It is inspiring to know that Im part of such a focussed bunch, though along the way we have faced similar challenges.
I have a question for everyone at the moment - am interested to know your thoughts;
I have a fab Idea for a book. it will feature up to 30 people, maybe more, so each of the 30 features will be promoting it. Do I publish it myself (I put up the $$ required, organise the whole thing, publicity, agreements with the featured people) or do I put it in front of my publisher, who does all the work, but takes a huge chunk of $, leaving me (& features) with alot less $? Does having a publisher ad credibility or doesnt it matter anymore? The way I see it, If i self publish, it is a huge amount of work but a) I will be able to get my investment plus profit back alot quicker B) I will be able to offer better terms to the contributors, and direct other funds to a charity (which is what I want to do?)
Would love to hear your feedback :)
Tanja
I would say to self-publish in this situation, and to also offer it digitally. I think this sounds like a great idea:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.amazon.com/gp/seller-account/mm-summary-page.html
I also know people who have self-published with http://www.lulu.com and liked the results.
I would also be sure to offer as a digital download. I don't often buy paper books but I do use the Kindle reader for Mac.
If you have the time and ability, I would totally self-publish. I think there are far too many positives in doing it yourself.
ReplyDeleteIf you decide to self-pub, Peter Bowerman writes a fantastic book with TONS of resources called The Well-Fed Self Publisher. :D
ReplyDeletehttp://www.amazon.com/Well-Fed-Self-Publisher-Turn-Full-Time-Living/dp/0967059860
Good luck!!
Heather
I self published and found the cost of production upfront to be expensive in Australia for paperbacks so did it in China (but still lots of bucks up front). I also sell on Lulu.com but get little results there and if you do a paperback there they own the rights as does a traditional publisher.
ReplyDeleteSelling on Kindle - I had to appoint a guy in New York, as Australians cannot sell on Kindle, however I got my webguy to set up proper versions for Kindle which I sell off my website.
The downside to doing it yourself as you must become your own distributor, which is fine if you have the time energy and pesonality to get into bookstores. I've just been extremely fortunate to get into Readings Carlton and StKilda this week, on my own which was on my list of wishes for 2011, but I guess what I wan't to say is self-publish has the total control benefit, but I certainly on reflection would have preferred a publisher to take me and make less money and have higher readership. Not that self-publishing will make you rich (well we can hope, but...). email me offline if you want any details on what I actually spent and how it worked for me, happy to share my experience :-)
cheers
Angela
Congrats Tanja on the project! Check in with Sarah too, she will have a wealth of advice to offer! xx
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