In reply to The Rodent.

Probably the best take-away from all this? Creating content now is, and has been, the best investment thing any of us can make. Even if it seems pointless at times. If it’s good…eventually, it will matter that we have it.

In reply to The Rodent.

All true. Fortunately I don’t think it’ll be all that difficult. The traditional publishing houses won’t last long, and Amazon has more in common with them than most think. So at some point individual authors will begin signing up to get a better deal, and readers will perforce follow.

None of that means anything will happen this year. Or next year. But I can’t see anything that would stop it, and it’s better for both authors and readers, so my crystal ball sez: inevitable.

Of course I could be wrong. But I screwed up a few years ago by assuming I needed to get past gatekeepers to play this writing game. If I’d just stuck with it in spite of logic/odds, I’d be better off now. Now that I think the odds and logic are actually with me? I ain’t goin’ away.

I’d feel awful dumb later on if I made the same mistake again.

In reply to David.

Yes, the idea is a nice one. One thing that would have to change is the social/cultural mindset surrounding distribution and percentages. Everyone wants a percentage rather than a small flat fee. That’s the barrier, really. Web servers are pretty cheap, and you can get off-the-shelf software to distribute and take credit cards… Getting buy-in and notice is the bigger hurdle.

In reply to The Rodent.

Yeah, me too. I’m on a five-year plan, though, so I figure there’s time. Also, if I had ten books out instead of one, my family could probably live on the beach for that money…without needing to get lucky/noticed.

Anyway, this whole concept of mine only works if a lot of authors buy into it, and lots of people notice, and the readers follow. I think it can work. If not this, then something similar will come along. The planet’s full of people who could build a better system than what we have now, and at least a few of them probably will.

The thing that *is* necessary, if someone wants to sell books, is visibility. And usually that visibility costs some money. Your stuff needs to be touted in some venue that people look at. That’s why writers (musicians, etc) go with publishers and other so-called middlemen. Truly independent authors are just invisible. I ought to know. 😉