Publishing Vs Self-Publishing

[writer510]

In the days before online publishing, it was a long shot to get picked up by a publishing house. Now, with the industry taking such a nose dive, it's even less likely you'll ever get a publisher to read your manuscript, much less buy rights. Should you actually sell to a publishing house, your book may not do well in stores. In fact, it probably won't. The competition is stiff. Odds are you will do just as well self-publishing, Either way, most writers never quit their day jobs.

[MrDivertony]

I am an author who made a mistake by using Authorhouse/authorsolutions. I urge you to look at the video by Emmie Ross On Theft Of Royalties by Author solutions. She speaks the honest truth and I have also been scammed by multi use of illegal ISBN no's to distort and cloud sales, claims of 2nd hand book sales when the books have been pristine new and unopened. There is an action group formed by several authors and we have sent detailed reports to the FBI and SEC. Advice, stay well clear of them.

[MsJanaemarie]

I want to know if you can get a company to edit and publish your work but you have to do the marketing and advertising/distribution yourself. Is it worth it? Or should you just go with a mainstream publisher? But if so, how can you get your name as an author popular when you are just a first timer? I am running into this problem. I wrote my manuscript at 16 and its finished now. I'm now in my 20s and I don't know where to go. I need help!

[LindsayBuroker]

The e-publishing revolution is really changing things for those thinking of self-publishing. It's very easy to get your ebook on Amazon, B&N, Apple, etc., and royalties are around 70%. Gotta love the new e-reader folks. :)

[selfpublishingcoach]

I already had an established platform as a speaker and from my website, so self publishing through print on demand ended up being the best option for me. Createspace got my book on Amazon quickly, there were no upfront costs and through their Pro Plan I am able to buy copies of my 190 page book for as little as $3.13 plus shipping.

However, when you do self publishing of any type, you have to do all the marketing! So, realize that if you self publish, you will have to work hard to market it

[randomontom12]

NOw what about novels, stories where certain things may be critical to the plot of the series, do publishers usually change much in novels?

[Conker303]

I'm 15 and am making a book. Do you think I should go to a publisher or self-publish? I have no idea how you self-publish a book, but I don't like the idea of the publisher having total control over my book. : /

[ChrisFreedoms]

@Conker303 wordclay.com

[GunsOfThePhoenix]

@Conker303 here is the deal, you are better off with going through a full agent then self publish, if you self publish your book has a very small chance of seeing light since no book store will carry it. Agents and publishers will not heavily control the content of your book especially if its fictional, if they need to make changes they will work with you. Also you will receive a starters commission of around $10,000 if you are a first timer.

Source: Worked with DAW Science Fiction for 5 years.

[ForClickBook]

For printing the book, I would suggest the ClickBook software. It will print books of any size. From cute doll books to full-sized books on any printer. Even prints in signatures.

You can get it from ClickBook (dot) com

or from

BlueSquirrel (dot) com

[StaceySplyce]

Off subject but this speaker is fairly cute

[Chastiny]

@StaceySplyce he is cute.

[WORLD8NSH5KNIGHT1]

Thanks for the info. Im an amateur writer (with ambition) and this is useful.

[Qtrademark]

"The Shack" was self-published after being rejected by publishers and became a huge best-seller. Publishers and agents are not always right. Fourteen agents passed on Stephanie Meyer's Twilight and it became a mega-hit and movie franchise.

[cirosuperiore]

i wish the lectures were numbered

[Excpired]

Just to go back to an older part of the discussion that nobody makes money self-publishing. I equate that to somebody saying that nobody ever got a job by graduating high-school. Perhaps not exclusively from that, but if they didn't go to high-school then they couldn't have gone to college.

Or nobody ever got famous/successful by being in the minor leagues. Well, they were discovered in the minor leagues, so without it where would they be? Not famous or successful I can tell you that.

[DalianArtanian]

I'm a new self published author...just published my fantasy book..Fawcetta (Voices and Echoes of the Coliseum)..I've been pushing my marketing for Fawcetta very hard...My sells are good and getting better....From what I've learned is this...Your book will sell depending how hard you market it yourself...if you expect for it to do it on its own...it will never sell...it's pretty simple...

