Do any writers out there have advice / ideas / suggestions about self-publishing /POD vs. being published through tradtional means? I could REALLY use some help! I went the 'traditional route' for my 1st books (St. Martin's Press) years ago, but when I had my latest ms. ready, I decided to self-publish because it would be faster and I would have more control. But now I'm finding that I'm having trouble getting the new book reviewd, getting it into stores, etc.

Can anyone give me the 'pros and cons' of your publishing decision? Why you chose the route you did, how it's worked out for you, would you do the same thing again, etc.?

Thanks!

Self-publishing can work well for a certain kind of book.

Non-fiction, specialized subject or regional audience, where the author has contacts in the field and a good grip on distribution channels.

For example, a friend of mine self-published a little book called Fly Fishing the Grand River. It was based, in part, on his professional research as an aquatic ecologist; furthermore, he'd been involved in distributing tackle in the province, so he had his distribution nailed down in addition to his specialized knowledge. And on top of that, he's a good writer who can put together an engaging manuscript on what could otherwise be a dry subject, without needing all kinds of editorial services. This thing has sold thousands of copies -- if it had gone the traditional route, it would have been on the bestseller list in Canada.

But ... for fiction, general non-fiction, etc., I think self-publishing is suicide. So for my novel, I've taken the traditional route.

1> Of course it is not an easy route to publish yourself, which I place in a different category than POD, where the POD provider prints and ships for the author, like Lulu.com. I tried their service, and for European authors, the printing options were below zero in quality. We were forced to deal with a Spanish printer and consistency and quality were not part of his vocabulary. I gave up after four proofs.

POD is also not the best way to market a book, for the folks who provide this service do not advertise in such a way as to give your book continuous exposure, which it requires. Their focus should be driving traffic to their site, but that is not the case, since most of them advertise to attract new authors. It is also very, very, very difficult - if not impossible - to get a POD book into a bookstore.

I researched printers and distribution and determined that although the stores might sell a thousand copies for me - the emphasis being on 'might' - I was still going to bankroll them with copies that they could return to me months later, and I would then pay return shipping, as well. And, they could send the books back in any condition. This is how the system works, and their required discounts would have made me less than 10% on the 'loan' that financed the placement of books on their shelves. Big publishers can take this hit, but individual authors cannot. There is no guarantee that my book would have received adequate and continuous shelf placement, during the time that the stores had them in their inventory, either.

I wrote my book while living in Germany, so it is published with a German ISBN, which I purchased directly. I printed it in the UK, and I ship exclusively from my website. Shipping a book from Germany is very inexpensive, in comparison to other parts of the world, so this has worked out well, from that standpoint. By printing myself, I have been able to keep the cost lower, as well, which translates into saving for my readers.

So, I print in the UK and take delivery in Europe, and then do the order fulfillment myself. This allows me to keep a clear eye on quality control, which is essential to maintaining a good relationship with readers. I have over twenty-five years in marketing and advertising, so that aspect is under control. The key that is difficult is getting enough exposure to sell those thousands of copies. I have three websites and exposure on several blogs, as well as my own. So far, sales have trickled in, which is a good sign. I am also a co-creator of a gay comic, which has a large following already, and I cross-market my book with that audience, since the name recognition is already established.

As you can see, it is a lot of work, and I am still seeking additional methods of gaining exposure for my writing. I will, however, caution you on offering your book to libraries for free, which I did. I was surprised to learn that they do not like a direct offering from an author, and many just ignored the message, even though I was paying the shipping as well as donating the book. I had heard that libraries were always looking for new books, and I foolishly believed this, only to learn that this is not so - in the USA. Only one (1) library in the USA I targeted with my email message was happy to take me up on my offer. (I did my research and sent the message with links to my site, and a small image of the book cover, as well as making sure I had the name of the decision maker for the particular library to whom I addressed the email.)

So, I guess if you have a strong marketing background, a means of directly targeting whatever niche your writing falls into and a website, you can at least find some success with your work.

If you're curious about the website structure I used, etc., I invite you to have a look:

http://www.kristophe.com
http://www.myspace.com/kjsbooks

Feel free to send a note, if you have questions.

