasn’t turned a profit on a book before Carrie earns out an advance, then something is wrong with their P&Ls. Most books, especially PBOs, turn a profit for the publisher prior to the author earning out her advance. Publishers have a higher margin than authors have a royalty, after all.
I suspect you are not actually a Publishing Insider or, if you are, not one who deals with P&Ls.
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Correction: GC apostrophe “s”
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Bravo to you for having the courage to stand in your truth and follow your heart! My guess this is only going to escalate your career! Your fans will follow wherever your books are being published!
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For those of you who were reading the Publishing Insider’s comment above, and who wondered just what the publishers’ profits and expenses on a book might look like, I have an old post on my blog that addresses that for a trade hardback. It’s here.
Of course, different types of books have different numbers. For example, a scientific/technical/medical book would pay royalties as a percent of sales after discounts and returns, instead of sales at list price, less returns. So, even if the rates seem the same, the earnings are about half as big. And mass market paperbacks generally require much, much longer print runs, and much more investment in the cover design and illustrations. The list of possible variations is long.
Still, it seemed some of you might be intrigued to know how things work out on the other side of the fence.
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See also Lynn’s posts from last year about The Reality of a New York Times Bestseller, discussing her royalty statements.
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@Joanne T,
I’m pretty sure her fans will follow her, too. Why? Because very few of us have any idea who published the book we’re reading. Brand identity inheres in the author or the series, rather than the publisher with only rare exceptions.
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I’m thinking of doing the very same thing.
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Good luck!
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Carrie~
I just want to say I am glad you and Kitty (and the new books) found a new home, else I don’t know what I’d have done. I’m also glad for you you got to keep the same artist for the cover of the next Kitty book. And I’m delighted that you have more books coming out this year. Voices of Dragons’ on my TBR list, as will Discord’s Apple be as soon as June shows its nose. And the Kitty short stories/novella antho? I’m already dying to buy it. I’m selfishly glad you made that move, as it means I get to read more of your books.
Cheers,
Christine
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Wow, so very balanced and enlightening. Thank you for sharing your story, and best of luck. You sound like a very smart woman, I’m sure your career will continue to grow.
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“Non-competition clause”?
What are they, nuts?
Publishers don’t get that. My current employer, in a high-tech field, gets to ask that — but he’d be making a poor bet if he thought most people would go along with it as much as he’d like.
In fiction? It is to laugh. A proper publisher recognizes that if THEY aren’t willing to pony up the bucks for the book, the author can, and will, take that book elsewhere. I offer everything I write to Baen first, because they published me first, and barring some incredible disaster, I always will offer them things first.
But once they’ve said “no”, they’ve got no say whatsoever in what I do with it.
Any publisher that DOES think they do NEEDS to have its authors leave. And in droves.
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Congrats, Carrie, on going with your gut.
You did not malign the publisher in any way whatsoever. If the delivered an ultimatum, they have to accept the consequences.
The only people who don’t side with a writer on the issue of controlling the writer’s career are publishers. And sometimes agents. And spouses. And parents. And children. Hmmm…
Well, I’m with you!
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Congrats to you for protecting your brand and writing name trademark. The publisher had no right to ask you of this, just as you have no right to tell the publisher what to do with their brands and trademarks. I thought your post here was very nonjudgmental and level-headed. As you said, having some time away from the event to collect yourself surely helped with that.
I’m glad to hear you found another publisher not only for your series, but also for your stand-alone works. The readers you’ve cultivated with your name-brand will surely follow to the new publishing house and with the two new books hopefully you will gather even more readers. It is GC’s loss that they thought the series and its writer were disposable (and replaceable) over something they really had no right to ask for.
You are completely correct. Only you can take care of you. Only you can be ultimately responsible for your own writing career. Kudos for having not only the strength and fortitude to do so, but to also blog about it here. It’s been interesting to read the comments. I think you’ve given other writers something to think about, keep in mind and incite to have the same bravery.
To A Publishing Insider: There is a big difference between an advance earning out and earning a profit on a book. A HUGE difference. Many books that do not earn out an advance for the author actually do make a profit for the publisher. One does not necessarily equal the other.
