Taking Publication into One's Own Hands

[nitewanderer]

Lately there's been a veritable flurry of articles and conversations about the newly reconceptualized idea of self-publishing. I suppose at this point I should make a couple of distinctions. I'm not referring here to vanity publishing, using such purveyors as the quite reputable iUniverse or the substantially less reputable PublishAmerica. Vanity

Comments

[terebi_me]

...arranging your own publicity, social media, presentations, book tours and all the hidden stuff that goes with being an author on your own.

I was responsible for all of that as an author being published by someone else, as it was. I am reasonably sure that this is now actually the author's job; that no publisher, unless you're guaranteed to bring in a million dollars or end up #1 on the best seller list, is going to bother to actually pay someone ELSE to do that part of the book process.

I plan to self-pub one of my novels, but partially just to see what the process is like, and find out what kinds of sales I can generate just on my own; it won't do insanely well, but that novel would be almost impossible to categorize with a BISAC code, so retail buyers would either never hear about it, or be reluctant. I will be seeking trad representation for the other works in progress, but I think self-pub is worth a try, for the bold.

[nitewanderer]

You have a point, there, J. These days many publishers -- particularly yours -- expect the authors to do most of the work the publisher is supposed to do. There are still a couple out there that do the jobs we hope they will. Unfortunately, the company I'm referring to had a contract that demanded your character rights, most of your film rights, your soul and an option on that of your spouse/partner's. Greg L. publishes with them now, and he's pretty savvy, so maybe they've changed their contract.

Here's hoping.

Point being that it's all about the money draw these days -- your name is King, Grisham or Patterson, you get whatever you want. It's understandable, I suppose, but still.

Would love to compare notes with you when you have some findings. Glad you stopped by. Please feel free to comment, elaborate, challenge or otherwise swing by here.

[dkfitch]

Mark, I've just published Second Death at CreateSpace, Kindle and Smashwords. I figured it wasn't seeing the light of day any other way. Now I've sold some copies and am learning a lot about marketing. I'm not seeing the downside here, except that it's completely ineligible for a Stoker Award. It was professionally edited by Kathy Ptacek, and I've had favorable comments on it.

What's so interesting about this is that one of the women I share an office with is a published author (with a traditional press) in the field of African American young adult fiction. Her agent encouraged her to self-publish her next book as an e-book before the print version comes out. This agent said two of her other clients were requested to do this by their publishers. So the concept seems to be gaining traction.

I'm happy to share notes and experiences, if you're interested.

Great topic!

[nitewanderer]

That's awesome that you've got some bites! I'm going to go get one right after payday. :)

It's also fascinating that some legacy publishers are asking their clients to do this on their own! The idea of self-publishing (and therefore the meaning and place in the world of legacy publishing) is definitely in flux!

Regarding the stoker award, the language below from the new rules might interest you if you published in 2011:

Authors need not meet any criteria whatsoever. Works need not be professionally published, but must be published in some reviewable form available to at least 33% of HWA's eligible voters (self-published works are eligible but must meet this last criterion). In the event that the facts of a case are in doubt, or the rules are subject to interpretation, the rules should be interpreted inclusively, rather than exclusively -- that is, works of uncertain eligibility should be considered eligible.