Features | Self-Publishing Review

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

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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|

Remaining True

THE MUSE WAS HERE.

That’s what she would have tattooed across my forehead. In Black Ink, but then deciding to go back and change the font style to something Celtic although I don’t have a drop of Irish blood in me.

She’s forceful and doesn’t give a damn about my personal life, my work life or the fact that the holidays were just around the corner and I had shopping, cleaning and list making to do. I guess she’s a bitch. And she always gets her way.

RJ Keller once described her writing technique as physically disturbing: painfully typing […]

Holly Christine2011-10-08T20:20:30+02:00February 10th, 2010|Categories: Features|

Amazon v. Macmillan: Authors, Are You Backing The Right Horse?

Herewith, I present an updated and amended cross-posting of my blog post on the Amazon v. Macmillan affair. Let me state up front, I do not agree with Amazon’s strongarm tactics, and it is not my intention to defend those actions in this post. Rather, I’m puzzled by authors’ nearly universal lack of criticism for Macmillan’s part in the matter. I can’t help wondering, if Amazon had quietly agreed to Macmillan’s requested terms, thereby depriving authors of an easy target and distraction, might they have reacted differently to Macmillan’s move?

Today, Amazon announced it will cave to Macmillan’s demand that

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April L. Hamilton2011-10-08T20:32:55+02:00February 4th, 2010|Categories: Features|

This isn’t about self-publishing.

But it is about a writer, and writers like stories about writers, right? Particularly when the writers is J.D. Salinger. (Even if you’re not a fan of his, surely you’re curious about him…? No…?)

*The following originally posted at my old blogsite in June of ‘09. After reading the many articles today about Salinger’s death, I was reminded of this account of a meeting (but not really a meeting) between my uncle and Mr. Salinger.

My uncle, who I’ll call Harry, lives about twenty minutes from Cornish, NH. Says a lot of famous people – oddly – come […]

Kristen Tsetsi2011-10-08T20:21:36+02:00January 29th, 2010|Categories: Features|