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Thanks for saying this first; it’s a considerable understatement. Without going too far into the hairy details, the median break-even point for trade fiction occurs when sales generate 75-79% of the advance in royalty credits when the publisher’s internal accounting is reanalyzed under GAAP standards. For example, copies sold for remainders never get credited to the book under publisher’s-accounting standards, or the contracts; deep-discount sales generate only half royalties, although all of the costs are sunk; and there’s a huge difference between the anticipated marketing costs charged to the book on a cost/sales sheet (aka profit/loss sheet in trade fiction) and the actual, traceable expenditures that would be demanded in a GAAP or tax audit.
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Interesting thread. I’m sure it is true that authors don’t usually voluntarily leave their publishers but I should think when they do it is, as in the case above, it is because of something not agreed between the two.
I am a publisher only in a very small way but last year I published a book for someone, more as a friendly gesture to a good writer who had lost her publisher than anything else. No contract [I am obviously rather naive]. A few weeks ago, when the book was out and available in all markets and I was about to do an extra promotion for it, the author said she was glad we had no contract and was withdrawing the book. It was POD so I had to tell them to print no more. For the life of me I can’t imagine what the lady’s plans are for the book now but, fortunately, my own latest book was well on the way to being ready for printing so I promoted that instead. I shall be very careful who I get mixed up with as a publisher from now on.
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Does she have any idea how bad her writing is? Or how many cliches she fits into this essay? “My name is worth something right now and I have to strike while the iron is hot.”
Nauseating.
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Sean: Do you have any idea — given your personal experience — how many trolls can fit on the head of a pin? Angels I’ve got down already.
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Thanks for writing about this, Carrie. I just had a conversation about the non-competition clause in another author’s contract. It’s something many publishers are adamant about, and when an author only has the one offer for a book or series, it’s hard to turn it down–even though it’s often impossible to live on the one book a year that the publisher wants. I was wary about it when I did three in a row for Penguin, but I survived it.
I know GC published you really well, and I love some of the people there. I also accept Insider’s declaration that they had to do what they believed was right for you and for them. But I wish they’d all drop that clause–if they want to put out an author’s other books, they should have first crack, but if they don’t, they shouldn’t be able to prevent said author from placing them elsewhere.
And your overall point, that we all need to have some sort of career plan for ourselves, is so true.
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“Many publishers” may have such clauses, but I predict — since they are not the ONLY publishers — that soon said publishers will be driven out of business by those who recognize that you can’t tell an author not to compete, if you’re not going to pay them for the privilege.
I’ll take a noncompete clause… if the publisher will sign a “publish everything I write” clause.
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You did the right thing. As a reader who loves your Kitty books, I’m very likely to check out your non-Kitty books. If your name isn’t on them, I’m likely to pass them by unless it’s widely known that the name on those books is really your pseudonym.
Tor has a great rep among readers. I trust what they publish and hope you have a long, successful relationship with them.
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Here via Jay Lake.
Maybe Grand Central was right, and me branching out and publishing non-Kitty books will tank my career (that’s what I kept getting told, anyway).
Wow. That’s funny, because Jay was told by his publisher that branching out would be a good idea so he wouldn’t just be “that clockwork steampunk guy” and some guy named Scalzi wrote a fantasy novel so he wouldn’t just be that Old Man’s War guy.
I think you made a wise decision.
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Yeah, I sort of snarfed when Jay wrote about that.
Just goes to show that even among big publishers there are different philosophies and models.
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Thanks for sharing this info — and for the manner in which you did it.
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I am a *HUGE* fan of your ‘Kitty Norville’ series. I absolutely adore them (P.S. – I love Cormac!)
I consider myself a bit of an Urban Fantasy aficionado; and when I read a book from the genre that I really love, I always go to that authors backlist in the hopes that I’ve found a new favorite ‘automatic-buy’ author for myself. I remember always being a little saddened by the fact that you only had the ‘Kitty’ books to your name.
I cannot tell you how excited I was when ‘Voices of Dragons’ was announced. I pre-ordered my copy (still waiting for my copy from Amazon – damn living in Australia!) and I was absolutely thrilled that not only was it a YA, but about dragons! So far from your Kitty world! And now you have ‘Discord’s Apple’ waiting in the wings.
I think you made the right decision (not that you need some paltry little fan to confirm that for you). But for what it’s worth, anything that has you writing more books is okay by me
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Thanks again, everyone, for the comments.