Publisher or agent?

[THROBBS]

That could have been on me. I'm learning all this with my daughters software from her design classes.

I'll look and see if I still have the original image somewhere. I also added the tat over the back, but I don't think that affected anything.

I'm sure it's not perfect, but in the realm of e-books and what you'll find there, its a better effort than most make.

If I wanted that through a POD publisher they would tell me this would be $350

Yes, I understand. I am not certain that you would get the return on $350. That is to say, I doubt that sales would increase SO much to make it a value. BUT, hopefully for $350 you would get a very professional product... no guarantees .

I do take issue (obviously) that most people think they are designers by buying photoshop, that would make me a writer by having spell check.



As for AGENTS (back to OP topic), VERY tough to find one who is willing to work as hard as you would like, it should be a relationship. It seems that work ethic is out the window in America. I hate "middlemen", unfortunately they have become part of the larger system (major publishers, who won't take direct submissions). It is much the same for illustrators.

 

[Firebrain]

As Penn Lady stated with the "vampire book" if you get their attention they will come to you. Then they'll put you into mainstream and get you some help.

but you're better off reaching that point yourself.

as for editors, cover designers, formatters?

Okay, I just self published a novel on amazon. Cover? Done by a professional cover designer for an erotica publisher, editing? done by an editor who works for the same publisher. Both at a one time fee over a permanent percentage.

Formatting? Mobi software for kindle, SW? just simply knowing how to do it.

Don't get me wrong, some big time publisher comes knocking with a good deal I'm all for entertaining the possibility, but what we're discussing here is the average author throwing some stuff into Amazon's endless ocean and hoping for a few extra dollars and you can make that yourself.

And if you're that good the publisher will find you.

Maybe I'm stubborn, but I refuse to waste time sending shit off to someone who could very well turn around and steal it and hope they'll do me the favor of taking some of my money for very little work.

This cover took less than an hour, that's finding all three images and getting them together. Total cost $25.

As an additional note this series was copyrighted (as an e-book) for $35 and I have already sent copies of that copyright to three sites I found parts of it on and they couldn't pull it down fast enough.

You can do more for yourself than the publishers want you to think.

Who are you to decide whether PennLady is an "average" author? Somebody with market knowledge could spot something in her work that you never could.

Why SHOULD someone go to an agent? Because if you happen to have written the right thing, you could walk off with a 50k advance, film options and major print distribution. Maybe more. Does it happen for everybody? Absolutely not. But when did that ever mean that you couldn't try? (I also find the idea of an agent stealing your work quite laughable). If you follow the market, you'll notice publishing deals getting bigger in certain genres.

GOOD editing is expensive, and rightly so. If it's not, you need to ask yourself why.

Why should somebody self-publish first when they could be publishing something mediocre, and ruining their chances? A good agent or publisher will spot a manuscript with potential and help to make it better. Everybody wins.

I'm all for self publishing, but it's not like getting your stripes or whatever.

And THROBBS....thank you. That made my day.

Lovecraft, dude...that cover has serious issues! We don't employ cover artists for nothing...

 

[THROBBS]

....

And THROBBS....thank you. That made my day.

Lovecraft, dude...that cover has serious issues! We don't employ cover artists for nothing...

Now now... I didn't mean to "tear down" Lovecraft's cover, however I did want to make it clear my position/view on the profession of design. There are certainly "issues" that could be refined in his cover, one has to assess what one hope to achieve and at what cost.

Sadly, I am FAR from meticulous, which is a bit of a detriment in design. On the other hand, I know designers who are way too fussy on "throw away" items, or what I call "theater design"... like trade shows> "dude! stop sanding the edges, no one will see that." "No need to make THAT 300 dpi, it is viewed from 12 feet." etc.

I *am* trained and experienced in design, and can spot an easy/lazily applied Photoshop outer glow layer style or unkerned ["out of the box"...no, not "think outside the box"...ack!] typopgraphy< if there are only three lines of type, one CAN spend ANOTHER half hour (or less) making adjustments.

If those seemingly minor adjustments are made, will it look better? I think yes.
Will it sell more copies? meh...probably.
Will it present the author's work as if it was important? yes.