
 You Should Self-Publish - wglb
http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2010/12/you-should-self-publish.html
======
auxbuss
I "self-published" in 2003. I created a business that fulfilled all the
criteria to be a bona fide publisher; namely, I bought a block of ISBNs. The
rest was mechanical. Having ISBNs meant that book listings propagated to the
places you'd expect.

Print runs were in lots of 1,000. It really wasn't very expensive, and the
printers I dealt with were terrific and great fun. The tedious part was
shipping a hundred or so books every week.

Once sales tailed-off I sold the book as a pdf download. I really didn't
expect to make much from these sales; it was a bit of an afterthought.

In the end the long-tail download sales produced significantly more profit
than the dead tree sales, and, of course, required close to zero effort.

I also sold the book for publication on a magazine CD, which was a nice lump
sum.

I wish I had more time to write, as just writing this has stirred feelings to
get back in the game. I would definitely self-publish.

[Note: Before self-publishing, I had been published by a "proper" publisher,
the returns from which convinced me that I could do better myself.]

~~~
alimoeeny
What did you publish? I mean can you give your book title? or tell us was it a
tech book? fiction? kids? ...

~~~
ThomPete
I would imagine something about Cubase

<http://www.auxbuss.com/>

~~~
auxbuss
That's the site I used for publishing, yes. I moved on to video tutorials, and
that site remains for a few folk who still access tutorials online.

I wrote this one on Nuendo for PC Publishing:

[http://www.amazon.co.uk/Making-Music-Steinberg-Nuendo-
Cooper...](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Making-Music-Steinberg-Nuendo-
Cooper/dp/1870775791/)

and self-published this one on Cubase:

[http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cubase-SX-Complete-Musicians-
Referen...](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cubase-SX-Complete-Musicians-
Reference/dp/0954479505/)

Both are tech books.

I've been writing a novel for a few years. Trashed it twice after twenty-odd
thousand words both times. I think that's a good thing, as novel writing is a
new skill for me. I'm learning. But I do love tech writing. It's pedantic as
hell, but very rewarding when you get it right.

~~~
ThomPete
Interesting I am a logic and appleton user myself but of course knows Cubase.

I am currently writing a book about design for developers and self-publishing
it too.

With regards to novels I have to say I don't think I am cut out for that. But
I do wish to write a book called "Without God, But not without Belief" one day
when I get older and wiser.

------
Samuel_Michon
Sure, self-publish.

But be mindful of the fact that a manuscript is not a book. Every writer needs
to have their manuscript edited before it hits the presses, and the process
often takes longer than the actual writing of the manuscript. If you know a
skilled editor who will do it for free, great. Otherwise, hire one or sign
with a publisher. Just don't skip this step, eBook stores are filling up with
texts that are barely readable.

~~~
auxbuss
So, so true.

You can self-edit, but you need some distance between the time of writing and
editing. Also, editing technical work is different to, say, a novel. You also
need to know your written language very, very well. And you need to know
fundamental typography, which differs from country to country.

So, yup, there's a lot more to publishing than scribbling out the words and
throwing out there.

~~~
timwiseman
It may be just me, but I think self-editing anything of real significance is
unwise. Most people know themselves, so even with some distance they will know
what they meant even when it is unclear to the general reader. They will also
often be blind to their own idioms (especially if they have not traveled)
which may be highly local and not translate well to a broad audiance.

I have never attempted to write anything book length, but I have published
some short technical articles, and it is always clear which ones benefitted
from a good editor and which ones did not.

------
shawnee_
Pretty much every industry that has bankrolled agencies would have people
believe otherwise. Associations and consortiums spend considerable time and
money trying to convince people of the importance of their role in the whole
process. Prime example: the ridiculousness of commercials for the National
Association of Realtors.

