I pulled the e-publish trigger for my romances

ccarver30 · Oct 25, 2011

I self-published to amazon. I feel a little guilty about giving up on traditional publishing but my work is out in the world now!! Isn't that the point... Kind of?

Have any of you been picked up by an agent AFTER e-self-publishing?

Sheryl Nantus · Oct 25, 2011

I believe there's a thread up on the Kindleboards about many SP's who have gotten an agent.

So I'd say it can be done. Done well, though.... getting an agent isn't the same as getting a publishing deal. Not to mention that you need to keep producing quality books for said agent.

Evangeline · Oct 26, 2011

Agents--and publishers--only care about numbers. If you're selling very well and creating lots of buzz as an e-published or self-published author, going that route would never hurt your chances of attracting a traditional publishing deal.

Fruitbat · Oct 26, 2011

No expert here, but my understanding is that realistically speaking, self-published is usually it for that manuscript. Unless it sells wildly, which is rare for self-published fiction by an unknown. (and then if you were selling that well and getting such a high percentage of the profits, maybe you wouldn't even want an agent). However, let's not forget that most novels do not sell at all. But, assuming they are well-written and well-edited, having more than one out there should help some. And, however it goes, this is just up to now, not your whole future. That's my two coppers.

Congrats, and enjoy. How exciting!

scarletpeaches · Oct 26, 2011

One assumes when you talk about epublishing, you mean self-publishing.

I'm epublished but definitely not (nor ever will be) self-published. And if you're referring to getting an agent for the book you've just released, that's very, very unlikely.

Evangeline said:
Agents--and publishers--only care about numbers. If you're selling very well and creating lots of buzz as an e-published or self-published author, going that route would never hurt your chances of attracting a traditional publishing deal.

My initial reaction was to say "Well done on insulting an entire industry," but there are so many shitty books out there that sell because of the author's name, so... :Shrug:

ccarver30 · Oct 26, 2011

Thanks for the comments!

escritora · Oct 26, 2011

I have 3 books for sale at amazon.com! Please check them out and support a dream!
The Duchess' Ring
A Precise Moment
Stone and Glass

Hyperlink the titles to the Amazon page so people can click over and make a purchase.

ccarver30 · Oct 26, 2011

escritora said:
Hyperlink the titles to the Amazon page so people can click over and make a purchase.

Done- Thanks.

<3

Dancre · Oct 26, 2011

Ahh . . . CC don't beat yourself up. it's ok to do epublishing. Not a big deal. A book is a book, whether it's epublished, traditional published or self published. So what's the point? You keep going one step at a time. This might be epublished, but the next one will probably be traditional, if that's what you want. you learned a lot from the epublishing, right? So take that into the next novel. It's always one baby step at a time and that's ok. Keep going, give yourself a goal. If you want traditional, then make that your goal. The next one will be traditional, I'm sure.

ccarver30 said:
I feel a little guilty about giving up on traditional publishing but my work is out in the world now!! Isn't that the point... Kind of?

Have any of you been picked up by an agent AFTER e-publishing?

scarletpeaches · Oct 26, 2011

Epublishing is to do with format and is not to be confused with self-publishing. The two are completely different things.

Jersey Chick · Oct 26, 2011

Remember, epublishing =/= self-publishing. They can be two entirely different things.

ccarver30 · Oct 26, 2011

I SELF PUBLISHED ON LINE.

I do not have a contract/agent/anyone but family that cares. lol

SafetyDance · Oct 26, 2011

I work in publishing, and numbers are, for the most part, the bottom line. I'm also a writer and thus find that a bit depressing, but it's the truth--even in the fast-growing area of e-publishing.

So if you self-publish and sell a huge number of copies, yes, you may well garner agent attention (perhaps for that book, perhaps for future works). But we're talking thousands and thousands of copies. How often does this happen? I wish I had a percentage, but if I did, it'd be very low. This is why traditional publishing is a better route to garnering an agent's interest (if you didn't have one already): you have a better chance of bigger sales.

ccarver30 · Oct 26, 2011

SafetyDance said:
I work in publishing, and numbers are, for the most part, the bottom line. I'm also a writer and thus find that a bit depressing, but it's the truth--even in the fast-growing area of e-publishing.

