For those unfamiliar with Hugh Howey, he’s a very successful hybrid author who’s been behind the Author Earnings revolution – the publication of estimates on the financial side of Indie publishing. His main contribution was to help find reliable data on the self-publishing side of things. This has made him a darling of the Indie scene, as his data supports the feeling that self-publishing is here to stay, since it’s much more successful and profitable than usually realized. It has also made him a hate figure for many supporters of the traditional publishing model.
In his interviews and comments, he comes across as a very sweet and gentle guy, keeping his cool even when flamed to a crisp. In a recent interview on Tech Crunch called “Making it Big in Self-Publishing”, he shares his views regarding book writing, book publishing and book promotion. Since he is one of the most well-known Indie author, it’s interesting to see his advice on marketing:
“I didn’t do any marketing for Wool until after it took off. I mean, I didn’t even have a link to the story on my website. I didn’t Tweet about it or Facebook about it. I think I published sample chapters early on, while it was still in rough draft. But nobody was reading my website then (or now, really). I did some stuff for my first novels. I did signings around town, spoke to some classrooms about writing, and I kept up a blog about the writing process. But the best promotion was just to write the next work. And the success came from word of mouth.”
Since he is particularly famous for his support of Indie authors, it was interesting to read his thoughts on self-publishing:
“[I self-publish] because I can write whatever I want. I’m working on a children’s picture book right now. I’ve written horror, YA, sci-fi, dystopia, general fiction, literary fiction, fan fiction, you name it. I can publish as often as I want. I don’t have deadlines. I make 70% on my e-books and $4 on my paperbacks (nearly twice what most Big 5 authors make on their hard backs). I can price my works however I want or give them away. I get to publish without DRM, which is a very important stance for me. I can even celebrate people pirating my work and only paying for it if they want. It’s hard to do any of this with a major publisher.
“Being patient and having a long view was crucial [in making self-publishing a business]. I didn’t get discouraged, because I had no expectations. It isn’t like my books go stale. They’re all e-books and print-on-demand paperbacks. They are brand new and always in print, just waiting to be discovered. I firmly believe that if a well-read author commits to honing their craft and writing two novels a year for ten years, they will be able to make a career out of writing. The beauty of self-publishing is that you can give yourself that ten-year chance. You don’t have to rely on being discovered by an agent. You don’t have to waste your time querying and spending the two or three years it can take to get a single book published. And you aren’t limited to the narrow window in which your book will be displayed on a store shelf. You can publish now and publish forever. That’s a huge benefit, one that I recognized very early on.”
His thoughts on traditional publishing are just as balanced:
“[Traditional publishing is] doing just fine. Publishers are seeing great profit margins. But that’s because they aren’t paying their authors a fair rate on e-book sales. This could backfire on them in the future. My guess is that we’ll see major publishers move to 50% of net on e-book royalties in order to keep their authors from bolting to self-publishing.”
As for his final tip for Indie authors, this is typically down-to-earth:
“My one other piece of advice is that you should publish your works as if millions of people will read them. Invest in quality cover art that looks great both in print and on a small online thumbnail. 90% of the bad covers out there are due to horrible font selection. Don’t get fancy; use something big, bold, and blocky. And get help with the editing, even if that means exchanging services with other writers. Don’t be in a rush to publish. Make your work shine.”
What tips would you give other Indie authors?
All solid points… being able to write what you want when you go indie… taking the long view. It’s amazing that he didn’t do marketing for Wool. His work very much did shine — and that shows the power of word of mouth when people are enthusiastic about a work. Thanks for sharing his words.
A pleasure – thanks and welcome! I always take his claim with a pinch of salt. He probably means that he didn’t do any paid promos, but it’s next to impossible to succeed without a writer’s platform.
Loved this post! Thanks for sharing Nicholas. This guy is worth looking into, he sounds savvie and down to earth – a no BS kind of guy. I’m awestruck that he got where he is with virtually no marketing. Got to read more about him, thanks!!!
Thanks, I’m glad you enjoyed it! 🙂 I know, Hugh comes across as such a nice guy!
