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Self publishing good or bad?
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Self publishing good or bad?
Im thinking about publishing with Authorhouse. is it a good or bad idea?
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Mya Bell
Posts : 138
Joined: 05-26-2004
Pacific Northwest
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RE: Self publishing good or bad?
I'm not going to give a lengthy reply to this, Derek because this has been discussed at length here and on other writing boards (use the SEARCH function to find the threads), but in a nutshell:
- If your book is nonfiction and you have marketing money and you're on the road a lot and have VERY good entrepreneurial skills, self publishing is sometimes a viable option.
- If your book is fiction, self publishing is usually bad. If your book is fiction and you don't have marketing money and you're not an A-type go-go entreneur, self-publishing almost invariably results in about 100 (or fewer) sales to friends and relatives and a loss to your pocket book.
--- Mya Bell
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RE: Self publishing good or bad?
Authorhouse is NOT selfpublishing. It is vanity. Look at it this way--with Authorhouse, you will pay them to do the layout, format, whatever, then you PAY to do your OWN marketing (because they do NONE), and then you receive 15% of the ROYALTIES. What's up with that? It's VANITY, that's what.
Scenario 2. Selfpublishing deals with printers--not publishers. You contact a printer; you've researched and made a layout and format that you think can sell, you pay the costs of printing, then pay all the costs of marketing. In self-publishing, the words mean exactly what it sounds like--you ARE the publisher.
The better thing about self-publishing than vanity is that, in vanity, you might make 15% of meager profits, but with self-publishing, anything that you make off of it, 100% of all profits are yours.
So, self-publishing is a good idea in some instances, as Mya Bell said, and also, as Mya said, this has been discussed at GREAT lengths on these boards, and on every writing board I've been to. VANITY PUBLISHING, WHICH INCLUDES AUTHORHOUSE, IS NOT A GOOD DECISION.
THank you for your time.
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RE: Self publishing good or bad?
Before you do, check out http://www.instantpublisher.com if you want to start on a small budget. If you want to start on even a smaller budget, check out www.gigabooks.net and consider hand bookbinding. I wouldn't sink a lot of money into a book unless I was totally confident I could sell them. Otherwise you'll end up with a garage full of unsold books.
James
NonfictionIdeas.com
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RE: Self publishing good or bad?
QUOTE: Originally posted by DerekWhite
Im thinking about publishing with Authorhouse. is it a good or bad idea?
AuthorHouse is a subsidy publisher. With a subsidy house it is easy to get published but hard to sell any books. The reason?
Subsidy houses (sometimes miscalled POD publishers) will quite literally publish almost anything. Hence the people that count, the big reviews etc. won't even look at a subsidy published book. And your cost per book is so high that you cannot give distributors the 60% discount they expect so bookstore sales are out.
I make one partial exception to this general condemnation.
Booklocker.com screens for quality and salability. They are upfront about what you can and cannot expect publishing with them. And they allow you to buy your own ISBN block from Bowker and use your own imprint, which takes the subsidy "curse" off their books. But even with booklocker you have to consider where your market lies, run the numbers and have a realistic marketing plan in place.
John Culleton
Able Indexers and Typesetters
Self publishing and marketing book list:
http:wexfordpress.com/tex//shortlist.html
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kdfrawg
Posts : 583
Joined: 05-28-2004
Lawrence, KS
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RE: Self publishing good or bad?
Rose, am I to understand that your experience with PublishAmerica and She Is Like the Wind was a good one, as opposed to the experiences of others with 1stBooks or AuthorHouse? If so, it's the first good thing I've ever heard about PublishAmerica!
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RE: Self publishing good or bad?
Hi there. I am new to this site, so I hope I am doing this right. If you can avoid it, don't self publish your book. I did with booklocker and never even made back my investment, despite winning some book awards and seeing my book on the internet. Quite frankly, it just wasn't worth it. Perhaps non fiction is different with a POD, but remember one thing: if you are not a gorilla marketer don't waste your time or money. I was a gorilla marketer and still fared badly financial. I have heard IUniverse is one of the better POD publishers. I wouldn't do it again or reccomend it. Good luck and the best, h.
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RE: Self publishing good or bad?
I would encourage anyone to go the traditional publisher route if at all possible and appropriate -- and if you use a printer/binder, research the market carefully first.
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RE: RE: Self publishing good or bad?
QUOTE: Originally posted by kdfrawg
Rose, am I to understand that your experience with PublishAmerica and She Is Like the Wind was a good one, as opposed to the experiences of others with 1stBooks or AuthorHouse? If so, it's the first good thing I've ever heard about PublishAmerica!
Hey now, PA isn't all bad. [:)] My experience with them hasn't been that bad. Not perfect, but not to terrible either.
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RE: Self publishing good or bad?
I'd just like to make a distinction here between self-publishing (which can be lucrative, depending on the project) and POD publishing (which is very similar to vanity publishing/subsidy publishing, and which can be the right decision for certain projects--but only if you're doing a small, niche book such as a family genealogy.)
Self-publishing is when you get your own editor, your own cover designer, your own printer, and get your own ISBN numbers. POD publishing (through companies such as AuthorHouse, XLibris, iUniverse, etc.) is when you pay them (a lot) to do all those items.
But the biggest and critical point of distinction is that if you self-publish you CAN get your book reviewed by the trade journals such as Publishers Weekly and Library Journal, and your book CAN, if you market it effectively, be carried in bookstores and purchased by libraries. POD published books are NOT reviewed by the trade and are NOT purchased by bookstores.
There's been a whole lot of money and a lot of obfuscation by the POD publishers to try to blur this distinction, but that's it in a nutshell. So if you're a good marketer, consider self-publishing. If you're doing a small niche book, like a family genealogy or church cookbook, and you don't want to be in bookstores, consider POD publishing.
/Fern
Literary agents, self-publishing, and book promotion galore
http://www.PublishingGame.com
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RE: Self publishing good or bad?
Has anyone had any experience with CafePress.com?
Rosarium
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RE: Self publishing good or bad?
I've got an article on my website on the differences between self-publishing and POD publishing--you're welcome to check it out if you're confused about the terminology or looking for more information: http://www.PublishingGame.com/art_pod.htm
/Fern
Find a literary agent, self-publish, and promote your book successfully
http://www.PublishingGame.com
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RE: Self publishing good or bad?
I'm thinking about using Trafford on-demand publishing service for publication of a non-fiction book. Does anyone have an opinion about this company? And if so, what is your opinion?
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