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J.D.
(new)
Jul 20, 2015 05:33PM
Has anyone used Page Publishing to get their book published? I saw a commercial on TV for them earlier this evening and it kinda piqued my interest.
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Try submitting to some independent publishers, like Big World Network, or a million other small presses. They tend to take more chances on authors if they writing is there.
I've never heard of them. But you'll end up paying a lot of money for all those services. If you publish your book yourself, you can manage those services yourself and save a lot of money by not having to pay a middleman. Hire your own editor, your own proofreader, your own book cover designer. It's really a pretty easy process to publish one's own book - e-books and print books - and you keep all the control and more of the income.Just my .02 worth... :)
April
I agree with April, but just be careful and know what you are doing. I'm the event coordinator at an Independent bookstore and work with a lot of authors. However, there is great variability (obviously) in the production of self-published books. Readers can spot right off whether a book is published by the Big 5 or all by yourself, and there's no reason you can't have something look just as amazing. Other things authors don't get: pricing and the statement you make when under pricing your book (and e-book). Last, but not least, the area that indie authors (even smart ones) & small presses mess up on is in distribution and why CreateSpace and many of the services do authors the largest disservice in that single area, leaving the Big 5 in control of book-store access, when it *is* possible to have your book distributed successfully-- the tools are out there. If you have any questions, feel free to shoot me a message :) I love helping author succeed.
Drea wrote: "I agree with April, but just be careful and know what you are doing. I'm the event coordinator at an Independent bookstore and work with a lot of authors. However, there is great variability (obv..."Keep in mind, however, that getting your book into a 'big' bookstore may be cost prohibitive. Yes, big names like Barnes and Noble will not stock a book without a buyback policy,but paying out several hundred dollars to take the steps necessary for this to happen does not automatically guarantee your book *will* make it onto their shelves either.
As for readers being able to spot indie vs big 5, well yes, if they look at the publisher's info and it doesn't list a traditional publisher, they can easily tell the book was not published by a traditional publisher. I don't know anyone who actually cares who the publisher of the books they read is ouside of some specific genre markets like Harlequin or Tor.
However,I took your comment to mean that you were implying that indie books are in some way inferior to those published by large corporations and aside from that not being the case, it is not the type of remark that is inline with the spirit of Support Indie Authors. We are here to help and support each other by maintaining a positive and safe environment.
Drea is right, when she says "However, there is great variability (obviously) in the production of self-published books." Some indie-published books aren't produced to professional standards, i.e., they aren't adequately edited, proofread, and laid out. Or, they don't have well designed covers, etc... Unfortunately, self-published books have a reputation for having these problems. Over time, this will improve, as self-publishers realize they need to take these steps. If any of these steps are skipped, it will be obvious that the book was self-published. However, having said that, a self-published book that is well produced would, at least on the surface, be indistinguishable from a traditionally published book.I wouldn't say that readers can spot right off when a book's self-published - not if the indie book was produced to professional standards. Some indie books are produced quite well, to professional standards. That's something all indie authors should strive for.
April
True or not(and again, opinions are not fact), it's a sweeping negative claim and is not constructive, helpful, or on topic. There are plenty of other places where such comments are welcome, but Support for Indie Authors is not one of them.
And some take time to get over the learning curve on editing/publishing. It takes a whole separate skillset to publish than it does to just write.
I started seeing the commercials for this as well. I'd never seen a publisher commercial before so that alone would leave me wondering. If people are right about it being a vanity press then it would be best to look into them and do as much research as possible.Not saying all vanity presses are bad but I was part of one for my first book years ago and it was disastrous. So yeah, I'd say if your curious about them look them up and then look on Preditors and Editors to see what they think.
As with any other business out there, publishing companies are in business to make money...I use one to produce my books and find it worth the cost to free myself from so many of the onerous duties that come with self publishing. It leaves me more time to focus on the creative side--like writing. But if you choose to go that route, do your research. Not all publishing companies are created equal. They don't all provide the same quality of service, the same types of services, and some do charge outrageous rates. If you feel comfortable doing it all yourself, that's great. You'll save yourself a lot of money.
It's a damned Catch-22.Either save money by doing all the stuff myself, even though I might not necessarily be that good at any of it, or let other people handle the stuff I'm not great at and spend money I may not have.
One of the big companies needs to stumble upon my book and offer me a contract already. :P
J.D. wrote: "It's a damned Catch-22.Either save money by doing all the stuff myself, even though I might not necessarily be that good at any of it, or let other people handle the stuff I'm not great at and sp..."
Well there are definitely services out there that are legit, but when it comes to vanity presses, there's almost enough of a stigma against them that it would be counter productive to use one. Justin's right, the information is out there and I would suggest heavy research before handing money over to anyone.
