Goodreads Authors/Readers discussion
Author Resource Round Table
>
Agent, solo, or self publish?
date
newest »
newest »
If you are going to take up writing as a career, I advise against self-publication. However, if your book is for commercial purposes, then go for self-publication. I assume that you want to take up writing as a lifelong career. It will not be easy getting a publisher for a first-time author. When you think publishers, think money. You are not a name in the industry as yet. What will any publisher gain by investing money in your work? Who will buy your book? For any first-time author, your best bet is to find an agent. This is not going to be an easy task though. That is why it is advisable for people who are new in the industry to get reputation by first publishing in litrary magazines, journals and award winning prizes.
Thanks, I was actually leaning towards self-publication, so your post definitely helped. I'm a biology major mostly doing writing as a hobby until I decided to really throw myself into it by finishing an entire novel, so I don't actually have much practical or even theoretical experience in the field. Would the best way of gaining rep simply be finding journals and magazines and submitting stuff that hopefully gets published in them? Or is there a bit more to it than that? (Of course, I'm making it sound simple here. Obviously even getting published in those journals is an ordeal, too)
I have more than a few short stories written up already, so it wouldn't be that difficult to send them out, if that's all I have to do in theory. Or I've noticed a lot of indie authors popping up in ebook bundles lately. Would it be a good idea to follow that route to gain reputation while applying to agents and publishers who can already see my current works selling? (assuming they do sell, that is)
What path you takes depends what your ultimate goal is. Do you want to see your book sitting on a shelf? Do you want professionals to guide you through editing, cover art, marketing? Then query agents and go the route of a traditional deal with a large publisher.Do you want full control over every aspect of the process? Do you have the funds to pay for cover art, editors, proof readers and formatting? Do you have the time to market and advertise? Then self publish.
Some genres sell better as e-books, some sell better in paperback. There is no right or wrong, just whichever path suits you best and your goals.
What about doing a best of both worlds type thing, where while I look for an agent, I upload my books as ebooks and promote them myself? Theoretically, I could do it all with the resources I have available, but it's always different in practice. Ideally, I'd love to quit my job and write full time, which would mean that I'd have plenty of time to do everything myself. Unfortunately, i know that's a long way off and probably an unrealistic goal, so I should work for the short term right now.
Does it happen frequently where an author starts out self published on kindle and amazon and whatnot and then gets picked up by an actual publisher? Or is that rare and ebook vs. paper are pretty much separate fields?
The majority of agents will not touch a self published book unless it has significant sales. You would need to sell in excess of 10,000 units (and some agents say 20,000 +) at a price point of $2.99 or higher. Once you publish you are no longer a debut author, have used your first rights and have a sales history. All factors which influence a publishers decision whether to acquire your story or not.This is why you need to do your research and decide on a route first. You can spend time querying agents and self publish if you change your mind, but it is very difficult to go the other way if you self publish first.
I'll echo the first reply. If you want to make a career of it, then aim for traditional publishing. This starts with an agent. Most publishers won't touch your MS unless it comes from an agent.Something like 50% of agented books get published. Very few of non-agented authors ever do. Which doesn't mean their books are bad - Goodreads is proof of the contrary. But it means they haven't broken through the noise, and need to try the self-publishing route.
On getting one, here's a blog post I'd done about it a while back, which is how I went about it:
http://www.parisbookdoctors.com/how-t...
Thanks, this is exactly the kind of advice I was looking for. What I'll probably do is finish up editing my full length book, and then send out my short stories while looking for an agent.
While I have plenty of experience writing, I have absolutely no experience (outside of scientific journals) getting published.