Self Published Books

[EC2]

The thing is how many of these talks etc can an author afford to do to spread the word - because one has to find the time to write as well.
Going back to music, I discovered a band called Anberlin who produced an album called Cities that has some truly stunning tracks on it. They went touring to promote that album and it sold by the tonnage. Come the time to produce their next one and it's not a patch on Cities - I would guess because of lack of composition time. I also wonder if Philippa Gregory's Other Queen's lacklustre reputation is a result of her hitting the celebrity circuit and not having enough writing time. I've been asked (bearing in mind that yes, I'm an author for day job, yes I make a living at it, but no I am not stellar) to give about ten talks in March next year at various venues all over the country. If I say no, I'm party pooping and giving up the publicity opportunity. If I say yes, I have to think 'have lap top, will travel' and hope the muse stays with me... If you're an author who finds being a sociable animal difficult, it must be a nightmare. I'm quite happy to socialise and talk with readers, but the sheer logistics of being away from home and putting on a show, is the tougher element.... and then I think 'but hey, it's nice work if you can get it. Would I really rather be working in a shop filling shelves (which is the sum total of my career before this one!)

[annis]

That must be a tricky one, EC. It must help when writing to have a settled and peaceful situation, and the publicity circus thing is probably a distraction and pressure which takes you out of the mindset you're trying to get into.

I'm sure a lot of bands must be groaning at the thought of having to do the old gig tour on a grotty bus until you want to kill your fellow band members thing again!

[Margaret]

I've heard a lot about the importance of authors spending lots and lots of time promoting their books, and it concerns me. Are the authors who focus on lavishing time on the writing process and making their books really special going to lose out to authors who just slap something out as fast as they can and spend the rest of their time on promotion? If so, the real losers are going to be the readers.

[Misfit]

Authors who think being on the web (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders.com, their own website) will do the trick are showing their inexperience. The future of book sales is personal contact, speaking gigs and reader word-of-mouth. Or keyboard, as the case may be. Which means that the product had better be good enough for your readers to recommend it to their friends, or it's DOA.

Then there is the infamous Tino Georgiou who literally spammed every book site he could find with fake reviews that ended up touting his *cough* self published masterpiece The Fates. Lord knows how much it cost him to open up so many Amazon accounts just so they could post reviews and/or be able to respond to commenters challenging those reviews. LOL, he even plagiarized Harriet on several occasions. Why anyone would copy her.......

[cw gortner]

[quote=""EC2""]I've been asked (bearing in mind that yes, I'm an author for day job, yes I make a living at it, but no I am not stellar) to give about ten talks in March next year at various venues all over the country. If I say no, I'm party pooping and giving up the publicity opportunity. If I say yes, I have to think 'have lap top, will travel' and hope the muse stays with me... [/quote]

Oh, that's totally my dilemma, as well. But I rarely say no; actually, to date, never. The truth is, given that I'm still a starter author, word-of-mouth is everything. And it's true that I sell more books when I'm speaking; I did BookGroup Expo in San Jose this year and was invited to sit on a panel. By the end of the day, when I went to sign left-over stock, the bookseller for the event told me they'd sold out. It was only about 100 copies, but hey, given the current state of the economy, I was very surprised and pleased. Since then, I've had three invitations to speak to local reader groups, all from attendees at the Expo who heard me speak, bought the book, and recommended it to their groups. Those groups each bought the book, as well.

To me, meeting my readers is a top priority. I actually find that I enjoy the interaction very much, and I get inspired by hearing how readers interact with the book. But, of course, as I still work full-time, squeezing in the writing hours has become a challenge.

[Margaret]

By the end of the day, when I went to sign left-over stock, the bookseller for the event told me they'd sold out.

Congrats, CW, that's wonderful - 100 copies at one book-signing is darn good! When my husband had a book-signing, nobody came. And his book actually sold quite well for one with primarily local interest. (The Atlas of Oregon Wildlife)

[cw gortner]

[quote=""Margaret""]Congrats, CW, that's wonderful - 100 copies at one book-signing is darn good! When my husband had a book-signing, nobody came. And his book actually sold quite well for one with primarily local interest. (The Atlas of Oregon Wildlife)[/quote]

Thanks, Margaret! I was very pleased, too. It's the most I've ever sold at an event, and I needed the boost. Hardcover sales in the US right now are just dismal

Your husband's book sounds very interesting. I've had events like his; I did one where I didn't move a single copy. At one point I wanted the carpet to open up and swallow me whole. There's something very disconcerting about sitting a table with a pile of books and a big grin, and feeling as though you are invisible.

