Self publishing

[seriessix]

In light of recent discussions on here I thought it may be an idea to start a positive thread on self publishing. Amazingly, not all POD (print on demand) publications are full of typos, written by self indulgent losers and binded so badly that the book falls apart in your hands.

 

I have some first hand experience with this – but it's not extensive so please feel free to make comments, all helpful suggestions are welcomed.

 

This option is a great idea for many reasons but comes with it's own set of challenges. At the end of the day whatever route you take to publishing a book you must expect to put in a lot of time/effort and not least - supply a quality product.

 

The best part about self publishing, for me, is the independence – it's your idea, cover art, marketing, layout etc etc. So if you are not going to be financially dependent on your book being a success, have a good idea (that may have appeal to only a select demographic) and have plenty of time and industry and above all want to do things your own way – then maybe self publishing is the way to go.

 

Another great thing about this route is that you decide how this is all going to work. POD is self publishing, it is not 'vanity publishing', someone orders a copy, pays for it – the book gets printed and sent out. Is that also greener than traditional publishing?

 

Here is one approach. I will not dwell on the book content itself.

 

Build up your project in Open Office (freeware) or Word, when it is finished print it out and read over it making edits by hand (this can be in the park on a bus, whatever), go back to the computer and edit in the changes, repeat this process as many times as you feel necessary. This is not a quick process.....and most of the time, shelving a project for few months then coming back to it is good idea.

 

When it is ready – print out your project and give it to someone (reliable) to make grammar checks – this process can be repeated using other people to make these types of checks.

 

When this is done, edit these changes in – layout the project using a Word .doc template that lulu.com can give you. Drop in images, write a forward, write a back cover, choose or create your cover art, decide on font's colours etc. Upload all this to a POD service – the document will convert to pdf. When it is all done you can buy one copy for yourself and not publish it to the world.

 

When you get the copy – if you are not happy with any of it, repeat any one or more of the steps above.

 

Once your are happy with the product you can make it available to the world in your POD storefront, you then have to dream up marketing schemes. Maybe approach the local press, or get interest from radio stations. How this takes shape depends on the content of your book, keep it relevant. The key is to get creative and not to shy away from opportunities, creative people tend to be pretty rubbish at self promotion - but this step must be taken otherwise your project will never see the audience it deserves. Viral marketing ....

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viral_marketing

 

Anyone got any good DIY promotion ideas?

 

Lulu.com will have your book available via a storefront on the internet, so that's always there, but you could also start an e-bay portal with your book or maybe an amazon site. Also, you could think about making an audio version of your book and selling it via sites like Itunes as an mp3 download (e-book/podcast). At first you may make only a small profit from each item sold but it's still out there and you never know what opportunities these things can lead too. Remember, your going to get jack with it just sitting on your laptop, get it out there!

 

I am surprised how many e copies I have sold – digital media is not the way of the future, it is here and now. Huge dusty record collections are now kept in Ipods, shelves of books will probably go the same way. Generations are being born with this as the norm.

 

Self publishing is like home recording – equipment is becoming more and more available so more and more people are doing it themselves, making records/writing books. How many great manuscripts have sat unread in a desk draw or on a hard drive, never to see the light of day? Now at least you can get your stuff out there and get it out on your own terms. Sure, this means that there will be a lot of rubbish that gets put out but that's always been the way. On the other side of this we will see a lot more niche, specialist publications that regular publishers could not afford to press.

 

And remember, all this can be going on in parallel with trying to get a regular publishing deal.

[coyleys]

In drips and drabs I’ve read it all before, but you have just put it all together perfectly.

Nice one Seriessix

[Peacock Lady]

An excellent, informative post, SS. Thank you. You've presented the positive side of it so I'll present the negative, to provide some balance.

 

Self-publishing can be very good, in the right context. For example, if you're only interested in selling to family and friends (for a family history, perhaps, or a collection by a writers' group), or if you have some sort of sales platform which will help promote the book (if you regularly give talks on your subject).

 

While you retain control over every aspect of your book, you also have to realise that you can't be an expert in every area, and so your book is not going to be as high-quality as those designed, edited and produced by experts. Moreover, you're probably not an expert sales-person, either, and so you're going to struggle to sell it. And while you're doing that, how can you devote your time to writing the next one?

