Self-publishing: is it a good idea or a rip off?

[obedientrake346]

I thought about getting my book published with self publishing but someone told me it was a rip off. But I really want to get published, since I've already queried to 3 agents and haven't heard anything from them. But if I do self-publishing what is a good way to sell the books? Can I make a website or something like that?

[MidnightNinja875]

If you self-publish, don't expect to make any sales. You won't be able to get your books into stores and even if you make a website, almost no one will hear of it. Most of all, it'll cost you not just for publishing but promotion, making it a waste of time and money.

[Kasi]

You queried three agents? I queried sixty before I found one who wanted to invest their time in an unknown author. Some self-publishing places are scams and some aren't. You need to do your homework.

[Willow Rosenberg]

Try lulu.com

[Mrs. U]

You've only queried three agents and you're already ready to give up?

Sweetie, you are not cut out for being published nor are you even remotely ready to be published if you're that impatient. This is not the kind of industry where things happen overnight and you can become a success immediately.

If you want to be considered an actual author then rushing into self-publishing is a terrible idea. You will be lucky if you sell a single book that isn't to a friend or family member and just having a web site won't cut it.

I strongly suggest you put one hell of a lot more effort into querying agents. Do your research, ensure your manuscript is thoroughly edited and polished. Read your query letter to ensure it's at its best. Be sure you're following submission guidelines to the letter and submitting to the right agents for your genre.

You have a lot more work to do. Either get to it or stop trying to be published. Simple as that.

[stuff2know]

I just read an article this morning about the future of ebooks, which mentioned that the Kindle (Amazon ereader) is a great place for new authors to get started. Here's a quote from the article:

"And struggling writers can also take heart in the more robust ebook market; self-published books fare quite well alongside the titles that mainstream houses and established news outlets are producing. Consider, for example, the runaway ebook renown of 26-year-old publishing-house reject Amanda Hocking. She's the author of nine goth young-adult novels in the "Twilight" vein, and now sells about 100,000 copies of the ebooks every month for up to $3 a pop in the Kindle Store. (She also gets to keep 70 percent of the revenues--a far better take than print writers typically secure--per the standard agreement between content creators and electronic vendors such as Amazon and Apple.)"

[cathrl69]

Unless you are in one of a very few niche areas then self-publishing is a terrible idea. People do not buy self-published books if there's an alternative. If you read fiction, there are _thousands_ of alternatives.

Basically self-publishing is for amateurs. It's like paying to join your local orchestra. You get to play the big symphonies and be in concerts just like pro musicians...but you're never going to make any money from it, even if your orchestra charges for the tickets.

What I don't understand is why amateur writers are prepared to pay for the privilege. If you want to share your work, you can do it for free online. An average self-published book sells 40 copies, all to family and friends who you have begged to buy it. I posted a story online yesterday, I've done no advertising _at all_, not a single email, and already 72 strangers have read it and 6 of them have reviewed it. Didn't cost me a penny.

(hits refresh) Make that 73.

It's your choice. If you want to be a pro writer you will have to put in the work to find an agent - like someone else said, that may well involve dozens of rejections. If you want to be an amateur (and there's nothing wrong with being an amateur), why pay?

[ChrisP]

I agree with the others that 3 agents is not very many. And how long have you waited? You should wait at least 8 weeks before deciding an agent isn't interested, and even then there's stories of people getting requests for pages after 6 months, or even longer. I don't know how you've queried, but there is nothing wrong with querying more than one agent at a time. I started out doing this, but right now I'm querying one agent a day with the idea I'll have about 20 queries out before I start hearing back from the first ones. I'll stop for a while and keep about 20 in the mill at any time. That way, if I need to refine my approach I can do so before I've sent a letter to everyone I can think of.

But to your question: as said earlier do your homework on the publisher first. Be ready to do ALL of the marketing and publicity yourself. YOU will be the one to call the bookstores and make arrangements to get your book on the shelves, and you'll have to decide how to arrange a return policy, pay yourself to print up publicity fliers, etc. Just setting up a website isn't going to help much. I have one self-published book (well, Publish on Demand, which is similar) and I tried to randomly come across it on the internet. I couldn't find it unless I knew what I was looking for.

