Some key information for people thinking of writing their memoir and trying to figure out if they want to sell it to a publisher or to indie publish.
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Memoirs are designed to share your experiences with the world. However, this makes them incredibly hard to market if you aren’t a celebrity, influencer, or…
Source: Writing a Memoir? Read This First
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Valerie Biel of Lost Lake Press, lays out the good and the bad of both traditional and indie publishing in a clear, easy to understand way. If you’ve ever questioned why to do one or the other, take a look at this post.
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Welcome to a three-part series on the pros and cons of independent or self publishing. This is going to be an honest discussion about what you need to consider before deciding which route is best for your publishing goals and skill set. First, we’ll look at overall concerns within the positives and negatives of each type of publishing. Part two will dive into potential earnings and royalties along with the business concerns you must address for successful independent publishing.
Source: The Pros and Cons of Independent Publishing: Part One | Valerie Biel
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Great post by Anne R. Allen about common mistakes, misconceptions with writing that first book.
I like how she specifically address the problematic examples she gives and offers some solutions to the quandary of that first book.
I disagree, however, that you shouldn’t try and pitch that first book. Why not pitch it? You learn a lot by doing this. But… at the same time, work on that second book for sure, and the third. Build that viewership via a blog or some other social media presence. Join writer’s groups, critique groups. Go to writing conferences… Go ahead and self-publish, if you want. If the agent you eventually find doesn’t want your first book, then maybe they’ll want the second or third one.
Publishing is a business so you need to learn the business. And connecting with other writers can help in so many ways.
Novelists and memoirists have a lot in common, including the mistakes they tend to make. Don’t make this one when you’re starting out.
Source: The Biggest Mistake New Novelists and Memoirists Make
Dean Wesley Smith really doesn’t like traditional publishing (see link below). I’m not as dead set against it as Dean. I think it might be right for certain people – not for me, mind you – most of the time.
I have tried to find an agent for my middle grade novel series (my Agnes Kelly Mystery Adventures) to try and traditionally publish, to get greater access to the school market. But it has gotten into 3 schools anyway, through people I know who are middle grade teachers and one teacher who found me at a book sale and really liked my book. So it is still possible to get into schools, but it’s not easy.
In general, however, I find I like the creative control – of the writing, of the cover, of the interior design (which is why I help others with these tasks as well 🙂 )- and I like the control of when it gets out there and how much I am selling it for (besides a significant royalty over traditional publishing). Of course, that means me taking on the risks – paying for editing, taking the time to find out what the process is and how best to do it, keeping abreast of the book business…
Since most of the time with a traditional publisher you have to do most of the marketing anyway, why give them rights and lose the control, and wait and wait for the book to come out and make changes to it that you may or may not agree with and… Well, you get the point.
But for some who don’t have any interest in the process, can be patient, and don’t want to put any money into the game, or want to get to a difficult market – such as my example of getting into schools – it might be the way to go.
The point is to know what you’re getting into with either direction.
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Don’t know if you saw this interesting bit of news, but since we were discussing Milo’s book earlier, I thought you might like to know.
And who said your voice doesn’t matter?
Though he’ll either self-publish or find someone else who will publish it for him, I’m sure. It was ranked 83 on Amazon’s overall book list, after all
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NEW YORK (AP) — Right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos’ publisher has cancelled his planned book, “Dangerous.”
Source: Publisher cancels Milo Yiannopoulos book ‘Dangerous’
Melody Moezzi has some very good points about getting published. There is no one way and no one secret. As you have probably heard many times, writing a good story is number one. And I like that she has reading as number two. I would concern on the order of both of those points. I also like her point about doing your research. There is a lot to learn when you’re trying to get published (self or otherwise) and the best way to spend your money wisely is to know what you’re spending your money on, so ask around and read and keep your ears open. And then there is the infinite amount of patience that she doesn’t mention but is inherent in this process.
I tend to write and share posts about self-publishing because I think that it makes sense for most writers to go that direction, and for a myriad reason. But what I suggest to any of my clients or writers I am talking to who want to go the traditional route is to do both: self-publish and try and get a traditional publisher. It used to be that you couldn’t do both, but that is not the case any longer. The better you do as a self-published author, the more likely you will be picked up by a traditional house.
Of course, there is no reason at all that you can’t just go for traditional publishing but be prepared for a lot of work and a long, long wait. Of course, there are always rare exceptions to this, but this is the norm. That’s just one reason I suggest, while you’re working on getting traditionally published, self-publish and start building a fan base. It can only help!
Thanks to Chris (from Reading Ape’s blog) and Helen Jones for the post.
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If you’re serious about being traditionally published you will need an agent. The majority of publishers don’t accept unsolicited manuscripts, so finding someone to represent you and your work is essential for getting that elusive book deal. I’ve been down the submission path myself (and have the pile of rejection letters to prove it). As it turned out, I wasn’t ready at the time, and neither was my book, but I didn’t let it get me down (too much). Instead, I went online, joined a writing forum, read as much as I could, attended a seminar and gave my book to several more people to read. And I learnt a lot, both about the type of book I was writing and about how to submit to agents. So I thought I’d share it with you.
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Brooke Warner of She Writes has some good points, though I don’t agree wholeheartedly with her first point – Your first book won’t make you any money. No one knows that. It will definitely take a lot of work for your first book to make money, but it can be done. No – you can’t quit your day job, but that doesn’t’ mean a very good story, well edited, with a good cover and good reviews, can’t do very well. It happens all the time.
Does it help to write more good books and get more good reviews? Of course, but I say, never say never for anything!
Read Brooke’s post for more things to contemplate.
from rahulbemba.blogspot.com
For those who aren’t sure if they want to do self-publishing, Brook Warner of Shewrites gives us some reasons why you may want to go in that direction when thinking of publishing.
It’s really a matter of your goals, your time, and your money.
As I’ve said before, I encourage anyone who asks me about traditional publishing to do self-publishing while they are trying to pitch their story to an agent or publisher. It can only help if your story does well in the self-publishing realm, and the only thing you are going to do different when you self-publish (ebooks to start) is create a cover.
Either option will cause you hire an editor (and if you are serious about making your book a commercial success, I’d encourage you to find a professional.)
And to put an ebook on say, Amazon or Smashwords, you can do that using a properly formatted word doc. Smashwords has a free guide to help you through that process, and if you want to hire someone to do that for you, it’s probably only $100+ or – depending on the size and complexity of your book design.
Are There Still Pros to Traditional Publishing? – She Writes.
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