Why Would You Take a Trad Deal?

The lovely Phoenix Sullivan posted an interesting Twitter thread yesterday. She talks about her efforts to secure a trad deal to expand her revenue streams and the lack of enthusiastic response to her frank talk about money.

I wish I could say I was surprised by the responses she's received from agents and editors. Five years ago, I talked about a post written by agent Donald Maass. His opinions of the worthlessness of both midlisters and indie writers was derogatory at best. This attitude has infected nearly every corner of trad publishing now. There's a few areas that remain open-minded, but those generally involve pet anthology projects from what I've been seeing.

The problem from the trad publishers' perspective is that we indies are competing with them for the same dollars. It doesn't matter what kind of hard-earned savvy we bring to the table. To trad publishers, why pay a competitor when there are plenty of shills willing to accept $0 advance just from the privilege of having someone choose them?

And that's what it comes down to--what is the real reward you the writer wants for signing a deal?

Indies are often mocked for only caring about the money. In some cases, that's true. However, a lot of us love the freedom being indie affords us. I can write what I want, when I want, instead of being ordered to write in a genre I detest.

And having a book with a trad publisher isn't really broadening your income stream. They go through the same retailers and distributors indies do. To broaden our income streams we need to look at licensing our stories, characters, and worlds. (For more on this, check out Kris Rusch's blog series on licensing starting here.)

Overall, it always come down to the readers. As long as I'm entertaining them, they will be willing to pay for my stories. When I stop doing that, they'll move on. This is a truth that applies to both trad published and indie writers whether we like it or not.