I'm not saying self-publishing is bad in all cases, just know what you're getting into before you sign anything, and know what is going to be your responsibility. Most self-publishers simply run the printing press for you and very little else.

[Joss]

If you have no idea how to go about promoting, marketing, and advertising a self-published book then you might want to hold off from it. There's nothing wrong with self-pubbing, as long as you understand the pros and cons. There are self-pubbed authors who are happy with their choice. I suggest you research ways in which to get your book out there, possibly find a forum of other self-pubbed, indy authors.

Self-publishing isn't a rip-off in and of itself. A vanity press, like PublishAmerica, can be rip-off if they try to deceive you into thinking it's a traditional publisher, when it's really a vanity publisher. Unfortunately, it's publishers like that that give all vanity/self-publishing a bad name. You want to stay away from those publishers.

Sure, you can do whatever you want to try to sell your book. The thing is that you still need to promote it. How are you going to get people to know you and your book exist? Your website isn't going to come out of thin air to them, so are you going to get them to know about your website? Don't forget twitter and facebook. Many authors and writers are on there. Participate in some of the writer chats that happen weekly (follow some writers and you'll find the hash tags for these chats), follow other writers and authors on twitter. Many will follow you back. Get a facebook page going for your book and start friending people on facebook, especially other writers and people who like to read the genre you write. You have to be proactive in making friends and networking on social sites. Start commenting on other writers blogs and follow them. The link on your name will lead back to your own blog. Just don't go spamming your book, website, or blog on the other writers blog. No one likes spam. Instead, make meaningful comments about what they posted. That's how you get noticed. Follow some book review blogs and comment on those posts. If you become a regular, the blog's owner might begin recognizing you and if you get in good you might be able to do a guest blog post and include your book in that post. Guest blogging is another way to get attention for your book, but it has to be a blog with a lot of followers, not just john blows blog who only has 10 followers. The most popular book review blogs are hard to get a guest spot in because commercially published authors are vying for a chance to guest blog, so competition will be stiff. Also, be prepared to give reviewers a free copy of your ebook and ask them to review it on their blog.

BTW, I agree with the firs poster. 3 agents is nothing. If you're ready to give up now then i wonder if you're really ready for publishing. But, I wonder if you're giving up easily because you want to be published NOW. In that case, why waste your time, go ahead and self-publish if that's what you want. Otherwise, you'll need to prepare to hurry up and wait if you want to break into pubishing. For all we know, you queried these agents 4 days ago and are just impatient. Publishing isn't for the impatient. I can take up to 2 years from the time you sign a publishing contract to the time your book is released. This isn't counting the time it'll take you to find an agent, which can be many months by itself. Then you spend time editing your work before your agent sends it out and then you hurry up and wait some more before you begin hearing back from publishers, which can take many more months. Get the picture? Publishing is a slow business. If you're too impatient for it then you might be better off self-publishing if all you want is to see your name on the cover of a book. Just remember that once you self-publish, no real publisher or literary agent will consider this book unless you sell more than 5,000 copies, and it can be verified. Otherwise, if you decide you want to be traditionally published sometime in the future then you'll have to start over with a new book.

GL.

[artphotosforsale]

It depends on the nature of your book, your publishing skills and how you go about it.

With vanity presses there is the risk that you will never recoup your vanity fee. Their marketing is usually minimal and their editing may be very basic as well. Realize, getting your book listed with amazon or other online stores is a means of distribution, but does not constitute marketing.

There are companies who will simply print on demand what you send them, which means you will not be risking a large vanity fee. However, you must have the skills to do your own layout and editing. You also must market the book yourself. If it's a niche book, this may be relatively easy and cheap. If it's a more general book such as a novel, marketing it well can be difficult and costly.

I did a niche book more because I saw a need for it than because I thought I'd make money. So far, I've made about $700, not a lot, but it's something and hopefully there will be more to come. All sales were through retail outlets.