[thinkinawink1]

please go to a web page that for a book that will give you many money making ideas. the title is the misleading

this book has many money making ideas and is very motivational

there are things you can do today to make money

title is "The Zen and Zeal of Mystery Shopping"

but the mystery shopping, of which really works, is just small pat of the book. The juicy if it has free ideas you can implement now and make money

thenumbe1rmysteryshoppingbook is the web page or just type in the book

[johnmonk66]

greater profit in self publishing? you can never make as much selling yourself as you will when a real publisher puts your book into a bookstore

[anzwertree]

That is usually true. But not always. It depends on how resourceful you are. Marketing is expensive. Many bestsellers were self published. Though you might also argue that their sells may have been better under traditional publication.

Sometimes a book is self published and after its sells turn out good a publisher or an agent picks it up. This actually happened recently. No one would buy this guys book so he self published. Someone found it and bought the rights. Now he's a millionaire.

[hcvang]

That's right, you can make a hell of a lot more. It's all about marketing.

[22LtSmash]

I love how you back up a simple sentence with those cold hard facts.

[johnmonk66]

you need it explained to you? name a self published book that made it onto any top 100 list

[frozenmorale]

John Grisham's A Time To Kill for starters, Uylsses by James Joyce, Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. The original Chicken Soup For The Soul was self-published and went on to sell 2 million copies (and the series over 50 million). So yeah... there a lot of famous authors who began by self-publishing; if the book is good and you have determination it will be recognized. Sometimes it doesn't even have to be good (Twilight)

[frozenmorale]

P.S You come off as a big douche when you try to say self-publishers never make money or become successful, the question is whether you have the faith to invest money in your writing and honestly, if you don't, then your probably not a very good writer (or at least have self-esteem issues), think about that one.

Self-publishing generally requires you to create a book that is well received critically to generate word-of-mouth marketing so that it can pick up sales and warrant a reprint.

[johnmonk66]

call me names? go fuck your mother bitch with you little pussy name calling

[frozenmorale]

Yeah I called you a douche, because that is how you came off when you said that without having even done a lick of research, a simple google search would have showed you hundreds of famous and successful authors who began with self-publishing. Btw calling me mean names does not offend me, it clearly offends you though.

[johnmonk66]

in two hundred years of publishing you come up with 4 names, two of them been fead for half a century or more, thats your list of rich self publishers? no one gets rich self publishing, grisham didnt get rich until a real publisher took him on, self published books don't sell, so i repeat my original comment, no one gets rich or famous by self publishing

[frozenmorale]

I put what fit in 500 characters, but since your such a dick about it here's more: Spartacus by Howard Fast, Eragon by Christopher Paolini, The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield, running out of space).

Keep in mind it is difficult to make #1 NY Best-times as a self-publisher but it puts you out there when publishers ignore you and makes you valid; all these authors got rich by starting with self-publishing and being picked up off of that validity. Without it they wouldn't be known today.

[frozenmorale]

However I do agree for the most part that self-publishing can't make you as much as being published elsewhere but sometimes its the only option in becoming successful and its a great start, somewhat like a director making an indie film and then getting a huge studio deal.

The guy in this video seems more like a seminar salesman, which I don't think most fiction writers are interested in public-speaking (like myself).

[frozenmorale]

Also the guy in this video said in one of the videos that a man who'd made 10 million off his career says that his first book made him that much because it brought him to that point. If those authors never self-published they would most assuredly not be rich or successful today as they'd already spent years trying to be published traditional (but were either ahead of their time or publishers were just being ignorant).

[frozenmorale]

And lets not forget that even being published traditionally doesn't mean your going to be rich or famous anyways, its pretty much a crapshoot getting rich or famous in the writing business and your an exception if you do. But everyone likes to believe they can be the exception because otherwise whats left to live for.

[johnmonk66]

@frozenmorale so I am right

[frozenmorale]

You are half right, on one hand nobody as far as I know has become rich and famous entirely through self-publishing. However plenty of people have used it as a necessary stepping stone to become rich and famous (like everyone I listed). I think that is largely due to lack of distribution. However authors who are already rich/famous (like Stephen King) could easily self-publish and maintain stature, but they are already given 45%-50% royalties because their name is selling the book not marketing.

