Literary Islands

[faustfatale]

I’ve been thinking a lot about ePublishing / self-publishing and the impact it’s having on me both as a writer and a reader. I was suddenly gobsmacked by something that had never occurred to me until just now and I wanted to float it out there and see what other people think

Comments

[chrislatray]

Great question. Not to mention other things that you can't really DIY, like tie-in novels. Without that intermediary, it just becomes fan fiction, doesn't it? I'm curious to hear the input you get.

e-pub

[ext_427761]

I don't think traditional publishers are 'essentially useless', it's just that they need to adapt to the new technology or have change forced upon them. Editors, agents, foreign rights specialists, translators ... e-publishing might be the new wave, but it can't spring fully formed from nowhere. Specialist skills will become more important, I think, rather than less relevant. What's positive about the e-pub revolution is that - in theory, at least - the writer will become a much more important and pro-active link in the chain than he or she is now. As to how lucrative the whole business will be, for writers, well, that's another day's conversation ...

Cheers, Dec

what not to do

[anonymous]

Accidentally translate your entire novel electronically into French, which I did while trying to check some French dialogue. I then translated it back again, and this was how my opening paragraph resulted:

I was one the late afternoon ferry one Lake Champlain, the big one that takes year hour to reach Vermont. Yew I'D blinked, I would cuts missed it. I didn drank' T, and I saw the thing fall from the rear deck off the other ferry. It could cuts been has bundle off trash; it could cuts been has child-size fraud. Either was more likely than what I thought I saw: small wide eyed human face has, in one tiny frozen moment have it plummeted toward the toilets.

Not to make light of what is a very interesting issue - although it's possible that people MIGHT attempt self-translations!

(The re-translation persistently translated "water" as "toilets," which makes for interesting reading.)

thoughts

[anonymous]

I'm indie, and I just sold the rights ( minus an agent )to my series to four countries. I don't see that slowing down. That said, I've undertaken a Spanish translation myself on amazon and for e-readers and see how that goes so I can compare the two experiences.

After watching Amanda Hocking's fabulous publishing story, I honestly believe limits are falling away, thanks to social networking and global media distribution outlets.

[ext_427932]

Even Amanda Hocking states that she has an agent to handle her foreign rights deals.

http://amandahocking.blogspot.com/2011/02/indie-vs-traditional.html

[ladyeuthanasia]

Thanks! I was just going to post a comment to that effect.

What she said, doll.