Travel agents, literary agents, Realtors, temp agencies, even stock brokers
have seen the hyper-competitive market diminish the need for them in the whole
process of adding value. More often than not, they end up taking so much of
the economic surplus from the transactions that they actually end up harming
both parties (in terms of producer and consumer surplus, that is see:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_surplus>)

Information asymmetry is one thing that agencies have used traditionally to
exploit parties. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_asymmetry>. But as
it becomes less expensive to exchange information, those who have
traditionally profited from doing so have more to lose. Hence dumb
commercials.

I think when/if I go back to grad school, this will be the topic of my
dissertation. It's a fascinating subject that really explores some intricacies
in economics, and how technology is changing the landscape.

------
replicatorblog
The interest in this blog and self-publishing makes me think in all of the
"2010" year in review stories I have been surprised how little attention
Kickstarter has received. With the success of Diaspora ($200K) Glif ($150K)
iPod Watches ($1MM) it seems like they are one of the major new developments
in the world of tech and startups.

These all seem like edge cases, but think back to the first YC class that had
6-8 teams. It was an inauspicious start, but has become the shaping force in
SV. Beyond the big 3 projects listed above there was also a book about Obama's
design that raised $90K, a lockpick startup that raised $85K, and a bunch of
other companies that raised nice sized "seed" funding. Think about what this
model will look like in 5 years.

------
mark_l_watson
I think that there are good reasons for either option. Working with a good
publisher provides help on tuning up a book idea, copy and tech editing, etc.
When I was writing my last book (for Apress) I had about 5 people actively
helping me. I especially enjoyed working with my tech editor.

I also use Lulu and make a reasonable amount of money given that my self-
published books are very much niche topics. I am fortunate that my wife is a
great editor and I usually get useful feedback from people reading work in
progress versions of my self published books.

I have been experimenting with producing formats for Kindles, etc., and the
article gave me some inspiration to put more energy into supporting eReaders.
One problem with this: I have always given away free PDFs for my self-
published print books, and I like doing that.

Writing is a great activity and I have tried to talk many friends into writing
a book.

~~~
gigamonkey
Interesting. I've written two books for Apress and got essentially zero
editorial help from them. A handful of writers I've talked to published by
other tech publishers reported similar experiences to mine. Glad to hear
they're doing something for somebody. But would-be authors should be aware
that going with a traditional publisher isn't necessarily going to mean
working with an experienced editor to craft your book.

~~~
mark_l_watson
That is surprising - sorry your experience was not good.

I have written a lot of books for publishers and I have some advice that might
be useful in the future: always either meet deadlines or give a heads up if
you expect delays; thank editors whenever they catch an error and make good
suggestions; don't ignore editorial advice if you dont agree, always respond
with a reason you are ignoring advice; as much as possible make some personal
connection with editors even if it is just a few minute talk about family,
career, interests, etc.

I always view publishers as my customers and treat them as I do people who pay
me to do consulting work.

------
byteclub
The argument for ditching dead tree books is especially valid for books that
have short shelf half-life: the ones that deal with quickly changing topics,
such as technology. By the time that "Programming for iBlahBlah 1.2" appears
in the nearby B&N, iBlahBlah itself has moved on to version 2.0 and readers
are disappointed

~~~
adestefan
The books that you're describing are about the only ones I actually buy in
paper format anymore. I read a lot on my Kindle, but I still need paper tech
books to flip around in and use as reference.

------
electromagnetic
Why not traditionally publish, so that you know your work actually has
economic value, use the publisher to publicise your name and retain the
digital publication rights so that you can self-publish and have two revenue
streams.

~~~
brianstorms
"use the publisher to publicise your name"

Publishers may publish, but they don't "publicise". They expect you to do
that. You're basically on your own when it comes to marketing anymore.

~~~
patio11
My reading suggests that once they made books. They no longer make books: they
pay people who make books. They also pay people who do editing, and pay people
who do covers. They've largely abandoned PR for anyone less famous than J.K.
Rowling. This leads me to believe that they're essentially just VC for books,
which wants to invest $20k at a pre-money valuation of $5k.

I am not seeing the attraction, personally. (I've nursed dreams of doing
fiction writing for my next quirky hobby.)

