Dee wrote: "The question I have is regarding self-publishing. I mean, it's an option if you want to avoid the whole agent/editor-shenanigans, right? What are your thoughts?"
The myth is that self-publishing is for weenies, and no "real" writer would use this method of getting their works in print. Well, think about it. It's a self-serving myth for editors and agents, isn't it?
But, yes, there is some truth to the myth. Many self-publishers are weenies, with materials that's just not "good enough" for traditional publishing. Even so, there are many, many circumstances in which self-publishing is a sensible way to go–and it's actually quite "traditional." Many great writers have self-published (including me) in the past, and continue to do so today. Here are some circumstances in which you might want to self-publish:
A Small, Known Audience
1. You have a book with a known audience that you can reach readily, and the market is probably limited to that audience. For example, you write a family history which one or two hundred family members will want to have. If nobody else is likely to be interested in your family, no commercial publisher is going to want to undertake the project. Or, perhaps write a tome on cultivating some rare orchid, a book that will be must reading for all fifty members of the "Orchid X" society, but nobody else.
A Large, Known Audience
2. You have a book with a known audience that you can reach fairly readily, and it's a very large audience. For instance, you might belong to a voluntary organization or religion that has 100,000 members or more. Some publisher might like to have this audience, but why do you need them? You can buy all the services they (might) provide, like editing, proof-reading, illustration, cover design, and registration of copyright. You will do the marketing yourself, so why take only 10% or 15% royalty when you can self-publish and get at least 50%. In general, if you can be pretty sure of selling 10,000 (maybe even 5,000) copies on your own, you may do much better self-publishing. Right now, I'm thinking of this route for some projects of mine, because I have built up a loyal following of readers. (But be conservative about how many of your "sure-sales" will actually buy.)
Jump-starting Your Career
3. You are unknown as an author and you'd like to jump start the possibility of being seen by a traditional publisher. If you manage to show some good sales interest in your self-published version, you could be picked up by a traditional publisher for a larger market. Some of the self-publishing companies are actually linked to traditional publishers, who regularly survey their offerings and sales statistics (but be careful that this promise is real and not a scam, and don't get your hopes too high that you will be the one in a thousand who wins this lottery.)
Learning the Publishing Business
4. You want to get some experience with the publishing business. Perhaps you've never published a book before, but intend to have a long writing career. Your first project is unlikely to become an instant best-seller, but you will learn a great deal going through the entire pubishing process. It may be well worth an investment in your career.
Having Your Very Own Book in Your Hands
5. You just want to have a book in your hands with your name as author. Lulu.com would be a good place to go for this because they are set up to print single copies of books on demand at a reasonable price.
Some Warnings
Warning: If you're thinking of self-publishing, don't restrict yourself to considering only one company. You can now find dozens of POD companies on the web, and dozens of other self-publishing companies who range from individual services (like editing or design or printing or order fulfillment) to complete end-to-end packages. Do your shopping before you spend your money—because self-pubishing is a purchase, and often a large one.
Warning: An acquaintance recently spent over $30,000 to have her book published. That has to be a scam. These days, you should be able to publish your own book for one-tenth of that or less.
Final Warning: Don't choose self-publishing just to "avoid the whole agent/editor shenanigans." There are many, many great editors and agents out there, and if you have a book that you truly believe is destined for commercial success, they can be a great help to you.
An Invitation
If you have other good reasons for self-publishing, add a comment.
Or, if you have experiences with self-publishing you would like to share, please help others by writing about them.
Thanks in advance.
Thursday, August 09, 2007
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7 comments:
That was brilliant, thanks for the timely and informative reply! So true to consider the different options depending on audience, I'll keep that in mind for when the time comes. Cheers! :-)
One more reason to self-publish: you want to write ebooks, and make some money now. Self-publishing ebooks is the easiest way to publish, in my opinion. However, the marketing of the book is still hard work, as it is with any other book.
Amy
Author , _Making Soap In Your Own Kitchen_,
a beginner's guide to soapmaking.
www.soapcrone.com/ebook.php
I did one book through self publishing (iuniverse.com). I paid them $200 and they published the book . It has an ISBN and is listed for sale at amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com (two requisites for me). I went this route with this book as it falls into the category of a family book. I recovered the $200, and maybe another $50 on top of that. That is all I wanted financially.
This turned out to be a rewarding endeavor. People told me that they sat in bed, read passages of the book, and laughed and cried.
I never got that reaction from my books published on project management and such.
The only self-publishing I have done is a very limited number of hand-illustrated children's stories. But then these were for very special people and I wasn't trying to make money, although getting the pages printed on quality paper was not very expensive. I did a hand-stitched binding.
To Dwayne:
Well I read two of you PM books and I laughed and I cried. Not over the books so much as what they said about projects I have been on.
I'm not interested in a 'career', just readers, so I've opted entirely for the online route. And I get a reasonable number of downloads - on average, 150 per month, after an initial 'bang' of about 1500 when my novel was featured at two online eBook sites.
I finally scored an agent for my first non fiction book about college. He happens to be one of the big ones in New York. However, over two years later, we still have no publisher. I am at the point now where I am considering self publishing. I'd really prefer to work through an agent since he has more experience, but I don't think he's doing anything for me.
Publishing is full of problems, no matter which route you take.
I'd just like to be able to find a handful of really good self-published books, to prove that old standard wrong: you know, the one that insists that they're all bad. There have to be a few good ones out there.
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