

Self-publishing on the rise (no more 'vanity' press) - grellas
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704912004575253132121412028.html?mod=WSJ_LifeStyle_Lifestyle_6

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thunk
So we're moving toward a loosely coupled network of small, focused companies
(or "branded" individuals) providing services big publishers used to provide,
like editing, copy-editing, typesetting, marketing, book design, etc., and
other companies that'll remove from authors the logistical burden of
orchestrating all these moving parts. That's great. But these services have to
be paid for, and authors need to eat while they're writing. So who'll foot the
bill and finance the authors? Investors? Grants? And is it even reasonable to
expect future readers to pay for books? I hate to say it, but I won't read a
book with advertisements in it. We're in for a storm.

Edit: Maybe I _will_ read a book with advertisements in it. In a sense, I've
already done it. Cory Doctorow's _Little Brother_ and _For the Win_ both begin
each chapter with "bookstore dedications". This wasn't advertising they paid
for, but something he did on his own. Not only did I not find it intrusive,
but I found it sort of endearing. There's a lot of unexplored territory in the
field of advertising.

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mynameishere
What are you talking about? Who financed authors previously? 99 percent of the
time it was their day jobs or their previous income/royalties. Advance
payments are rarely big enough to live on for unknown (ie, poor) authors. And
where did you get the idea of advertisements from? These vanity presses pay
much higher percentage royalties than normal publishers and so total
readership is actually less important.

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RevRal
_> And where did you get the idea of advertisements from?_

There was a recent submission that touched on this:
<http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2010/01/booty-call.html>

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runevault
To my mind the interesting thing here is it leaves writers less beholden to
the decisions of editors than has been the case prior. While there are MANY
benefits to going through a publishing process, especially at larger houses,
being denied because none of the editors get it, even for some already big
name authors, forces anyone who wants to write full time to take editor tastes
into account at least somewhat when picking projects.

This option lets same writers, though more so the ones who already have a
fanbase, have an alternate choice from fighting through finding a publisher
who will take your book.

Actually, I wonder if kickstarter, or perhaps something similar but designed
specifically for fiction, could work as a method of testing a market for the
viability of a book to be published in eformats.

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hugh3
I'm not sure where the "no more 'vanity' press" bit comes from; I'm certain
most self-published titles are still fairly awful.

Still, the bit about Amazon now giving 70% of e-book revenues directly to the
author for books priced between $2.99 and $9.99 does strike me as tempting.
That could be a real gamechanger for books with an expected readership in the
thousands. Does anyone have any experience with this scheme?

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joubert
Perhaps customer ratings + reviews mitigate the rise of awful titles
dominating the space. Having said that, sometimes publishers miss golden
opportunities (e.g. Rowling). On the flip side, there is also junk being
published by the big publishing houses.

I don't have experience with Amazon's self-publishing system, but I can tell
you about how one recent author published on Fifobooks (my startup) even
though his book is also available on the Kindle store. The book, Crude
Behavior, is a political satire in comic form. Because it is in full color,
the author and illustrator wanted to make it available on as many devices as
possible, especially ones that support color. His book, when viewed on a color
device (iPad, android, laptop, etc.) comes alive compared to how it looks on a
b+w Kindle. You can see some screenshots here:
[http://joubert.posterous.com/crude-behavior-a-political-
sati...](http://joubert.posterous.com/crude-behavior-a-political-satire-in-
full-col)

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r0s
I help run a small press, we publish books bundled with music albums.

<http://monofonuspress.com>

The single biggest problem we have is promotion.

The music is easy by comparison, as bands play concerts all the time. Authors
can't book more than a few readings to promote, placing books in stores is
almost worthless when the author is unknown.

The publishing industry will have to change quite a bit before the big players
are replaced. Promotion and marketing along traditional media is locked up
pretty tight, and online increasingly so. Remember that for every great book
we're selling there are hundreds of books from crap to gold hyped by
professional promoters with more money, connections and experience.

It's rough out there.

