The positive response to Sunken Treasure has surprised and delighted me even more than the fantastic sales of both the print and PDF versions. As of this writing, PDF sales have vastly exceeded my expectations, and though print sales have slowed, they haven’t stopped. I’ve seen a direct relationship between PDF sales and print sales, which is awesome and totally validates what I’ve always suspected to be true, but I was too afraid to try on my own.
This isn’t the first time I’ve self-published, but it is the first time I’ve released a PDF, and used a print on demand service. The entire experience has been so wonderful, I hope I can serve as an inspiration to other authors who may be considering going this route.
In case I am, I thought I’d share a couple of resources I’ve recently come across, as well as two of my own, that may be helpful:
6 ways to publish your own book from Mashable
Just what it sounds like: six different sites that let you self-publish. I’m pretty much sold on Lulu, but it’s always smart to research as many options as you can.
Fixing the Pig Book Model from 1889.ca
This post is all about marketing, eBooks vs. print books, the 1000 True Fans model, and what to expect when you’re self-publishing. If you’re serious at all about not just being published, but actually earning something for your work, this is a must-read.
My interview with the Lulu blog
I’ve posted this already, but I think it’s relevant, especially my advice for writers.
Five simple ways to just keep writing
Another oldie of mine, included here for the sake of completeness.
I’m sure some of you reading this have come across resources of your own that you’ve found useful. I’d love it if you’d be willing to share them in comments, so we can build a more complete and hopefully useful resource for anyone who wants it.
Adding:
Self-publishing review, which has a nice review of Sunken Treasure, as it turns out.
Cult of Done Manifesto. It totally creeps me out when something I’ve had rattling around in my brain comes out of someone else’s brain, better than I could have said it myself. (I especially needed to read this today, having experienced my first truly massive truly EPIC FAIL in a very long time early this morning.)
Wil, you read my mind…no joke: I just spent the last hour searching your blog for a post where you had some info about Lulu, since my dad’s looking for a good self-publishing solution for himself, and I wanted to pass on your experiences with Lulu.
Just as I gave up my search for the evening, my RSS pops up this new post of yours…you’re a godsend you are, Mr. Wheaton! 🙂
I’m partial to my own site, SPR. I know you disagreed with some of my review, but I’m pretty effusive overall:
http://www.selfpublishingreview.com/2009/03/02/sunken-treasure-by-wil-wheaton/
The Mashable article IS a must-read. I’ve decided to go with CreateSpace for the bigger cut, the Amazon listing, and the automatic conversion to Kindle.
The greatest resource I can recommend for self-publishers is one’s fans–the readers you have now. They are your real treasure. Start gathering them *before* your book(s) come out, however you can. My fans keep me going financially and morally; they even helped me pay for an editor so I can begin turning what are essentially drafts currently posted on the site into a book fit to print. (Almost $1k raised in less than a week.)
Thank you so much for your posts concerning Lulu. I’ve been sitting on a finished book for a year, trying to find the best route to get it published. Your high praise on your recent Sunken Treasure posts sold me on Lulu’s service, and we are well on our way to publishing our first book!
Thank you so much!
Very awesome resources, especially with so many people having a hard time getting /real/ publishers to listen to them. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Wil. I’ve been looking into this and you posted this at the perfect time. You rock!!
Just to plug a bit, I’m a huge proponent of blurb.com for self-publishing photo books. I haven’t tried them for text. I made my first one about 1.5 years ago and everyone I have showed it to has been very impressed. I’ve made several more since then and have gone back to get additional prints of the first one. The technology has only improved over the years.
They made fantastic Christmas presents. It was all anyone could talk about that year.
Here’s the main problem with self publishing. 99.9% of what is self published is awful. Much is self published because editors have always rejected it for one reason or another. There’s no editor to say this works, this doesn’t; this needs to be cut, etc.
You’re an exception to the rule, however, Wil, though I hate to think how many aspiring writers will think they’ll have the same success you do.
