Author Barry Eisler Turns Down Half Million to Self-Publish

At first glance some may think best-selling thriller author, Barry Eisler is nuts to walk away from a half million dollar publishing deal with one of the Big 6 NY publishers. But I don't think he is. I believe he's smart and visionary in his decision to self-publish ebooks.

Many new or midlist writers, as well as best-selling authors are now putting their books at Amazon Kindle, Smashwords (which distributes to a number of retailers in various ebook formats), and publishing print on demand through Amazon Creatspace for -0- or $39. What is nice about all of these, is the author sets the price on his or her book, and can change it at any time. It appears the books that are selling the large numbers, especially at Kindle, are priced from .99 cents to 4.99. But you never know. It all depends on what someone might want to read, fiction, nonfiction, and the many subjects and genres. Lots of choices.

If you are an author, new or old, thinking of e-publishing backlist books, or new manuscripts, but still unsure about taking the leap, read what Barry Eisler and Joe Konrath have to say in this discussion of ebooks. It is possible it may remove any resistance you have to the idea of self-publishing. (Be prepared to have a cup of coffee at your side before you start reading as it is a long discussion, but well worth the read.)

Also you may be interested in this previous blog I did on Barry Eisler some time ago, and this one.

~Linda

Novelist Barry Eisler and INSIDE OUT

Novelist Barry Eisler has a new thriller, INSIDE OUT, coming out next month, and with his personal background and political interests this should be a great read. It’s all about torture, government cover-ups, a mixture of fiction and reality, written by someone in the know, who for three years was in a covert position with the CIA’s Directorate of Operations, and is a lawyer. He also blogs often about civil liberties and torture.

In the first video he reads one of his sex scenes...(language warning for tender ears)

and in the second video he tells us why he wrote the story.

Guess we need to buy his book! I may buy the audio recording...

The book, audio, and Kindle editions are available at Amazon for preorder. It will be out in late June. It’s getting great professional reviews, take a look.









My previous post about Barry


~Linda

Barry Eisler, Author of Thriller Novels

Barry Eisler, Author

Photo from his website

I’m intrigued by this Northern California best selling and award winning author, Barry Eisler. He writes fiction, thrillers, based around his imagination and research, and possibly influenced by his career choices: his time in a covert position with the CIA’s Directorate of Operations; graduate of Cornell Law School; technology attorney in an international law firm; counsel in Japan at Matusushita Electric; and a Silicon Valley technology start-up executive. He has a black belt in Judo.

He’s written a series of six books featuring his character, Japanese American assassin John Rain. His latest book, Fault Line features new characters: brothers Ben and Alex Treven, estranged and embittered by a family tragedy, find themselves forced to rely on each other, and their very different talents, to escape a deadly conspiracy.

Barry has written an interesting article, Dead Trees is a Dead Model, about his views on ebooks and the effects on the publishing industry now and in the future as a guest blogger on MJ Roses’ Buzz, Balls & Hype.

I read his blog also. It is not about writing (you can find that at this website) but is about his insightful look at politics and news items.

This interview of Barry Eisler is informative and inspirational for any writer or aspiring writer, or just a fan of his books and/or the art of writing.












~Linda