I am a somewhat well-read author and certainly a subject matter expert in my niche, so let me chime in:
1) Advances have gone to absolute garbage. This means the author has to actually develop and maintain and online presence that is a renewable source of leads and other income. This is more work for same pay, but it's also the evolution of a ridiculously stagnant industry.
2) Shrug. Not really. First time authors get absolutely nothing from publishers. Big time authors get plenty of help (that they could have done themselves or contracted others to do for them at cheaper rates and no points off their royalties). Middling authors sometimes get a break. It is a VERY small portion that gets help from the marketing wing that really needs it.
3) Again, not really. See #2.
4) You covered this.
5) See #2.
All of the "marketing" is overblown. I know this is somewhat your point, but I just wanted to reinforce it. I self-publish now and could not be happier. When I saw how much I'd give up in royalties by going with any of the 3 publishers who sent me contracts, I laughed.
1) Advances have gone to absolute garbage. This means the author has to actually develop and maintain and online presence that is a renewable source of leads and other income. This is more work for same pay, but it's also the evolution of a ridiculously stagnant industry.
2) Shrug. Not really. First time authors get absolutely nothing from publishers. Big time authors get plenty of help (that they could have done themselves or contracted others to do for them at cheaper rates and no points off their royalties). Middling authors sometimes get a break. It is a VERY small portion that gets help from the marketing wing that really needs it.
3) Again, not really. See #2.
4) You covered this.
5) See #2.
All of the "marketing" is overblown. I know this is somewhat your point, but I just wanted to reinforce it. I self-publish now and could not be happier. When I saw how much I'd give up in royalties by going with any of the 3 publishers who sent me contracts, I laughed.