BootsnAll Travel Community

Anybody ever done it. pros-cons. Just curious.

E.

This thoughts are scattered, try to follow
eBooks are ok, but the market for self produced eBooks has become so inundated with self-published materials that you'd have a tough time marketing and selling it. Many folks would rather just stick with the familiar authors as theres so much junk out there it's tough to wade through and find the good books. eBooks in general are a niche market, the majority of book buyers would rather have the actual book.

Self publishing is similar. With the advent of computers self published books have become more of the norm, but at a significant price to the publisher. To be able to front the money for the manufacturing expenses, or even the DIY at home printing expenses, it costs more than a few bucks, plus you have the distribution costs. Basically, it's hard to try and market a book unless your picked up by a large publishing house.

I've looked into self-publishing myself as there are thousands of free books converted to text files available on the internet, so many that I've invested in a saddle-stapler (think comic books) so I can print my own copies of Siddartha, Sherlock Holmes novels, ect. But the run is one, and I don't really care how good it looks because it just has to function for me to be able to read it. Unfortunately, that doesn't always work for everyone. You need a book that will be bound properly with strong easily fingered paper and ink that stands out. Books are usually published in an off-white as it's easier on the eyes and is usually a thinner stock, making it harder to print paperback-quality books at home.

It's possible to have books published over the internet and sent back to you, although my experience with these services is limited, but I think the quality is only marginaly better than what you'd find by printing and binding at home.

So what do I suggest? If your only worried about selling ~100 copies to relatives and friends and locals then printing at home is fine. 250-500 I'd say go for online services, and 1000+ I'd say look to a small printing house.

As with physical books, it mainly depends on whether there is sufficient demand. EscapeArtist.com, for example, sells a good number of eBooks written by expats living in a certain country. How to live in Ecuador, how to start a business in Panama, how to buy real estate in France, that sort of thing. People are willing to pay for that info without having something to flip through in their hands and they get it immediately.

Other consideration is whether there's an international audience, but not international distribution. I've sold a few hundred eBooks of my book (which is out in physical form as well) through my publisher, mainly to buyers in the UK, New Zealand, and Australia. It's cheaper and they don't pay shipping, so it it's a good trade-off.

Oh man globetrots, I didn't even know it but I have your book sitting on my desk right now.

Popular opinion (from what I've encountered) is that self-publishing is a waste of time if you're trying to break into the industry. If you simply have a story to share and want to get some copies made to send to friends, family, or that indy bookstore down the street then it's a viable option, but not if you are trying to make any money.

Some people feel that if they can self-publish then it will help them get noticed by a proper publisher and from what I've heard/read this is near impossible. Agents and editors get so many MSs coming through their offices every day that they're generally not going to be scouring the self-published books to see if they missed that one great author. Many will reason that if the person had to resort to self-publishing (often referred to as Vanity or Print On Demand [POD] Publishing) then what was so bad about their work that they couldn't get an agent to handle it or sell it to a publishing house?

Before you decided to go with self-publishing, I think you need to look at what your end goal is. If you're not looking to make a profession of writing then I would take a closer look at it.

Doing a search of the Writer Magazine's forums will yeild some interesting advice. Try this thread as an example:
http://www.writermag.com/wrt/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=4245

Taylor--thanks!! That's pretty cool. I'm guessing that when you bought it, you didn't care who the publisher was, right?

Markus--true to a point. But if your POD book sells well, you have a much better case going to traditional publishers after that. Kind of like a rock band that builds a following and sells their own CDs before trying to strike a deal with a major label. There are advantages to each option. On the financial end, it's an advance vs. ongoing royalties trade-off. You make more money per book when you retain more control, but you get more up front with a traditional publisher. There's no right or wrong way to do it--depends on the situation and the market for the book. But either way, if it's a vanity project with no commercial value, it won't succeed, no matter how it is distributed.

E, I haven't gotten to that point myself, but I'm already seriously considering that as an option in my future.

I recommend picking up one of the many titles by Dan Poynter (you know, by them used on Amazon for next to nothing or go to the library). He's self-published endlessly (and actually shows how much content you can put in a book that's not even your own creation), but puts a great deal of precise content on the subject into one place. He shows you how doable the step is and how to consider if it's really a viable option for you.

Check 'em out.

Cafepress does on demand publishing.

All you have to do is upload a file with the book contents and they do the rest (printing, binding, shipping, selling, customer service).

Of courses they take a majority of the profits, but...

cool link thanks

E.

an alternative to self-publishing your a big book, is to publish it in bite-sized zines. Costs a lot less to print and mail...you can get more 'review copies' out to punk zines and the like - whose readers actually order based on reviews they read there.

