Publicity is also shifting with more power going to indies. My wife independently published and just called the local Barnes and Noble and set up a book signing. She hung out, signed books, sold out their entire inventory (and then brought in her own stock and doubled the sales). Now she has rave reviews from the B&N employees and just made her own book tour of every B&N within a few hour drive. It's not like she's anywhere close to a big well-known author. But you can just make calls and do some amount of your own publicity now. People take indies more seriously, and it is in large measure due to people like Brandon legitimizing Kickstarter and self-publishing.

just a holy grail of info right here

@MegaTreeBark

Ай бұрын

Step aside for royalty! Abdel meetinghouses! nevertheless!

@SupremeDP

Ай бұрын

It's a thing worth carrying, this info. Good thing we got a man.

@captainawesome0711

29 күн бұрын

Factually, are you writing a book as well? With your influences, I’m sure it would be something spectacular. My passion project for the past 3 years has been starting a series that’s like a weird hybrid of Dune, Alice in Wonderland, and Harry Potter (just cuz there’s magicians in an urban fantasy setting) with touches of Fallout in there. Like a Metaphysical Political Apocalypse if that makes sense, I was raised by witches and occultist so my POV is outside of the norm but I find it works well for fantasy

@JoshBurcham104

28 күн бұрын

Man carrying melted face

@captainawesome0711

28 күн бұрын

@@JoshBurcham104 that’s the list ark

Smile and wave boys, smile and wave.

@alikimoysiadi9340

Ай бұрын

Thought the same! The penguins were four but only two got apprehended 🤣

As someone who wants to publish books someday, I really love these sort of "shop talks" brandon and dan do about the publishing industry and writing in general. Keep up the great videos!

Many people in New York have no clue what the US looks like, or how big it is. I have heard variations of that story from several different industries. I was working for a software company in Salt Lake when our office manager took a call from New York asking if someone could take something to Denver, "over their lunch time."

@Paul_McSeol

Ай бұрын

My wife and I moved to New York 7 years ago and it’s scary how many people here have never left the city, let alone the state.

As a former publicist (freelance, not with a publisher), I know that publishers kind of pay their publicists crap and also pile a LOT of work on them, so there is a high attrition rate. But I do know that Alexis is AWESOME.

Just found this and I’m trying to publish my first novel at the moment. This is a godsend for any fresh authors out there!

The Pilfering Pengtwins?

Sincerely waiting for Sanderson Publishing to become the next major House. Dragonsteel for the epic fantasy authors?

It's creepy how perfectly timed this episode is,. I was just researching about it! Cheers guys!

I’m home sick with strep throat right now and in a lot of pain. You guys made my day, thank you for having such a happy podcast!

The back end of this conversation reminds me of being part of a writing group that met inside of a Barnes and Noble as we shared each other's chapters. I would catch myself looking at the shelves and thinking, "Those are so many books that I have zero interest in reading. How am I possibly going to make anything that would sell when I can't see anything on this shelf as worth my time?" It kinda killed my writing ambitions.

@yuri0568

5 күн бұрын

I'm not a writer but I want to become one someday. Sounds to me though just from watching a bunch of videos, you just gotta get lucky. Kinda sucks.

This was sooooooo interesting. The world changes so drastically, which is FRIGHTENING, but it's pretty neat too. Nowadays its "influencers"- for me that's KZreadrs- that sway me with their opinions. I trust their taste based on having a personality I enjoy, so I know when they gush about something I'll probably enjoy it too. Their opinions will convince me to pick up a book, go watch a film, start a tv show. It's word of mouth, except I get to choose who I'm listening to and it's digitalized! Sponsoring creators/influencers, encouraging fans/influencers to talk about your art/story/whatever, engaging with the community (in safe and respectful ways)- that's where it's at right now, I think!

@Duiker36

Ай бұрын

Eh, it's not actually word of mouth. Word of mouth implies that the influencer themselves organically picked up on the product and developed a positive opinion to pass onto you. An influencer is basically a freelance marketer, because while they're paid to sell you on the product, they aren't themselves employed by the producer. Right now, I agree that that's where it's at, but over time, they're going to find themselves squeezed by both sides (the corporations who exploit them and the consumers who increasingly disrespect them), much like every other gig economy worker. But right now, while the consumer disrespect is still at a low ebb, it's a good time.

What a nice showing of character in these times to take ownership and use your platform to apologize and get true info to us your subscribers. Found this inspiring.

Brandon's GRRMartins impression is spot on

@kaimcdragonfist4803

Ай бұрын

I was just gonna write that! It’s pretty clear he’s spent a decent amount of time practicing it lol

Glad to listen in on your discussions. I hope y’all just keep talking about whatever comes to your minds- just saying it like you see it 👍🏻 It’s refreshing.

