What do authors want? It’s a short question with a long answer. Let’s start with the basics: In 2013, what it means to be an author is no longer about the difference between having a publisher and wishing for one. Authors today are free to take their works directly to readers via the Web – and that freedom has encouraged many more of us to imagine ourselves as writers.
To understand better this dramatic shift in publishing’s balance of power, Digital Book World undertook to survey of 5000 authors. The findings sort through the various species of writers and their concerns, revealing what keeps up at night all those agents, editors, booksellers, and publishers: the fear of irrelevance. And of course, money comes up.
“Not surprisingly, published authors believe that they should be making more from their writing compared to aspiring authors,” notes survey co-author Jeremy Greenfield, editorial director of the Digital Book World online community. “The two groups also differ on e-book pricing,” he tells CCC’s Chris Kenneally. “Among published authors, 57% think e-books are priced too high vs. 45% of aspiring authors.”
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