My story: I put out my zine The East Village Inky for a couple of years (not b/c I wanted to turn it into a book but b/c I thought I'd lose my mind at home with a new baby and a crushing case of lost identity) - that's 8 issues, 40 index card sized pages each, handwritten and illustrated, looks like the work of a talented 5th grader...

I contacted the editor of an anthology in which an essay of mine appeared and said, "How about I write a book?" I had no idea of how to actually pitch (still don't) but she said, "Well, send us some examples of your work". I sent her the zines and told her how many subscribers I had and what bookstores sold the zine (there are all sorts of good beginning zinester type websites out there to give you info on how to do this)

On the strength of that, I got my first book contract. If I had sat around 'waiting for the big infernal machine to make up its mind about me' to paraphrase the late, great Spalding Gray, I'd still be waiting. (Pluggy plug plug - my third book, Job Hopper hits the shelves any day now...)

Another plus to zine - publishing is it builds a loyal audience. Your readers will feel a personal connection that will propell them to buy the book (when you get the book and you will... and odds are it won't be self published).

Finally, even if nothing ever happens, you'll have a stack of zines that tells your story and there will be some people who've read it and enjoyed it as opposed to some faceless editors who maybe read it before they rejected it. You'll have had the joy of industry and creation.

For those who've self-published or are considering it, Jeffrey Yamaguchi has a great site devoted to getting the word out

Damn you Ayun! Your email yesterday cost me $18.45.
(yes, I am referring to Jobhopper which I pre-ordered through Powell's)

Shake it, Joe!
You see, kids?
This guerilla marketeering thing WORKS!
I swear on a stack of self-publishing manuals to buy whatever Joe emails me about, as long as it doesn't purport to enlarge my penis, enrich impoverished Nigerian royalty-in-exile, or get me high with 100 percent legal herbs!
Thanks for leading the charge, Joe!

I have a cousin that owns a printing- press business. I am also invested in it.

If I wrote a book and had it printed there, what else must I consider? The marketing could be done by my family and I as well.

So hypothetically, the book is printed up and we're marketing it ourselves. Have I forgotten anything else that still requires a publisher?

Another thing your publisher does is get the book in bookstores - which you may not even want to do, preferring to sell from a website and/or in person and keep all profits for yourself. This is pretty time consuming, but it can be done! There are also distributors - if you can convince one of them to take on your book for a portion of sales, then they'll do the extensive leg work for you.

Yaaay! (doing the happy dance)

My copy of Jobhopper arrived in the mail!

woo yay woo yay!

hey, while we're on the subject of self-publishing, I want to recommend a book i just loved - devoured on a train ride. it's called On Subbing
and it's a compilation of four zines written over four years by a substitute teacher working w/ special ed classes in the Portland Oregon public school system (punk rocker by night). It's tiny - about the size of a slingshot calendar for those who know what that is, perfect bound, desk top publishy looking inside but very easy to read. the writings great and has the unbridled energy of someone whose writing would not necessarily be improved by an editor's hand. It actually wasn't self published but published by a zine distro that also sells a few books and t-shirts, stickers, that kind of thing. they sell On Subbing through their website, and at Powell's books and probably every other indie store that accepts their products. So have a prowl around [URL=http://www.microcosmpublishing.com/ ]microcosm publishing[/URL] as well!
and for those wanting nitty gritty on how to start/promote a zine, they have a nifty little book - same dimensions as On Subbing - called Stolen Sharpie Revolution - you'll see it listed on the home page.

quote:

Originally posted by BillGlo:
I have a cousin that owns a printing- press business. I am also invested in it.

If I wrote a book and had it printed there, what else must I consider? The marketing could be done by my family and I as well.

So hypothetically, the book is printed up and we're marketing it ourselves. Have I forgotten anything else that still requires a publisher?

well, unless you get a distributor like Ayun mentioned, you have to have someplace to physically STORE the books. A distributor will often charge you for that space (esp if they store the whole print run). Many a self-publisher has had to devote a garage, spare bedroom or living room for that purpose. Also I dont think you can underestimate shipping and handling, both labor and costs.

Regarding book promotion and marketing, consider joining Publishers' Marketing Association they have a newsletter with helpful articles and resources; do co-op book displays that you can get in on for all the major (and specialty) book shows; do co-op mailings to specialized lists; as well as run workshops and the like especially for small/indie presses, of which you will be one if you self-publish. Oh and they also have a very active listserv, or used to.

also, if you're thinking of printing in color, think Asia! MUCH cheaper (depending on QTY) to print in Taiwan or Korea for example vs US.