Publishing stuff for fellow authors
#31
Posted 01 March 2005 - 11:39 PM
By the way, will you publish Chyldren's literature? Haha!
Quote
#32
Posted 02 March 2005 - 12:04 AM
#33
Posted 02 March 2005 - 12:47 AM
Quote
#34
Posted 02 March 2005 - 08:49 AM
And I was just going to try selling off of the 'net to start with, lets me take PayPal and all. Although what I might do is take a few submissions from people in Hull and try and sell a few here. Helps, see?
Less Is More v4
Now resigned to a readership of me, my cat and some fish
#35
Posted 02 March 2005 - 07:49 PM
Quote
#36
Posted 03 March 2005 - 04:49 PM
Also: The Chefelf.com Lord of the Rings | RoBUTZ (a primative webcomic) | KOTOR 1 NPC profiles |
Music: HYPOID (industrial rock) | Spectrox Toxemia (Death Metal) | Cannibalingus (80s style thrash metal) | Wasabi Nose Bleed (Exp.Techno) | DeadfeeD (Exp.Ambient) |||(more to come)
#37
Posted 04 March 2005 - 01:51 AM
You might want to try working with a book publisher, print shop or letterpress shop and get some practical experience putting books together. And there are classes in bookmaking also.
With Apple computers, you can order an ibook which will be mailed back to you with glossy paper, color pics and a hard back cover. There are plenty of short-run publishers out there too. Maybe you can probe them for questions.
best of luck.
#38
Posted 06 March 2005 - 07:47 AM
If you don't have such an opportunity, it is extremely unlikely that you'll sell your first printing unless the idea is so good and so compelling and/or you get some quirk of publicity that people suddenly want to buy your book.
My own experience with Shimmering Sword: Samurai, Western, and Star Wars Sword Fighting, which was printed by a company and I am the owner of the company, as well as author.
1) It's prohibitively expensive to pay for proper advertising. You have to get it some way. I did one TV talk and a series of about a dozen book talks at B & N and Borders. Even advertising on theforce.net costs a minimum of $600.
2) Amazon.com is the only marketing avenue I have at present. I've been selling a larger number these days because they have programs which link purchases and previews of similar books. For example, if you looked at a sword fighting book and a SW novel, the next time you went to Amazon.com you'd find my book listed as a purchase suggestion. I'll tell you that my sales have doubled over the past few months, but I'll also tell you that the doubling of a small number of book sales is still pretty meager.
3) The bottom line is that even with the advent of such a movie tie-in, it still takes a lot to drum up sales.
Yes, I've got a plan to market my book in anticipation of the new movie, but it takes a lot of leg work, organization, and money (out of my own pocket).
So, take your novel with whatever plot and whatever interesting take on literature and think about how you would sell it. You have to ask yourself first -- am I as good a writer as the best in my field?
If your are, you NEED to get an agent or find an established publisher. That's the way to get credibility. I'm not saying you can't go with a small house for a niche market, but unless you are a marketing major (which most writers aren't) you have to understand that self-publicty is a lot of work.
Finding a distributor is also a pain in the butt. Book distributors (those companies which send books to the major book chains) don't just accept any book. They have to be convinced that someone is going to buy the book, and sales have to be regular or else they drop you.
So marketiong -- getting people to buy your book -- is key.
Again, as I said before, you have to have someone -- an agent or an editor -- who is extremely enthusiastic about your writing. Otherwise, they won't work very hard to promote your book within their own company, much less to the public.
I'm not saying you shouldn't publish and market on your own, but asked yourself if you can affort the time and the money (my print ran $10,000 lent to me by friends), and if you have the marketing skills, connections, and tenacity to sell your book.
I published and formatted my book entirely on WordPerfect. It looks better than many smaller publishing house printings. The key to success is finding an audience who will pay for your book. (And I'm not talking about family members.) Also remeber that once a person buys your book, they're not going to buy it again.
If you have a niche market book, then find a niche market publisher. If you want to be famous, you have to find a larger publishing house.
BTW, buy my book!
This post has been edited by njamilla: 06 March 2005 - 07:49 AM
#39
Posted 08 March 2005 - 09:30 AM
The only thing I've ever sent in for publishing consideration is a Sci-Fi book that Paul and I wrote in 1993.
We haven't heard back yet but we remain optimistic.
Buy the New LittleHorse CD, Strangers in the Valley!
CD Baby | iTunes | LittleHorse - Flight of the Bumblebee Video
Chefelf on: Twitter | friendfeed | Jaiku | Bitstrips | Muxtape | Mento | MySpace | Flickr | YouTube | LibraryThing
#40
Posted 08 March 2005 - 10:22 AM
Love that optimism.
Maybe you could write saying you'll withdraw your proposal if they don't act quickly.
#41
Posted 08 March 2005 - 10:56 AM
JM's official press secretary, scientific advisor, diplomat and apparent antagonist?
#42
Posted 08 March 2005 - 05:14 PM
Quote
#43
Posted 08 March 2005 - 08:09 PM
a. borrow your book.
b. download your music.
c. wait till your film is on TV.
Also: The Chefelf.com Lord of the Rings | RoBUTZ (a primative webcomic) | KOTOR 1 NPC profiles |
Music: HYPOID (industrial rock) | Spectrox Toxemia (Death Metal) | Cannibalingus (80s style thrash metal) | Wasabi Nose Bleed (Exp.Techno) | DeadfeeD (Exp.Ambient) |||(more to come)
#44
Posted 10 March 2005 - 06:57 AM
JM's official press secretary, scientific advisor, diplomat and apparent antagonist?
#45
Posted 10 March 2005 - 06:40 PM
LIBRARIES: the refuge of well-read free-loaders!!!
Also: The Chefelf.com Lord of the Rings | RoBUTZ (a primative webcomic) | KOTOR 1 NPC profiles |
Music: HYPOID (industrial rock) | Spectrox Toxemia (Death Metal) | Cannibalingus (80s style thrash metal) | Wasabi Nose Bleed (Exp.Techno) | DeadfeeD (Exp.Ambient) |||(more to come)