Self publishing?

[BellaIsabella]

Is anyone here self publishing or have done so in the past? Have you found success? Would love to hear people's experiences.

 

[sr71plt]

I've worked with authors doing it. With self-publishing, the main issue isn't the publishing part (expensive with print; not so expensive with e-booking if you are senisble about it). The main issue is the marketing part. Don't assume sales beyond the noses you can count of buyers. Really. Do a realistic head count. Don't rely on them selling themselves--or become impressed with the one in thirty thousand miracle (or claimed miracle) stories about sales.

This is less the case with e-booking than with print. But, with e-booking, you need to get the book on a broad range of distribution sites in multiple e-book platforms, have killer covers (matching what is expected for that genre) and blurbs/excerpts, you must hit a niche audience, you should somehow get reviews for it, and you should flip one out every month or so if you wish to generate sales and establish a buyer base. And if you want repeat buyers, get it competently edited (a big expense unless you have a willing free editor in tow).

 

[BellaIsabella]

I was thinking about publishing with create space...do you think it is worth it, or just too expensive...?

Is it good to self publish and then sell to an agent/publish, I have heard advice against and for this...so not sure what to believe...

 

[sr71plt]

I was thinking about publishing with create space...do you think it is worth it, or just too expensive...?

Is it good to self publish and then sell to an agent/publish, I have heard advice against and for this...so not sure what to believe...

CreateSpace appears (at least for now) to be a cheaper way to go than other print-on-deman packagers. And it gets listed on Amazon.com, where most of the book sales of this nature happen anyway.

There are very, very, very, very, very, very few books that agents/publishers want after they've already been made available through self-publishing. If your topic suddenly becomes very hot and there aren't other books out there or if you have sudden national/international notoriety come your way, then maybe.

 

[RoyceConnors]

I've worked with authors doing it. With self-publishing, the main issue isn't the publishing part (expensive with print; not so expensive with e-booking if you are senisble about it). The main issue is the marketing part. Don't assume sales beyond the noses you can count of buyers. Really. Do a realistic head count. Don't rely on them selling themselves--or become impressed with the one in thirty thousand miracle (or claimed miracle) stories about sales.

This is less the case with e-booking than with print. But, with e-booking, you need to get the book on a broad range of distribution sites in multiple e-book platforms, have killer covers (matching what is expected for that genre) and blurbs/excerpts, you must hit a niche audience, you should somehow get reviews for it, and you should flip one out every month or so if you wish to generate sales and establish a buyer base. And if you want repeat buyers, get it competently edited (a big expense unless you have a willing free editor in tow).

Would these be the $1.99 covers, or the $100 covers? I can't see a new author trying to make as many sales as possible with the only resource available, namely the cover, by spending such an exhorbatant amount? Maybe you should exlpain that to her as well. You are the divine authority on the subject.

 

[manyeyedhydra]

CreateSpace is good. The print versions of the two books I have up with Excessica are done through them. It's very cheap to set up ($10-$15 maybe, can't remember exactly) and the print books look very professional.

It's very much a vanity thing (although not in bad old vanity publishing sense) to see my work in print. They're expensive, so they don't sell that well on amazon. Certainly not in comparison to the ebook versions.

It's cheap enough to put it into print for the kewlness factor. I wouldn't expect sales outside of a handful unless you hit the magic formula.

ETA: Yep a quick check confirms both books are currently sitting at the 1,500,000 mark on amazon's rankings. Guess I'll still be going into work on Monday

 

[Firebrain]

Oops...wrong thread.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Actually, unless you have someone else do the cover, there is no actual out of pocket expense up front, it all comes out of the selling price before you royalty.

 

[sr71plt]

Would these be the $1.99 covers, or the $100 covers? I can't see a new author trying to make as many sales as possible with the only resource available, namely the cover, by spending such an exhorbatant amount? Maybe you should exlpain that to her as well. You are the divine authority on the subject.

The appeal of a cover isn't what you spent on the image (like $100 to an art school student ). It's how the cover is designed and how well it attracts for further browsing into the book.

No matter how much you post on this, and how much you attack me, you are still as naive and dumb about publishing as a bedpost.

 

[sr71plt]

Actually, unless you have someone else do the cover, there is no actual out of pocket expense up front, it all comes out of the selling price before you royalty.

Not so with self-publishing, which is the topic of this thread. In self-publishing, you pay for it all--whenever you do it.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Not so with self-publishing, which is the topic of this thread. In self-publishing, you pay for it all--whenever you do it.

Not on CreateSpace, there is no upfront costs. There wasn't when I signed up.

 

[sr71plt]

Not on CreateSpace, there is no upfront costs. There wasn't when I signed up.