I work with small press, have one poem coming out in a collection in the next few weeks, and an acceptance for a novel that is being edited. Writing is hard work, and it took me a long time to hone my skill to the point it was even worth sending out.
I would never recommend anyone go the POD route, as it only gives people a false sense of worth. Most “real” publishers won’t even look at something if there’s anything that’s been self published before. That’s not an opinion, but information I’ve gotten from long established writers in my genre.
Thanks for the list, Wil. Most of my self-publishing bookmarks are for webcomics/comicbooks, but I have a few that may cross-over:
Publishing:
comiXpress – http://www.comixpress.com/
KA-BLAM – http://ka-blam.com/printing/
Fonts:
BlamBot – http://www.blambot.com/
US Copyright Website:
http://www.copyright.gov/
I agree with you to a point, but not all the way.
A lot of self-published stuff is awful, but you can’t extend that to assume that self-published works are ALL awful, or that not-self-published works are good.
What’s more, if someone can make a living self-publishing to a small but passionate fan base, that’s a sense of worth they’ve earned. If they can’t make it work, it should send a clear signal that something’s wrong, and they can either improve or give up.
Of course, no matter which way you go, you need to work hard at your craft and make sure you have a good editor to whip you into shape. But I don’t think it’s necessarily true that you need a publisher to earn credibility.
On the other hand, it may be true that being self-published will be like poison to your major league publishing career, in which case any writer should carefully weigh the pros and cons of each route, and make the decision that works best for them.
It’s not really true that publishers won’t look at self-published material – not anymore. That idea is kind of five years old. And hating self-publishing for the bad books that have been put out is like saying because Jackie Suzanne isn’t very good then Dostoevsky must suck. No, Lulu hasn’t produced any Dostoevsky’s just yet, but for some reason all self-publishers get lumped together as one entity, and they’re not.
Given the narrow marketing criteria to get published by the mainstream, and the lack of funds of small presses, self-publishing makes sense for a lot of writers. I’ll stop, could go on about this for days.
Doh! I forgot to add a couple of links; one is for the Writers Beware! blog sponsored by the SF&F Writers
assoc.http://accrispin.blogspot.com/
as well as,http://www.writers.net/ a site every writer serious about their writing career should check out.
I’d also suggest checking out forums and websites for writers you like; not only is it a good way to meet other writers, you never know what connections you’ll make.
Well, I don’t hate self publishing, I don’t think it’s the best way to go if you’re a writer wanting to make it a career. The idea that publishers, whether mainstream or small press, won’t look at self published work, may be five years old, but it’s as true today as it was then. I’ve talked to small press editors who have said this, so the stigma of self publishing won’t go away.
If you have talent, and a good story to tell, it will get published. It’s a slow process, but ultimately more satisfying.
Again, because of who Wil is, his mileage is going to be very different from the majority of those who self publish. Wil also happens to be an exceptionally gifted writer (not ass kissing here, just being honest), and I would think any publisher large or small would snap his work up in a minute.
Wil, in your ‘Ways to just keep writing’ you mention the importance of a good editor; but how do you find one? I have some friends who are lower-case w writers like me, but precisely because they’re friends I don’t know if they could be objective enough to not want to hurt my feelings.
Do you (or any of you fine fellow Wheatonites) have any advice on how to get in touch with an editor?
There are several places where you can hire freelance editors, who will work with you on a project.
I know, for example, that Lulu offers a package for a few hundred dollars that gives you an editor, some marketing, and a few other things.
Andrew and I worked together before we were friends, which is very important; I don’t know if it would work the other way around, because editors have to be able to tell you, “Listen, this thing that you love? It’s awful and here is how you fix it.”
Also, Peter Bowerman (The Well-Fed Writer) now has The Well-Fed Self-Publisher out.
I’m not harping on this point. I actually have a question that you might be able to provide insight into. And it will sound snarky, but it’s sincere.
You said “If you have talent, and a good story to tell, it will get published”. What is the value of publishing to a writer? If you have a good story to tell, won’t that story sell, regardless of the outlet?
