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  • THURSDAY MAY 18 2006 9:35 PM

B.E.A. and Venture Capitalist Book Publishers

Submitted by Christopher

Edited by Christopher

BookExpo America is this weekend in Washington D.C.. It is one of the largest conventions of publisher, booksellers, authors, and everything literary in the world (the largest being the Frankfurt Book Fair).

Typically, there are two avenues of publishing: going through a publisher/distributor and self-publishing. A publisher, large or small, pays for all aspects of the printing and pays a certain percentage of the books cover price to a distributor. The distributor like Consortium (Feral House, publisher of the SuicideGirls book, is a member) will deal with the large booksellers and act as a go-between for the Book Clubs, wholesalers, etc., all of which want a slice of the pie. In the end, the publisher gets about 16% of the cover price, and splits that with the author.

Self-publishers, as the name implies, usually publish their own book, handle distribution themselves, front all of the money, and sell books to smaller bookstores directly. They rarely, if ever, “make it” and are looked at with mild amusement and distrust by the publishing community at large. The publishing mechanism is a huge beast of a bureaucracy, and BookExpo America is the place where the beast goes to feed, fuck, and leave satiated and pregnant.

This model rarely changes, but one competing model aims to apply techno-style venture capitalism with publishing. The Literary Ventures Fund, who will be attending the BEA, finds an author, supports the publishing of the book along with a publisher, and splits the profits of book's sales.

"Publishing is a ridiculous model and we're trying to fix it," says the fund's executive director, Jeffrey Lependorf. "Not that we think we can single-handedly change the way all publishing works." […]

Appalled [with the publishing world, [venture capitalist Jim Bildner] began talking about starting an independent publishing company that would treat writers differently. A little research convinced him that the world had too many struggling independents already. He'd be better off investing in individual projects, he decided, catalyzing literary efforts without replicating the infrastructure that was already in place.

The goal would be to "help more things faster, with lower dollars." But the venture-capital model was important to him for another reason as well. If the fund worked, it would be "sustainable." Not every investment would pay off, but enough would so that its pool of capital would replenish itself -- and LVF wouldn't have to deal with "donor fatigue."


This model affords one thing that large and small publishers rarely have time and money for: marketing the book after its initial release. The venture capitalists can push a book through initial funding long after the publisher has gone on to something else.

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Comments
MuteEnt

MuteEnt

Brighton, MA
April 2006

MAY 18, 2006 10:31 PM

That's great that they're trying to get books that are brushed aside by publishers some notice, but how do writers get their masterpiece noticed by them?

And what really makes them different than freelance publicists and marketing agents besides that they pick their projects and take a cut of the profits rather than an agreed sum?

curtisology

curtisology

USA
April 2006

MAY 18, 2006 11:51 PM

It could be a good idea, but it sounds like the LVF isn't listening directly to writers just yet...

I grabbed this off of literaryventuresfund.org:
"Literary Ventures solicits prospective projects directly from publishers and from a network of contacts at selected MFA programs, as well as through agents and other direct referrals from the LVF Board and Advisors. LVF will build its referral network as it progresses, and in the future may consider opening the process to direct application from individual writers as infrastructure allows. In providing support to publishers, LVF will invite prospective applicants to meet with the LVF staff in determining the most appropriate project for application. Investment levels and working plans will be custom-tailored to meet the needs of each project."



[Edited on May 18, 2006 11:53PM]

sinkorswim

sinkorswim

I'm lost
February 2006

MAY 19, 2006 08:14 AM

I'd like to attend this, but I take it from the info given it's not open to the public. Damn.

Nokturn

Nokturn

United Kingdom
April 2006

MAY 19, 2006 08:33 AM

How is this different from what a large number of publishers are doing already?
I'd understand if the aim really is to create a service through which self published authors who have already done the donkey work (IE writing, proof reading, editing and printing the book) can get somebody to read it and decide whether its worth investing in, but saying they 'might even' open the door to individual writers doesn't sound all that promising.

I'm sure there are others on this site who have written and self published, as I have, and found that the overriding problem is getting perspective publishing houses to read their material (or even agents, in fact, especially when the product is not formulaic like most of the repetitive crap in bookstores).

I'd wholeheartedly welcome a company which exists to read fully self published (and therefore often internationally available) books and decide whether there is a market to invest and advertise, thus making themselves loads of money.
I would like to say this sounds like a step in that direction, but... skull

Christopher

Christopher

Portland, OR
November 2002

MAY 19, 2006 08:54 AM

MuteEnt said:
That's great that they're trying to get books that are brushed aside by publishers some notice, but how do writers get their masterpiece noticed by them?

And what really makes them different than freelance publicists and marketing agents besides that they pick their projects and take a cut of the profits rather than an agreed sum?


Money. Think of this as a silicon valley model where the v.c.'s sink money into the book's production and marketing. It frees up the publisher from paying some of the capital.

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