Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Question for those who have published a book

For somebody who wants to publish a book for the first time, and who has no publishing connections, is there any reason not to self publish rather jumping through all of the hoops to find a publisher? It seems there are plenty of companies that assist with self-publishing and even marketing. Anybody can put a website to market, and the bar to get onto Amazon doesn't seem too high. So if one can afford the initial expense, self-publishing is an easy option. Understanding high brow readers may look down their nose at self published literature. But are there other reasons to see a publisher first? If a self published book does well, would there then be additional impediments to acquiring an actual publisher for a second run, etc?

Thanks.

tag

I used Blurb.com for publishing. If you are very handy with techno stuff, you can use their software to do the layout. I have a friend who does it as a business and paid him instead. Any changes made to a manuscript generates the need for an entirely new ISC number so it is vital you have everything in final form before publishing.

Would presume going to a publisher means editing changes, simply because of software differences.

2 cents

Barry (author of MY NAME IS BARRY! offered on Amazon.com through Blurb)

My first two were published by Solstice, and I didn't have to pay a dime for any of it, including the editing. I thought their cover art was lacking so I had my daughter do the covers and she did a wonderful job. (It's her full time job too).

The vast majority of my sales are E-Books, as are about 80% of book sales in the country today. So, the cut the publishing company was getting seemed a bit high to me. So, my 3rd book I did myself.

If you publish a poor work, you won't get any word of mouth sales and the reviews will suck and eventually it will just sit there. So, if you're going to self publish, you may find editing costs prohibitive, normally a grand or more. Good cover art can run several hundred dollars. A web site is minimal expense and some are free.

You'll have to do all your own promotions. Which is okay, I do it anyway.

I used Blurb.com for publishing. If you are very handy with techno stuff, you can use their software to do the layout. I have a friend who does it as a business and paid him instead. Any changes made to a manuscript generates the need for an entirely new ISBN so it is vital you have everything in final form before publishing.

Would presume going to a publisher means editing changes, simply because of software differences. ISBN would change -- mine was Canada based so Larry Adams at Thumbprint Books, Inc. handles their requirements for me.

2 cents

Barry (author of MY NAME IS BARRY! offered on Amazon.com through Blurb)

My wife has used Blurb to do several. They were not for sale, but to document family history or as childrens photo albums to document vacations or other special events.

You can see the covers and 1st 15 pages of one here. This documents my dads life history.

http://www.blurb.com/books/1731636-the-book-of-john

I used Archway Publishing and self-published. They were helpful in editing, getting a web site, and getting listed on Amazon. I was reasonably satisfied.

"Getting Out From Under--Exiting Your Business With Your Cash, Sanity, and Soul Intact."

Traditional publishing is extremely difficult. Estimates are that one out of 2,000 submissions gets to print.

My first book was digitally published as a result of a contest. I was so pleased that I used the same service for my second one. Self-publishing means you do all your own editing, formatting, layout, and cover design - all of which you can also pay a fee to have done for you. But if you can do all those things yourself - with good to excellent online expert advice - the process is absolutely free. It's a great way to create a memories book for your grandkids, or do a limited run of special-purpose books at no cost except for printing. Digital printing allows to to print one book at a time, or hundreds.

If you choose to sell your book, you can choose among several marketing options at varying prices. The first of those is to buy an ISBN number, which is simply a global registration number for that book.

I used lulu.com and recommend it highly. Publishing is free, and they even build you a digital storefront to sell your book. To see mine, go HERE.

The biggest risk in self-publishing is that you won't be able to sell enough books to break even or make a profit. Some people don't care about that, especially if they're just writing a book for family or friends. Some self-publishers do help a little with marketing, but usually not a lot.

The biggest risk in publishing with a traditional publisher is that your manuscript won't be able to get their attention. If Rocky is right, that only one in 2,000 submissions gets into print (and I suspect it's pretty close to that), then 1,999 writers spend lots of time writing and never make a dime on their work. For some, the writing is satisfaction enough.

