It has been more than 7 months since author Barry Eisler fired the "shot heard around the world". This was when he walked away from a half a million dollar advance deal (for two books) from St. Martins Press because he figured out he could do better by self-publishing his books.
Now that he has published his next thriller "Detachment" it is time to check out how he is doing.
First of all there is one issue. Eisler did not publish his novel. He signed a deal with Amazon which published it for him throwing its marketing muscle behind it. Because of this some people are claiming that the results are not relevant to address the question of whether he is doing better by self-publishing. But the author is not bothered by this. He has made it clear that he is not an ideologue. He is interested in the best deal he can get. With a publisher like St Martins, Eisler would have ended up receiving a royalty of 17.5% whereas Amazon offers him 70%. In addition he retains control of several aspects of the process of publication of this book that are important to him. Eisler expects this difference (17.5% vs 70%), and the fact that virtual books will be on the shelf forever, to be able to make up for the half million upfront payment that was offered to him.
But how is he doing so far? At Joe Konrath's blog Eisler mentioned that "Detachment" went onto the bestseller list, and in just two weeks earned him more than he has earned from some of his previously published print books. In fact when the book was in the preorder stage, he earned more from it than from his previous digital book, "Inside Out", that was published by Ballantine. Finally, it must be pointed out that if he had signed the print deal "Detachment" would not have been published until the spring of 2012.
So, will "Detachment" and his next book eventually make up for that half million upfront payment he walked away from? We don't know yet but I suspect that Mr. Eisler is having too much fun to care!
Please check out my first collection of short stories, The Sun Zebra.
Now that he has published his next thriller "Detachment" it is time to check out how he is doing.
First of all there is one issue. Eisler did not publish his novel. He signed a deal with Amazon which published it for him throwing its marketing muscle behind it. Because of this some people are claiming that the results are not relevant to address the question of whether he is doing better by self-publishing. But the author is not bothered by this. He has made it clear that he is not an ideologue. He is interested in the best deal he can get. With a publisher like St Martins, Eisler would have ended up receiving a royalty of 17.5% whereas Amazon offers him 70%. In addition he retains control of several aspects of the process of publication of this book that are important to him. Eisler expects this difference (17.5% vs 70%), and the fact that virtual books will be on the shelf forever, to be able to make up for the half million upfront payment that was offered to him.
But how is he doing so far? At Joe Konrath's blog Eisler mentioned that "Detachment" went onto the bestseller list, and in just two weeks earned him more than he has earned from some of his previously published print books. In fact when the book was in the preorder stage, he earned more from it than from his previous digital book, "Inside Out", that was published by Ballantine. Finally, it must be pointed out that if he had signed the print deal "Detachment" would not have been published until the spring of 2012.
So, will "Detachment" and his next book eventually make up for that half million upfront payment he walked away from? We don't know yet but I suspect that Mr. Eisler is having too much fun to care!
Please check out my first collection of short stories, The Sun Zebra.
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