An author with an established fanbase and out-of-print stuff, or new stuff that’s been professionally edited, is perfectly justified to self-publish in the current climate.

For new authors; forget it…

You’re the only author I still buy paper for.. everything else is all digital from now on.

ps- I would also buy Deluge when it is finished!

Scott Nicholson

The resurgence theory makes sense, but then there’s the same question of why books get bumped off the shelves in the first place. Limited space. New products. Midlist authors are squeezed between the flood of this month’s releases and the stacked bricks of Twilight, Potter, King, Koontz, Brown, and Janet Evanovich.

Ebooks don’t have this problem. But right now ereaders are skewed toward thrillers, SF, technofiction and Christian fiction, based on my observations of the past few weeks. I’ve been brainstorming lots of ideas about this new frontier, but believe it or not, I think the ebook window is really only about 5 to 10 years, and then everything can be stolen so easily that writers will face the problems of musicians, except we can’t give concerts (unless we’re Brian Keene, members of SMASH-CUT, or the few other authors who have a true cult following).

I don’t think reading will be dead, and I think there will be bookstores and paper books and ebooks. But I think there will be a ton of other things as well. A new type of storytelling no one’s figured out yet (this from trying to squeeze comic books onto the current ereaders–can’t even imagine what a phone screen would do to them).

I guess the larger issue is self-reliance versus needing “the big boys,” as Tim called them. At what point do you need big boys if you’re a big boy yourself? I keep thinking how Stephen King put out The Plant and seemed scared by the power he had…he couldn’t even finish it. I think the prospects were too unmooring. Practically everything he’d built his career on had shifted with a few strokes of the keyboard. And this was, what, 10 years ago?

JA Konrath is the perfect example of a writer who became the new industry–feet in both worlds. I think the major publishers were a little intimidated by what he was doing so they jumped on his bandwagon before it left without them. Scott Sigler, Dave Wellington, Cory Doctorow, others. And they are not even a real heavyweights on the order of King-Koontz-Patterson. Makes you wonder.

Here are some points that seem to be jumping off the page:

1) Fans will buy your work regardless of the pipe it travels.

2) Tim Lebbon says: “Don’t release Ishtar… you don’t want to explain poor sales the next time you’re talking business with the big boys.

3) John Shipp says: “If you don’t swing the bat, you’ll never hit a homerun.”

4) A.P Fuchs & Carlton Mellick III are saying, “Do it, but don’t go cheap, easy and fast (Lulu & CreateSpace), turn it into an occupation, because in the end you’ll earn more money (assuming you don’t lose money not writing that next book).

5) Colum says: “Start a super group.”

6) Ron Clinton backs that up, pointing out United Artists.

7) Jon F. Merz says: “I made 10 grand. How do you like them apples?”

I’m going to say this:

If you want to become a publisher, listen to A.P. and Mellick.

If you want to run an organization, listen to Colum.

If you want to stick extra money into your pocket without a million headaches, listen to your fans, Tim, John & Jon. Here’s why:

If you release one of your early books on CreateSpace, you won’t have to talk numbers with the big boys, you fans will still buy it, you might hit a homerun, you might stick an extra $10,000 into your pocket, it won’t turn into a big, time gobbling headache, and––because CreateSpace signed with Ingram––Borders & Waldenbooks (and whoever else) will be able to stock the title.

And… the buyers in those stores know who you are. Hell, if you spent a day firing off emails to those buyers, the title would likely have a resurgence. Worst case scenario, the book doesn’t sell. Big deal. At least you didn’t waste much time, or money, or put a question mark into that next business meeting. At least you stepped up to the plate and took a swing.

But what do I know?

I’m drunk.

Just my 2cents….but as long as you did a nice job making it a truely nice collectible, I see no problem with trying self publishing. Seems like more of the profits would be yours to keep. You may or may not be rediculed by your peers, but I wouldn’t know about that part. Ask them….you know them. (Ask Coop….if he says not to give a fuck, then don’t…this life is for you anyway. Can’t care too much of your peers opinions anyway).

Jade

However, self-publishing new material… Might that not lead to some writers bypassing the usual editorial process? I’ve seen a lot of work by pro-writers before an editor has polished it, and it’s not as good as one might expect. I’d need to be reassured that the words are of the same quality I’d get from a reputable publisher before shelling out my hard-earned cash on a self-published title.

Then onto the cost of promotion. With a fanbase like yours it’s not that much of an issue unless you want to widen your fanbase to increase sales so you can pay off those services you hired to help get it done right before the book hit print. You want to start seeing profit after forking out three grand or more for editing and artwork. The harsh reality of self-publishing is that it’s not generally a good way to make money without putting out money and doing a lot of what your mmpb publisher does behind the scenes. If you want some good reading material google The Celestine Prophecy. That is a self-publishing success story. The author had already sold hundreds of thousands of copies before being bombarded by offers from publishing houses and sold a million copies after appearing on Oprah. I think the best think to do would be to do serious research on success vs cost of individual self-publishers and ask around at your current publishing houses in regards to how self-publishing might affect your relationship with them.

Best wishes if you do get into it. I’ll probably pick up a copy if it’s under $20.

I’m not sure if I have the time to “do it right,” though, so I haven’t really pursued it.

But this has gotten me thinking again …

And, also, I realized that my comment is about self publishing in general, not the crux of what Bryan was asking in his post. I don’t see it as self publishing in an exact sense if you’re republishing a reprint that has gone the other route first. Personally, I think there are a lot of older titles by veteran writers I’d love to see back in print. T.M. Wright instantly comes to mind.

Take a moment to browse the poetry section at Barnes and Noble (yes, they do have one). There, more than any other place in the store you see established writers rubbing book covers with iUniverse and Publish America. Everybody from the mega poetry “brand names” like Maya Angelou and Robert Bly to some of the more lesser knowns (to people outside poetry) like Frank Bidart, Marie Howe, and Paul Guest to Blue Mountain Arts greeting card hacks can be found there. And you know what, I have yet to see a self published book of poetry on those shelves that is actually of any quality.

But then again, it gets back to a few drums I often beat publically. A lot of people who claim to write poetry don’t know a whole lot about it, as a genre, a literary heritage, or a cultural phenomenon. But, yet somehow, it’s okay to pen a bunch of navel gazing drivel, self publish it, and call yourself a “poet” because you’re talking about “feelings” and such.

I don’t want to be somebody who takes a crap on somebody because they wanted to collect their personal writings together into one volume. If that fulfills an emotional need, good for them. But the instant it gets marketed to me as “poetry” … well then.