I did a little pimping of my books on twitter last night. I have a book out, Rebellion on Piza 7 for those who are newcomers :D It's available through Barnes and Nobles and Amazon. It was released a couple of years ago, but I ahve a rather fond attachment to it. Go buy it on Amazon. The kindle is only 1.29 :D When I get a beautiful cover I shall up the price! (I kept copyright of the book but not rights to the cover!) I'm an artist, I should be able to do something...
Anyhoot, I'm looking at actual self-publishing for my sci-fi fantasy books and maybe a short romance line. I write so much and that's partly because I READ so much. I LOVE TO READ. I READ EVERYTHING. You will find two common elements in my books-relationships (not just romantic ones) and adventure/mystery. Adventure and mystery aren't typically classified together, but the adventures I mean are the unknown, the wild, the ones that you learn something while doing. It's like it's own mystery. So if a book has done those things real well, I'll read it regardless of its genre. I have a vampire horror story I just found that started as a writing exercise from one of the blogs I followed. I have a sequel to write. I have another sci=fi to write. AND I ALREADY KNOW THE NEXT GAL NOIR STORY.
I have a fantasy to edit, a Blaze type book to edit, a paranormal to rewrite, a thriller to edit (gal friday noir) and my devil story to edit. All of those idets are going to lead to publishing!! I have to decide which one(s) are going more tradition, indie or self publishing. So many questions and information to process.
And the opinions for/against each one!! I'd like to see some discussion for and against self-publishing, indie pubs and more "traditional" pubs. What's your take on the whole thing?
How do you decide which ones should go indie and which ones traditional?
ReplyDeleteIndie pubs are smaller, usually more specific type houses. For example, one may pub Christian books only, or textbooks only, or fantasy only. They have less money to play with, but you get more hands on experience.
ReplyDeleteIf you have an agent, they kind of decide who you sub to unless you specifically ask them to sub somewhere.
If you're doing it on your own, you need to get a copy of the Writer's Market (or similar book if they don't have this on in UK)
They have the Writer's Market over here. I thought you were referring to self-pubbing. Is that something you'd do? Or you prefer to stick to publishing houses, of one kind or another?
ReplyDelete@ Anne LOL I am :) I'm wanting discussion on all three :D Of course the merits of agents vs. not agents could end up becoming a part of it.
ReplyDeleteSelf pubbed, look for agent in hopes of traditional pubs or small pubs or submit to all the houses yourself. Bear in mind that a lot of the big ones don't take unsolicited/unagented work. How do you choose?
I'm self-publishing all my work, old and new.
ReplyDeleteCheck out my work-in-progress at http://hollowpoint-a serializednovel.blogspot.com
I think the decision is very personal, not to be undertaken lightly and is different for each project. For example, if you're writing for a small niche, then self-pub or indie pub may be the most viable option as the book will most likely not sell to a larger pub. Or you may have a high concept project which will do better with some muscle behind it.
ReplyDeleteNo matter which course you choose, and there are even more selections available - will it be in print? Hard cover? Paperback only? Or is digital the way to go? - they all involve a lot of hard work, making your work shine to the best of your ability, accepting feedback from others and being able to filter through the comments to apply what is best for YOUR book.
I've been agented, but when I made the decision to pub my Misfit McCabe series, I decided not to go the agent route with the project and to put it out myself because at the time I only meant to pub it for myself & family. But then I was invited to participate in a teen choice award contest & was one of the winners and so was the second book in the series. And I found kids connecting with my characters, so I expanded the distribution. It would still be a hard sell to a major publisher and even some of the small guys - YA contemporary is a hard sell right now - especially on the younger side of YA.
My completed MG novel I'm going the trad. route because it is a more commercially viable product. Maybe one of my other projects will be a good fit for a smaller pub or even etailer.
Hi. I just did a blog on Shewrites.com a couple of days ago about self-publishing. You can check it if you are interested.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.shewrites.com/profiles/blogs/why-you-should-not-selfpublish