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Hope for self-publishers!
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Andy wrote: "Onelildeltagirl wrote: "Hello, I'm new as of today. I self-published a poetry book through BookSurge.com. the end of 2008 and it's still sitting there. "The Silver Dragon (Hepatitis Awareness Poe..."Thank you, Andy for the warm welcome and the well wishes for my book. I’m happy that I found this group and wish I had found you all sooner. I had thought about doing some short readings on my web page; would that be the same thing as a trailer? I would have never thought about looking on the net for Chapbook publishers but I will pursue it for promotion ideas, as you suggested. It’s wonderful to be able to communicate with someone in Scotland. Thank you so much for your help, VickieG
Oh, by the way,I can make You Tube type trailers, depending on complexity and whether or not licensed music can be obtained, they can be rather inexpensive. Of course, some of my animated ones can get a bit costly, mostly for the time it takes to animate them.
I will keep that in mind, Dave. Thank you for the suggestions. I have a lot of work to do to lengthen these poems and make them doable. Unfortunately today is errand day and I will not be able to work on them until later this evening. All help is most appreciated. Thanks, vickieG
Dave wrote: "Oh, by the way,I can make You Tube type trailers, depending on complexity and whether or not licensed music can be obtained, they can be rather inexpensive. Of course, some of my animated ones can ..."
animation? I tried that and it drove me nuts :P
Once I get my sanity back (ish) I'll try again. It does take a long time to get it right.
Onelildeltagirl wrote: "Andy wrote: "Onelildeltagirl wrote: "Hello, I'm new as of today. I self-published a poetry book through BookSurge.com. the end of 2008 and it's still sitting there. "The Silver Dragon (Hepatitis ..."
Vickie. not trying to sound smart here, but why would someone want to buy the book, when they can hear the poems on website for nothing? Unless your talking about excerpts and only if you've a nice voice.
you could try windows Movie Maker (or others) - get some stock pics relevent to your poems, some relevent music, then voice over with excerpts.
Just a wee suggestion.
I see your point, Andy. Thank you. That's why it's a good idea to talk to people who are in the know. I have so much to learn. No wonder my book is going no where. It's so much easier just to write the words but then, what good are the words without the sharing. VickieG
Onelildeltagirl wrote: "Hello, I'm new as of today. I self-published a poetry book through BookSurge.com. the end of 2008 and it's still sitting there. "The Silver Dragon (Hepatitis Awareness Poetry) My very first book..."How was your experience with BookSurge?
Hi, Debbi. It was ok. We had a few bumps in the process, which delayed my finished book a couple of times but there was no extra charge as the bumps belonged to them. I so wanted my book out before Christmas, and because each send back caused a two week delay, I ended up disregarding a couple things, which I was not real happy about. Since it was my first book, I found myself anxious to get it done. It's not perfect but neither am I, so I guess we match. Are you considering them, or just curious? Did you use them? If so, how was your experience? VickieG
Onelildeltagirl wrote: "Hi, Debbi. It was ok. We had a few bumps in the process, which delayed my finished book a couple of times but there was no extra charge as the bumps belonged to them. I so wanted my book out bef..."I haven't used them, but I'm considering doing so. I was going to use CreateSpace, but their system can't handle the file size of my cover art. When I inquired about it, they referred me to BookSurge. I assume they don't charge authors for publishing services, just editorial and other extras, correct? (Since they're actually a print-on-demand press, I would've assumed they only charged for printing copies of books.) If there's an upfront charge with BookSurge for publishing, I'll probably go with Lulu instead. So, did they charge a fee for publishing your work? Did you have to get your own ISBN?
Ivy wrote: "I'm curious about BookSurge too"Hi, Ivy. It is nice to meet you. They are very nice and walked me through the process step by step. If I didn't understand something, they patiently explained it. There were just some mistakes made and I didn't understand why. Later, my daughter, a graphic artist, said that some of those mistakes could have easily been made. Like I approved my final proof online then they printed my first copy from a previous proof, which still had the errors in it. I was frustrated as Christmas was creep up and I so wanted my extra copies to give to family as gifts. The book turned out nicely and probably no one else will ever notice the mistakes, which didn't get taken out. Thank you for asking. VickieG
From my understanding BookSurge and CreateSpace are both owned by Amazon. I'm publishing though CreateSpace now and BookSurge for some reason keeps emailing me about publishing.
Debbi wrote: "Onelildeltagirl wrote: "Hi, Debbi. It was ok. We had a few bumps in the process, which delayed my finished book a couple of times but there was no extra charge as the bumps belonged to them. I s..."Debbi wrote: "Onelildeltagirl wrote: "Hi, Debbi. It was ok. We had a few bumps in the process, which delayed my finished book a couple of times but there was no extra charge as the bumps belonged to them. I s..."
Debbi wrote: "Onelildeltagirl wrote: "Hi, Debbi. It was ok. We had a few bumps in the process, which delayed my finished book a couple of times but there was no extra charge as the bumps belonged to them. I s..."