PS: Would I prefer to have a publisher doing it all for me? Yep.

Message edited by its author, Oct 30, 2009, 12:03pm.

I think that AJ and K.J made good points. Five years ago I found an agent to handle my first novel and she got the book to publishers. One small but prestigious publisher was interested based on the outline and first fifty pages, but when the remainder of the book was submitted they turned it down for being too depressing. The agent then dropped me. I revised the book, considered trying the legitimate route again, but instead went with a POD publisher, Xlibris. The quality of the book was fine, but working with the publisher in any other aspect was a horror. The book did have a regional hook: it was set in New Jersey. It got good to great reviews in many NJ publications, and even beyond the Garden State. Based on the reviews and the book itself, I got the regional director of Borders to agree to stock the book in most of their NJ stores and a few outside of the area. I also got a number of B&N stores interested in carrying it. The catch was that the publisher had to make the book returnable. Xlibris would not budge on this. The idea of having the book in brick and mortar stores was too enticing to resist. I republished the novel with PageFree Publishing, which would make the book returnable for a fee of $500. So I got my book in stores. Great. Sort of. Pagefree didn't envision that so many stores would agree to carry the book, and of course a publisher can't refuse to print books for B&N. So when the stores started returning the books (the returnability agreement was for one year), Pagefree had to eat costs. I didn't cost me anything beyond the $500, but I didn't make anything on the books that were sold in stores (to get my money out of Pagefree would have taken a lawsuit). By the way, I did sell the book to many N.J. libraries. Ok, I wrote my second novel, The Red Album of Asbury Park, and I decided to go directly to a POD Publisher again. I didn't bother sending the book to agents or publishers (the last thing they want is dark working class realism). I published the novel a year ago, and republished it in September 2009 (Now called The Red Album of Asbury Park Remixed). Although it was getting excellent reviews, I was troubled by some aspects of the book. I'm happy now. Getting the book reviewed is difficult, but I have gotten it covered in Jersey's two top papers (bleak but compelling, but this was before the revise), and in numerous print and online pubs. There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of sites that review fiction, but POD or self-published (I really don't think it makes much difference) books are not welcome. I find myself spending an enormous amount of time just trying to promote the book online (just one more review!), and it interferes with a new novel I'm trying to write. But occasionally things happen that I beleive that justify my efforts. Check out this site: http://readersdiscotheque.blogspot.com/2...

How good would a pod novel have to be to break through? If if were good it wouldn't be self-published. How can one break through that? One can't. I'm trying.

Alex

Of course, there's no money in this.

I decided to go down the self-publishing route. I'd read that Stephen Clarke had done the same with his 'Year in the Merde' and sold so many copies the publishers took notice.
'Teenager en Provence' is also a relocation story, but from the point of view of the teenager who didn't want to move rather than the adult that dreamt of la vie en France, so it's quirky and unusual.
I researched various agencies and spoke with a couple of them, before deciding to part with nearly £1000 to have the book professional edited and turned into a pod.
My biggest problem has been that I live on an island between France and the UK and would really need to be able to reach out to bigger chains of bookshops. My local Waterstones took it straight away and have been helpful, but I feel that is because I went there and sold it to them. Sending a review copy in the post gets you nowhere, so if you are to self publish make sure you have a large enough area of bookstores and be prepared to travel to knock on doors.
I then added myself on authorsden.com which has generated many US sales as you can offer sample chapters for reading. I have a website that receives around 100 hits a month, not a lot but they do say slowly slowly, it started out less than a year ago with about 2! If your book has a theme, use that theme area, my book is listed in the publications of French magazines for the British francophile.
I think if you go down the self publishing route you must be totally convinced of your book and your ability to sell it. It is hard work and I wouldn't do it again purely as it is so time consuming it doesn't give me much chance to write anything else.
Re libraries, they must all be different because my local library bought 4 copies.
Conclusion - check out the stores/libraries/local media/etc to see if they would be interested before parting with your money.
Hope that helps. KR Annie

4> It sounds like a harrowing experience, and I found Lulu.com to be less than forthcoming, and when asked in their forums to explain the shoddy work Euro authors were getting, they either locked the forums, or ignored them. POD can be a nightmare.

