Tag: indie vs. trad publishing

Changing Attitudes Toward Self-Publishing

Differing book reviewsYou’ve heard the snide comments. Self-published books are crap. They aren’t edited. They are amateur. They are not worth our notice. Many such comments were deserved. They still are in some cases.

Most of these slurs came out of a time when the majority of so-called self-published books were put out by vanity presses that preyed on the desire of the unwary to have a book with their name on it. Often these books were written to share with friends and family, never intended for a wider readership. Continue reading “Changing Attitudes Toward Self-Publishing”

When Traditional Publishing Comes Knocking

knock-clipart-knock-at-door-cHere at Indies Unlimited, we often engage in discussions about the advantages and disadvantages of being an indie versus being published by a traditional house. Just recently I talked about one major aspect, having control over the look and feel of a book. We’ve also discussed getting better royalties and having the flexibility to be instantly responsive to prices, trends, and sales.

But what happens when a traditional publisher wants your book?

I’ve done some thinking about this. I was lucky enough to have been inside the ropes of the traditional publishing process for the first few years of my writing career. I’ve also had some *ahem* experience with scammers and vanity presses. I’ve made a lot of mistakes and learned a lot of lessons. If a traditional publisher approached me now, my response would be very different than it was the first time. Continue reading “When Traditional Publishing Comes Knocking”

The Issue of Self-Publishing Control: Book Titles

savage1Control: I believe that is the best aspect of self-publishing. Sure, in the discussions that rage endlessly across the internet about trad-publishing vs. self-publishing, the major issue always seems to revolve around money. Yes, we get better royalties when we self-pub. When my first book was published by a NY house, my royalty rate for the first 100,000 books sold was ten cents per book. You read that right: ten cents. After that, it “jumped” to twenty-five cents. Continue reading “The Issue of Self-Publishing Control: Book Titles”

“Aspiring” Indies: Same Stuff, Different Day

indie authors keep outThe indie-author blogosphere (you didn’t know we had one, did you?) lit up this week with fallout from an article Hugh Howey wrote about the shabby treatment of indie authors at the RT Booklovers Convention in New Orleans last weekend.

Howey said he had heard from several people who attended the conference that indie authors – even bestselling ones like Liliana Hart – were labeled “aspiring authors” and shunted to a separate room during the book signing event. And while trad-pubbed authors each had three feet of table space for signing their books, indies were crammed in like sardines next door.

As near as I can make out from the comments, the “aspiring author” thing was either a single comment by a volunteer who misunderstood the difference between the two rooms; or a title attendees picked for themselves upon registration, and if they accidentally ticked “aspiring” instead of “published” on the registration form, it was their own damn fault. Continue reading ““Aspiring” Indies: Same Stuff, Different Day”