Welcome to the Saturday Spotlight, a weekly feature hosted here at Tinasbookreviews and focuses on getting the word out for authors and the great books they write. This week I have the pleasure introducing readers to:
SCOTT NICHOLSON
Many of you guys know Scott, he has a great rep among us bloggers and is a fun author to work with! Today Scott's sharing some thoughts on ebook publishing.
“The 200”
By Scott Nicholson
(Scott Nicholson’s suspense thriller Liquid Fear—available for 99 cents at Amazon, BN.com, and Smashwords—just hit #1 in Romantic Suspense in the Kindle store.)
For National Library Week, I was invited to a writing panel at our local branch. I’ve done a number of presentations and workshops there over the years, and as a reporter, I used to write about the library events all the time. This was my first such event since I became a full-time writer, and it was the one where I felt the least comfortable.
Part of it was I somehow felt a little less like a writer because I am doing e-books, and the audience was a paper book crowd for the most part. In a way, I felt I was in a totally different field of artistic endeavor. Maybe it’s just because I’m fairly reclusive and mostly stay out on the farm now, but I also think there’s a perception that e-book self-publishing is still this weird and subversive fringe endeavor.
In other words, because I’ve been doing it so long, I forget that it’s still “new” to a lot of people, and I don’t think many understand what is happening for writers who do it.
My friend Sharyn McCrumb was on the panel with me, and she said only 200 people were making a living as novelists. She said she became one of them on her third book, and was “already doing it before I could learn it was impossible.”
In the 1980’s, that was doubtless true, but I think that has changed a lot in the last couple of years. I personally know about 10 writers hardly anybody has ever heard of who are now making a living with e-books. Some of them are making big money, and others have recently quit their jobs, like me. Our biggest worry is getting a good accountant. I’d guess the number of novelists making a living has easily tripled in the last two years—and, sadly, that’s come via job losses for people in bookstores and publishing.
The crowd at the panel also still thought of me as the “horror writer” because I’d had those six paperbacks out. I never got a chance to explain just how incredibly diverse my writing is now—thrillers, paranormal romance, urban fantasy, comic books, children’s books, and screenplays. I could never have done that while developing a distinct brand for a corporate publisher (and I well understand why they need a specific writer doing one specific kind of book—it’s how they can function best, even if it’s not always great for the writer).
I work hard and pray to defeat my ego junk, and maybe I am less of a writer than before, but I am really grateful to be one of “The 600.” By next year, I’ll bet it will be “The 1,000.” And who knows after that?
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Scott Nicholson is author of 20 books, including Disintegration, The Skull Ring, Speed Dating with the Dead, and The Red Church. He’s also written the children’s books If I Were Your Monster and Duncan the Punkin. Visit him at Haunted Computer.
*Thanks Scott for sharing and best of luck in the Kindle/Ebook publishing endeavors.
GIVEAWAY
Scott is giving away a Kindle of his children's book Duncan the Punkin, to enter please just leave a comment. Winner will be chosen April 23, 2011. Thanks and goodluck.
A magical bedtime story for all ages.
Halloween is coming, and Duncan the Punkin's mom teaches him to hide in the pumpkin patch so he doesn't get turned into a jack-o-lantern. Being good is boring, and Duncan's not afraid of any old farmer. But someone else has been keeping an eye on the pumpkin patch. Skeerdy-Cat-Crow has been hanging on a pole all summer, and now he's hungry. He's heard nice little pumpkins are just right. But Mom knows a trick that will teach both Skeerdy-Cat-Crow and Duncan something new.
Features 30 color pages (will appear in black-and-white on Kindles) of rhyming fun, magic, and Halloween mystery. Learn more at www.hauntedcomputer.com.
Cool. I've been seeing this book around. (Not an entry)
ReplyDeleteI've been seeing a lot of Scott around and it's fun to see his personality come out in each interview/guest post. I quit my job a few years back to start my own business and it terrified me so I know that feeling:) Liquid Fear looks really interesting, I've got it on my list!
ReplyDeleteHi! Just hopping by :) Great blog you have here.
ReplyDelete*New Follower* I'm looking forward to future posts!!
-Sarah @ Inklings Read.