The Implosion of KBoards

If you're an indie writer and haven't heard the news about KBoards, well, go back to your writing. Trust me, you're in a better place.

For the rest of us, I can't even call the KBoards fiasco a train wreck. No, it's more akin to watching a sun swallowed itself to become a black hole.

It comes down to a typical solution by Mom&Pop shops when the original founder leaves the business for whatever reason. The gentleman who originally founded Kboards passed away. His spouse and children had no interest in continuing his work.

And let's be frank, running ANY forum is a huge, thankless job.

So the family decided to sell KBoards to a company called VerticalScope (VS), which is a division of Torstar. You might remember Torstar as the former parent of Harlequin Publishing. You know, the same Harlequin that ended up in a huge lawsuit for screwing writers out of money.

Now, if I were a suspicious person, or someone who wrote thrillers, I would think that Torstar was behind the buyout because indies seriously screwed up Harlequin's profits in the romance genre. You got to remember Harlequin was Torstar's main bread-and-butter for years until they sold the Harlequin division to HarperCollins in 2014.

Alas, the real answer is far more sleazy and less personal. VS specializes in buying forums for their SEO, drives away the users, and slaps a shit-ton of ads on the website to generate revenue. They inserted a TOS that alarmed many of the writers who use KBoards to share publishing information with some terms that allegedly claimed rights to the content they posted, including covers and excerpts.

Matters weren't helped when someone from VS named Helena jumped on and did absolutely nothing to calm the situation or answer questions. The flame war quickly became a five-alarm dumpster fire with the unpaid moderators caught in the middle when Helena accused anyone questioning VS procedures of being trolls.

Writers tried to remove content only to find out they couldn't. However, they could modify their posts. The Writers Café on KBoards now looks like a ghost town.

I'm not linking to KBoards because I honestly don't want to give VS the clicks. But y'all can find it if you wish. Writers are already making alternate arrangements for online gathering places.

I'm a little sad that so much research and knowledge is disappearing, but it's more from a historical perspective. As someone on KBoards said, things are changing so fast in publishing that many past insights are no longer relevant.

So, goodbye KBoards! You did not go quietly into that good night.

The Battle Between Hatchette and Amazon Is Over...Or Is It?

Hatchette and Amazon inked a new distribution deal on November 13th. Both sides said they're happy with the deal and got what they wanted. However, there are three problems that still exist:

1) Hatchette let short-term profits override it's long-term interests.
Amazon and Hatchette signed their deal on November 13th, two weeks before the American Thanksgiving holiday, which also happens to be the start of the winter holiday retail season. Americans call the Friday after Thanksgiving "Black Friday" because for many retailers, this is the turning point in the profitability of their store for the year.

Amazon has diversified enough that it isn't dependent on selling books in December. Hatchette is dependent on books alone. Without the U.S. largest book retailer, Hatchette Book Group USA would be in a world of hurt at the end of the year. They didn't have a choice but to sign a deal with Amazon at least two weeks before Black Friday in order to get their stock in Amazon warehouses in time.

The real question is will the holiday shopping season make up for the 18% loss in sales Hatchette saw in the last quarter, a loss they blamed on the conflict with Amazon.


2) The multi-year deals between Amazon and the Big 5.
Publishers have been signing writers for eons to contracts for the length of copyright, i.e. life of the author plus 70 years. Such a term makes it next to impossible for the writer to capitalize on their work. Writers are hobbled by the very contract they desired.

With the rapid changes in the publishing industry, Amazon has just done something similar to Hatchette with their four-year deal. Four years ago, I was still submitting to agents. Three and a half years ago, I self-published my first book. Two years ago, I quit my day job. Yes, things have changed that rapidly as far as fiction publishing and distribution go. If changes keep up this pace over the next four years, Hatchette may have crippled itself.


3) Hatchette's Author Mouthpieces Won't Shut Up
James Patterson and Doug Preston are still railing against Amazon. The usual suspects are mentioned: literature, culture, children, puppies. But if you read between the lines, not once does either author mention other writers. Their entire concern is for publishers, aka the entities that made them both very rich men. How many writers pull in $90 million a year?

It's those millions per year that the star authors are seeing slip through their fingers. And guess where it's going? Yep, into indie writers' pockets.

That's the real reason the Big 5 and folks like Patterson and Preston hate Amazon. Bezos and his people opened publishing's doors to the unwashed masses. Even worse, those same unvetted, uncensored books are being bought by readers. Lots of readers. To the point that the unwashed masses can pay their electric bills, their mortgages, and their children's college tuition. How much more will the mega-stars like Patterson and Preston lose?

Adding onto Hatchette's PR problems is Roxana Robinson, president of the Authors Guild. She's making noises about how Hatchette should be rewarding loyal authors who stood by the publisher during the dispute. Hatchette has every legal right to adhere to the contracts signed by their loyal followers, but how many of them will stick around if they feel they've been dissed and dismissed by Hatchette?

Hatchette needs to take a good long look at the mess Harlequin has become to see their future.


So, ladies and gentlemen, what are your bets on Hatchette surviving the next four years?

Legal Shake-ups in the Publishing Biz

We're still in the middle of moving into the new place. The new mattress DH and I ordered won't be delivered until next week, so we're still crashing at the in-laws.

Which means I'm finally getting caught up on industry news. Two major events happened on the legal side of the publishing industry.

The first is the lawsuit by Ellora's Cave against blogger Dear Jane was removed to federal court. Both The Passive Guy and romance author/attorney Courtney Milan have more intelligent commentary than I can provide.

