Self-Publishing Review

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Self pubbers: be Professional (6 posts)

  • Profile picture of Matthew C. Plourde Matthew C. Plourde said 2 years, 2 months ago:

    Just a recent blog post of mine:

    http://matthewcplourde.wordpress.com/2011/04/02/are-you-a-self-published-writer-be-professional/

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  • Profile picture of martin koszegi marty said 1 year, 3 months ago:

    As a beginner to all this, I was wondering about whether print-on-demand services (as Lightning Source) incorporate in any of their packages, ordering and shipping information that come directly from an author’s website that is named after their book title (as for example, “thedoorway.com”). Anyone out there know the answer to this? Thank you. Marty

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  • Profile picture of Sylvia Burton Sylvia Burton said 1 year, 2 months ago:

    I almost feel like there’s so much focus put on the publishing process that we forget who we are as writers… and with the advent of social media and community forums like this one, the pressure to have a fairly public presence is overwhelming. It seems contrary to the traditional idea of the writer sitting alone at their desk.

    It’s necessary, but I’m finding it tricky to figure out what the best services are for authors.

    @Marty – I’m a beginner, too. Looking forward to any answers you discover.

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  • Profile picture of Ron Fritsch Ron Fritsch said 1 year, 2 months ago:

    Marty, I’m sorry you haven’t found an answer to your question. I don’t have one, either. I suspect, though, the POD services generally don’t allow what you’re asking for. But I don’t know why authors would need that on their websites. They can sell the books themselves, if they want to go to that bother, and/or provide links to the POD services. I can’t imagine why the name of the website should matter. Sylvia, I agree with you. The publishing process, with its countless options at this moment, seems to overwhelm our writing, which should be our focus.

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  • Profile picture of carl johnson carl johnson said 1 year, 1 month ago:

    Being a book printer, I am probably looking at this a little differently. We have gotten involved helping self-publishing authors get their books done and make money. A basic decision, after writing (or sometimes before) is who and how many will want the book. If it’s less than 100 POD makes sense. If it is over 250 digital book printing or offset (750 and up) makes sense. This ties into the website.
    By the way, why give Amazon or B&N 50% of your retail price if you have a web site and sell it directly?
    Carl

    Carl Johnson
    cjohnson@boydprinting.com

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  • Profile picture of Theresa M. Moore Theresa M. Moore said 1 year, 1 month ago:

    I taught myself to self-publish almost five years ago. Since then I have published 15 books and am working on 4 more for this year. I have always tried to produce as professional looking books as possible and I have the reviews to prove it. However, I have always been of the opinion that selling from your own site is actually safer than trusting a third party (Amazon, for example) to sell it for you. Having been through the wringer with Lulu, I tried Lightning Source but that was more risky than using CreateSpace. I prefer POD because it does not waste paper and print runs of 1000 or more in one sitting does not make sense in a world where no one is buying enough books to make it economical. Since I have been marketing heavily it eats into my writing time and that bothers me, but it has to be done. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink it. All the marketing in the world will not make a bit of difference if your book is produced below standard, from manuscript to editing to print. There are many authors out there who think they can just publish a book, sit back and watch the money roll in. To be a truly professional author and publisher you have to concentrate on getting your book noticed, too. And if you are truly focused on selling your book you have to be ready to have a web site and make it look professional, too. There are no two ways about it anymore, thanks to the competition from retailers fighting each other for market dominance. Worrying about it is above my pay grade. I have to focus on what is in front of me, so I sell direct and “maybe” hope someone else is selling them, too. Amazon is Amazon. The two simply do not coincide.

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