I can’t help but feel you see a mystical aura around the notion of publishing, and I’m trying to understand what puts it there. Is it something tangible, or just… I don’t know… the idea that “I worked hard to reach this milestone, and so it must mean something”? I don’t see that aura, but I want to understand it.
Again, it sounds snarky, but it’s not. I’ve talked to many published authors who have bluntly agreed that the distinction of being “published” is purely a honorary title, to show they had hit some intangible mark. I’m wondering if there’s something more to it, though…
I’d also suggest getting into a writers critique group. It’s one of the best ways to get honest evaluations of your work from other writers, and a lot of times, at least for me, any editing that needs to be done, is made easier from the critiques.
ON the link I posted to writers.net there’s a section on editors as well. Be aware that can be very expensive in many cases, depending on the size of the work.
I’m on Lulu also. I love them they have been a fabulous source for me. They give you a lot of help in putting out the word on your work. They give you many great tools to use. I also belong to a writers group. We’re not a “critique” group but when asked to we do give each other advice or honest suggestions and comments. Pardon the shameless plug… This is the link to my Lulu storefront. http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=1183871
Hi Wil, thanks for the above. I’ve been working on a few things behind the scenes and reading you from afar, and the notes you posted here were hella helpful. Ta muchly.
On an aside, and I’m not sure where else to put this, I linked directly to WWdN:IE from my own new Typepad account. Just wanted to share that as one of the minions out here in the dungeon – so that you knew. If I guess that kind of thing is considered proper netiquette.
Keep up the fantastic work.
Wil, you might also find it interesting to read about Baen’s Free Library (http://www.baen.com/library/home.htm) especially Eric Flint’s post about how posting books for free online caused his book sales to go up – http://www.baen.com/library/palaver6.htm
Also, you should get your book compiled into more formats! 🙂
I don’t think your question is snarky at all, in fact I think it brings up a point I should address. I base what I say from what people tell me, and what I’ve seen on forums, blogs and emails. When Brian Keene, Tom Piccirilli, F. Paul Wilson, John Skipp all say the same thing, and i look at their track record, I take it they know what they’re saying.
I mainly work in the horror field, so perhaps it’s a bit different than others, but I suspect not. I see no mystical aura around publishing whatsoever. I also don’t believe in “giving my work away” so to speak by 4thelove zines and websites, or publishing and paying for that myself. Publishing is a means to an end. I write, because it’s what I do; being published is the end of that process. It means getting at least a professional rate for my work. FYI, I base a professional rate on the HWA guidelines which can be found here:http://www.horror.org/memrule.htm
Publishing is as much timing as it is luck. There’s also a bit of who you know. My poem and novel would never have seen the light of day had I not made contacts-however tenuous-in the horror genre. Hope that answers your question, if not, drop a message on my blog and I’ll be glad to be more indepth.
A conversation with Jim Baen several years ago played a big part in my decision to do the PDF of Sunken Treasure when and how I did.
And I’m working on other formats, but figuring out how to get them to readers is slightly more complex than I thought it would be.
You didn’t ask me, but I’ll answer. I’m the Self-Publishing Review guy (thanks Wil for the link!) I’ve published both traditionally and through Lulu. Some of the bigger presses overseas, Soft Skull Press here. The experience of seeing my book printed on actual book-sized pages with Lulu was as exciting to me as getting published traditionally.
I don’t think I’m a bad writer, and I guess the fact that I’ve been traditionally published shows someone had faith in me. But my follow-up novel didn’t get published, after being represented by an agent, so I put it out myself. And it was worth the effort because people like it – and I’m of the opinion if you can reach one extra reader, that’s great, because the idea is to reach readers, no matter what mechanism you use to publish.
The idea is if it’s good, it’ll get published just isn’t true. I’ve read some outstanding things that didn’t find publishers. And who knows, maybe the way that a book is meant to eventually get published traditionally is to first go the self-publishing route.
But this isn’t my blog, so I’ll shut up.
