What do you think about self-publishing?
I shouldn't have read JA Konrath's blog but I did and he got the idea started. Then I was reading an article about publicizing your book and it said something similar, along the lines: the best publicity is a well written book and a back list.
So I've been pondering. Thinking about the work of self-publishing vs. the prestige of New Yawk publishing vs. the relationship with the ebook publisher.
It's a slippery slope of possibilities.
What do you think?
What do I think of self publishing?
ReplyDeleteI think you need a lot of energy, a lot of time and a head for business as well as a mind full of stories. Even the very successful Amanda Hocking signed with a big publishing house because self promotion, etc. was taking too much time away from her writing.
It all sounds good, doesn't it? Make more money, have control of your product. But when you get down to the nuts and bolts of it all, it requires some things I just don't have. Business sense. Computer skills. Networking. A popular blog. A known name. I'm sure there's others, but those'll do to start. ;-)
I'll probably be in a nursing home before I acquire a backlist, lol, so I don't pin my hopes on that either. I started this journey much too late, although I did see a debut book by a 90 year old author in the Kindle freebies called Beyond the Bougainvillea. The author is Delores L Durango and it's now in our Kindle account. *grin*
Still, I don't think she'll end up with much of a backlist.
I was reading a thread at the Bitchery regarding poor editing in both ebooks and paper books. The publisher was Berkley, the author was Lora Leigh. The book was practically unreadable and missing crucial pages even. It made me think of my publisher, Lyrical, and their editing process. I moaned and groaned about all the edits, but deep down I was really thankful that they took the time and effort to do right by my story. I can't do a comparison, as this is my first published book, but I would think their publishing process is up there with the best.
And I'm a loyal person. I've had the same dentist for 40 years, the same husband for 40 years and only 2 jobs during that time. Two because my first doctor retired. I've been 10 years with the second one so far.
I took the long way around, but I guess what I'm saying is that I want and need the help and support of a good publisher and I'm happy with Lyrical and will probably submit anything new I might come up with to them. That's just me though. I'm sure there's lot of folks that could take on self publishing and flourish. Look at Moriah Jovan. Look at Konrath himself.
I ain't them. You know what though? I'm happy being me. :-)