Writing Biz Knowlege Input Needed

[aeriedraconia]

Dear FList,

I need your collective advice in response to a post in a community I maintain  that someone is being published by Author House and that they recommend going the self publishing route  if the regular publishers were too elusive.

In good conscience I thought I'd point to writer_beware for starters.  What would you say to the people possibly

Comments

[green_knight]

Ok. As a writer, you have three choices. The first is to simply enjoy your writing, show it to your friends and put it on the web, and maybe print a few copies to give to friends and family. No pressure, enjoy the journey.

The second is to submit to publishers and attempt to make a (at least part time) career out of it. This is not a quick and easy solution. There was a writer's meme going around recently - here's jaylake's version - and every single one of them I've seen ran along the same lines: wrote several novels, eventually sold one, with five or ten years between serious writing (not just scribbling a bit) and publication. It's a long, hard route, there will be many rejections, and you'll have to work on your skills

[aeriedraconia]

"if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys"

For the Win! You made me laugh!
Thanks, Green_knight. That is a nice break down.

[eneit]

first off you tell them it has to be their own choice, but the need to know exactly what they are doing, and why, and the possible ramifications, both good and bad, need to be discussed. A lot of people jump up and down and tell these writers what idiots they are, which is great if you want to get them offside straight away

[green_knight]

I feel that a vanity press is the worst of all worlds. They *cannot* deliver on the promises of getting their books into bookstores - if the big NY publishers can't get all of their books into stores, vanity presses with less clout and less reputation can't do it squared.

Self-publishing is an option if you want to be a publisher, but in that case, cut out the middleman, pay lulu.com $99 for an ISBN number, and hire the professionals yourself instead of paying a vanity press - that way, *you* get to choose the people who'll work for you, which is a much better deal.

Some stories simply do work better with the small press format

That's a good point. I'm currently shopping a novel that isn't, IMHO, going to end up in New York - I'm hoping it will interest an agent, but I am well aware that it's unlikely to sell. Good little book, just not High Concept enough. Ideal candidate for a small press.

[aeriedraconia]

That's another really important point that the major bookstore chains Will Not carry self-published books.

[green_knight]

I don't know if you follow Joshua Bilmes' blog - http://brilligblogger.blogspot.com/ - but he has a habit of going around bookstores and looking for his clients' books. He's a top notch agent selling to top notch publishers. Not all of them are in all of the big chains

[woodrunner]

I agree both of the other comments and can't add anything more, they put in some very good, thoughtful advice and things to think about

[heleninwales]

Just wanted to second what the others have said really. There is a definite place for self-publishing, but it is not the route to a career as a professional novelist

[aeriedraconia]

"There is a definite place for self-publishing, but it is not the route to a career as a professional novelist."

That's a biggie.

Oh hey, I like the examples you've given for what works well as a self-publishing venture and what doesn't. Thanks.

[heleninwales]

Some people just condemn self-publishing out of hand, but that's almost as bad as saying it's wonderful and everyone should go down that route if a publisher doesn't snap up their novel right away. There are circumstances where it's the way to go.

Another downside of self-publishing novels that I didn't mention is that sometimes you need to be saved from yourself. Putting out a bad or even just a mediocre book now might come back to haunt her should she improve as a writer and get a professional contract in the future.

[barbarienne]

I would refer them to my From Author to Reader series. They're chronologically reversed, so a reader needs to scroll to the bottom and read upwards.

There's nothing wrong with self-publishing, but people who don't know all the stuff that publishers do run a high risk of doing a half-assed job. Even full-assed publishing has problems (witness Black Wednesday); it is a dangerous minefield for the ignorant.

[aeriedraconia]

That is a great series of articles and will be helpful, thanks.

That's it, people need to know how the publishing world really works and what happens after you finish your novel. There's so much more to it than the writing.

When I joined LJ a few years ago I had no freaking idea about the business end of things behind the idea of, "I want to write this pesky, insistent novel rattling around in my head."

[aeriedraconia]

Hi and welcome.

I'm glad you stopped by and shared your self publishing experience with me. I'm planning a post for writers_loft about the pros and cons of self-publishing and how it fits with the end goals people may have for their novels and possible writing careers and hearing your personal experiences is very helpful. Thank you.:-)

There are quite a few big name authors who are now reprinting their old works (the copyrights having reverted back to the authors) through lulu. That's pretty nice if you've been looking for the firsrt book in an old trilogy or something that has been out of print for a while.