12 thoughts on “Writing Like It’s 1999”

  1. Post the first 5-10 chapters on the web with links to buy the book in e-book or paper version, to read the rest.

  3. Anyway, I’ve been working on a couple of things too, and I decided some time ago to abandon the whole idea of traditional publishing. Trad publishers see their industry going the way of the dodo, and they’re trying to get as much money as they can before they go under. Don’t let them drag you under with them. The prestige of Big Name Publishing House doesn’t mean what it used to, and soon all it will mean is “you got taken.”

  4. I don’t have experience with publishing, but this guy does and he says self-publish. He’s a novelist, so if your book is technical, that might or might not change the equation.

  6. Go where your audience is. Your audience is on the web, amirite?

    Right now, mostly, yes.

    In order to maximize revenue (and mindshare), I’d like to expand beyond that.

  7. I can’t believe it’s been 7 years since I wrote my book. My name will link anyone interested to the supporting webpage. While my experience wasn’t as negative as many others, I recommend against using Publish America. (7 years ago, at least) They held the rights and set the price per print copy quite high. I’ve lightly shopped around while thinking about doing a follow-on, and currently I’m thinking I’d use BookLocker, partially because the president has a soft spot for aerospace:

    http://publishing.booklocker.com/

    Advice (probably in the ‘Duh!’ column for you, but still): go with a professional editor.

  8. I’m struggling with the same thing. Finished my first novel about 18 months ago and finally got fed up with the whole agent-query process. I had a few requests for full MS and some good feedback, but still no representation.

    I’ve reluctantly come to the realization that my first novel, like many others, is practice. Having had some success as a magazine freelancer, I’ve learned that first novel is kind of like building a car when the only thing you’ve built before is models.

    I read this piece last night and have been stewing over it ever since. Her advice is almost completely opposite of the conventional wisdom (i.e. self-publishing is the kiss of death). I’m having a hard time getting past that paradigm. But she’s absolutely right about hiring an editor and cover artist.

    I’d like to see my work in hard copy. But if I can make a better living via Kindles, then so be it.

  10. Today, absolutely go independent with some kind of e-book delivery. It’s much better for your typical aspiring author than attempting to penetrate the traditional publishing industry.

    Remember, for books in the $3-10 range, Amazon sends 70% of the price of the book to the author. This is many times what you could get with a physical book.

  11. I’ll second (third? fourth?) being fed up with the agent-query letter business. Two-plus years of shopping around our science fiction novel got us exactly nowhere. But last fall I sensed from articles I had been reading that a threshold had been crossed, that something had changed to make electronic self-publishing respectable where self-publishing had generally been the mark of failure.

    Publishing on Kindle and Nook is surprisingly simple. And I think we’ve had only 4-5 people out of about 200 so far say they wouldn’t read the book until/unless it was in paper format. (The downside is that we’ve only sold about 200 copies…not that I’m hinting, or anything…okay, I am hinting…)

  12. TLJ: the independent authors I know are generally pleased and surprised by the cash flow they’re generating from e-books, particularly from the Kindle.

    Anyway, at the rate e-book sales are growing, e-books will become the dominant delivery mode in less than two years. Paper books will have gone the way of the slide rule and the typewriter by the end of the decade, if not sooner.

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