Tags
Barbara Cave Henricks, BEA 2016, Book Expo America, books, Brandon Mull, Brunonia Barry, Cinco Puntos Press, Royalties for Authors, Rusty Shelton
How I wish I could be in the Windy City this week for Book Expo America. Chicago was always one of my favorite sites for BEA. Alas, I have to be content with a virtual visit.
So here we go: Nice to see some familiar faces mentioned in today’s PW Show Daily:
- Lee Bird of Cinco Puntos Press on today’s YA Editors’ Buzz Panel, talking about Sonia Patel‘s debut, Rani Patel in Full Effect. (Love that Bird family!)
- Brandon Mull, one of the most creative and generous authors around, with Fablehaven Book of Imagination, a companion activity book for his “Fablehaven” series.
- Rusty Shelton of Shelton Interactive and Barbara Cave Henricks with their new book Mastering the New Media Landscape: Embrace the Micromedia Mindset (Hint to authors: Pay close attention and check that out!)
- Brunonia Barry previewing her new novel, The Fifth Petal (coming in January — cannot wait for that!)
- Sebastian Junger at the Adult Authors Breakfast with Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging
And on the news front, there is a lot to unpack in “Is a Flat Royalty Rate Possible?” I fully agree that publishers should up the royalty percentage for authors (currently 25% for a $11.99 ebook?!? Are you kidding me). Yet I’m not sure a flat rate for all book formats is the answer; seems like that would just lead to publishers locking up all possible rights in perpetuity. And don’t get me started on the the comments from two of the publishers on the panel that “author costs have risen by 50% over the past 15 years, driven in part by higher advances.” Well, there’s an easy answer to THAT: Quit shelling out outrageous advances to minor celebrities to “write” a book. Most of the authors I know would love to be the victim of higher advances!
Thoughts? Weigh in on the comments below!
