Tag: indie vs. trad publishing

Dear person who wants to publish a book…

writer laptop-2562325_640 courtesy of pixabayIf you’re like me, you have different groups of friends, both in real life and on Facebook. I have my bookish friends (that’s you guys), my music friends (music fans, music writers, and a few actual musicians), my poker buddies, family, and the list goes on and on. As a rule, these groups don’t intersect very often, and odds are that people in group A don’t even realize that you’re involved in subject B. Twice lately I’ve seen someone from a group other than my bookish friends talking about a book they’re writing or hoping to see published, and my immediate thought is, “I wonder if they know …” After writing a couple of emails that were way too long, I realized it would be great if I could just send them a link saying “read this.” Even better, those IU readers who don’t think my take is too far out there can do the same.

Dear <friend, acquaintance, or random person I saw on the internet>, Continue reading “Dear person who wants to publish a book…”

You’re Going to Write What? – Part 5 – Indie vs. Trad Publishing

scribbling-152216_640This is an ongoing series about BigAl’s first experience writing a book. Join him as he flies by the seat of his pants and figures things out as he goes. For a more complete explanation about the book and this series of posts, you can read the series introduction here.

In this installment I’m going to look at my publishing choices. Continue reading “You’re Going to Write What? – Part 5 – Indie vs. Trad Publishing”

If you really must walk on Planet Self-Publish…

Lupa by Marie MarshallGuest Post
by Marie Marshall

Last week I read Martin Crosbie’s article entitled 5 Reasons Why You Should STILL Be Self-Publishing.So far, I have held back from self-publishing. I currently have five books published by the traditional route (three novels, two of which are for YA/older children, and two collections of poetry). From my point of view, getting someone else engaged in publishing my writing was part of the endeavour and the achievement.

Now, as an intro, that may sound as though I’m assuming a position of superiority. Not at all. I don’t mean to belittle anyone else’s high quality writing (I know that is a difficult thing to define anyway), but whether we like it or not, there IS a hell of a lot of rubbish (also not easy to define) out there on Planet Self-Publish, and it is amongst the generality of that overcrowded planet’s population that good self-published writers have chosen to walk. The rubbish will proliferate, and it will probably proliferate at a faster rate than the good stuff. The way I see it, it is necessary to introduce voluntary ‘best practices’ in order to raise at least the quality of presentation. I’m sure this has been said many times before, but I am going to say it anyway. Continue reading “If you really must walk on Planet Self-Publish…”

5 Reasons Why You Should STILL Be Self-Publishing

indie finish lineDepending on where you’ve been keeping yourself over the past couple of months you may have heard rumblings that the market for self-published literature has bottomed out. Kindle Unlimited has reduced earnings for Indie authors and forced many to return to their day jobs, there are too many traditionally-published books on the market at lower prices, or insert any other complaint here that shows Amazon slighting indie authors. As with everything we hear, whether it’s online or in the realer world, we should examine the sources and try to determine their motivation. Once we’ve done that, we often discover that the sky isn’t really falling and there is no reason to get fitted for a tinfoil hat. Not yet anyway.

The quality of the content and product presentation of self-published literature is improving at a staggering rate. I had no idea that there were so many talented, creative writers out there. And, many authors are connecting with readers and selling books by the truckload every day. If you’re still not convinced I’d like to present you with some reasons why self-publishing may be the route for you. Continue reading “5 Reasons Why You Should STILL Be Self-Publishing”