Self-Publishing

Sir · 08-04-2014

What in the world is self-publishing?

"Self-publishing is the publication of any book or other media by the author of the work, without the involvement of an established third-party publisher. A self-published physical book is said to be privately printed. The author is responsible and in control of entire process including. In the case of a book, the design of the cover and interior, formats, price, distribution, marketing and public relations. The authors can do it all themselves or outsource all or part of the process to companies that offer these services."

Have you ever heard of self-publishing before?

What do you think about self-publishing?

Have any of you guys out there ever self-published any books?, or know someone that has?

What printing company did you use, and how was the quality compared to traditionally published books?

Do you have any works that you would self-publish?

What do you think about 'indie' publishers in contrast to traditional publishing houses?

Should I stop asking questions? Yes, I should. Now what're your questions, answers, or just plain thoughts?

Blueh · 08-04-2014

I totally want to self publish :0

Sir · 08-04-2014

I knew you would read this Blueh :p

'TheBookPatch' seems to be the most profitable & inexpensive route to go. They only charge you printing costs, the rest is yours.
And 'CreateSpace' seems to be the most successful, because it's owned by Amazon, so they'll put it on Amazon, as well as an ebook version for the Kindle. Although they take a large chunk, but you'll be selling more books, plus you'll receive feedback from reviews and stuff.

I still can't really decide between the two, I'm not doing it for the cash. Just the feeling of holding a copy of a book that you made 100% in print and all would be cool. :o

Latte · 08-04-2014

As a Creative Writing major, I am considering self-publishing for my first book, but I also want to experience sending it in to a publisher. Since (in the direction it's going in right now) writing will be my profession, I think I want to try sending to 10-12 publishers first and see what kind of results/feedback that will get me.

It seems there are a lot of success stories for self-publishing, however. I think it's mainly about being your own agent and marketing tool, and how you handle that. It's not a bad option.

edit: Be wary of scams, however. I've heard publishing horror stories as well (though I don't know if they'd be considered "self publishing") where people hire agents to publish and market a book for hundreds or thousands of dollars, when it'd be far cheaper to do it yourself. There are also "publishers" that are ridiculed in the writing world, since they accept any book sent to them and are virtually self-publishing. Be wary of those. Further research can shed more light on that, since I only remember a vague story of someone talking to me about it.

Sir · 08-04-2014

hi lertert : )

50 Shades of Gray was self-published :O
And thanks for the heads up! I've heard a lot of stories about that too! With your art background you won't have a problem with creating a cover & inside images :O plus that would be cool if it featured your art with your stories, so they'll be written and drawn by Latté :O good luck with all our future endeavors!

Blueh · 08-04-2014

Posted by Latte

As a Creative Writing major, I am considering self-publishing for my first book, but I also want to experience sending it in to a publisher. Since (in the direction it's going in right now) writing will be my profession, I think I want to try sending to 10-12 publishers first and see what kind of results/feedback that will get me.

It seems there are a lot of success stories for self-publishing, however. I think it's mainly about being your own agent and marketing tool, and how you handle that. It's not a bad option.

edit: Be wary of scams, however. I've heard publishing horror stories as well (though I don't know if they'd be considered "self publishing") where people hire agents to publish and market a book for hundreds or thousands of dollars, when it'd be far cheaper to do it yourself. There are also "publishers" that are ridiculed in the writing world, since they accept any book sent to them and are virtually self-publishing. Be wary of those. Further research can shed more light on that, since I only remember a vague story of someone talking to me about it.

That sounds like an amazing profession B)

Latte · 08-04-2014

Yus it was. I think 50 Shades of Gray pretty much revived its own genre(erotica)
hi ser <3

@blueh - it's been pretty fun so far C: trying to get into freelance writing

Sir · 08-04-2014

You should be a screenplay writer for Michael Bay movies :O

I just noticed I AM at 1337 posts and 3 bars B)

Imprint · 08-04-2014

Amazon's Publishing has been criticized pretty heavily because of it's books underperforming due to the publisher's own incompetence as well as the fact that book stores refuse to sell Amazon Published books because the internet site is their direct competitor. I'd assume that sort of thing would carry over to CreateSpace published works.

