North London Reading Group

A month ago I self-published an e-book for the first time.

It was Redemption Blues, which 12 years ago sold a million hard copies and gave me 15 minutes of fame. The book’s success back then was overwhelmingly overseas. Few people in the UK have ever read it, and none in e-book form, since it appeared when dinosaurs roamed the earth. So Amazon e-published it and put it in the January 2013 deals for under £2 (until Thursday 31 January – move fast!)

This was the result.

In three weeks, 1,200 people bought Redemption Blues. That’s worth £3000 to me. Not big bucks, but more than my last conventionally published novel, The Warning Bell (by pen-name Tom Macaulay) generated in two years with four times the sales.

Get the message? I did not have to submit the manuscript for a gruelling selection process, or argue with 19-year-old editors called Josh. I didn’t have to hawk the book at vegetable markets, or be auditioned by the Women’s Institute for the right to speak about it to their members for free. I did not have to peddle it like some medieval chapman at goat-ropings and dwarf-throwing contests.

The book was simply pushed out into the stream and given its chance.

Traditional publishers regard Amazon as the spawn of Satan. The gripe is that they offer books far below cost – most of the Kindle top ten go for 20p. This devalues books in the eyes of the consumer, the argument goes. Amazon will develop into some intergalactic Tesco’s, using its reputed $9 billion of cash reserves to slash prices until the competition is driven to extinction.

Will this happen? You bet.

For mid-list writers, conventional publishing has not worked for years. It’s fiendishly difficult to get published at all, and there’s very little support if you do – unless you look like making kerzillions of sales overnight. Virtually no mid-lister makes a living at it, which means that society’s stories are told by a few celebrity writers, or by middle class mezzobrows who can afford to do it as a hobby, or are supported by long-suffering spouses.

People like me are going to go the self-publishing e-book route in greater numbers. I only need an audience of about eight thousand to make a living this way. I’d need at least three times that to get by with conventional publishing. And a living is what most of us want – not stardom, just sufficient appreciation and reward to allow us to do what we do best. If e-books and self publishing offer that, no contest. That’s capitalism.

But look out. Once there’s no other option, expect Amazon to slash the price it pays authors. That’s capitalism too.

And consider what we’ll be faced with: a truly vast amorphous pile of self-published outpourings, most of it drivel. How will discerning readers find their way through this congested cyberspace?

Cue the rise of a new sort of enterprise. One which selects and nurtures talent, and presents the result to appropriate audiences. One which regards sales of a few thousand as worthwhile, and capable of development. I’d pay a bit extra for that, wouldn’t you?

Funny thing, though: I thought that’s what publishers were supposed to be doing all along.

Pity they didn’t, eh?

T.D.Griggs’ epic Victorian saga Distant Thunder has just been released in paperback and e-book. His tense psychological thriller Redemption Blues is published by Amazon as an e-book, and will soon be available in hard copy too.

The Warning Bell (by pen-name Tom Macaulay) is a modern day father-son story with links to WW2 and is available both as hard copy and e-book.

T.D.Griggs’ website is www.tdgriggs.co.uk or follow him on Twitter @TDGRIGGS1