 

If you want to have a best-seller on your hands, it's not the way to go. You can't cover the whole country, so can't get it into all the bookshops (and despite what you might read on the internet, most books are still sold out of bookshops). If you want to concentrate on writing, rather than selling, again, it's not the way to go. Most self-published books sell fewer than 100 copies, while for a commercially-published book, sales of 2,000 would be pretty poor.

 

And while not all self-published books are full of typos, the vast majority are. Most of the ones I've seen are dreadful. Quality of most POD books is low, too, which means that if you want a high-quality book you will have to consider offset printing, which comes with a high associated cost.

 

Finally, remember that once you've published your book you've used up the first rights to that book. Publishers are only usually interested in acquiring first rights. They'll not want your self-published book unless you can prove quite extraordinary sales--last time I heard, that meant sales in excess of 5,000 in just a few months.

 

Despite all this doom and gloom, don't let it put you off if you're sure it's the way you want to go. Just don't imagine it's the gateway to wealth, fame or writing success.

[sauerkraut]

Possibly an interesting question: what exactly constitutes publication? If you write a story, staple the pages together and sell a few copies at a car boot sale or similar, have you published the story? What about using some kind of diy bookbinding kit to create a few semi-professional looking books which you give away to friends and family? Or writing a story in something like a church or club magazine, whether sold freely/available only to members or whatever? Or you win a story competition and the story gets published in an anthology. How exactly are first publishing rights lost?

 

Just wondering...

[Peacock Lady]

Something is deemed to have been published if it's been made available to other people in written form... so, if you write a letter, and let your friends read it, then there's an argument to say it's been published. However, as far as publishers go, if you use a POD company to print yourself a few copies but don't let anyone else buy copies, then that should be pretty safe (although I'd not risk it), whereas if you buy your self-published book an ISBN and stick it up for sale on Amazon then that's your first rights gone for good, no arguing. I'd say that selling the work, in no matter what form, means the first rights have been used. Magazine publication, no matter how small the circulation, takes "first British serial rights" even if the magazine isn't sold, but handed out for free. If a piece is in an anthology then yep, again, first rights are gone. If you put up a rough draft online where it's NOT publicly available, and then edit it, nope, you've still got your rights because the piece is NOT available to all and you've gone and made changes, so now it's different.

 

There. Clear as mud, isn't it?

 

A couple more pointers: I believe that Lightning Source, in Milton Keynes, offers the same POD service as Lulu, pretty much, without you having to pay to have books posted from America to the UK; and no one has said anything about having work properly edited. Checking for spelling mistakes is the work of a copy-editor, not an editor (more confusion, sorry!): a good editor makes a huge difference to a book. And you don't get this with self-publishing unless you pay for it, which opens you up to all sorts of scammers.

 

(PS Strictly speaking, rights can't be lost, but they can be sold or assigned.)

[seriessix]

Does Lightning Source provide an on line 'store front' for it's publications?

[coyleys]

Interesting indeed, it gives one food for thought, so how do we stand with regards to submitting work to the SFWG (password holders)? Do we then forfeit our first publishing rights? It is a subject that has to be addressed.

[Mantaspook]

That’s why we have the password system Coyleys, it’s essentially a mechanism to protect the writers first publication rights if they choose to publish the work at a later date.

 

Peacock Lady has already summed it quite succinctly.

 

If you put up a rough draft online where it's NOT publicly available, and then edit it, nope, you've still got your rights because the piece is NOT available to all and you've gone and made changes, so now it's different.

 

Theoretically if you post on “the open internet” that is not protected by a password then it could be said that the work is published and you may have given up your first publishing rights.

[coyleys]

Thanks Mantas

I thought that was the case, but thought it best to check.

[sauerkraut]

Something is deemed to have been published if it's been made available to other people in written form...

 

Sorry, hope I'm not thread-jacking here but I've just thought of another example. What about those writers who test the waters before seeking publication by giving public readings first. If they then approach the publisher and say "Look how popular my work was - all these people came to hear it and they loved it." Can the publisher then turn round and say, "Ah, but you've published it already now?"

 

Or would that only apply if you leave a written copy - with a schoolteacher, say, for them to read to their class?

 

And does it really matter that much anyway ?