Publishing
Razorhead has shown us the way to Lulu.com, an internet printer (call them a publisher if you like: the grounds on which they claim not to be are a bit unstable) who will make your books and things available as eBooks and/or print-on-demand. To do so on their own website is free, or for a relatively small fee they will get the book an ISBN number and make it available through Amazon.
Razorhead seems inspired, the Destructor is thinking of dusting off his novel, and it's certainly a very interesting scheme.
So, what does anyone else think?
Something feels wrong: somehow it feels like self-publishing (even if it isn't a vanity press scam) will damage my (perhaps unreasonable) ambition of becoming a 'real' author, of the kind sold in bookshops, having managed to sell something to a publisher who is prepared to front some cash for big print runs, marketing, and things like that.
Maybe not. Sure, if I publish something with Lulu it'll get one of their ISBNs and be difficult to take elsewhere, but it's only the one book, right? Between the two I consider to be more-or-less finished, the three on the go and the two or so planned after that, I could probably survive the first one disappearing into obscurity. Right?
At least this way someone might read it. Because let's face it, that ambition of having people one day walk into a big bookshop and buy a copy of my latest work isn't actually all that likely...
One thing I will say is that I'd rather find a UK equivalent, or wait to see if Lulu breaks into the UK market. The basic distribution deal is enough to make you available in the US, but in order to even be available on order here it looks like you need to take on the 'global' (i.e. US and UK) distribution package, which has a fair cost. Still, when you're getting 80% of the mark-up (rather than 15-20%, as normal) and the global distribution is $150, it might only take 75 units to break even...
Oh dear. I seem to be considering it as an investment now. Somebody talk me out of this.
Razorhead seems inspired, the Destructor is thinking of dusting off his novel, and it's certainly a very interesting scheme.
So, what does anyone else think?
Something feels wrong: somehow it feels like self-publishing (even if it isn't a vanity press scam) will damage my (perhaps unreasonable) ambition of becoming a 'real' author, of the kind sold in bookshops, having managed to sell something to a publisher who is prepared to front some cash for big print runs, marketing, and things like that.
Maybe not. Sure, if I publish something with Lulu it'll get one of their ISBNs and be difficult to take elsewhere, but it's only the one book, right? Between the two I consider to be more-or-less finished, the three on the go and the two or so planned after that, I could probably survive the first one disappearing into obscurity. Right?
At least this way someone might read it. Because let's face it, that ambition of having people one day walk into a big bookshop and buy a copy of my latest work isn't actually all that likely...
One thing I will say is that I'd rather find a UK equivalent, or wait to see if Lulu breaks into the UK market. The basic distribution deal is enough to make you available in the US, but in order to even be available on order here it looks like you need to take on the 'global' (i.e. US and UK) distribution package, which has a fair cost. Still, when you're getting 80% of the mark-up (rather than 15-20%, as normal) and the global distribution is $150, it might only take 75 units to break even...
Oh dear. I seem to be considering it as an investment now. Somebody talk me out of this.
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