I do disagree with your statement: "If it were good it wouldn't be self-published." There is a great deal of self-published literature that is as good if not better than much of the mainstream books you find at Borders, etc. Getting published does not guarantee that the reader will find great literature, it only guarantees that the publisher thinks it is a great moneymaker. It is a matter of getting to the right people, and as an English-speaking author living in Germany, it is not as easy to get in front of the people whom I need to meet. So, I do the best I can with what I've got, and part of that is a great book.

Message edited by its author, Nov 4, 2009, 9:26am.

Hi, K.J.

I disagree with the statement, too. I meant that it's the prevailing opinion of many reviewers. Most will not even consider self-published books. It's an attitude we must somehow change.

Is there a website that tracks self-published books that succeed? By succeed I mean sell more than a couple of hundred copies. Or get picked up by a big publisher. The recent ones that I'm aware of are The Shack, Still Alice, and Daemon. Three very different books with very different audiences.

I know The Christmas Box began as a self-published work, and I think maybe Eragon did too but I'm not positive about that one.

It would be great to have a source showing which ones 'made it!'

7> We are in full agreement. Perhaps the 'new market equalizer' (the internet) will help us with this challenge.

> > 8

The late E. Lynn Harris is probably one of the most famous self-publishers who succeeded. He couldn't find a publisher for his first book, Invisible Life, (I suppose the depiction of black male homosexuality scared them), and shopped it around by himself, selling it to African-American bookstores. He found himself with a hit on his hands, was picked up by Anchor Books, and went on to hit the New York Times Bestseller list ten times.

There are a few shining examples of self-pub success - Chicken Soup for the Soul comes to mind - but they are the exception, not the rule. I went the traditional route with my novel and couldn't be happier. There are a lot of great people working to get it noticed. I could never have done it all on my own.

THE WIVES OF HENRY OADES will debut in the UK on Feb. 4th and in the US on Feb. 23rd. I've already had lovely reviews from both Publishers Weekly and Kirkus. Random House is giving away 30 copies on Goodreads, by the way. The contest ends Nov. 8th.

Keep writing....Don't give up ~ Johanna Moran

Originally self-published books

I hope this encourages everyone. I love self-publishing because to me it is a challenge and I keep control.

Be the social butterfly. You have to sell yourself first. I think that is the key. You are really the product here. People want to know the author. The book can really stink but if the author is someone they want to get to know, they'll buy the book. Use the internet. There are so many places to network. Good luck.

#13 I notice most of the books on that list are either self-help or by people who were already famous. Very few fiction books.

Why do you think that's the case?

Sometimes, in the wake of continual rejection by agents and publishers, you don't have a choice ... or rather, the choice is: publish yourself or file that book away in a cabinet with the others.

Re #10, "Perhaps the 'new market equalizer' (the internet) will help us with this challenge."

I've just started dipping my toe into the Kindle. Amazon (dtp.amazon.com) will let you throw up just about anything at the price of wrestling with plain or html text. I've gotten around those difficulties by putting up my work in progress in parts (Stronger than Sin or Silence), which also helps because it makes a price tag small enough to maybe attract someone not hurt me so much. OTOH, I went ahead with this after a friend, who had told me months ago about another friend, Karen McQuestion, added that she was making up in volume what her 2 novels and 2 collections lack in Kindle pricetags. And I believe she's had other good developments, but I don't know how public they are.

I've also been doing some small-scale self-publishing in Hewlett-Packard's Magcloud project (mine are at http://magcloud.com/bkswrites, including How to Be a Big Brother by Barbara Kellam-Scott). It's print on demand, and you have to send them a pdf, but it's kind of a cool way to do a picture book you've been trying for ages to get published.

Of course, with both of these routes, you have to do some promoting. But that's not the only reason I'm here (grin). (sorry I had to put my name on that last touchstone; it was giving me a different book)