I agree with the poster who said this viewpoint was true about five years ago. See this article in the New York Times where a major publisher says, publishing on demand is no longer a dirty word:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/28/books/28selfpub.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2
Basically–for good or for ill–self-publishing is likely going to turn into what the demo tape is to the musician. In fact, a few big name publishers are starting their own POD services.
Instead of sending your first few pages or a chapter, you’re going to be sending your POD books, methinks.
I agree with the group interaction thing. Where I live I have a few friends who are all in the creative mindset and we get together a few times a year and call it the “Devils Muse Expo”. We bring our creative outlets and let others see them. A lot of my friends are artists and many of them are writers, so we gather together in my man cave (it’s not a sexual reference, I have a bar and home theater in my house and they call it my man cave) and we go over our writing or artwork. It really helps to hear others read your work outloud, you can hear the stumbling blocks that other readers are going to run into while reading your work and you can see how it needs to be fixed.
There is nothing like a group ripping apart your work to get you motivated to make it right. On the flip side there is nothing more fulfilling than having a group LOVE what you wrote and actually laugh or feel the emotions in what you wrote, it’s all good input.
Michael
Wil–I direct tweeted you on this but I know I’m like one of a googleplex followers you have so I’ll say it again:
we had an exchange on here regarding self-publishing that completely changed my perspective on what to do with my writing and I do not exaggerate when I say it changed everything for me. a paradigm shift of epic proportions.
thanx so much for taking the time to answer me directly because if you hadn’t I think I might have stayed in my anti-POD corner.
Great links, Wil. I always love your self-publishing articles. Please keep them coming.
One thing I’ve always wondered, though, when I’ve read your experiences with publishing and selling your own books is if you’ve looked into outsourcing your fulfillment. I could be wrong, but when I’ve read your accounts of what was the downsides for you about self-publishing, it’s always sounded to me that the packing and shipping of individual books would count high on the list. Obviously, P.O.D. takes that hassle out of your hands, but they also take a good chunk of the profit too — as well as some control over how your book is printed (in terms of format, paper quality, etc.)
While my book isn’t ready to print yet, for when the time comes, I’ve been leaning towards offset printing using Amazon Fulfillment:
http://www.amazonservices.com/content/fulfillment-by-amazon.htm
They now seem to be charging a $39.99 monthly fee, which I’m not sure what I think of, but their other prices seem quite reasonable and their quality/trustworthiness seems high. I realize that there is more overhead with offset-printing and using a service like this — but I imagine you have enough experience with your own sales to know what kind of print run would be profitable for you.
Is outsourcing your fulfillment for offset-printed books something you’ve looked into? Is it anything that would appeal to you? If not, why not?
Thanks again for the great articles and insight. I hope you keep having great success. 🙂
Alex
There’s a difference between POD and self publishing.
POD is a printing technology … self-publishing is an act.
Self-publishing and vanity publishing existed long before POD. Most current self-publishing outfits as well as some traditional publishers take advantage of the benefits of POD, namely that it can be much less expensive than offset printing.
And the NY Times article sort of proves my point as well.
Thanks for responding raingods and hey to you…
You are right about the distinction–its a good point.
But the technology is what is changing the nature of self-publishing.
The article quotes industry professionals who actually contradict you and cites the now famous case of Still Alice which was a POD self-published novel that was then purchased for six figures and debuted on the best seller list at #5.
The paradigm is shifting.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
I’m trying to post. And it isn’t coming through? Sorry if you are approving posts firsts and I keep posting because I think it’s not working for me.
-Diana
EDIT –
Ok it worked, so I will edit my original post, maybe take out the URL’s?
Hi Wil,
We print and publish books in short runs at A&I here in Hollywood, CA.
The downloadable software to design your book at home is here: http://www.aandi.com/bcc.html
And the prices are here: http://www.aandi.com/bcc_books.html
Custom book information and prices are here: http://www.aandi.com/bcc_sub2.html
Custom book specs are here: http://www.aandi.com/about_books.html
We offer design services at $160/hr or you may submit your pre-designed files in PDF format.
