Episode 179 – Looking At The Publishing Industry With Robin Sullivan
The Robots sit down and talk about the current state of the publishing industry with Robin Sullivan of Ridan Publishing. Things are not as they once were, but hopefully this conversation will help you navigate your way through it. Enjoy.
This week’s promo – Jeremy Robinson’s BENEATH at Podiobooks.com
And while this wasn’t mentioned during the conversation, but Eli brought it to our attention, and I thought it would be good to share with you here. NY Times – The Case For Self-Publishing
Oh, and one final thing. Robin mentioned this SNL line during our conversation, and to my surprise neither Eli nor Terry knew what she meant (this I discovered via Skype IM). I might as well post it so they can get a clue:
Question for Robin:
Do you worry that your publishing house will grow too large for you to handle on your own? I’m a published author and several of my rights are reverting in the next few months. I’d be interested in approaching Ridan, but I see that you have five books slated for release in the first quarter of 2011, but which are not yet released. If you start taking on new books, do you have plans to expand your team to accommodate the increased workload?
You guys mentioned that you’d be having Robin on again on Monday? is that right? I’m just checking. Is this the right place to ask questions that you’ll ask her or do you want them emailed to you?
JR, yes, this is a good place to ask you questions. You can also email them if you’d like (show@deadrobotssociety.com), you can tweet them (@DRSpodcast), or post them to our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_21315535368&ap=1)
Question for Robin, (and for discussion panel).
Robin I can’t remember if it was in this interview or another one but I remember you talking about not finding much worth publishing in your submissions slush piles. As a writer who can not seem to get past the slush, I am wondering how many of the books with Ridan were discovered in the slush pile? What set those apart and made them worth publishing? And what would you say the biggest mistake writers make who submit to you?
Thank you. The interview was great. I am looking forward to next one.
While she has made some very good points at other places in this podcast, I’m disappointed that Robin Sullivan is STILL bleating on about her ban, and also not being entirely truthful about the reasons for it.
HM – a lot of people who don’t mind absolutewrite think Mac was way off base how unprofessional she was. But the cooler is Mac’s site, so she can do what she wants with it(lots of people get banned from absolutewrite).
My question for Robin is do you only take on authors with lots of books? Have you managed to successfully market single titles, or is it easier for you to market a book series. I ask because I am wondering if authors with single titles might do better with traditional publishers or if small presses can effectively sell single titles. The top selling SP authors always seem to have book series.
I have a couple, questions for Robin. Have you signed any debut authrs to Ridan? what do you look for in debut authrs? (hoping you reopen for submissions one day). How imprtant would you say social networking is for new authrs. One more thing, how in the world do you get such consistently amazing covers. Every one of them is awesome. I’ve bought 3 of your books and I did so just becuase of the covers! jaja. Thank you for answering my questions
J.R.
We’ll be having Robin on again this Wednesday. The show will probably be out late that evening.
Any more questions? Subjects?