To self-publish or not to self-publish

[shhbabe.livejournal.com]

Q: What's the difference between an writer and an author? Answer

To self-publish or not to self-publish
To self-publish or not to self-publish is a question each writer must answer for herself. Here's some links from my LI NANO group; I dug up most of it so I feel I can share the info freely. We discussed someone, an acquaintance of our fearless leader, who self-published using the ISBN option and then went to bookstores all over Long Island & convinced them to stock his book. He eventially hit the magical 1000 threshold & got a wide-distribution contract from a publisher.


"The Six Sins of Self-Publishing"
Article on self publishing
http://www.brainwoofer.com/archives/2003_07_01_brainwoofer_archive.html

"Web Site that Publishes Books for Free" in Off-Topic NaNo forum
Great comparison of Lulu.com & CafePress.com on page 2
http://www.nanowrimo.org/viewtopic.php?t=8838

Measures of Success, What Publishing Your Book Really Means, By Duncan Murrell for Poets & Writers
EDIT: Got this from fshk's journal entry.
http://www.pw.org/mag/0401/murrell.htm

Cafe Press
What's your passion? (site tagline)
http://www.cafepress.com/cp/info/sell/books.aspx

Publish America
We treat authors the old-fashioned way - we pay them. (site tagline)
http://publishamerica.com

LuLu
Welcome to Lulu, a marketplace for books, images, music and more.
http://www.lulu.com

Xlibris
Welcome to Xlibris, where writers become authors (site tagline)
http://www.xlibris.com/

iUniverse EDIT:"...VERY NICE looking... Prices range from $459 to a tad over $800 depending on... services..." Read more.
Authors Have Control Over Their Success with iUniverse! (site tagline)
http://www.iuniverse.com

Publish and be damned
The pricing is in pounds sterling. The minimum order unit is 10 books. I don't want to know what the shipping would be if it's coming from the UK.
http://www.pabd.com

The Digital Millenium Copyright Act
1. PDF, full text.

[Error: Irreparable invalid markup ('<a href"http://www.copyright.gov/legislation/dmca.pdf">') in entry. Owner must fix manually. Raw contents below.]

<lj-cut text="Relevant tangential joke:"><font size="-2"><font color="red">Q: What's the difference between an writer and an author? <a href="#cutid5">Answer</a></font></font></lj-cut>

<Font size="+2">To self-publish or not to self-publish </font>
To self-publish or not to self-publish is a question each writer must answer for herself. Here's some links from my LI NANO group; I dug up most of it so I feel I can share the info freely. We discussed someone, an acquaintance of our fearless leader, who self-published using the ISBN option and then went to bookstores all over Long Island & convinced them to stock his book. He eventially hit the magical 1000 threshold & got a wide-distribution contract from a publisher.

<lj-cut text="Articles">
"The Six Sins of Self-Publishing"
Article on self publishing
<a href="http://www.brainwoofer.com/archives/2003_07_01_brainwoofer_archive.html">http://www.brainwoofer.com/archives/2003_07_01_brainwoofer_archive.html</a>

"Web Site that Publishes Books for Free" in Off-Topic NaNo forum
Great comparison of Lulu.com & CafePress.com on page 2
<a href="http://www.nanowrimo.org/viewtopic.php?t=8838">http://www.nanowrimo.org/viewtopic.php?t=8838</a>

Measures of Success, <i>What Publishing Your Book Really Means</i>, By Duncan Murrell for <a href="http://www.pw.org/">Poets & Writers</a>
<font size="-2"><font color="red"><b>EDIT:</b> Got this from <user site="livejournal.com" user="fshk">'s <a href="http://www.livejournal.com/users/fshk/267919.html">journal entry</a>.</font></font>
<a href="http://www.pw.org/mag/0401/murrell.htm">http://www.pw.org/mag/0401/murrell.htm</a>
</lj-cut>
<lj-cut text="Self-publish Sites">Cafe Press
What's your passion? (site tagline)
<a href="http://www.cafepress.com/cp/info/sell/books.aspx">http://www.cafepress.com/cp/info/sell/books.aspx</a>

Publish America
We treat authors the old-fashioned way - we pay them. (site tagline)
<a href="http://publishamerica.com">http://publishamerica.com</a>

LuLu
Welcome to Lulu, a marketplace for books, images, music and more.
<a href="http://www.lulu.com">http://www.lulu.com</a>

Xlibris
Welcome to Xlibris, where writers become authors (site tagline)
<a href="http://www.xlibris.com/">http://www.xlibris.com/</a>

iUniverse <font size="-2"><font color="red"><b>EDIT:</B>"...VERY NICE looking... Prices range from $459 to a tad over $800 depending on... services..." <a href="http://www.livejournal.com/users/shhbabe/23003.html?thread=26331#t26331">Read more.</a></font></font>
Authors Have Control Over Their Success with iUniverse! (site tagline)
<a href="http://www.iuniverse.com">http://www.iuniverse.com</a>

Publish and be damned
The pricing is in pounds sterling. The minimum order unit is 10 books. I don't want to know what the shipping would be if it's coming from the UK.
<a href="http://www.pabd.com">http://www.pabd.com</a>
</lj-cut>
<lj-cut text="The Digital Millenium Copyright Act">The Digital Millenium Copyright Act
1. PDF, full text.
<a href"http://www.copyright.gov/legislation/dmca.pdf">http://www.copyright.gov/legislation/dmca.pdf</a>
2. Overview on a university website
<a href="http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/iclp/dmca1.htm">http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/iclp/dmca1.htm</a></lj-cut>


<lj-cut text="Answer"><font size="-2"><font color="red">A: A publishing contract.</font></font></lj-cut>

Comments

[catvalente.livejournal.com]

A few weeks ago I was so discouraged and depressed by my publishing rejections I seriously thought about and investigated this. (Publish America is a known scam, by the way) The thing is, most of these sites are not considered self-publishing, they are vanity presses.

If your goal is simply to have a book of your own in hand, to give to your friends, by all means, follow this road. If you want to be a serious writer, think seriously about waiting out the traditional publishing game. Almost all the awards and prizes--and reviewers-- are closed to self-pubs. Most, if not all, bookstores will refuse to carry it. You will have to work incredibly hard to promote your book, and most just don't have the time. Just because something is on Amazon doesn't mean it'll sell. And many of these presses take your copyright away--Publish America owns them for seven years. So that if by some miracle a big press found and wanted to print your book, you couldn't sell it to them, because you no longer own it.

Not to mention, readers simply don't take a books seriously if it's self-published. I don't--I never buy self-published. They are quite often full of typos and bad content. Look up the reviews for one on Amazon sometime. The point it, if you publish through a vanity press like these, you aren't published, you just paid to buy a product. If you buy a printing press and actually self-publish, there is some respect in that, but I doubt that's what most reading this are going to do.

But, I offer this: wait it out. I was as depressed as they come, and feeling like my book would never see print unless I did it myself.

Last week I signed a seven-book deal with a publisher. It can happen.

Self Publishing

[(Anonymous)]

I had a look at PABD - they don't actually take your copyright and they do look genuine. Postage to the US is sensible too.

Re: Self Publishing

[shhbabe.livejournal.com]

Please note the updates/ edits.