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A friend recently pointed me towards a web site that detailed self publishing E books and wondered if I had thought about it. The link http://www.workathometruth.com/how-to-publish-a-book.php had a long list if why traditional publishing wasn't working in today's markets death of the book etc etc etc. Anyone who follows the industry has heard it before. When E books came out in the 90's it was going to be the end of the bookstore, it didn't happend. POD was supposed to revolutionize how publishers work.... it was a business breakthrough, no more unwanted stock. Except it didn't. A single POD book is always more expensive then a mass produced book.
Let's take a look at some of their "Myths of publishing":
Publishers don't want books: False. Publishers are cutting back, people aren't buying book but they are still putting out thousands of new titles a year. There are thousands of legitimate agents who make their money on the 15% they earn from selling books. The industry has a long way to go before it dies.
Publishers don't promote you: Somewhat accurate, publishers traditionally haven't launched huge ad campaigns, and won't unless you start selling thousands of copies... but when was the last time you bought a book because of a TV or newspaper ad. Most authors self promote, JA Konrath has some great ideas for that on his website.
Publishers don't make money if you sell through your books due to discounting: Remainders, discounting and returns are some of the most confusiong bits of publishing. It is true that if you buy a book at a used bookstore or an outlet that the writer is not getting royalties or very little royalites for the sale, (and royalties are extrememly tiny, as I recall 8% of cover is about typical). However books only go to outlets after they have had a stint in the regular bookstores. It is true that lots of books don't make money (and some of the answer to this is buy more books).
Self publishing is viewed as amutaur: There is a difference between Self publishing and vanity publishing. All vanity publishing is self publishing but not vice versa. Vanity publishing is amutur and with very few exceptions a vanity publish book will never get on a book store shelf let alone subrights.
The articals final damning point is the promo at the end http://www.7dayebook.com/?hop=dbpaulms which touts Publish a book in 7 days. The book claims “How to write and publish your own OUTRAGEOUSLY Profitable eBook in as little as 7 days – even if you can’t write, can’t type and failed high school English class!” I haven't read this book but considering the physical act of typing out 100,000 or so words... call me a skeptic.
Backing up a bit there are times when self publishing is not a terrible thing. If you are a public speaker and write a book about your topic of choice then self publishing is a great idea. Your book doesn't need to be in a store because you are going to be hand selling them when you speak. Some authors have been so sure that their novel will do great things that they create their own publishing company to publish it. It's an uphill battle but if they can get a printer and a distributing company and get book stores interested it can work.
There is a big myth that there is all this untapped genius out there that will never be found because publishers are too selective/ biased/ conservative etc. I call that a crock. Miss Snark held crapometer's on her blog and invited authors to submit their work. Her readership was aspiring authors and actual authors, nearly everyone who read her blog had found it because they had done at least some research about the industry. About 80% of what she got was unpublishable, plot errors, writing errors, cliches, cardboard characters etc etc. That is far better then most agents and editors who end up rejecting about 99% of the slush. The majority of those rejections are easy because it's unpublishable. Writing well isn't easy. Most authors don't sell their first manuscript. I am going to try with mine but I don't expect to sell it.
So now, go buy books. :-)
Let's take a look at some of their "Myths of publishing":
Publishers don't want books: False. Publishers are cutting back, people aren't buying book but they are still putting out thousands of new titles a year. There are thousands of legitimate agents who make their money on the 15% they earn from selling books. The industry has a long way to go before it dies.
Publishers don't promote you: Somewhat accurate, publishers traditionally haven't launched huge ad campaigns, and won't unless you start selling thousands of copies... but when was the last time you bought a book because of a TV or newspaper ad. Most authors self promote, JA Konrath has some great ideas for that on his website.
Publishers don't make money if you sell through your books due to discounting: Remainders, discounting and returns are some of the most confusiong bits of publishing. It is true that if you buy a book at a used bookstore or an outlet that the writer is not getting royalties or very little royalites for the sale, (and royalties are extrememly tiny, as I recall 8% of cover is about typical). However books only go to outlets after they have had a stint in the regular bookstores. It is true that lots of books don't make money (and some of the answer to this is buy more books).
Self publishing is viewed as amutaur: There is a difference between Self publishing and vanity publishing. All vanity publishing is self publishing but not vice versa. Vanity publishing is amutur and with very few exceptions a vanity publish book will never get on a book store shelf let alone subrights.
The articals final damning point is the promo at the end http://www.7dayebook.com/?hop=dbpaulms which touts Publish a book in 7 days. The book claims “How to write and publish your own OUTRAGEOUSLY Profitable eBook in as little as 7 days – even if you can’t write, can’t type and failed high school English class!” I haven't read this book but considering the physical act of typing out 100,000 or so words... call me a skeptic.
Backing up a bit there are times when self publishing is not a terrible thing. If you are a public speaker and write a book about your topic of choice then self publishing is a great idea. Your book doesn't need to be in a store because you are going to be hand selling them when you speak. Some authors have been so sure that their novel will do great things that they create their own publishing company to publish it. It's an uphill battle but if they can get a printer and a distributing company and get book stores interested it can work.
There is a big myth that there is all this untapped genius out there that will never be found because publishers are too selective/ biased/ conservative etc. I call that a crock. Miss Snark held crapometer's on her blog and invited authors to submit their work. Her readership was aspiring authors and actual authors, nearly everyone who read her blog had found it because they had done at least some research about the industry. About 80% of what she got was unpublishable, plot errors, writing errors, cliches, cardboard characters etc etc. That is far better then most agents and editors who end up rejecting about 99% of the slush. The majority of those rejections are easy because it's unpublishable. Writing well isn't easy. Most authors don't sell their first manuscript. I am going to try with mine but I don't expect to sell it.
So now, go buy books. :-)
