Lead Story | Self-Publishing Review

Interview: Rudy Rucker on the Present and Future of Self-Publishing

On the heels of the interview with Tessa Dick, last wife of Philip K. Dick, comes an interview with Rudy Rucker, often called the heir apparent to Philip K. Dick. Winner of two Philip K. Dick Awards, Rudy Rucker is the author of the novels Frek and the Elixer, Spaceland, and many others. He also has a interest in self-publishing: putting out a book of paintings through Lulu, allowing a free download of his novel Postsingular, and publishing ebooks with e-reads. Here the visionary writer talks about mixing traditional publishing with the new publishing technology.[…]

Henry Baum2011-10-08T20:05:28+02:00February 19th, 2009|Categories: Interviews, Lead Story|

Interview: Tessa Dick, author of The Owl in Daylight, and widow of Philip K. Dick

An interview with Tessa Dick, last wife of Philip K. Dick, who has reworked the novel he was working on at the time of his death in 1982, The Owl in Daylight – reviewed by SPR. She blogs at It’s a Philip K. Dick World!

Self-Publishing Review: You were married to Philip K. Dick between 1973 and 1977. How did you two meet?

Tessa Dick: Phil’s lady friend at the time, Ginger, was breaking up with him. Phil was clinging to her, so she decided to introduce him to someone else at a beach party on the 4th of […]

Henry Baum2011-10-08T20:44:12+02:00February 12th, 2009|Categories: Interviews, Lead Story|

Ebooks and Environmental Impact

In the interesting and heated discussion in the post about the future of ebooks, it was raised that the environmental benefits of ebooks are one of its major advantages. While there’s not a great argument to be made that reading a book on an e-reader is preferable to reading a printed book, the environmental impact is something that does make ebooks superior to the printed word. Some do argue that it’s easier to hold an ebook reader in one hand and searchability is something they can’t do without – but generally it’s a more pleasant experience to read, and […]

Henry Baum2011-10-08T19:30:24+02:00February 11th, 2009|Categories: Lead Story, Resources|

Interview: Eddie Wright, author of Broken Bulbs

Eddie Wright’s excellent Broken Bulbs is a science fictional take on addiction – but what makes the novel so good is that it is not classifiable. Here he talks about writing a hybrid screenplay/novel and the ups and downs of self-publishing.

Self-Publishing Review: How did you come to self-publish? I mention in the review that it would be hard for Broken Bulbs to get published based on its length alone. Did you consider submitting to chapbook publishers?

Eddie Wright: Self-publishing seemed to be the only real option for me because of the length and unorthodox style of Broken Bulbs. […]

Henry Baum2011-10-08T19:32:30+02:00February 5th, 2009|Categories: Interviews, Lead Story|

The Past, Present, and Future of Ebooks

In Andrew Sullivan’s follow-up to his post about print on demand, he links to this excellent quote by Edgar Allen Poe, predicting and advocating self-publishing:

… authors will perceive the immense advantage of giving their own manuscripts directly to the public without the expensive interference of the type-setter, and the often ruinous intervention of the publisher. All that a man of letters need do will be to pay some attention to legibility of manuscript, arrange his pages to suit himself, and stereotype them instantaneously, as arranged. He may intersperse them with his own drawings, or with anything to please

[…]

Henry Baum2011-10-08T20:44:22+02:00February 3rd, 2009|Categories: Features, Lead Story|

Interview: Mark Coker, Founder of Smashwords

Mark Coker, founder of Smashwords.com, talks about his ebook directory and the future of ebooks. Check out Self-Publishing Review’s post about places to list an ebook for other ebook sites.

Self-Publishing Review: First, what is Smashwords?

Mark Coker: Smashwords is a digital publishing platform and online bookstore for self-published authors and their readers.

Authors upload their manuscripts as Microsoft Word files and then we automatically convert them into nine different DRM-free ebook formats, ready for immediate sale online. Authors set the price and determine the sampling percentage, and receive 85 percent of the net sales proceeds from their books.

SPR: […]

Henry Baum2011-10-08T20:31:17+02:00February 1st, 2009|Categories: Interviews, Lead Story|

The Do-It-Yourself Book Tour

Big publishers, when they are trying to make a bestseller, put authors on a 20-city book tour. The idea is to create media buzz, so these combine media interviews and book signings, and are rather expensive. A self-published author, however, can do something similar without breaking the bank. It won’t be 20 big cities, but you will sell books if you do it right.

The first principle here is to combine book signings with travel you were going to do anyway. Our big three-part tour last year was structured around a family reunion, three science fiction conventions, and a high […]

Francis Hamit2009-12-31T21:08:19+02:00January 28th, 2009|Categories: Lead Story, Resources|

Self-Published Book Awards

Some make the argument that book contests are a way to rip off writers. Authors submit a book and a fee for the hopes of winning the contest and the grand prize, usually a sum of money. The majority of writers will receive nothing from the contest and be out the $50-$100 it normally costs to enter the contest. Meanwhile the contest promoters are making tens of thousands of dollars in application fees.

Perhaps I am biased because I actually won one of these contests – the Hollywood Book Festival – but I do not regard contests as a way […]

Henry Baum2010-01-19T11:26:52+02:00January 25th, 2009|Categories: Lead Story, Resources|