We also print ISBN #’s on your books: http://www.aandi.com/newsletter/?p=40
I work at A&I in this department and you may email me at [email protected]
(I am also the one who ask you to join GoodReads.com)
We have many book samples here in the Hollywood location for clients to look at. We offer paper bound and hard bound books.
Please look at our online gallery of past and existing exhibits of artists and photographers: http://www.aandi.com/gallery/index.html
AND the books we have designed and sold to raise money to each artists’ choice of charity:
http://www.aandi.com/books/
The next show is on March 19 in Hollywood. http://www.aandi.com/newsletter/?p=306
I have a piece in the show. It is called Believe. All proceeds from print sales and books sales will go to: http://www.desigeestmanfoundation.org/
Thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope to hear from people who have been dying to self-publish.
Have a WONDERFUL day!
Diana
I used an earlier incarnation of this service, and it was mind-blowingly difficult to manage. The rules for shipping things to Amazon are so strict and expensive that you eat up all your profit before they even receive a single product (ex: you can’t ship to them with any old service. you need to ship to them with a standard of service they accept, with as many bells as whistles as they can find).
Add the monthly fee and you’re suddenly looking at a big hole you need to climb out of, sales-wise. If you’re selling premium products, I’d imagine your sales figures would be low, in which case hand-shipping is probably better. Of course, if you hand-deliver, you’re not technically “on Amazon” from a customer’s perspective, which could hurt you.
If you’re not going the premium route, POD is a safer bet, if only because there are fewer up-front costs. They take a portion of the profits, but they keep you from having NEGATIVE profits, which is a nice safety net.
Hey to you to blog nerd. I spelled out what I saw in the NY Times article on my blog. If you’re so inclined feel free to have a look. As for the case of Still Alice, it’s the exception to the rule; unfortunately with some vanity presses, they’ll have you believe otherwise.
Interesting. When I reviewed the service before, the only “bell & whistle” I had seen that gave me pause was the need to add a special sticker to each of your products before they would accept it. It was my hope that I could just print that special Amazon Fulfillment # directly on my book along with the ISBN, etc. to avoid having to have the books shipped to me first.
You said you used an “earlier incarnation” — was this Fulfillment by Amazon that you used or something like Amazon Advantage (which, IMHO, does kill you on shipping costs, etc.)?
Hey, Wil, what are you using for a page layout program?
The heavy hitters — InDesign and Quark — cost like hell, and each has its foibles. Quark took forever to upgrade to OSX, long enough that InDesign basically took the market over. While InDesign is stabler by and large, and integrates quite well with Photoshop and Illustrator (naturally), it still can’t do automatic imposing of pages, to the best of my knowledge. This is a rather significant and baffling omission.
However, its handling of OpenType fonts is outstanding, and its export to PDF, once you understand the technical aspects, is superb.
On the platform specific side MS has Publisher. I’ve never used it, so can’t really comment on it. So too for Pages from Apple. Grossly, these apps have fewer finessing options available, but they also cost considerably less than the big guns.
For creation of raw content I prefer DevonNote. This is a surprisingly inexpensive OSX app that I like for one specific reason: I can group my chapters as individual files within folders in the app, letting me shift them around as necessary, and I can use something like aliases as well. (It’s also got native formatting, exports to RTF, PDF and HTML, and can import a genuinely surprising array of file formats.)
This is good for me because in an involved narrative it lets me write a complete set of chapters as an arc for a character or set of them, then interweave the chapters for comparison to see how the assembled work will look. That way I can have several storylines in development at once for the finished piece, but also treat them as linear narratives for purposes of continuity.
If I didn’t have access to InDesign, I’d probably work with Pages for final layout, but for composition DevonNote really does the trick. (As a bonus it integrates with all of OSX’s text handling and spelling extensions natively.)
Pages basically replaced AppleWorks, I think; that was what I’d been using before. That was okay, but had just enough quirks and frustrations that I dropped it as soon as I could get my hands on InDesign. And ended up with an entirely new set of quirks and frustrations, of course.
