Master Index of Archived Threads


SELF-PUBLISHING

Vic Sage Mar 08 2012 09:07 AM

As i said in the "entymology thread", I'm starting to consider self-publishing as an option for my short stories. while I'd prefer to have the imprimatur of a professional publication rather than resort to what is essentially a vanity press, i think things are changing and self-publishing is becoming more common and accepted as legitimate. Anybody have any experience with it?

Benjamin Grimm Mar 08 2012 09:14 AM Re: SELF-PUBLISHING

Are you talking about published printed and bound volumes, or ePublishing, where your work can be sold by Amazon and downloaded to a Kindle, for example? I don't know much about this industry, but I believe that even if you go with the traditional printed material, it can now be printed on demand so you don't have to worry about being stuck with any unsold copies.

Mets – Willets Point Mar 08 2012 09:17 AM Re: SELF-PUBLISHING

I have a friend who self-published a book recently and he writes a blog about his experiences which you may find helpful.

themetfairy Mar 08 2012 09:29 AM Re: SELF-PUBLISHING

D-Dad self-published, but it was so long ago that the information isn't current. Best of luck Vic!

John Cougar Lunchbucket Mar 08 2012 09:30 AM Re: SELF-PUBLISHING

I would agree that's less of a vanity thing to self-publish today but to make it succeed you've really gotta be prepared to self-promote the crap out of it. It might be a good idea maybe to see what kind of audience you can develop doing some low-labor electronic thing like a blog. Maybe a publisher takes a greater interest if you can show there's an audience already.

sharpie Mar 08 2012 10:00 AM Re: SELF-PUBLISHING

Unless you already have a following or write teenage vampire stories, it's not really going to do anything for you. Plus, it kind of spoils it if a publisher ever is interested in you. I know I tend to stay away from anything self-published since one only has limited time to read and , as a rule, edited stuff is better.

Ceetar Mar 08 2012 11:32 AM Re: SELF-PUBLISHING

sharpie wrote: Unless you already have a following or write teenage vampire stories, it's not really going to do anything for you. Plus, it kind of spoils it if a publisher ever is interested in you. I know I tend to stay away from anything self-published since one only has limited time to read and , as a rule, edited stuff is better. Might be some truth to this..on the other hand.. if we're talking about short stories, you could probably use some to sell the others. blog/e-book/self pub some to garner interest. Throw in a vampire or zombie or two.

metsmarathon Mar 08 2012 11:55 AM Re: SELF-PUBLISHING

i think clearly the angle you need is to have a story about vampires trying to survive the zombie apocalypse. in the old west, of course. how cool would a zombie vampire cowboy be?

Ashie62 Mar 08 2012 08:32 PM Re: SELF-PUBLISHING

How about an agent??

RealityChuck Mar 09 2012 10:55 AM Re: SELF-PUBLISHING

How many self-published fiction books have you paid money for? Look at all the books you own and make a count. I would guess the number is close to zero. Now, if you're not paying money for self-published books, what makes you think other people are? Self-publishing ignores the most important fact for books. Publishers publish books in service to the reader. They make their choices with the goal of pleasing readers. Self-publishing is done in service to the author. But the author doesn't buy the books. Self-publishing does work for nonfiction books with a small but well-defined audience. A cookbook of recipes for a church fundraiser. A book about the history of Harmony Guitars. It does not work for fiction. You're far more likely to be successful with a commercial publisher than by self-publishing, and you won't have anywhere near the investment.

Ashie62 Mar 09 2012 11:00 AM Re: SELF-PUBLISHING

What if Vic is writing porn though?

Benjamin Grimm Mar 09 2012 11:10 AM Re: SELF-PUBLISHING

What Chuck says makes sense, but I wonder if we're getting to a point, especially now that there are eBooks, where many readers won't be able to tell what is self-published and what isn't.

Ceetar Mar 09 2012 11:41 AM Re: SELF-PUBLISHING

Benjamin Grimm wrote: What Chuck says makes sense, but I wonder if we're getting to a point, especially now that there are eBooks, where many readers won't be able to tell what is self-published and what isn't. RealityChuck wrote: Self-publishing ignores the most important fact for books. Publishers publish books in service to the reader. They make their choices with the goal of pleasing readers. Self-publishing is done in service to the author. But the author doesn't buy the books. I disagree. Publishers publish books in service to their bottom line. And they market them as such. But a book that's easily marketable is not necessarily the best book. (Twilight?) Self-publishing books serve the reader in that if the author wants to make money, he's gotta write something readers want to read and will then turn around and recommend and spread the word and blog and tweet about it. Think about the books you've read/bought. Why did you read them? chances are you didn't scroll through an alphabetical list, read some descriptions and pick on. You didn't take it off the shelf at random. Someone recommended it to you, and someone recommended it to the person that recommended it to you. Publishers are more apt to have an advertising campaign, get an author on the Daily Show, and convince bookstores to put your book on the 'new release' shelf right inside the entrance or on the main page of amazon.com. In some cases self-publishers can market their own book, if they've got a highly successful blog and some sort of following. (Or they know someone. knowing someone is always a leg up) I agree this generally still works better for nonfiction and well defined audiences (Mets fans for example.) but I think the gap is narrowing.