Self-e-publishing versus publisher e-publishing

BillWobbleSword · Aug 17, 2011

Hi all,

My apologies if you have covered this topic before.

I've published some books traditionally and now will e-publish them. I want to solicit opinions on whether it's better to go it alone (i.e. do my own cover and e-publish via Smashwords, Amazon, etc.) or to use an e-publisher who takes a cut of the payments.

Is an e-publisher's sales platform (i.e. a listing of the book on it's own website) worth the author's lost percentage of royalties? (Bear in mind, I'm not talking about Random House e-books; I'm talking about the smaller ones that are just now coming into their own.)

Thanks in advance for any responses.

Wesley Kang · Aug 17, 2011

I think a lot depends on how much you are willing to invest in your own promotion. From the little I've heard about self e-publishing, promoting your work is an arduous process, very time consuming. How worth it is it to pay (give a cut to) someone to do it for you? Are you confident that they will do a good job?

I would do some research into small publishers track records before I signed anything. I definitely wouldn't work with a start-up personally.

KathleenD · Aug 17, 2011

Not all epubs take reprints, or if they do, they only do reprints for authors who've published original material with them. But they move a lot of copy by the standards of your average self-pubber.

The small/less-picky epubs don't seem to sell any better than the self-publishers. The really small startups won't do it better than you could do it.

It's really not that hard to format/do a cover yourself - tons of how-to guides out there. It IS a pain in the ass. But it's not 60% of the cover price pain. Also, you could hire someone to do both for a couple hundred bucks.

In other words and solely in my opinion, if it's a choice between a big established epub and doing it yourself, there are a lot of things to consider before you decide. If it's a choice between one of the little/new epubs and DIY, "yourself" wins hands down.

You know best for your book, though!

BillWobbleSword · Aug 17, 2011

Thanks. You are pretty much confirming my suspicions. I think it might be better to hold onto rights and do it all myself, because even if a publisher has a decent launch pad for the books, I'll still have to do almost everything related to promotion myself anyway.

Unimportant · Aug 17, 2011

A respectable e-publisher (like Samhain, Carina, Loose ID) will also bear all of the expenses related to editing, copyediting, layout, and cover art. Many authors are not skilled enough to do those things at a professional level and don't have hundreds/thousands of dollars to invest in hiring professional freelance editors and artists.

These presses also have a certain level of sales associated with their books simply because they are, to use the Samhain example, Samhain books sold on the Samhain website. Most self-publishers don't have that name recognition that will generate immediate sales.

BillWobbleSword · Aug 17, 2011

Very true. As my books were edited before they were paperback published, that doesn't apply to me.

I would use Samhain in a second -- if only I wrote in their genre of note.

juniper · Aug 17, 2011

This recent thread might be of interest to you.

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=221841

I have friends who went with a brand new small ePub and they are pretty much on their own as far as marketing/promotion goes. The ePub did give them free covers, formatting, and limited editing in exchange for a % of the sales.

Other people prefer to do the work themselves, or pay someone else to do it, and keep all of the sales $.

BillWobbleSword · Aug 17, 2011

Excellent. Thanks for the url.

VoireyLinger · Aug 18, 2011

As a republication, I'd go self-pub.

BillWobbleSword · Aug 18, 2011

Hallelujah. Hit 'em with the e-books before the next print book hits the market. Then the famished hordes of e-book buyers will beat a crazed path to my door, throwing money and garters at me.

But alas, I guess they'll have to do the garter-throwing electronically.

bookmaniac · Aug 23, 2011

I think, self-publishing is a good thing. I prefer to be independent.

Sheryl Nantus · Aug 23, 2011

I can't afford to self-publish. Simple as that.

Nightmelody · Aug 23, 2011

I'm with Sheryl--can't afford the editing I want or the covers I would like, figure I do better with e-pubs. Also find most promo opportunities come from the fellow authors w/the pub.

BillWobbleSword · Aug 30, 2011

Inter-nesting. Covers are indeed an issue. Good ones don't grow on trees, and there are a LOT of bad ones out there.

Eva Lefoy · Aug 30, 2011

VoireyLinger said:
As a republication, I'd go self-pub.

Oh VL! You're always saying stuff like that!

Old Hack · Aug 31, 2011

BillWobbleSword said:
Very true. As my books were edited before they were paperback published, that doesn't apply to me.

