tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2274987097756433491.post3374060837869850848..comments2024-03-05T11:26:21.204-06:00Comments on All the World's Our Page: Self-Publication?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2274987097756433491.post-32733007474140880022010-09-09T08:02:11.679-05:002010-09-09T08:02:11.679-05:00That's just it - it's all the marketing th...That's just it - it's all the marketing that has to be done... I don't think I'm up for doing that all on my own. Not to mention, I'm a writer, not a bookseller, shipper, accountant or what have you :-) It's work enough to concentrate on the writing and editing.Deniz Bevanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17134553551048836979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2274987097756433491.post-72802649726132835602010-09-09T05:40:41.141-05:002010-09-09T05:40:41.141-05:00Great post, Jen. Your observations are spot-on.
A...Great post, Jen. Your observations are spot-on.<br /><br />Another self-publishing success story is that of Christopher Paolini, author of the Inheritance Cycle of books - ERAGON (made into a movie by Fox), ELDEST and BRISINGR, with the fourth book due out later this year (I think). <br /><br />Paolini was only 15 year old when he wrote ERAGON, and self-published with the financial backing of his parents - and then went on a massive, exhaustive, book promotion/selling tour. Something like 135 schools and libraries. The book gained a bit of momentum, was picked up by a few stores, and was eventually spotted and picked up by the Knopf publishing house. <br /><br />So yeah, as Claire said, for self-publishing to be a financial success you need to have a pile of money to throw at the project and scads of time to promote it ... and I'd add you also need to have written a decent book in the first place. Oh, and then run into a little bit of luck. <br /><br />Very hard to do, in other words,Rachel Walshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15406943046329566026noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2274987097756433491.post-30310903027622827672010-09-09T03:24:23.750-05:002010-09-09T03:24:23.750-05:00Great post, Jen. I agree with the lot.
I guess th...Great post, Jen. I agree with the lot.<br /><br />I guess the question it all comes down to is what you want the book to achieve. Do you want it on paper to make money? Self-publication is most assuredly not the way to go, if that's the case. Do you want it to reach an audience? Unless you have a particular niche in mind, I think self-publishing is unlikely to reach a broad or extensive range of people. Do you have a burning conviction that your work is good enough for the big leagues, but it's just being overlooked in the slush pile for reasons not your fault? If so, you'd better have a bloody deep wallet and a lot of time on your hands.<br /><br />One of the only self-publishing stories I can think of that turned into big success was Australian author Matthew Reilly, who borrowed money from his family to print 1000 copies of his first novel, Contest, and personally lobbied local bookstores to stock it. Four years later, the big leagues finally sat up and took notice, and Reilly is now a multi-million selling author of dozens of thrillers. What's even more amazing is that he was only 19 at the time he self-published the first book.<br /><br />These stories are a real rarity. I worked in a bookstore for four years while I was studying, and I don't even need one hand to count the number of successful self-published books I saw in that time. There were none.Claire Ghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15286952159573145712noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2274987097756433491.post-67003918274205948902010-09-08T17:44:28.223-05:002010-09-08T17:44:28.223-05:00Great post Jen. I'm still on the fence with th...Great post Jen. I'm still on the fence with this, but that's mostly cos I'm a big chicken: I don't think I could market my own YA to kids without having a traditional publisher back me up. I just don't do public speaking! Otherwise, well, I might have hired a professional editor and published The Face of A Lion on Smashwords, etc. months ago.<br />Just linked to this in my own wrap up of the issue...Deniz Bevanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17134553551048836979noreply@blogger.com