It’s a pleasure to see this article keeps getting read and considered. When I published my first collection of short fiction in 2006, everything then was about print books using new print-on-demand technology. As Matthew notes above, it’s still worth having a print version of your book available–I do it–and I also have books on [...]

Henry, Mr. Konrath was a challenge when he was anti-self-publishing on this very site, but you two are of like mind right now. Once of my favorite columns of his had to do with the very topic of luck. In his “How to Succeed,” people asked him questions and he answered: Q: What’s the secret [...]

Thanks for the comments. I found Darcie generous with her time for the interview, which included a couple of follow-up questions that I folded in. It’s clear that making one’s book at 99 cents doesn’t equal success, but also most if not all the indie bestsellers are at 99 cents. I wrote a whole separate [...]

Roland, I happened to give a link to this article for my students in my UCLA Extension class, “Fiction for Absolute Beginners.” People in the class brought up your piece last night, and we ended up having a fabulous discussion on what story is. Two areas in particular were cited. One person read your piece [...]

Ron, you’re absolutely right in saying “Writers can spend a great deal of money, time, and/or effort on all of them, though, and still not achieve the commercial success they want.” As writers, we all want the secret formula to a great career. If we get a publicist, will that do it? Do we need [...]

Allison. Go for it. If you want to email me, do so at chrismeeks@gmail.com.

Ron, your comment isn’t dismissive at all–that’s the point of my piece: why vie for shelf space in bookstores when the independent publisher doesn’t have the resources to compete for display? Interestingly, though, I spoke to someone at Barnes and Noble headquarters and learned not one of my books has been returned by Barnes and [...]

Matt, I’m publishing my advance copies of “Love at Absolute Zero” on Lulu for a couple of reasons. First, I can do so without using an ISBN number and, second, I can have it for sale not to the public but just to people who use have a link to the book, whih I’ll put [...]

Christopher Meeks commented on the blog post Frugal Book Promotion – An Interview with Carolyn Howard-Johnson

To underscore how interconnected the world is now, a few days ago, I received a note from Carolyn Howard-Johnson out of the blue that said that my novel, “The Brightest Moon of the Century,” won one of her Noble (Not Nobel) Awards as a Best Book for 2009. I was stunned and honored. You can [...]

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