I always enjoy your videos here, but this was a very interesting look into the convoluted nature of the industry. It will be very interesting to see how they eventually try to adapt to a post-covid world

Just realized I’ve been listening to these guys for nearly 2 decades😮 Writing Excuses and now this

I'm pretty sure everything in this episode has been talked about before, but It's still enjoyable to listen to these two gab, and there's a lot of viewers who haven't watched every single episode, so repeat topics are fine once in a while 😊

@Pablo360able

Ай бұрын

Well, the penguin food heist is new.

I really enjoyed this discussion. Thanks.

The penguins reminded me of a video I saw yesterday of a seagull waiting until someone triggered the automatic door of a shop, going in, and stealing a pre-made sandwich 😂

@Duiker36

Ай бұрын

Here's to the Anthropocene.

You will ALWAYS be our Brandon Sanderson 😭

Man the last point is so spot on.

That is very useful, thank you

We went on a swamp tour in New Orleans and man those alligators are so clumsy and cute

So I listened to this while I was working and at the very end it's quiet for a second so I stopped and wondered why it was quiet, and then I heard "How's that Ben?" (which by the way, my name is Ben) and for a second thought that somehow Brandon was speaking to me through the video and it freaked me out 😂

Love it

Pilfering Penguins perennial problem

are book tours intended to advertise new books or to maintain and engage with fans? i usually only go to one where i already know the author and would probably buy the book anyway. might get me to buy the hardcover instead of paperback, but that's about it. if i was a publisher, id have used the pandemic as an excuse to move out of the expensive cities or at least use work for home a lot more. seems like an industry thatd benefit from that

I’m from Fresno. That’s pretty funny !!!😂 wish I could’ve been there for that first signing 😂😂😂

When Brandon said he "bought a Motel 6" as a new author, it hits different than if he said he "bought a Motel 6" today.

This makes a lot of sense. Penguin random house has a KZread channel which gets like 100 views per video

This was interesting.

Huh. As an unknown self-pub author, no one does know you, no one does care, not even my publicist. What's worse is, I am my own publicist.

Shout out to my fellow kiwis in New Zealand

Omg. I sent them the article yay! Go sushi penguins.

ABC news dubbed the penguins the “Waddling Vagrants.” Publishing sounds rough, guys.

@Duiker36

Ай бұрын

All sectors of the entertainment sector are, honestly, pretty rough, once you get below the highly-paid executive level. It's a problem in sports, in film, in TV, in books, in videogames, in visual arts, in music. Entertainment-at-scale is an extremely fraught challenge, and without scale, it's usually a non-starter business-wise. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

There has to be a blues brothers joke for the penguins

The problem with movies is that they make so many that it's impossible to keep up. And they made so many so bad movies for big IPs that in the eyes of the public every new movie is crap, until proven otherwise. In the past it was the other way around, a new big movie was a special event and was assumed to be good until proven otherwise. Hollywood essentially self-destructed, partially due to greed, and partially due to political activism.

@user-xu6ox2rq4p

Ай бұрын

One big thing is that the film studios don't want to risk any of their big franchies so they do constant resets, bad multiverse. I don't care about any of the universes anymore because I know the universe is going to get reset after a few movies. There is no canon, there is no bigger development. Everything is cheap, lacks a soul.

Shawshank Re-penguin

to be fair since 2020 Sanderson has been doing much bigger things to self advertise than a book tour

On the other hand, how does a reader find new authors that they might like? If I like Brandon Sanderson or Dan Wells, who else might I like that is up-and-coming?

I'm pretty sure the only way to get treated well as a newly published author is to have proof of sales from self publishing first. Proof of concept would go a long way in making the gamble on an author seem more likely to hit. I just sent my first novel to an editor and the work after that seems daunting compared to completing the project. I do have some ideas I haven't seen done yet though so I'm hoping it can be fun to delve into.

When you run it back just to hear Brandon swear.

The two penquins were the Madagascar penquins 🤣

One of the problem with making big bets with new authors is that they are not slaves. If they are going to be big in 30 years how likely is it that they still have a contract with your company? Even if the investment is a good one you might not get the profits.

Both Brandon and Dan look so good with beards 😅

Late comment. Just saw this video now. We do watch ads, but only the ads we WILL cares about. Like watching ads about a patroen account making TRPG, in a video about TRPG. Or a fantasy author sending their books to reviewer for free as promotion/advertisment.

Not sure if this is interesting, depressing, uplifting, or all of the above simultaneously :D

@BritReadsBritAuthors

Ай бұрын

All of the above, but most of all, *honest*

@Syvak

Ай бұрын

There is not enough cheese in this episode

this episode is way too short! I was so disappointed when they paused and I felt that "How's that, Ben?" coming...

@hiltrud2001

Ай бұрын

I second that ❣️ I want more!

People started to stop going to theaters well before Covid, unfortunately.