[cw gortner]

[quote=""Volgadon""]A badly researched and badly written account of a fictional person's life, but claiming that said person was real . . .What makes it worse is that they are about the Holocaust, luckily nobody seems to have bought any copies.[/quote]


Oh, I think I heard about this before. Very distasteful.

[Margaret]

The bookstore staff at my husband's signing were very nice, and when the hour was over, they gave us a nice discount and let use it on as many books as we wanted that day. My husband couldn't think of anything he wanted to buy - but boy, did I make out like a bandit!

[Christina]

This is probably so over the top but please bear with me . I feel so strongly about this that my fingers are positively burning at the keyboard...and if I may begin by telling my own story you might understand why I feel this way about self published books!

Several years ago, I went through masses of research to write a biography of one of Queen Victoria's granddaughters. At that time, there was no other biography of her available in the UK. It was a labour of love and - since I can neither cook nor sew nor do anything that is practically useful, but know I can write - I put my whole self into it. It was shortlisted for the UK Biographers' Award (for as yet unpublished works) in 2003 and received a wonderful response from many established biographers when I attended the ceremony. Within a couple of months I was offered a contract for the biography by a very reputable publishing house. Unfortunately, the editor was going on sabbatical to Australia for 6 months so asked me to be patient until her return. I was patient. I had the contract and continued to research further projects....A few days before the 6 months was over, I received a letter from the marketing department to say markets had changed and they would not honour the contract. I received half of the original agreed royalty payments and that was that...

Hugely disappointed, as you can imagine, I nonetheless believed in my book (and other books I had written) and began from scratch again. The responses I received from some publishers junior readers were beyond belief: "We like your style, and the story is wonderful but there is insufficient scandal to reach a modern reader..." Or worse, "Wonderful!! I really loved this but my bosses tell me people want real life - drugs, abused children - and there is nothing I can do with your book" ????

Then my book was accepted by a publisher in America. It was butchered and filled with errors - I had no chance to proof read it - and, though it sold, I did not receive one penny for what I had written. I withdrew the contract after a year. And an agent asked for it...kept it for 6 months, asked me not to approach other agents and then forgot about it...Yeah right!

Who are these people who own the publishing world? In England now there are about 5 publishers who own everything. A close associate write hugely successful academic Maths books. Anything he writes - and he writes brilliantly - is taken up by publishers but they have told him that he arrived at the perfect time and they take on no one new anyone.

You ask about self publishing? I say it is mightily empowering!!! When you have a story to tell - when that story means to much to you that you are free from someone else's (some marketing department's) idea of what is popular, what will sell and what won't...when you can write honestly and not think of a quick sale or a cheque, but rather of beauty and beautiful words and literature and apply yourself to bringing out something that will uplift and inspire as well as entertain your readers...when you can deeply empathise with the people about whom you are writing and just tell their story...No wonder all these people self published:
Marcel Proust
Ulysses, by James Joyce
The Adventures of Peter Rabbit, by Beatrix Potter
A Time to Kill, by John Grisham
The Wealthy Barber, by David Chilton
The Bridges of Madison County
What Color is Your Parachute
In Search of Excellence by Tom Peters
The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield
The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. (and his student E. B. White)
The Joy of Cooking
When I Am an Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple
Life’s Little Instruction Book
Robert’s Rules of Order
Deepak Chopra
Gertrude Stein
Zane Grey
Upton Sinclair
Carl Sandburg
Ezra Pound
Mark Twain
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Stephen Crane
George Bernard Shaw
Anais Nin
Thomas Paine
Virginia Wolff
e.e. Cummings
Edgar Allen Poe
Rudyard Kipling
Henry David Thoreau
Benjamin Franklin
Walt Whitman
Alexandre Dumas
William E.B. DuBois

Oh...come on...what's the big deal? Some junior editor fresh from college wanting to make a career decides whether or not your book is worth promoting and decides what will sell? Or you write something really wonderful and do it yourself....

Well...the perfect answer for me was to set up a new independent publishing house as Judy Piatkus did - founded in her bedroom I believe - and turned into a massive publishing company. Do we need other people to tell us what is worth reading or can we decide for ourselves....