Some implications for self-publishing

[SamScribble]

An interesting article. Self-publishing is no longer just for vanity.

http://reviewcanada.ca/essays/2012/09/01/all-is-not-vanity/

 

[sr71plt]

Vanity is at the base of motivation for all forms of publishing.

 

[lovecraft68]

Whenever I see something like this I always wonder how many amazing writers existed that we never got a chance to read.

I remember King's story of how he got rejected so many times he threw "Carrie" in the trash and his wife pulled it out and resubmitted it.

One of the greatest authors ever(at least sales wise) and a bunch of idiots who decide what's good enough for the public to read had us this close to never knowing him.

That is the best thing about self publishing. No longer is the reader at the whim of a bunch of paper assholes full of their own self importance deciding what's "good" or not.

Down side is there's a lot of crap being published as well, but all in all there's a lot of great stuff out there we never would have been able to read before.

 

[RodenAddison]

Vanity is at the base of motivation for all forms of publishing.

Scribbles it down.

 

[RodenAddison]

Whenever I see something like this I always wonder how many amazing writers existed that we never got a chance to read.

I remember King's story of how he got rejected so many times he threw "Carrie" in the trash and his wife pulled it out and resubmitted it.

One of the greatest authors ever(at least sales wise) and a bunch of idiots who decide what's good enough for the public to read had us this close to never knowing him.

That is the best thing about self publishing. No longer is the reader at the whim of a bunch of paper assholes full of their own self importance deciding what's "good" or not.

Down side is there's a lot of crap being published as well, but all in all there's a lot of great stuff out there we never would have been able to read before.

Publishers always want to cram you into a particular genre as well and then keep you there. Doesn't matter if you're good at several. Never could quite understand though why Stephen Kin wrote under several names thought. His alts seemed to all write the same kind of stories.

 

[darkvampwriter]

This old news since Amanda hocking and john locke

 

[sr71plt]

Publishers always want to cram you into a particular genre as well and then keep you there.

Publishers are as varied as anyone/anything else. There's no such thing as "always publishers."

 

[PennLady]

Publishers always want to cram you into a particular genre as well and then keep you there. Doesn't matter if you're good at several. Never could quite understand though why Stephen Kin wrote under several names thought. His alts seemed to all write the same kind of stories.

You mean Stephen King, right? I recall reading some time ago that he published under the Richard Bachmann pseudonym primarily to prevent "fatigue" from setting in under his own name at the time. I don't know who's idea it was but I'd imagine the publisher's. I also don't know what other names he's written under, if any.

Nora Roberts writes futuristic romantic thrillers, her ...in Death series, under the name JD Robb. I'm not sure if she ever tried to hide it, but I've wondered if that lets her be someone else, take on a little different personality than if she wrote under Nora Roberts.

 

[lovecraft68]

You mean Stephen King, right? I recall reading some time ago that he published under the Richard Bachmann pseudonym primarily to prevent "fatigue" from setting in under his own name at the time. I don't know who's idea it was but I'd imagine the publisher's. I also don't know what other names he's written under, if any.

Nora Roberts writes futuristic romantic thrillers, her ...in Death series, under the name JD Robb. I'm not sure if she ever tried to hide it, but I've wondered if that lets her be someone else, take on a little different personality than if she wrote under Nora Roberts.

One of my favorite authors, Dean Koontz, published a couple of books under "Leigh Nichols."

Oddly enough two of them "Eyes of Darkness and Shadowfires" are my favorites from him, only "Phantoms" was better.

 

[TinyBeth]

Publishers always want to cram you into a particular genre as well and then keep you there. Doesn't matter if you're good at several. Never could quite understand though why Stephen Kin wrote under several names thought. His alts seemed to all write the same kind of stories.

Who knows why they did that with King, especially given the other names did just write the same type of stories As an example though, one of the most famous examples of one author with two pen names is Victoria Holt/Jean Plaidy. Now in general her straight romantic work went under the Victoria Holt name and the historical novels would go under Jean Plaidy. The principle difference however is that ALL of the books under the name Victoria Holt are in the first person, including the historical ones. I wonder if something similar was at play with Stephen King and his various pseudonyms.

 

[CeasarBoobage]

Many people consider that it's not a "real book" unless it's put out by a large established publisher. Anything else is 3rd-rate kid stuff and too amateur-ish to consider reading. (yes i have heard that 1st hand)
Poor fools don't know what they are missing!!!

With all the pain associated with going from a manuscript to a book on the shelf, it's no surprise that more people are doing the DIY method. Just like the music industry, unless you are already a big name (Steven King, Dean Koontz, Metallica, etc), you get screwed over at every turn. You don't make squat for money, and you get bad contracts.

There are some benefits to using a big name publisher (if you can ever get in there!), but you as an author need to make the decision whether those benefits outweigh the costs (ie: what you lose as an artist over the control of your work).

If I thought there was a chance I could make $ from writing a few erotica ebooks on amazon, I would jump on it. But it would be self-published all the way. There's no chance in hell that I would try going through the painful process of a big pub. house for my little stories. Even though the '50Shades' bit has increased awareness, I still don't think many places are willing to take on that kind of subject matter - which makes the work even harder. Nope!

 

[sr71plt]

You mean Stephen King, right? I recall reading some time ago that he published under the Richard Bachmann pseudonym primarily to prevent "fatigue" from setting in under his own name at the time. I don't know who's idea it was but I'd imagine the publisher's. I also don't know what other names he's written under, if any.

Here's one explanation why: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Bachman