@robbybevard8034

Ай бұрын

They did, but from 2012 to 2018 every single year there were 4 or 5 films hitting the billion dollar+ mark, and another handful hitting in that ballpark. 2019 had nine different films make over a billion dollars. Avengers Endgame almost made 3 billion. In the five years since only 6 films have crossed that mark, and far fewer films are hitting in that range. It was expected to see a big drop in 2020, 2021 because of Covid, but it's still way way weaker than it once was. (Caveat- Avatar 2 made like 2 billion) The giant mega blockbusters aren't hitting as much, and the comic book movie train in particular is cooling down a lot.

I used to live in Wellington and once had a penguin steal my sandwich. (Well it would be more correct to say I gave my sandwich to it because who wouldn't want to be friends with a penguin?)

I just need to know if Dan has seen the Aespa (kpop) MV with the cast of Fraggle Rock

I can't believe you didn't associate Penguin Random House with Random Penguin Sushi House raid.

Using barely-related but human created art is infinitely more amusing than AI garbage. This episode is a win

*screams in midlist*

Penguins be like, "Am I being detained?"

if it's italian than it's the penguinos brothers

Why do you place the signatures in 4 piles? Why not one big one? Also aren’t you scared condensation from your ice water will drop on them?

@8StringVGM

Ай бұрын

He has a short about why

@Cole_1

Ай бұрын

@@8StringVGM oh okay

@Syvak

Ай бұрын

The four piles lets the ink from the pen dry. For the ice water, I guess the condensation just hasn’t been a problem or he would do something different.

Brandon had it right, it should have been “pinguino” in Italian. “Penguito” would be Spanish.

Oceans 7: Everything is Black and White

Counterpoint: the marketing budget for Monopoly for phones was more than the development cost of The Last of Us 2 and that apparently worked out so, maybe we can just qualify that "money" with "enough"

Brandon, when’s the next mtg episode?

Maybe I'm getting old but movies are getting way too long for me lately. I don't want to be in the theater for 3+ hours, and even at home the longer the movie is the smaller the chance I'm going to watch it gets.

Week 23 of persistently asking for an Intentionally Blank Episode about Marching Band!

@randomdude4505

Ай бұрын

They will be as prompt in this request as they are on their movie reviews.

Penguidos is how it should be spelled. Get it together, guys lol

Fried sushi with pango.

I want Brandon Sanderson/dragon steel to be a publishing company, utah is cheapish and they can do modern publishing

Peni gesserit

Adoooonalsium

Did Karen take the photos?😂

Litany against arguing in the comments section of KZread videos

But guys... "Therefore, what?" You've highlighted all the issues, but you haven't provided any solutions!

Wow first

Breaks my heart that this generation of online reviewers doesn't know who Joel Rosenberg, Katherine Kurtz or Robert Asprin are.

please stop using ai. it's theft.

I hate the food heists.

@roovodi

Ай бұрын

Yep, it is usually a boring waste of time. I started skipping those.

@Day1PC

Ай бұрын

Me too.

@gordo6908

Ай бұрын

i quite enjoy them

@SavannahSedai

Ай бұрын

I only click for the heist and end up staying for the rest 🤷🏻‍♀️

@rolflager7716

Ай бұрын

I don't hate them, but I feel they have kind of run their natural course now and I've started skipping them lately.

It's not just the advertising problem. Movie studios have gone woke. They're focusing more on pushing their personal political narrative than telling good, original stories. People are tired of being lectured to by an industry full of hypocrites. Movies, TV shows, sports games, books, etc used to be places people went to escape life for a few hours to be entertained or uplifted. That's gone now, and since the economy is also in the toilet, people would rather spend their money elsewhere or not at all.

@donovanporter7803

Ай бұрын

Better woke than a bigot. Begone with you.

@roovodi

Ай бұрын

Brandon and Dan probably will not admit there is a problem with wokeness because they still want to collaborate with hollywood. They have a lot of woke friends, Dan admits being woke in one of the episodes(without knowing what it is, probably). And they dont have integrity - despite writing and preaching about courage in their books, they don't act accordingly to their supposed values. J.K. Rowling: "Like Churchil, i believe courage is foremost virtue because it guarantees all the rest..." That's an example of an author with integrity and courage.

@ErinXIV

Ай бұрын

@@roovodi Yea you're right she has so much integrity and courage for wanting people like me to not exist. The word "woke" needs to die. It's used exclusively by people who can't accept any other way of living except their own. The irony of it being used as an insult, especially considering its origins. Besides, you'd think people "awakening" to compassion and understanding would be a positive thing.

@LarthV

Ай бұрын

Not necessarily. Just the political focus of or the tropes in the bad shows is now bad in a different way. Don't forget that there was a lot of crap in the 80ies and 90ies as well...

Yuck can we not talk about animals eating animals in future