Reblogged this on Sally Ember, Ed.D. and commented:
Love this: “‘It isn’t like my books go stale. They’re all e-books and print-on-demand paperbacks. They are brand new and always in print, just waiting to be discovered. I firmly believe that if a well-read author commits to honing their craft and writing two novels a year for ten years, they will be able to make a career out of writing. The beauty of self-publishing is that you can give yourself that ten-year chance. You don’t have to rely on being discovered by an agent. You don’t have to waste your time querying and spending the two or three years it can take to get a single book published. And you aren’t limited to the narrow window in which your book will be displayed on a store shelf. You can publish now and publish forever. That’s a huge benefit, one that I recognized very early on.’”
Love this: “‘It isn’t like my books go stale. They’re all e-books and print-on-demand paperbacks. They are brand new and always in print, just waiting to be discovered. I firmly believe that if a well-read author commits to honing their craft and writing two novels a year for ten years, they will be able to make a career out of writing. The beauty of self-publishing is that you can give yourself that ten-year chance. You don’t have to rely on being discovered by an agent. You don’t have to waste your time querying and spending the two or three years it can take to get a single book published. And you aren’t limited to the narrow window in which your book will be displayed on a store shelf. You can publish now and publish forever. That’s a huge benefit, one that I recognized very early on.’”
Absolutely! He does come across as pretty wise in all this, doesn’t he? Many thanks for the reblog! 🙂
All great advice, but I admit to being too nervous about failure to skip doing any marketing. It comes from seeing a lot of authors publish their books, walk away, and nothing happens. Maybe having a series changes things because you always have that next book to write. A debut is usually the best thing for the previous books.
As far as indie tips, I say find a group of authors and support each other. That can help a lot when you hit writer’s block, have a slow sale period, or simply want to talk shop. That sense of community can be a big boon because there are days where it feels like I’m up against the world with my books.
I, too, take it with a pinch of salt. Networking, too, is marketing; perhaps by marketing some people only refer to paid ads.
I love your tip! You’re absolutely right; a supporting group can make all the difference in the world.
Good point. I think of twitter and facebook in terms of marketing more than the paid stuff. Probably because those are more daily and within more of my control. Not that I ever know if they do anything or not.
You must have heard that excellent phrase; “50% of marketing work, and 50% doesn’t. The problem is that no one knows which is which!” 🙂
Haven’t heard that, but I can see how true that is. It isn’t even the platform alone. Time of year, time of day, the blurb itself, etc. Sometimes it feels like I’m throwing darts with a blindfold. I know the general direction I’m aiming and where the target is, but I can’t be perfect.
“Sometimes it feels like I’m throwing darts with a blindfold” – I love that! Excellent description of how I feel most of the time… 😀
Thanks. Just kind of blurted it out and wasn’t sure if it made sense. 🙂
Gold. All of it. And that he did no marketing? That’s a really heartening thing to read because my marketing is a bit pants to be honest. However, there is no way I can commit to writing 2 books a year… phnark, especially now that I’m down to five hours a week. However, I can probably manage one book a year… So hey, it’ll only take me 40 years to make it. But I always look at the buzz around the Gruffalo now. That book came out while I was at school. 20 years ago.
I would add Terry Pratchett’s advice (paraphrased). Write, and write and write and write. If you can’t think of anything to write, write about how you can’t think of anything. The trick is to practise because the more you do, the more difficult the things you can do by instinct become and on the back of that you can produce more books, that need less editing, faster. This is certainly what I’ve discovered.
Cheers
MTM
Lol – I hope it won’t take as long for our books! 😀
I love your Pratchett tip; and it’s so true! I’ve found that my writing has improved since I started my blog, just because I’ve been writing on a daily basis!
Absolutely, the thing that really cracked it for me was being “the voice” of a bit of National Express. You had to think so carefully about every word you used and be pinpoint accurate because if a customer could get the wrong end of the stick, they would. As “the voice” I was also the one of the go-to people when they wanted someone to reply to a really tricky complaints. It definitely helped.
Cheers
MTM