Self Publishing?

[ryanlee127]

Self publishing is career suicide in 99% of the cases. Try alternative publishers... Samhain publishers. Avoid self publishing.

[TimothyFish]

I am of the opinion that every author should try self-publishing at least once. Doing so provides insight into the business that the tradtional route does not.

The big advantage that traditional publishing has over self-publishing is that the traditional publisher is responsible for marketing and can usually do it better than a self-publisher.

Publishers spend about $40,000 to publish a book. Most self-publishers are unwilling to spend that kind of money.

As for it being career suicide in 99% of the cases, this is far from the truth. The truth is that only 99% of all books are accepted by traditional publishers and until someone makes a name for themselves they really don't care what you do in terms of self-publishing. One the bright side, there are a number of people who have been very successful at self-publishing (such as Tim O'reilly). The publishing industry is about building a name more than it is about how a book comes to print.

[Original Cyn]

I self published only because I wanted to try it out and see what it was like. I went with iUniverse...the upfront cost wasn't that bad, I'm not happy with the royalty agreement and would change that if I could...but they did a nice, professional looking book with a custom cover. It wasn't a cookie cutter template that looks like everyone elses. I gave them my idea and they did it up nice.
In actuality I'm happy I did it because what happened was that I got reader feedback...I'm not talking about friends and family, I'm talking about people who purchased my book and then let me know how much they enjoyed it. Let's face it, we're our own worst critics so for me it validated my career choice.
One of the main reason's self-publishing is frowned upon is because there are no gatekeepers. Anyone can publish anything...but, if you look around the local bookstores you'll see there's a bunch of junk out there anyway!
And regardless of whether you self-publish or not the marketing of the book is really in your hands. YUnless you have a major name (like a celeb) YOU have to get YOU noticed. The publishing house will only back you so much before you get lost in the shuffle.
That's just my two cents

[RichardG]

If you are capable of self publishing your book and confident about your writing then just go with it.

[ResearchScholar]

I think it is only wise to self-publish if one already has a track record of publishing with well-known houses. Otherwise the entire exercise can be counter-productive.

[Perrywinkle47]

Its better not to self publish with your first book!

[StonesQuest]

I have a friend who went with self-publishing. I talked to him in March of 2010 and he had sold over a million copies and he kept the money. Two years ago, he sold his book for two million for a movie right. Again, he didn't have to share it will an agent or publisher. A big publishing company came knocking at his door. He quickly learned that he would make far more money staying with himself. He was having fun.

I spoke to another author who published through a local publisher. Someone came knocking on his door for a movie right. The publisher got half of his earnings. Random House also came knocking on the door. He went with them. The local publisher took half of his upfront money.

Now, he was a author with a big house. He had a agent desire to take him as client. He took the time to write two more novels. The agent has tried to get them published. When I last talked with him, he had numerous rejections from publishers. He was discouraged. The publishing field is part of the entertainment field. It's one of the hardest field that you can ever get into. You need to find out what is right for you. Personally. I like self-publishing. I like being in control and making my own business decisions. Dan Brown started out as a self-publisher with his book The Da Vinci Code.

[ResearchScholar]

After having done more research on this topic I discovered that the vast majority of books that are published each sell less than 250 copies, and most are usually bought by the author and his friends. The situation is even more acute for self-published books, where total sales could be just a couple of dozen copies, usually bought by the author's friends. Of course there are exceptions -- of the well-known authors -- to this general norm. Most authors, aspiring or otherwise, are transfixed on the exceptions and hope (expect) to achieve the same success...

[StonesQuest]

Then I'm very grateful that I do not fall into your research. Maybe, people just want to write a book and see it in print. I read that a lot from people. What I think is the real problem. Last year, Bowker recorded that there were 764,488 new books published in the US. This does not count the books that were published last year. They call them back-list book. So it doesn't matter if an author finds an publisher or they do it themselves. The book needs to be noticed by readers. I can tell you another story that I read in Readers Digest about an publisher and getting books noticed. I won't go into it here.

The key to any book is the author must promote it and it doesn't matter who the publisher is. If the author stops, the book usually stops moving. Some first time author think that they can write a book. A publisher will take it and they just sit back and become successful. Wrong! You really need to work hard. If you do not want to promote, then you have a book for friends and family.

[Branca]

Publishing today is big business. You can try the path of no rejection. Rarely today will a publisher or an agent bother to send a form rejction slip. They are too overloaded. I keep asking why then don't they hire more editors.
The cost for e-book publishing makes is worthy of your consideration. You can do it yourself. The Kindle route gets you into the game.
After two years of no response with a scattering of rejections I went with Kindle. The Christmas Pudding Lie is my first e-book.
IPad publishing is another way to get on the board.
Try doing it yourself. Good Luck

[ResearchScholar]

Publishing today is big business. You can try the path of no rejection. Rarely today will a publisher or an agent bother to send a form rejction slip. They are too overloaded. I keep asking why then don't they hire more editors.
The cost for e-book publishing makes is worthy of your consideration. You can do it yourself. The Kindle route gets you into the game.
After two years of no response with a scattering of rejections I went with Kindle. The Christmas Pudding Lie is my first e-book.
IPad publishing is another way to get on the board.
Try doing it yourself. Good Luck

Congrats on your e-baook. Sounds like an interesting title.
Care to tell us the process involved, i.e., as it relates to an e-book?

[Perrywinkle47]

Publishing today is big business. You can try the path of no rejection. Rarely today will a publisher or an agent bother to send a form rejction slip. They are too overloaded. I keep asking why then don't they hire more editors.
The cost for e-book publishing makes is worthy of your consideration. You can do it yourself. The Kindle route gets you into the game.
After two years of no response with a scattering of rejections I went with Kindle. The Christmas Pudding Lie is my first e-book.
IPad publishing is another way to get on the board.
Try doing it yourself. Good Luck

Sounds great..

[Dougiezerts]

Aren't books that were self published sometimes very collectable? Depending on the author, of course.

[ResearchScholar]

[quote="Dougiezerts"]Aren't books that were self published sometimes very collectable? Depending on the author, of course.[/quote]

Yes, that last part seems to be the punchline.

[Krae855]

I don't think I ever would consider self-publishing.. I figure, if it's any good, someone will want to publish it who knows what theyre doing!! I don't want the second job of selling my book, after writing it.

also, i'm afraid I've never heard of an un-published author being paid in advance for an unwritten book... how would that work?