Anyway, I was just curious about the creation, prepress and publishing software you’re using, since I know you’ve got stacks of loads of heaps of free time and whatnot to talk about such things. The self-publishing info you’ve presented here is good, but it’s only part of the story…
My simple response: If you’re self-published, HIRE AN EDITOR. I did. You should, too.
I don’t really care if a “real” publisher won’t look at my work. I’m doing better on my own. And looking at some of the crap that comes out of “real” publishers these days, I’m not too worried about my artistic credibility.
The comics artist Jeph Jacques of Questionable Content said it best: “I don’t know what country accepts BULLSHIT ARTISTIC CREDIBILITY DOLLARS as valid currency but I’m sure glad I don’t live there!” http://qcjeph.livejournal.com/100732.html
A quick word on editors and working with them. Expect criticism; and expect it to be constructive.
Some people take on the task of editing with the attitude that whatever they say must be worthwhile. They can strike down passages or redact items with a high degree of baffling opacity, and don’t necessarily offer very good reasons for why they’ve done it. Such individuals are incredibly annoying to work with. If you think you’ve got such an editor, see if you can find someone else willing to be more flexible.
By contrast a good editor will spot more than technical mistakes; she or he will point out areas where your writing might have lost its punch, or even its way, and suggest means to improve it. Rather than replacing swaths of your own work with his or her own, a good editor will highlight the troubled places and offer some advice on smoothing or improving.
Also, a good editor should be very well read. A literalist who’s taken in little more than Hemingway would simply have his head explode on reading Faulkner; and a purist who’s steeped in Niven would balk at Delany. A good editor will have a decent grasp of your narrative and understand what you’re driving at, and will be able to see where things don’t entirely fit — and, more importantly, will be able to say why.
(I realize the foregoing is given in the context of fiction editing, but that’s because that’s what I’ve done most myself.)
That said, it’s possible, as a creator, to feel nettled when you seem to be confronted with complaints; try to walk the delicate line between feeling protective and interactively working with your editor as a partner in the final polish of your prize.
Oh. One more thing. You’ll find yourself absolutely in love with a lyrical bit of prose in something you’ve written, and see it’s been flagged for redaction. Believe me, it happens to everyone. Redact it, because as beautiful as it is, it probably doesn’t belong; but save it somewhere so you can use it again in another context, where it might find a better fit.
Wil –
I took an old manuscript and uploaded it to the Amazon Kindle Store using 3 easy steps (I’m technically challenged).
I explained in my video @ http://www.mad4kindle.com (see bottom video)
I’m selling it for .99cent. I didn’t care about the price, it was more of an experiment. And if I can do it, odds are the family dog can too.
Thanks for a great resource post for self publishers.
I am not a dick.
Maddy
Thanks so much for the Mashable mention, Wil! You rock!
-Pete Cashmore
For what it’s worth, I completely agree with everything you said in this comment.
And Jeph is AWESOME.
I envy the acquaintance on both sides, sirrah! 🙂
Hi Wil! Longtime reader (since before the “exile!”), first time posting. I’m reading all this about Sunken Treasure very closely because I have self-published my own non-fiction Halloween party, decorations & recipes book, Eerie Elegance, in no small part inspired by reading about your successes & struggles with your books, especially about the 1000 True Fans concept.
I was very close to using Lulu, but I changed my mind when my own ISBNs couldn’t be used with their Amazon listing package, so I went with CreateSpace. I also needed full-color interior, and I have been pleased with the print quality which was very important to me. Since even though I have #1 Google ranking for Halloween recipes, I still don’t have the numbers of your following, I really wanted the Amazon option for my audience. I figured the easier I could make it for people to buy my book, the better! From the http://www.EerieElegance.com website, Amazon, direct emails by me, and “ads” on my main website http://www.britta.com that already has the Google ranking, I have sold 233 copies in the 6 months since the release, mostly on Amazon, so I think this has been the right choice for me so far. Now I need to work more on marketing before this next Halloween season comes around. 🙂
Thanks again for being an inspiration!