~~~
runevault
This seems fairly accurate from my own outside looking in, other than the
publicity (sort of). If an author is lucky enough to have several publishers
bidding on their book driving up the advance, publishers are more prone to
spend the extra cash on top of that for publicity.

You still need to be in a rare group to get it, it's just not QUITE JKR small
;)

Also I'd be curious to watch you market a novel length ebook with all the
different things you've learned from BCC and now Appointment Reminder.

~~~
patio11
How much would you pay for a novel-length ebook?

~~~
runevault
I've paid as high as 14.99, 9.99 is highest I usually go for DRM'd ebooks when
I've not been waiting for it for some significant length of time, 12.99 would
be acceptable for a DRM free ebook.

Though as Konrath has shown the lower ends of the 70% price range seems to be
where the money is (I'm not 100% sure I buy ALL books by an author being 2.99
makes sense, the first in a series certainly but not so sure about the rest of
one...)

~~~
patio11
We're both businessmen so you know I'm saying this absolutely without rancor:
I have no desire to ever do business at those price points.

Edit: Oh, you want to see me marketing a _fiction_ ebook. Sorry, I
misunderstood: I thought you wanted me to write a novel-length ebook _about
marketing_. Disregard what I just said.

~~~
runevault
Sorry about that, since you mentioned an interest in fiction writing I figured
that would be understood.

As to the other idea, yeah that would be utterly laughable unless you saw it
as a way to expand your contract work, which gets away from the whole 'making
money while you sleep' idea in the end.

And trust me, honesty is best especially in a community like this. Though your
comment makes me think, Amazon not differentiating between fiction and non-
fiction for their revenue sharing in ebooks limits how many people will want
to direct sell books on topics where the book should sell for a significant
chunk of change through their site. Hmmm interesting.

Be curious if they change the rules there at some point or if it simply is not
worth their time, since right now it's fairly low maintenance unless they
decide to remove a book for some reason.

~~~
xenophanes
I don't think Amazon's 30% is hostile to higher priced books _directly_. A
book that costs 20% as much, but sells five times as many, ends up paying the
same fee to Amazon.

I think the difference is that higher volume, mass market books benefit more
from being on Amazon. While a specialized and pricey book won't sell to random
people browsing Amazon. So Amazon is offering less value for the same price.

I think it'd be hard for Amazon to change the rules. What are they doing to
do? Lower the commission on the first 500 copies you sell? That would hurt
them with the people selling unpopular books who would sell nothing at all
without Amazon's help. And it would annoy popular authors who are like, "Why
should my rate go up the better I do?"

Lower the commission on books over a certain price? That will cause price
distortion (books near the price will increase their price), and it's in
opposition to Amazon's general approach to things (sell high volume cheaply).
If you change the commission gradually over a range of prices, that has the
downside of making the rules more complicated which most customers don't like.

~~~
runevault
Except they already create artificial prices due to difference in % by price.
2.99 to 9.99 is 70%, everything else is I believe 35%.

This makes a MASSIVE difference in the high cost books (stuff like the
marketing book point that started me down the train of thought). I understand
why Amazon did it with their desire to keep people selling fiction at 9.99 and
under for impulse purchases, but that model doesn't make sense for other forms
of writing.

~~~
ssp
It's potentially dangerous for Amazon to do this. They are essentially
squeezing their suppliers in the same way Walmart does, which could
potentially make room for a competitor to target the higher price-points.

The more Amazon squeezes, the more high-quality authors such a competitor
could get exclusive deals with. Once that happens, Amazon has lost something
really important: the fact that you never have to go elsewhere.

~~~
runevault
Potentially true but at least B&N has fallen in line with their PubIt!
platform for indie authors on the Nook. Exact same pricing structure to
revenue sharing %s. And last I knew B&N is the only thing even CLOSE to
competition for the Kindle store right now, and even it is way behind.

~~~
xenophanes
What about iBooks?

~~~
runevault
iBooks isn't even a blip last I heard. After all you can just read kindle and
nook books on your iPad. Selection is crap too so most people I've ever asked
don't even look these days it seems like.

