Must You Publish a Print Book?

Image by <a href="https://pixabay.com/users/RobinHiggins-1321953/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=3061646">Robin Higgins</a> from <a href="https://pixabay.com/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=3061646">Pixabay</a>Sometimes when you’re cruising the intertubes, something jumps out at you that makes you want to spit out your coffee. For me, it was a gem of advice in a Q&A on Quora.

The query, edited for length, was: “What do traditional publishers provide that self-publishing doesn’t?” The question drew the typical answers: a cover from a professional cover designer (which indies can also buy), great editing (ditto), marketing assistance (a little harder, but doable – and midlist authors at traditional houses often have to find help, too), and placement of your book at brick-and-mortar stores (okay, I’ll give them that one – although it’s not impossible for indies).

But it was this throwaway line at the end of one comment that caused my spit-take: “Don’t forget to do a POD print edition, even if its layout is pure template-driven and it’s not up to pro standards in production values. Ebooks with print editions sell better than ebooks without.”

There’s so much here to unpack. Continue reading “Must You Publish a Print Book?”

@#*&$it – Self-Publishing Does NOT Have to Cost You Anything

Stop Sign stop misinformation about self publishing stop-940898_960_720
Stop with the nonsense already!

Okay people, I’m going to rant. I have had it with all these articles lately – some from people who are in no way qualified to be writing them – TELLING authors how EXPENSIVE it is to self-publish. Well, that’s a crock of …

If there is one way to get me riled up, this is it. Scare tactics. Holier than thou BS. Seriously, people. JUST. STOP. Stop trying to frighten new authors. Stop writing articles with ONLY worst-case scenarios. Stop claiming that authors have to go to conferences or get interior “book design” or that they have to pay for every service under the sun. One of the best things about being an indie is that we can learn how to do most everything ourselves – FOR FREE. If you have the ability or desire to pay for everything, good for you. That doesn’t mean that’s how it HAS to be done. In fact, most indies I know do everything themselves. FOR FREE. Continue reading “@#*&$it – Self-Publishing Does NOT Have to Cost You Anything”

Battling the Misconceptions about Self-Publishing

slaying self publishing misconceptions knight-40850_640For the past few months I’ve been preparing for a couple of workshops I’m going to be giving on self-publishing. There’s a continuing education program that’s just starting in my little town, so I figured this was a great time to do one workshop on self-pubbing paperbacks and one on eBooks. Last fall, a few other local authors and I held a panel discussion on the various ways to self-publish, and we had a great turnout, so my more in-depth workshops seemed like a natural progression.

In the ramp-up to the new fall semester, the learning institute has been organizing meet-and-greets at various locations where all of us facilitators can interact with the interested public and get to know each other. It’s been quite an education in and of itself hearing what misconceptions people have about self-publishing. I am constantly amazed at the wild ideas people have. Here are a few of the things people have said to me: Continue reading “Battling the Misconceptions about Self-Publishing”

The Blog Nobody Wanted to Publish (Except Indies Unlimited)

I’ve written a couple of articles for a local newspaper over the past few months. They have a large circulation, and they’re a cutting-edge newspaper, so it’s been very cool to see my name on their site. After attending a self-publishing fair recently I submitted an article to them. They passed, and so did one of their competitors. It might be the quality of the content or it might be the content itself. I’ll let you be the judge. Indies Unlimited stepped up and published it and I’m very thankful to them. Here it is in its entirety. Continue reading “The Blog Nobody Wanted to Publish (Except Indies Unlimited)”