If they’d make Kindle Unlimited part of Prime it’d be even nicer for me! Prime’s video service and Unlimited’s book service are nearly identical minus the idea of “taking” a Book out of Amazon’s hands somehow vs only watching streamed movies with Prime. I haven’t found a way to download a Prime video to take with and watch while offline. Kindle Unlimited does not need a persistent connection to allow you to read. That’d be a show stopper.
How it works is I have 10 books “Out” at any given time. When I want a new one it’ll ask me which of the old ones I want to put back. Because I read so much indie stuff there are always one or two I got a few pages into and gave up.
I took 10 Kindle Unlimited titles and a few other books with me on a 5 day boat trip with no connectivity whatsoever and never ran out of stuff to read. For the last week or so I’ve been in Mexico for the last week, reading books on the beach when not sick with whatever cold I acted as the communication vector for (you are welcome other tourists!), and I have had to log in and grab a few more books. I’ve written reviews of the ones good enough to recommend.
You’re being too literal. It is going to vary, both by how much the artist needs to live on, and the nature of their work. I would expect the number of fans required for most people will be more than a thousand, but they won’t be turning over $100 a year either. Amanda Palmer’s huge kickstarter a while back had about 25000 contributors, which was about as many people who bought her last major label album (and which was considered such a poor seller that they dropped her as a result). Rather different when you can let the people who want more, pay more.
It’s a catchy line, and meant to provoke thought, not a hard rule.
The other problem is thinking that the only thing an author has to sell is a book. There is so much more and Amanda Palmer is a great example of an artist who understands how to connect with fans.
That’s a great way of putting it. Since high school, 30 years ago, I’ve been reading several books at a time. One by my bedside, probably one in the bathroom, one to carry around, one in the living room, etc. I’ve never heard it put the way you put it, and your point is perfectly made. I don’t get the plot and characters of Girls mixed up with the Gilligan’s Island rerun I’m currently watching, so why would that happen in my reading?
Recently I read Americana by Ray Davies and Kink: An Autobiography by Dave Davies at more or less the same time (one on the nightstand, one in the den). I did get them a bit mixed up, saying things like, “Wait, I thought Peter Quaife had already left the band at this point…”
It’s an extreme exception rather than the rule and I could have easily prevented my own confusion, but it can happen.
Your comparison would make more sense if you were only provided a single chapter of a book per week or if TV shows televised an entire season at one time. Neither of which happens save for watching back season on Netflix.
Well… sort of. I noticed my library had the ebook of “Station 11”. Great! I don’t have to buy it to read it electronically. Except I’m number 58 on the wait list. By my calculation, that would make it available over two years into the future (ignoring that a lot of people like myself will eventually give up).
I was trying to find the Iain Banks novel we’ve selected for the BBS Book Club via my library and can not get the ebook. I have a better chance of getting the hardbound edition but then I’ll have to read it fast and not on the schedule with the team…
A better use of time would be to complain to ebook publishers regarding their e-book policies. Libraries are in a sense at the mercy of DRM. The average e-book costs $86 for a library to acquire. Not a highly scientific text book, but your standard novel or non-fiction. Complaining to the library isn’t going to help. Using DRM services like Kindle isn’t going to help either.
Rather than use a system that inherently privileges an unfair system and entrenches DRM software into books, use the time you’re waiting to bother publishers about their policies towards libraries so that the system might change.
@jhbadger Also, I think one idea in the “1000 true fans” piece is that artists who want to make a living need to find different ways to monetize; an author might only write one novel a year, but the “true fan” might pay for other things, like access to unpublished works, readings or other events, having a character named after them, etc. If the premise is true that true fans are willing to spend one day’s wages a year on their favorite artist, then the artist just needs to find a way to come up with something that they want.
@jlw Are you referring to the “lending library” that allows one book at a time (from a limited selection) to be “borrowed” for free? Or a different program for Prime members?
Since KU debuted in June, authors have gotten anywhere from $1.33 to $2.20 per borrow. It varies every month.
As for the end game, it depends on which of us you ask, and what their goals are. Some of us are content to put books out as a hobby, some just want to pay a bill or two, some want to write full-time, and others have their eyes on the jackpot. (‘Jackpot’ is right, given that luck, in addition to talent, is such a significant factor.)
Also, no one has a single clue what the market will look like in 10-20 years, or what it will even mean to be a ‘writer.’ I’ve encountered several people predicting that traditional publishers, in their current form, are on the way out.
Just recently I saw Hugh Howey speculate on his blog that maybe within a few decades people will stop paying for entertainment altogether, and instead we’ll just amuse each other over the internet for free, as a hobby. He sees this as a possible outcome of the publishing revolution - of blogging, microblogging, social media, memes, etc.
As a full-time fiction writer that particular blog post scared the crap out of me of course.
You should remember that Hugh, while I adore him (and he knows this,) also earns his living writing fiction. If you are paying your way today, keep up the great work.
We’ll see what the next few decades hold in store. Maybe we’ll all have retired off our awesome writing.
I’m a fan too, loved WOOL and follow his blog pretty closely. Lots of good stuff on there.
If I remember correctly he said the above in a post about KU, in response to people worried that it was affecting author incomes, or might. I don’t know whether he believes what he described to be the most likely future - he was probably just trying to illustrate how unpredictable the market is. Still, the image definitely stuck with me!
Either way, the best bet is to ride each successive wave as well as we can. And I think indies might be best situated to do that.
Thank you for that. I came in here to say that the article uses the word, “borrow” in the context of Amazon’s service. Borrowing does not have a cost or a EULA, borrowing is free. Rental, on the other hand, is what this is, and it’s rental with plenty of strings attached. Let’s not let those two things become conflated or confused.
My new favorite thing to use is the digital library through my public library (I’m sure this is international). Once in the digital library you can download the free Overdrive app to borrow, request a hold of ebooks, audiobooks, etc. from your library! Once you have a login and (verify your library card number) you can sync all your devices. Who needs to use a big virtual box company when you can use the library?!