I took a third way. I've self-published three books using neither a self-publisher nor a traditional publisher. I call my own "company" The Everyday Hunter Press. My printer is a company that simply prints books. That means I had to do all my own book design, editing, pre-press work, cover design, circulation to reviewers, etc., (or hire it done) and hand the printer finished camera-ready files. I got no help with marketing, and marketing is probably the hardest thing about not using a traditional publisher. But I did OK. I won the "Best Book Award" from the Pennsylvania Outdoor Writers Association, which they give every two years.

I'm developing a series of short books called The Everyday Hunter Handbook Series. Two are in print, a third is almost finished, and a fourth is in the conceptual stage. I'm also planning on writing a book on turkey hunting.

Before doing my first book (at right), I spent several years reading and studying the self-publishing process, and consider my efforts a success.

Steve.

One thing I have to add: avoid "vanity publishers" like the plague they are. They're the ones who will publish anything - for a hefty price that forces you to buy 500 or 1,000 books as part of the deal. Not only is the printing sometimes horrible but you'll need a second mortgage to pay for the shipping of a pallet-load of books.

If you see an add for "Authors wanted," run, do not walk away.

One downside to self-publishing is that once it's been in print, no traditional publisher will touch it. So forget the dream of some major publishing house seeing your creation and offering to take it over. Not gonna happen.

What Rocky said not without exception, but is generally true -- perhaps less and less true as time goes by. There are several books that were self-published that went on to be picked up by a publisher. Here are a couple:
1931, Irma Rombauer, “The Joy of Cooking,” 3000 copies. Bobbs-Merrill published 18 million.
1989, John Grisham, “A Time To Kill,” 5000 copies, later published by Doubleday.

It can happen, but you can probably count the exceptions on your fingers and toes, so no one should expect to self-publish and then have a book picked up by a publisher. Several years ago I reviewed a book about whitetail hunting that was self-published and later the author told me a traditional publisher was inquiring about publishing it -- though I don't know if that ever happened. The bottom line is that if a writer sells a book well and a publisher thinks it has a wider market and they can make money on a book, they might change the title and give it a go. Publishers put out plenty of books that don't make any money.

The bottom line is that you should never self-publish hoping to get the attention of a traditional commercial publisher. And as Rocky said, never, ever use a vanity publisher unless you want boxes of books to store under your bed.

Steve.

Thanks for all the information. My project is a long ways from done but I thought it a good idea to understand the differences between these options. I know of a guy who published a novel a few years ago through "create space independent publishing." It took off and did well, and got picked up by a regular publisher. But they changed the title when the released it. If you read the reviews on amazon that created confusion because a lot of readers bought it thinking it was a new book altogether. I guess the name change probably had to do with ownership of the ISBN?

I have no experience with publishing myself, but I've read some self-published books from Amazon, so I have a piece of advice anyway. Proofread, proofread, proofread. Then proofread one more time, and find at least two other people to proofread for you.

I hate spending money for books and finding them shot through with spelling and grammatical errors.

I generally resist the urge to be a spelling Nazi when I'm reading Internet posts that I get for free; but when I pay my money for something I'm muuuuuch pickier. When I read well-written material, the material itself disappears and I see straight through to what the author is arguing or describing, and it's great. When there's an issue that should have been caught by a proofreader, it's a big ugly distracting blotch in my field of view that makes me sorry I paid money for the book. Not only won't I buy another book from that author, I will go (and have gone) to Amazon and write a scathing one-star review.

Yeah but... it's common in my experience to find blemishes in the form of typos and bad grammar even in books published by traditional publishers.

I agree that you can't do too much proofreading. Unfortunately perfection has proven to be generally out of reach.

Steve.

True. I keep finding errors in mine, and always wonder, "How in the HELL did I miss that?"

But the frequency is much less.

I bought one self-published book from Amazon that pissed me off so much that I actually went through three chapters and counted the errors, and came up with an average of between 1.2 and 1.3 per page.

Guh.