From Brandon Sanderson: Regarding Audible
I didn’t refuse to put my books on Audible out of retribution or to declare war; I did it because I wanted to shine as powerful a light as I knew how on a system that highly favored the audio distributors over the authors. I was convinced that the people at Audible really did love books and writers, and that with the right stand taken, I could encourage them toward positive change.
I’m happy to say that this stand has borne some fruit. I’ve spent this last year in contact with Audible and other audio distributors, and have pushed carefully–but forcefully–for them to step up. A few weeks ago, three key officers high in Audible’s structure flew to Dragonsteel offices and presented for us a new royalty structure they intend to offer to independent writers and smaller publishers.
This new structure doesn’t give everything I’ve wanted, and there is still work to do, but it is encouraging. They showed me new minimum royalty rates for authors–and they are, as per my suggestions, improved over the previous ones. Moreover, this structure will move to a system like I have requested: a system that pays more predictably on each credit spent, and that is more transparent for authors. Audible will be paying royalties monthly, instead of quarterly, and will provide a spreadsheet that better shows how they split up the money received with their authors.
This is a good deal for indy writers and smaller publishers. Read the whole thing.
Sanderson has, since he became popular enough to do so, consistently taken back power from the big publishing houses/distributors. And, sure, some of it doesn’t necessarily translate for much smaller writers. Not many can raise $40 million on Kickstarter to fund their new books. But it’s all still steps in taking back control of the publishing industry, giving it to the content creators.
I find it noteworthy that, in spite of this, he is consistently mocked and outright attacked by left-leaning readers, writers, critics. He’s doing the sort of trustbusting work that they would typically be in favor of, but they can’t praise it because he’s a square, normie, (dare I say, dorky?) Mormon dude. The Wired interview, John Scalzi’s comments about the Kickstarter… It’s baffling. They hate the guy for no reason.
Cards on the table: I’m a fan. I’ve read all the Cosmere novels except for the three most recently self-published ones. I eagerly await Stormlight 5. And this is maybe a hot take – but I think that what he’s doing with the Cosmere is better/greater than what Stephen King did with the Dark Tower and related novels. But most fantasy readers will never acknowledge it because of who Sanderson is.Report
The Jason Kehe hitpiece in Wired was bad. It was, like, laughably bad. The author still hasn’t unprotected his twitter and I’m stuck wondering what in the hell the business model of printing stuff like that for a nerd culture magazine is.
Sanderson is a fundamentally decent guy and we’re lucky to have him.Report
It was genuinely surprising they let that get published when the writer spent the entire article teasing the Terrible Shocking Secret Of Brandon Sanderson and then we get to the end and the big reveal is…that’s he’s a Mormon, which we…already knew?Report
Sanderson can give a masterclass in how to ruin a book via Kickstarter. Other than that, he’s a solid workman who incorporates other people’s ideas into his work. Hope I never have to read him breaking characters (Jasnah) in order to “go after Trump” again — that was pure cringe, and probably insisted on by the publisher.Report