Will New eBook Make Authors Filthy Rich?
Tuesday, October 19 By Andrew Shaffer 
DRACULAS, the new self-published e-book collaboration between J.A. Konrath, Blake Crouch, Jeff Strand, and F. Paul Wilson, includes over 40,000 words of e-mails that the four authors exchanged while writing the novel.
In one of Konrath's original e-mails that kick-started DRACULAS, he pitches the collaborative effort as "capitalizing on both the vampire and the zombie popularity currently fueling genre fiction." By self-publishing it as an e-book, Konrath and his collaborators have been able to bypass the typical 18-month publishing cycle.
Jeff Strand, in response to Konrath's pitch, adds, "You're right--an original, 'major' novel for the Kindle would make us a fortune...."
DRACULAS is out today, available exclusively through Amazon.
Have they acted fast enough to capitalize on the genre interest in vampires, or should they have kept their work in the coffin? Will DRACULAS make its authors "a fortune"? Stay tuned to J.A. Konrath's website to find out!
Reader Comments (2)
Yes, yes of course now it's time to put the world through the kaleidoscope of 'real' being that which has been officially endorsed "somewhat" by the mainstream publishing world in some form or fashion before. Something like this..."We're good writers because we've gotten published, so now lets cut out the middle men and take it directly to the street and make a ton of cash.". It all reminds me of Youtube and guerrilla advertising these days. Did I just watch something that is really manufactured by Madison Ave. but made to look like it was my neighbor kid's basement??? Scott Sigler is trying to break into the old stream of publishing while Kilborn/Konrath is trying to break out...all the while the actual writing/art takes a back seat. Yes, sure, yes...now back to feeding my Snooki fix.
Thanks for stopping by, Percy. It is a crazy world, indeed, when some of us are trying to break in...while others are trying to break out. It seems that if a writer (or group of writers) does succeed in becoming self-sufficient as a self-publisher (as Konrath seems to have done so far), at what point do they sign up other authors and become a publisher themselves? And at what point does an independent publisher then become a major publisher? It seems like it could go round and round forever...