[frozenmorale]

and therefore have no incentive to self-publish unless for some dumb reason have a dispute with their publisher which most likely won't happen to someone that famous since the publisher just wants money and already knows the book is a guaranteed NY Best-seller.

[frozenmorale]

The way I see it use traditional methods first if those don't work and you believe in your book then self-publish to get it to the readers, then if it truly is great it will be passed on through word-of-mouth, win contests and eventually publishers will find it and pick it up for distribution.

[johnmonk66]

@frozenmorale that was my point all along, but you focused on self publishing as something great, it is a last resort, 99.9% of self published books go nowhere for a reason. The fact that once every ten years or so one gets picked up by a real publisher is not a reason to promote self publishing.

If agents won't sign your book, there is a reason. I don't believe in false hope, if you can't win one agent, how will you win a million readers?

[frozenmorale]

As a rule your entirely right, but remember that agents are out to make money (the ones that will be able to sell your book anyways), while readers aren't.

If your book is groundbreaking or is controversial you will have trouble finding representation which is one large reason most of these people self-published. With writing you have to have hope, because if you don't then there is nothing else to keep you trying (because writing really is subjective....

[frozenmorale]

and it doesn't matter how amazing a writer you are, someone is going to hate on your writing and try to knock it down and if you let that get to you then you aren't going to go far in the business or even as a writer, except the recluse kind that hides their writing inside their desk and never lets anyone see it.

This guy does seem to be promoting self-publishing as something greater than conventional publishing which I think is a bad avenue for most people and yes a last resort in most cases.

[johnmonk66]

writers write because they have to, not because they want to publish, if you are after money, writing is not the way, no one who wrote for money ever made a buck, readers are smart

[frozenmorale]

well we don't know that for sure, I think there are probably a lot of people who continued writing for money. But going out writing as a way to get rich is idiotic since the median professional writer only makes like 32k a year. (I'm not counting housewives and aspiring writers because they aren't professional and have no paying jobs).

But a lot of people write to get published as evident by the self-publishing industry. To me though it doesn't count to put it in print if nobody reads it.

[frozenmorale]

And a lot of them fall under the housewives, etc category of people who write just for fun (and don't take it the least bit seriously); like a hobby. Most successful published authors loved it and also took it on as a career or as a lifestyle.

[JackofTrades75]

Look up Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. He continued to write the Sherlock Holmes stories because they made him money. He actually tried to kill the character, because he hated writing those books. However he brought him back to life in order to make some money.

[frozenmorale]

Also I think 99.9% of self published books go nowhere for 2 reasons.

1) they suck and are made by people with just enough money to waste under the delusion they might make money.

2) they don't get promoted and there isn't that mass audience willing to buy them.

As with any market, like music- some of the underground stuff is better than the pop culture but it has no marketing, and the masses are a bunch of lazy gluttons. Which is why most pop lit today is pure trash.

[bundleHastings]

BTW, thank you v. much for uploading these. It's a great service to people.

[bundleHastings]

I will listen again. Thanks Dale.

[bundleHastings]

print on demand is NOT best for everyone. Don't make such sweeping generalisations. If you are doing say 300 copies, POD is the most expensive option and the lowest quality. How is that so great?

[dalebeaumont]

In reply to your comment in this video I was NOT talking about Print on Demand but rather Self-Publishing, there is difference. And I never said that either of these option are the best for everyone. Regards, Dale Beaumont

[hologram7777777]

ok ....so if u weren't talking about POD..... then how does someone get self published .....unless they use POD services ...right ?

Cause self publishing is only possible via POD ....right ?

THEN, "BundleHastings" is correct .....if POD isn't that great then SF isn't that great either.....right ?

sorry ....I'm not trying to attack you.....i just want to know .

[kierenxxxxx]

Tp publish, or self publish? that is question.

[shyamalanm]

PRINT ON DEMAND is the best, like lulu

[ytviscool]

agreeed!!!

[voiceofopinion]

O_O self-publishing. definitley self-publishing.

[onegreeneye]

thanks!

anna FLAT-LINED, DIED, met JESUS:)!

book on the way!!:)so excited! this are great tips

[Dimes329]

This is only on self publishing books, id love to see a pro con video on self publishing screen plays

[PhotonSherades]

This information is self evident.

[loislane81]

Great information

[greenwatermelon]

Great great!!Thanks so much for the advice!