I will say that I've been on the receiving end of of a relatively mild rebuke by a federal judge. It was not pleasant. If Tina Engler thinks she'll get away with the antics she's pulled in Summit County, she's sadly mistaken.

The other big news is the resurrected case against Harlequin for its slight of hand with author royalties was certified as a class action suit by the trial judge. By no means does this indicate the screwed-over writers will win their case. But the judge's cert along with Torstar's quick divestiture of Harlequin to HarperCollins doesn't indicate good things ahead for the publisher. Once again, The Passive Guy has posted the legal paperwork for those who enjoy reading court documents.

Catch y'all on the other side of the weekend!

The Eye of the Storm?

Last week, one of Kris Rusch's reasons for cutting back on her business blogging was that the publishing business had entered a period of stabilization. But with the Gulf hurricane season officially starting a month from Thursday and preparation ads starting to spring up, I wondered:  Are things really stabilizing or are we in the eye of the storm?

1) Writers

The trickle of writers who had contracts for novel length works leaving publishing companies has turned into a steady stream. Many new writers are refusing to even consider  working with a major publishing house. We haven't gotten to the point where that steady stream turns into a gush, or where a MAJOR name like King, Roberts or Grisham walks away from their publisher.

2) Publishers Houses

Sure, you've got guys like Joe Konrath predicting the big publishers will collapse, but the bigger publishing houses made record-breaking profiits in 2013. There's also a lot of issues not being said.

Both Disney and Warner Brothers streamlined their print book operations so that they are focusing on materials and IP properties they fully control, e.g. Star Wars and Superman among others. Supposedly, Disney is keeping the contract Lucasfilm had with Random House to produce Star Wars novels, but I question how long that arrangement might last.

After news got out that Harlequin used contractually sleight-of-hand to rip-off writers, pitch slots to their editors were empty at the 2013 Romance Writers of America Conference. Other small publishers, such as Kensington and Ellora's Cave, are seeing a drop in submissions, and the submissions coming in are dropping in quality.

Overall, the publishing houses are reducing advances, reducing print runs, and issuing draconian contract terms to keep the writers they already have tied to them. They are also tying up reversion rights even though they seem to have no interest in reissuing the older books.

The question is at what point will the majority of writer grow tired of these shennanigans and walk way from the publishers, or writing, altogether.

3) Brick and Mortar Stores

It's been a little over two years since Borders collapsed here in the U.S. Barnes & Noble is scrambling to stay alive by cutting down on books and selling trinkets and toys. Book-a-Million and Half-Price Books only sell a fraction of what the ailing B&N sells. Walmart, Target and Costco will only sell  book on the top twenty of the New York Times bestseller list. Groceries stores and pharmacies are whacking their mass market paperback displays in a quarter of what they used to carry, assuming they are still carrying books at all.

On the plus side, many independent bookstores have arisen from the ashes of the Borders collapse and the closing of several B&N's. They've learned their lessons that they can't compete on price alone and are focusing on service and the customer experience.

Can the bigger stores afford to carry books? And if not, at what point do they quit?

4) Devices

This is where I think the most pundits are short-sighted. I've read article after article about slow down in sales of dedicated e-readers. Barnes & Noble is floundering. Sony gave up on devices totally, then sold its e-book division to Kobo. Kobo turned around and laid off 63 people last week. Yet, I still see publishing CEOs claim the slow down in dedicated device sales means adaption to e-books is also slowing.

This is where I *facepalm*.

First of all, if e-book adaption is slowing, why are the same companies claiming record profits? Sales of paper books are down or steady according to the folks who keep track of such things like Bowker.

Second of all, consumers are buying more and more tablets and smartphones. These multi-purpose devices are driving technology sales right now. In fact, tablets sales are seriously impacting Dell's laptop business. Executives don't seem to understand that you can READ on these multi-purpose devices.

Do you want a prime example? Two weeks ago, an older woman and I were sanding in line at the post office to mail Easter packages to family. I was reading on my iPhone 4. She had a HC. She didn't understand how I could read on such a small screen. I showed how I could adjust the font on the Kindle app, which led to an explanation of how apps work on a phone.

And why am I reading so much on my iPhone? Because the toggle switch on my Kindle 2 broke. While I like reading on e-ink since I spend twice as much business time on my computer than I ever did when I was a programmer or systems engineer, I question why should I spend the extra money. If my eyes need a break, I have 1300+ paper books I can read.

Even Genius Kid, who just got a Galaxy S4, doesn't think he needs another device, even though he's been asking for a Kindle for the last year.

When are execs going to understand that the loss of dedicated devices doesn't mean the loss of e-books?

* * *

With all these issues still outstanding (and I'm sure there's more I missed), I can't see any supposed stability lasting for long. The real question to me is--are we on the clean side of the hurricane or the dirty side when the storm roars past us?

Harlequin Did What?!?

The first hint I got of the brewing trouble was a e-mail on an RWA chapter loop yesterday. My first thought when I read Harlequin was starting its own vanity publishing division was "typo." Followed by "WTF?" Followed by "why the hell would the Torstar board dilute the brand of the one freaking section of the corporation that's made money for the last two quarters?"

RWA has a policy of only promoting non-vanity, non-subsidy publishers to its membership. So in response to Harlequin's Tuesday announcement, the RWA Board released a statement today that Harlequin is no longer an RWA-eligible publisher. To the hundreds of RWA member published by Harlequin, it means they are now not eligible for the Rita award.

Didn't the folks at Harlequin learn anything from all the companies that have crashed and burned since 2001? Contrary to Gordon Gecko's statement, greed is NOT good.