Sir · 08-04-2014

I'm sure the same would go for them as well. I've heard that self-published books usually top out at around $500 in sales on Amazon for decent books. At the avarage price of $9.99 that's just over 50 books. Self-published books for the Kindle would probably do a little better, especially is the price & the content is right. And putting books in the iBookstore for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch is free :o

MattKan · 08-04-2014

Posted by Sir

And putting books in the iBookstore for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch is free :o

That's surprising. I remember they took outrageous cuts for Apps and charged $100 for a developer license.

Sir · 08-04-2014

Posted by MattKan

That's surprising. I remember they took outrageous cuts for Apps and charged $100 for a developer license.

I know, I was completely surprised as well! I'm not sure what they take out of sales from books, but you don't have to pay anything to get it there.

https://www.apple.com/itunes/working.../book-faq.html

MattKan · 08-05-2014

Posted by http://www.cultofmac.com/141476/you-must-sell-your-ibooks-in-the-ibookstore-and-apple-gets-a-30-cut/

Not only does Apple get a 30% cut of all iBooks sold in the iBookstore, but publishers aren’t allowed to sell their books anywhere else. If you make your book in iBooks Author, you must sell it in the iBookstore or give it away for free somewhere else. You can only make a profit under Apple’s control, and your iBook can be pulled from the store at Apple’s discretion or not even approved in the first place.

Not sure if this is still accurate, but if it is . . . yeah.

08-04-2014	1
Sir Elder ✔️ Join Date: Oct 2012 Posts: 2,286	Self-Publishing What in the world is self-publishing? "Self-publishing is the publication of any book or other media by the author of the work, without the involvement of an established third-party publisher. A self-published physical book is said to be privately printed. The author is responsible and in control of entire process including. In the case of a book, the design of the cover and interior, formats, price, distribution, marketing and public relations. The authors can do it all themselves or outsource all or part of the process to companies that offer these services." Have you ever heard of self-publishing before? What do you think about self-publishing? Have any of you guys out there ever self-published any books?, or know someone that has? What printing company did you use, and how was the quality compared to traditionally published books? Do you have any works that you would self-publish? What do you think about 'indie' publishers in contrast to traditional publishing houses? Should I stop asking questions? Yes, I should. Now what're your questions, answers, or just plain thoughts?

08-04-2014	2
Blueh The Orator Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Yes Posts: 3,307	I totally want to self publish :0

08-04-2014	4
Latte what the heil Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: powerrangerville Posts: 1,351	As a Creative Writing major, I am considering self-publishing for my first book, but I also want to experience sending it in to a publisher. Since (in the direction it's going in right now) writing will be my profession, I think I want to try sending to 10-12 publishers first and see what kind of results/feedback that will get me. It seems there are a lot of success stories for self-publishing, however. I think it's mainly about being your own agent and marketing tool, and how you handle that. It's not a bad option. edit: Be wary of scams, however. I've heard publishing horror stories as well (though I don't know if they'd be considered "self publishing") where people hire agents to publish and market a book for hundreds or thousands of dollars, when it'd be far cheaper to do it yourself. There are also "publishers" that are ridiculed in the writing world, since they accept any book sent to them and are virtually self-publishing. Be wary of those. Further research can shed more light on that, since I only remember a vague story of someone talking to me about it.

08-04-2014	9
Imprint Registered User Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 1,992	Amazon's Publishing has been criticized pretty heavily because of it's books underperforming due to the publisher's own incompetence as well as the fact that book stores refuse to sell Amazon Published books because the internet site is their direct competitor. I'd assume that sort of thing would carry over to CreateSpace published works.