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Cory Doctorow’s the pioneer of giving your work away for free and he’s had major success.  He writes:

I’ve been giving away my books ever since my first novel came out, and boy has it ever made me a bunch of money.

When my first novel, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, was published by Tor Books in January 2003, I also put the entire electronic text of the novel on the Internet under a Creative Commons License that encouraged my readers to copy it far and wide. Within a day, there were 30,000 downloads from my

In my spare time, what little I have of it, I occasionally pick up my 2009 Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market book and search for potential buyers for my series The Price of Innocence. Why? I guess it’s a vain attempt to convince myself the grass is greener on the other side of the fence and I’m worthy in the eyes of my traditional published peers who raise their brow over my “vanity.”   (I think I need counseling – LOL).

It took me 18 months to write my first fiction work. I contribute that lengthy time to my […]

Well, I finally got myself an ebook reader, yes, indeed I did. Happy Birthday to me, well, it was Sunday, actually. And yes, it’s pink! So What. I might be crass, but I am a girl who likes Pink!

Many of you know, I have been labouring over my ebook purchasing decision for some time, and again, it came down to practicality for me. I don’t tend to get all starry eyed at the bells and whistles, so when looking for an ebook reader, I had to carefully analyze my reading habits and then decide what I “didn’t” need, because […]

I want to add something to the discussion which states that self-publishing is a business decision. April Hamilton ends her post Not Your Father’s Self-Publishing with:

And given that self-published authors have access to the same distribution channels, quality production methods, marketing and promotion methods, and audiences as their mainstream-published peers, it should be very clear by now that the choice of whether or not to self-publish is, to quote Guy LeCharles Gonzalez, a business decision. Period.

I would make the argument – as others have in the comments – that traditional distribution is superior to self-published distribution. Even if […]

This is a continuation of the post On the Cusp of a Shot at a Dream—but how bad do I want it? by an anonymous self-published author.

I used to be worried I would never land an agent. Without an agent, I was an unpublished “nobody” among nobodies hoping to be somebody, but knowing that without an agent, the chances were slim. I thought, “If I just get an agent, all of my troubles will be over!” We would talk on the phone and meet up for spiked coffees. We would discuss my literary prowess and the agent’s brilliance. All […]

I want to add a final word to this debate, even if I’m getting sick of it, as the debate about self-publishing vs. vanity publishing seems to be one that won’t die. I’ve got into plenty of discussions about it on Twitter, with people very vehement about separating self-publishing and vanity publishing through a pay service like AuthorHouse or iUniverse. Me, I see no difference. They’re both a method to self-release your work.

But people list these things as being decisive about calling something vanity publishing:

• You don’t control your rights
• You don’t control book cover design
• You don’t control

The Borders chain has been in trouble for quite awhile, and now it seems that all of their 45 stores in the United Kingdom will close. 200 Borders stores in the USA will also close. This used to be a great place to do book signings and readings and otherwise promote a new book, but no more. Creditors, led by Ingram, have forbidden such activities or even single copy orders except online. Barnes & Noble is also closing some of their smaller outlets under other trade names. Waldenbooks will disappear. As for independents, they have been closing when not acquired […]