In self-publishing whatever costs are incurred are incurred by the author. You aren't self-published are you? You seem to have a publisher. If the self-published author wants a cover that costs anything to produce or wants editing that costs anything to accomplish, that's all up-front cost. Or values the time they have to spend, that's up-front costs. You seem not to be aware that this thread is on self-publishing.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

In self-publishing whatever costs are incurred are incurred by the author. You aren't self-published are you? You seem to have a publisher. If the self-published author wants a cover that costs anything to produce or wants editing that costs anything to accomplish, that's all up-front cost. Or values the time they have to spend, that's up-front costs. You seem not to be aware that this thread is on self-publishing.

I realize my time is worth something...at times it's been worth $200 an hour, but when I write, it's on my time. I do it because I want too. So my time in that endeavor is not important nor is it a cash outlay event.

If I have to pay cash before anything is produced, that is an upfront cost(cash out). When my royalties are paid (cash in) no matter the amount, that is a profit. Simplistic accounting method, I know, but I don't write to make a living, it's a hobby.

 

[MagicaPractica]

I have not done it yet but was considering trying to put together a book to sell on Amazon.com. I was taking a look at their web site for information and found a link at the bottom of the main page that links to a good amount of info, on CreateSpace, Kindle Books and more. You may have already seen it but if you haven't, it's here http://www.amazon.com/gp/seller-account/mm-summary-page.html?ie=UTF8&ld=AZFooterSelfPublish&topic=200260520

 

[lovecraft68]

Is anyone here self publishing or have done so in the past? Have you found success? Would love to hear people's experiences.

I am currently in the process of e-publishing which is only costing me for some cover art and it is required to have an "authors page" so I bought a domain name. After that there is no cost but time and effort. My wife however is self publishing with Balboa press and I believe it is costing around $1100. (payable in three installments) This gets her I think 36 copies of the book and they market it for her. Everything is then print to order and I think she gets 50% of the sales. She is working on a self help daily journal so the E-format would not work for her as you actually have to write daily entries into the book.

 

[manyeyedhydra]

I am currently in the process of e-publishing which is only costing me for some cover art and it is required to have an "authors page" so I bought a domain name. After that there is no cost but time and effort. My wife however is self publishing with Balboa press and I believe it is costing around $1100. (payable in three installments) This gets her I think 36 copies of the book and they market it for her. Everything is then print to order and I think she gets 50% of the sales. She is working on a self help daily journal so the E-format would not work for her as you actually have to write daily entries into the book.

Are you sure that's not a bad-old vanity press? The costs sound extremely steep.

 

[lovecraft68]

Are you sure that's not a bad-old vanity press? The costs sound extremely steep.

You know something? This is one of those things where the wife and I agreed to disagree and I let her go ahead and do it her way. The money is all coming out of her side business so it's her call. I personally think it was pricey. Balboa's hook with her is they "specialize" in that happy happy joy joy shit she puts out. It's typical of our personalities. I would love to do an "In print" book but it would cost me. Then it's like what? I can e-publish for next to nothing? where do I sign up?

 

[sr71plt]

Are you sure that's not a bad-old vanity press? The costs sound extremely steep.

Self-pubishing and vanity publishing are exactly the same thing. In both, the author selects for publishing, the author pays for publishing, and the author pays for marketing and distribution.

If the book in question is a print book, and she's getting 36 copies, $1,100 is a good price for a self-publishing packager. I'd say the average for self-publishing this way is more like $1,600 with only one copy going to the author for free.

If you want to compare print POD packagers on costs and services, Clea Saal maintains a good comparison chart at http://www.booksandtales.com/pod/.

 

[BellaIsabella]

I have been advised by some of my writer partners/mentors that I should really look into trying to find an agent/publisher before going the self publish route, they think its a better route for the type of novel/memoir I am writing. I was going to self publish first, but I have heard it is hard to get picked up with an agent after this. Anyone have any luck getting an agent after self publishing?

 

[tinwoodsman]

While I'm not published yet, though I have plans, I've heard the biggest reason publishers don't want to pick up someone self-published is that they want to have the "first publication rights" (in a manner of speaking). In essence it's like asking a big movie studio to take your movie off YouTube and put it in theaters. Even if the production quality were on par the first thing they are going to be thinking is; How small is my sales demographic now that a bunch of people have already seen it?

Now if you self-publish Books 1 and 2 then go to a publisher with Book 3 while showing them the popularity of the previous books you might have a better shot. One thing I've come to realize about selling, writing wise, is that you're target audience isn't your target audience. There will always be someone out there who will like your stuff, you just have to find them. Your real target audience is the people who are going to produce your project so, to me, that's the true advantage of self-publication at the sacrifice of initial investment, self-promotion and then hoping to get out of the red after the unit sales.