Deb, they sell packages. Once you choose a package, the price never changes, unless you have too many changes for them to make then you have to renegotiate the publishing of the book. I was always asking to make sure that there were no extra charges to my corrections. The printing is on demand, as you said and the author only pays a fraction of the cost compared to a buyer. I hope this helps. VickieG
Ivy wrote: "From my understanding BookSurge and CreateSpace are both owned by Amazon. I'm publishing though CreateSpace now and BookSurge for some reason keeps emailing me about publishing."I'm not familiar with CreateSpace. But I learned that Amazon is the parent company of BookSurge, which was started up to do covers for the books. I heard that even if you use Amazon to publish, they will ask you to sign a waver for BookSurge to do your cover. that's why I used Booksurge, to keep it all in one place. I'm a newbie. I could have my facts wrong, but that's what I read on the net. VickieG
It's to the point now where almost all POD printing will go nowhere. Amazon's Book Surge and Ingram's Lightning Source are trying to control the POD market. Both have already been sued numerous times for restraint of trade and other things, but they still keep doing it. Too bad POD printing can't be done the way it was designed to be done. The original concept is that titles would be displayed in actual bookstores, probably electronically, then when a book is decided on, you pay the fee, bing bam boom here's your book. Of course, one would have the option of simply buying a CD of the book, or downloading it online. Most people I know still prefer real books for pleasure reading, though for information type books, they work well online or on screen.
That would save a lot of trees and some trips to the bookstore. We in the rural areas, many miles from the bookstores would like that. VickieG
Has anyone published with Amazon.com's CreateSpace? I am in the process of publishing Dancing On Water the book I wrote last November for NaNoWriMo.com.
I would love to hear from someone who has used this publisher. I have 9 books on Amazon.com, but this is the first time they have done a book for me.
Maryanne
Actually, yes... I have published one book with Create Space and two with Amazon DTP. I have plans to do two more with each process. These are all reprints of some of my older titles, I should note.
Brenna
Glad to hear you are planning to do some more books with them. I guess that means you are happy with them.
Thanks for the feedback Maryanne
Shelagh wrote: "There has been a great deal of talk among group members about self-publishing recently. I posted this message on the Fantasy forum, but received no response, so I thought I would add it here:Preston FM will be serialising Mr. Planemaker's Flying Machine for Chat City.
Pr..."
I don't mind if you haven't, but I would be interested to hear your thoughts if you tuned in to any of the episodes of Mr. Planemaker's Flying Machine. It is now listed on the Preston FM website:
http://www.preston.fm/index.php?option=c...
I have books that are self published and books published by traditional publishers. I have to do publicity for all of them. At times it's best to self publish so you can chose the covers etc. It is easier work with a traditional publisher but they do not do much publicity maryanne
What do New York agents, magazine editors and book publishers look for in new writers? Hello, I’m Bill Manville --former Village Voice columnist, an editor for Helen Gurley Brown at Cosmo, author of six books published by major New York houses -- one a Book-of-the-Month – and columnist for the New York Daily News. Now about to teach “Writing to Get Published” for writers.com Here is what Michael Korda, Editor in Chief, Simon & Schuster, wrote about that: “...the work I know best is your novel Goodbye, which I edited. What first attracted me was the dazzling prose; I was equally impressed by plot and characterization. A considerable literary accomplishment but also a Book of the Month choice, bringing an impressive price at paperback auction. What may also interest your students, I’ve heard you in discussion with writers like Joe Heller, Patricia Bosworth, Lois Gould and Gay Talese, and remember thinking more than once, Bill ought to be teaching it too.”
First class is August 3. For a free online copy of the Writing to Get Published Students Handbook, write me directly: whmanville@yahoo.com:
PS: The Students Handbook contains several first hand reports from people who did self publishing and made their money back, others who did not.
And the reasons why
for more about my own teaching, hit this address
http://www.writers.com/manville.html
CreateSpace did a beautiful job with Dancing On Water.
My friend J.R. Roosenbert, a great artist, did my cover and I am so happy with the final result.
Maryanne
So far, I've had very good luck with Createspace. Very inexpensive and you have full control of your work.
I am very happy with CreateSpace. Dancing In Water was finished in a few months and I love it. Several publishers have asked me for review copies. i look forward to the reviews. I have one review on Amazon.com so far, written by a reader. If I don't do my next book through my agent and a regular publisher I will use CreateSpace.
I am printing my book Dusty Waters: A Ghost Story through Createspace using our own ISBN's from Bowker (my husband and I have started our own company, Field Stone Press), it's been working out okay so far, I can't complain, the rest is up to us to make our little fledgling books take flight...we're actually receiving junk mail!
congratulations on your books published, Jj, Maryanne, Laura. I'll have to investigate Createspace.
Laurel
http://laurel6346.tripod.com
I'm using CreateSpace too, and Smashwords. My blog/IM novel is available for free, for the rest of July!http://www.jesscscott.com
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/28... (coupon code JFREE on checkout)
New media + technology > traditional publishers, for me personally.
I would recommend CreateSpace to any author ready to publish a book. I have an agent but I did not want to wait for the traditional time to sell to a regular publisher. No matter who the publisher is we still have to do most of the publicity. I like having control of the covers. Maryanne
I made my mystery novel, IDENTITY CRISIS, available on Kindle and through Scribd and Smashwords on June 2. Since then, I've sold 109 downloads and counting. I attribute many of the sales to posting notices in Kindle and e-reader forums. Those posts caused an initial spike in sales that has since leveled off, but the sales are still coming, slower but steady.The book is available for Kindle at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002BWQ676 It's gotten some really great reader reviews (some Sue Grafton fans said they loved it!): http://tinyurl.com/ntfujt
I also recently reissued the book in print through Lulu.com: http://www.lulu.com/content/3923913 and it should become available through Amazon and other online retailers within a couple of months.
And while we're on the subject of hope for self-published authors, did you hear the news about the self-pubbed author on Kindle who landed a book deal? http://tinyurl.com/m6em98
Hope for self-published authors indeed. :)
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