Before you self-publish the text that was edited by your trade publisher you need to check your contract and ensure that you own the copyright to that edited text. I've seen a lot of contracts which specify or imply that while the writer owns the copyright on the text as a whole, the publisher owns the copyright on the edits--which means that the writer doesn't have the right to self-publish that edited text later, or to offer that edted text to a new publisher once the original rights have reverted.

James D. Macdonald · Aug 31, 2011

Old Hack said:
BI've seen a lot of contracts which specify or imply that while the writer owns the copyright on the text as a whole, the publisher owns the copyright on the edits--which means that the writer doesn't have the right to self-publish that edited text later, or to offer that edted text to a new publisher once the original rights have reverted.

And that, in itself, is an abusive contract.

Strike out any such language before you sign.

Old Hack · Aug 31, 2011

Agreed, Jim. But if we're dealing with new editions of previously-published books it's too late for the author concerned to do that. It's worth thinking carefully about if you have a contract before you, though.

BillWobbleSword · Aug 31, 2011

Yeah. There's no such language in my contracts -- and anyway, I'm looking at this as an the opportunity to revise the texts and fix/improve stuff that I wish I had done the first time around.

But yes, it is an abusive clause -- as are contract amendments that seek to take e-rights for a pittance (I didn't sign 'em).

Barbara R. · Sep 3, 2011

KathleenD said:
It's really not that hard to format/do a cover yourself - tons of how-to guides out there. It IS a pain in the ass. But it's not 60% of the cover price pain. Also, you could hire someone to do both for a couple hundred bucks.

I have the reverted rights to several of my earlier books and would like to make them available as ebooks. They were already fully edited and vetted, but I'll need new covers and formatting. Also, while I have they physical books, I don't have the text for these older books on my hard drive, so they'd have to be scanned or re-entered. Can you or anyone here recommend a reliable service that would do all that and format the books for the various eplatforms?

Thanks!

Library4Science · Sep 6, 2011

I can do the scanning to mobi file conversion and give you the opf file set to make the epub. I have made some epub books but I haven't run them through epubcheck.

Charlie Reese
http://weekly-book-bargains.com/

LIBGirl · Sep 10, 2011

I think most ePubs don't do anything extra for an author that they couldn't do for themselves. You just need to look at sales to see that. From what I"ve seen a pretty good ePub is one that sells about 5000 copies of a book. There are thousands of ePubs out there, and maybe half a dozen who consistently do that for their authors. If you're with one of those, you've done well. If you're not, you might as well do it on your own.

girlyswot · Sep 10, 2011

I've heard good things about B10 Mediaworks: http://b10mediaworx.com/b10mwx/

Nightmelody · Sep 10, 2011

I doubt that very many self pubbed new authors regularly sell 5000 books. If that is a self publisher's expectation, I think they will be very disappointed.

Two hundred dollars is a lot of money to put into a book that is going to compete with a gazillion other .99 and 2.99 self pubbed books. I'll stick with my epublishers, where I don't have to cough up any money at all and take the risk I won't make it back in sales.

Plus, through the epublisher I get on review sites that are closed to self pubbed books, and network w/other authors for promo exchanges, blog tours and other promo opportunities.

Also I work with editors, line editors, cover artists and can learn from all of them without having to pay upfront.

Barbara R. · Sep 10, 2011

Thanks for the link, girlyswot. They mention that they specialize in traditionally published books whose rights have reverted, which is my situation. It seems it's more complicated, or at least requires extra steps, when you have to scan from a printed book instead of using digital files.

Self-e-publishing versus publisher e-publishing

BillWobbleSword

Wesley Kang

the Light of Dawn

KathleenD

New kid, but no need to be gentle.

BillWobbleSword

Unimportant

doggone

BillWobbleSword

juniper

Always curious.

BillWobbleSword

VoireyLinger

Angel Wing Fetish

BillWobbleSword

bookmaniac

Sheryl Nantus

Holding out for a Superhero...

Nightmelody

BillWobbleSword

Eva Lefoy

practical experience, FTW

Old Hack

Such a nasty woman

James D. Macdonald

Your Genial Uncle

Old Hack

Such a nasty woman

BillWobbleSword

Barbara R.

Old Hand in the Biz

Library4Science

LIBGirl

New member, Long time lurker

girlyswot

Nightmelody

Barbara R.

Old Hand in the Biz