The Revolution has Already Started...I Just Didn't Know!

[a_r_williams]

Yesterday, I went to The Shatzkin Files  to post a comment on the post from the day before. I was surprised to find a new blog post since he had just updated. The post concerned J.A. Konrath and the self-publishing deal he had signed with Amazon Encore Imprint concerning his new book "Shaken". You can read more about it at Publisher's Weekly.

I know

Comments

[karen_w_newton]

It's true things are changing. I also saw this post from a romance author, who has tried self-publishing.

http://ellenfisherjournal.blogspot.com/2010/04/this-months-results.html

It depends a lot on what you want out of being published. One thing my agent pointed out is, publishing in any form creates a paper trail. If your goal is to get a contract with a traditional publisher, trying self publishing and then having small sales numbers is not a good thing. If that happens, consider using a pseudonym in future efforts.

Good post!

[a_r_williams]

Hmmm...I think my math is right. She's selling her books for 35 cents. O_o

[karen_w_newton]

It's ALWAYS good to have a plan!

[a_r_williams]

Plan the work and work the plan.

[peadarog]

Things are certainly changing, but as I said before, new GateKeepers will rise to replace the old, but they will still be GateKeepers.

Any fledgling musician can busk for money in the street and that has always been the case.

[a_r_williams]

Ah, my friend. There will be Gatekeepers, but will there be gates?

[peadarog]

People will beg for gates, believe me. There's just too much shit for any sane person to wade through is a dozen lifetimes.

Imagine 5,000,000 identical boxes in a giant warehouse. One of them contains the best book you could ever read. See if you can find it. You get to open as many boxes as you like, but every time you guess wrong, you get a punch in the face and somebody steals a dollar from your wallet.

How long before you decide it's more fun to watch TV?

[a_r_williams]

Imagine 5 billion websites. How do you find the ones you need?

SEO. Google. Yahoo.

There will be methods for people to find what is good. There already are.

Who do you follow on Twitter? Who have you connected to on Facebook? What blogs do you read? Do you notice how Amazon can influence your purchase (these readers also purchased...)?

Oh, and if all there is to eat is shit--some of it will start to taste good ;)

[wendigomountain]

The neat thing about rules is they are there for folks to break. For every success in self-publishing, there are 10,000 awful vanity press books. Just as there are for traditionally published books.

I don't think self-publishing is my way to go. I think you need better business savvy than what I (or most normal people) have, and that's where a publisher would come in handy. But some folks can out savvy an agent or a publisher and make some dough in the process. For that, I have to give them credit, but I think these success stories are a convenient way for less than reputable companies to shill their product over someone else's hard work and success.

[a_r_williams]

"The neat thing about rules is they are there for folks to break. For every success in self-publishing, there are 10,000 awful vanity press books. Just as there are for traditionally published books."

::nods:: I agree.

"I don't think self-publishing is my way to go. I think you need better business savvy than what I (or most normal people) have, and that's where a publisher would come in handy. But some folks can out savvy an agent or a publisher and make some dough in the process."

I think it's important to know what works for you. Some people jump into a story and write, others don't do anything without outlining, and still more mix and match by need/feel.

"For that, I have to give them credit, but I think these success stories are a convenient way for less than reputable companies to shill their product over someone else's hard work and success."

Research is important. There are quality self-publishers out there. And even some publishers who've created new imprints to act as self-publisher outlets.

[bondo_ba]

Heh. It seems great minds think about the same kind of things on the same day, even if we think opposite things about it. My entry today is just a little linked to this one.

Thanks for the links. Appreciate it!

[ellenfisher]

I was in a hurry on my last comment (preschooler to get to school) and didn't have time to comment further. But I do need to add that J.A. Konrath's deal for "Shaken" is not self-publishing. He HAS been self-pubbing on the Kindle, and doing very, very well at it (he's also done very well with traditional publishing). But AmazonEncore is a publisher like any other, and so "Shaken" will not be self-published.

Also, I personally see a very strong distinction between "indie" publishing (self-publishing on the Kindle) and traditional self-publishing. In indie publishing, there is no financial outlay for the author, and thus there is little risk. (Also, to address something someone else said, there is also no ISBN number, which means your sales cannot be tracked by publishers you might approach later.) This seems to me to be a whole different ballgame from the "I self-published a book and have ten thousand copies in my garage" approach.

[a_r_williams]

"But I do need to add that J.A. Konrath's deal for "Shaken" is not self-publishing. He HAS been self-pubbing on the Kindle, and doing very, very well at it (he's also done very well with traditional publishing). But AmazonEncore is a publisher like any other, and so "Shaken" will not be self-published

[ellenfisher]

I think Smashwords authors consider themselves indies. Most of them seem to be pubbed on Kindle, too. Also, B&N just announced a self-publishing platform (available this summer).

[a_r_williams]

Cool, I'll have to check that out to :)