Monday, December 29, 2014

So, do you self publish or do you try to get it on with a publiser?

Now that I have my big computer issues solved for now (I had a power outage on Boxing Day that finished corrupting my hard drive, and my fish demanded I fix it immediately so we can get back to playing Led Zeppelin) I can do a bit of blogging.

One of the things that comes to mind is basically do you self publish, or do you try to get it on with a publisher.  With the conventions I've gone to I've had time to chat with other self published authors, as well as my other friends around the country.  I think for the most part, we've reached a stage in publishing where the big publishing houses are going to have to bite the bullet and start looking at more authors.

Traditionally, when I started writing years ago, to even submit anything you had to go through and agent, and that was tough to even get an agent interested in your stuff.  Not to mention that there were many crooked agents who pretty much stole your money.  That in itself is reason enough why I didn't bother publishing until this past year and just writing and editing like crazy.

For me, self publishing, whether ebooks or print, takes a bit longer to get recognized, but hey many famous people take a lot of time to do that.  But with self publishing, I have full control over versions that are up, creating the ebooks (which I can tell you, in some cases, is a really big pain in the ass).  Art is another thing, I have full control over what I want to do with art, and yes art is a good way to attract readers, as often I've bought books based on the art alone, the Pelbar Cycle being a good example.  Now depending on whether your choice of self publishing is advertizing on other sites (personally I feel you are better to do it yourself, which I will go into in another moment or two), you can control the prices pretty good.  Many of the big book stores such as Amazon and Kobo are easy to set up on for ebooks, but of course this past year issues have cropped up that have for the most part, increased the cost of not only print books at these sites, but also the ebooks as well.  Personally, I find it ludicrous to have an ebook priced over $10, and I don't give a shit if you are Stephen King, no ebook is worth over $10.  But now they are being pushed higher and higher.  Often now the only advantage of an ebook is that you can carry many of them on your reader at once.  Now with the publisher I use, I am forced to price my hard backs at close to $40 so I can make a measly $3 if it is bough on Amazon (by the way, fuck you Amazon).  The only reason it is advertized on Amazon as a hard cover is because I get two spots on there, one for hard cover and one for soft cover.

Now on the flip side, there is the publishing industry, the traditional way of going about it.  I met an author at Genrecon who did get in with a publisher and he wasn't very happy about it.  His beef was that he got stuck with a mediocre artist, was given no choice on that matter, and the artist didn't really do a very good job.  The publisher also didn't do a very good job of promoting him either.  Then of course, there are publishers that still insist on submissions being on paper, mailed via snail mail, and you having to provide self-addressed stamped envelopes.  I see that and I just run.  C'mon, surely you all can get an email address and take electronic submissions.  Probably explains why GRRM uses Dos to write instead of something well beyond the technology of the Roman Empire he is stuck in.

The publishing industry is also trying to put a stigma on self publishing; basically saying garbage is only being put out there.  Well guess what, I am finding far more to read out there in the land of independent  and self published authors than with any of the traditional publishers.  And most of the authors are far more talented than some of the bigger authors out there.

In the end, I do prefer self publishing, because of the control I currently have over my stuff.  Perhaps in the future, if my stuff does really take off, I might have to change my ways, but for now, this works well.  But a final note for anyone out there who is working self publishing for the first time:  be wary of any self publisher or cheap publisher and/or agent that asks for money up front.  Do your research and see if there are any complaints against them.  As other authors.  In the end, you decide, but just be wary.

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