Features | Self-Publishing Review

What Killed My Faith in the Formal Channels and Gatekeepers…

I think what may have killed my faith
in the formal channels
and gatekeepers
who hold the keys
to opportunity in the creative world
was, at least in part, the years I spent being a gatekeeper myself
first as an intern at Seattle Repertory Theatre,
then at the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, CT,
where I and my interns would slowly, slowly , slowly plow
our way through the piles, and piles, and piles
of good, and bad, and terrible submissions
from authors and their agents.

When we were really smoking,
the scripts in our agent pile got […]

stefanlanfer2011-10-08T19:38:53+02:00March 22nd, 2010|Categories: Features|

Comic Relief! “Writing, Time Management, and You”

Life is short, and the business of self-publishing, while completely joyful, can also make you want to stab yourself in the throat – but in the end, what’s most important is to remember why we write.

Or rather, why we don’t.

[…]

Kristen Tsetsi2011-10-08T19:39:30+02:00March 21st, 2010|Categories: Features|Tags: Writing|

Trad Author Goes Indie and Back

There is a lot of passionate discussion about whether self-publishing is a valid career move. I’ve learned that instead of wasting time trying to win converts, I’ll simply follow what I believe, based on the evidence I have at this point.

To wit:
1) I will make more on my backlist first novel THE RED CHURCH this year than I did from its original advance. In other words, in the year it took the book to get through “traditional production.” And I can do whatever I want with it, forever.

2) My later publishing contracts tied up my rights for […]

scottnicholson2011-10-08T18:36:20+02:00March 11th, 2010|Categories: Features|

The Real Source of Self-Publishing Stigma

So here is the thing…

There is a lot of talk about the “stigma” of self-publishing. But for the most part this stigma is rather contained. For example:

Mainstream Publishers/Agents: They don’t really care whether you self-publish or not. I mean think about this for a moment. If you’re self-publishing, you’re one less manuscript in their slush pile. If you fail, they don’t have to deal with you. If you succeed, then you are a proven quantity to them… a sure thing, which is something publishers like. So exactly why would they care? Publishers and agents reject bad writing all

[…]

Zoe Winters2014-01-08T20:48:44+02:00March 10th, 2010|Categories: Features|

Publishing: Advocate or Be Damned

Self-publishers or traditionally published—what are we really advocates of?

There are those in the traditional world of publishing who believe self-publishing has the potential to tarnish an author’s book. Usually there are a myriad of under-the-surface reasons for this view, but, at least as far as tried and trusted publishing practice is concerned, their valid argument is that an author who chooses to first self-publish their book gives up their first publication rights. When an author or agent tries to sell a book that has been published before—no matter how obscure or whatever format, print or e-book—it removes one of […]

Mick Rooney2011-10-08T18:39:03+02:00February 24th, 2010|Categories: Features|

Self-Publishing is Humanity’s Progress (and also the Apocalypse)

How’s that for a bombastic title? Not that self-publishing needs any more defending because it’s here to stay and detractors are gathering cobwebs, but not a lot has been written here about publishing as it relates to the music industry, or about the long-term future of publishing. One of the mysteries about self-publishing is that a playwright can put on his own play out of pocket, or a band can self-release a book, and this is not considered…pathetic. The difference between this and self-publishing, as far as I can see it, is that book writing and reading is far more […]

Henry Baum2011-10-08T18:39:53+02:00February 19th, 2010|Categories: Features, Lead Story|

Authors in the eBook Age

Ever since Macmillan Publishing took on Amazon a few weeks ago in regards to a new contract, the cost of eBooks have been bandied about. Some readers seem to think that publishers are greedy and have money raining down on them by pricing their books over $10. In one Amazon discussion group, a reader asked, “What’s the price of a few electrons?” He reduced the cost of a book to the energy it takes for a Kindle or other reader to receive it.

Still, without the cost of printing and hauling the books around by truck, surely the cost has […]

Christopher Meeks2011-10-08T20:19:25+02:00February 17th, 2010|Categories: Features, Lead Story|

Self-Publishing Symposium

This a repost from The New Podler Review of Books, which is back in action. The site has been posting a series of interviews about self-publishing. The full list is below. Here are my answers (the graphic is for a different self-publishing symposium, linked in the image).

How does self-publishing differ from traditional publishing?

Limited distribution. Other than that – nothing. Yes, a publisher offers a design team, marketing team, and editorial guidance, but a writer can do those things alone. The one thing a writer cannot do (unless he or she has a gigantic marketing budget or money […]

Henry Baum2011-10-08T20:20:10+02:00February 11th, 2010|Categories: Features|