P.S. I always liked Wesley, even though I often got flak about it. 🙂
Excellent advice. If I can, I’d like to pimp a blog post i made about the process of editing a poem which ended up as a professional sale.
http://raingods.wordpress.com/2008/11/07/the-process/
I started with the Advantage system, which was truly miserable, but then I moved to the fulfillment system for a time… it was when it was brand new and they had a different name for it (that I can’t remember, because “fulfillment” makes so much more sense).
It could be that it’s much improved, but you should approach it carefully… Amazon is a great company in a lot of ways, but their processes are meant for large and wealthy channel operators, not so much individuals. They can accidentally squash you and not even notice it 🙂
I’d be interested to know how this works for you (if you go that route)… send me an email at [email protected] with your impressions if you can…
I’d be happy to. I enjoyed reading your article and if my experiences will be helpful for you, then it would be my pleasure to share them. Hopefully, things have changed enough to make it worthwhile for creators like you and me. I’ll email you my contact info now so we can stay in touch.
Thank you…thank you…thank you. I’ve spent the last year in self-publishing research hell trying to figure everything out (who to trust, where to get more bang for your buck, to PDF or not to PDF). To be honest, I’ve spent more hours trying to figure everything out than in my actual writing (well maybe that’s a bit of a stretch, but it’s close). Now I can focus on finishing my projects and moving forward. I can’t thank you enough for sharing your own tips, likes, and dislikes. You are my hero!
On the subject of editors, I’m a tough editor for writers that submit to me. I’m highly critical of spelling mistakes, poor grammar, and just poor writing. But what I use is positive criticism, and I always try to give solutions or examples for how my writers can improve. So far this has worked well, and I haven’t offended or pissed off writers (as far as I know anyway). I am also a writer working on my first book, and I hope to hell I can find a tough editor like myself. I actually enjoy good editing, because I’d rather be told something is terrible and needs fixing than put out terrible writing. I haven’t decided yet whether I will self-publish, but I can’t imagine I would attempt it without an editor. Thats just crazy talk. Thanks for the links and information, Wil.
Wil, your success with Sunken Treasure proves that as long as an author produces a quality product that is well-written and edited, the avenue used to bring it into print should be of little consequence.
There are quality books being printed through both the traditional publishing houses and self-publishing/POD companies, just as there are books being printed via both that probably shouldn’t be.
As has happened with independently produced movies and music CDs, the negative light by which self-publishing/POD books have been viewed is slowly fading with each quality product released, and with each success such as your own.
As a fellow author, I have long felt the criticism against self-publishing was not entirely warranted. In fact, my first young adult novel was self-published through a POD company in October 2006. I took that route because I felt strongly I had a quality story that deserved an audience. I wanted to get it out there and get it seen, with the hope the right doors might open. And they have. Back in November I signed an option/purchase agreement for the movie/TV rights and things are progressing incredibly well. The book remains self-published at the moment, but that is likely to change in the near future. And I’m happy to know any success I realize will help to lessen the stigma authors face when choosing to self-publish.
Good post, thanks for that, very useful.
I’ve used Blurb before to create a photo book as a wedding present to my dad. It’s fantastic for that kind of stuff because of the different templates you can choose, and the result is a high quality book… my dad loved it so much! Lulu seems better for “regular” printing, as in text, although I haven’t used it yet.
Can only recommend blurb, they’re great.
I do agree. Wil is a rare exception to most self-published stuff. We get so many phone calls from authors asking us to stock their book (I work in a bookstore), or letters and excerpts, and most of it is a big pile of steaming poo. Moreover, you can only order these books from this particular UK wholesaler, which has crap conditions and bad service. It does make me want to tell them: dude, if a regular publisher didn’t want it, it’s probably because it’s shit.
Self-publishing in the traditional (wholesaler) way is crap, because these are high risk, low margin books for bookshops, and marketing calls are more annoying than proving a selling point. However, thanks to the joys of the internets, self-publishing is cheaper and easier, so that’s the way to go, methinks.