So if you self-publish and sell a huge number of copies, yes, you may well garner agent attention (perhaps for that book, perhaps for future works). But we're talking thousands and thousands of copies. How often does this happen? I wish I had a percentage, but if I did, it'd be very low. This is why traditional publishing is a better route to garnering an agent's interest (if you didn't have one already): you have a better chance of bigger sales.

But with self-publishing, you have a better chance at *A* sale. lol

SafetyDance · Oct 26, 2011

ccarver30 said:
But with self-publishing, you have a better chance at *A* sale. lol

As in, you know your work will be published? Well yeah. But if only seven people download it, that's a heck of a lot of writing, editing, formatting, design and promo time gone to waste.

I'm not against self-pub--heck, I just self-pubbed a novella to compliment/promote my upcoming published novels--but you have to be realistic. You're tossing your goat in with the velociraptors, so to speak.

ccarver30 · Oct 27, 2011

SafetyDance said:
As in, you know your work will be published? Well yeah. But if only seven people download it, that's a heck of a lot of writing, editing, formatting, design and promo time gone to waste.

I'm not against self-pub--heck, I just self-pubbed a novella to compliment/promote my upcoming published novels--but you have to be realistic. You're tossing your goat in with the velociraptors, so to speak.

Totally agree.

Fruitbat · Oct 28, 2011

SafetyDance said:
You're tossing your goat in with the velociraptors, so to speak.

But... um?

ccarver30 · Oct 28, 2011

DedeCraig said:
Amanda Hocking is a good case in point - self published - made millions then went on to sell her work to Martin's Press. Rare, but not impossible.
Some suggest using different pen names when submitting for traditional publishing...

I'm getting married in January so that'll work out great. lol

Irysangel · Oct 28, 2011

There are a few romance authors crossing over back to print - HP Mallory and Heather Killough-Walden are both self-pubbed and going to come out via NY publishing soon. But they both hit the NYT and sold a TON of books before getting an agent that approached NYC publishers.

ccarver30 · Oct 28, 2011

Trust me, I am not holding my breath!

brainstorm77 · Jan 31, 2012

I wish you the best of luck.

I've published with e publishers and self-published. Do what works best for you

Stacia Kane · Jan 31, 2012

Evangeline said:
Agents--and publishers--only care about numbers. If you're selling very well and creating lots of buzz as an e-published or self-published author, going that route would never hurt your chances of attracting a traditional publishing deal.

scarletpeaches said:
My initial reaction was to say "Well done on insulting an entire industry," but there are so many shitty books out there that sell because of the author's name, so...

Sorry, how is that insulting, to say that agents and publishers only care about numbers when it comes to this situation? (Or any situation, really; editors acquire books because they love them and think they're good enough to sell in big numbers.) Of course there are books out there that sell huge numbers because of the author's name; you might think they're shitty, but all those readers buying them don't, and readers are the ones whose opinions matter.

The fact is, a self-published book that sells very well has a chance at being sold to a major house because its numbers are good. A self-published novel that hardly sells at all has very little to no chance, because there's no demonstrated demand for it.

I don't think Evangeline was being insulting at all, and I certainly don't think that was her intent.

Deb Kinnard · Feb 1, 2012

Trouble is, with some of the (ahem) less than stellar fic out there, the reader doesn't know it's junk until after they buy and start reading. A book with a big celebrity name on the cover, whether he or she wrote one word of it or not, is assumed to be big sales territory. Think Sucky, or whatever that wench's name is. That's where the large promo bucks go, and the hype, and the attention. Because let's not forget publishing is a business that must show a profit quarter by quarter, year by year.

Yeah, it's too bad the print market seems to be in a contraction phase right now. For my book that's available both in e-format and print, my e-sales are by far the larger number. If I knew what to do about self/e-publishing, I would be jumping alongside you.

Nobody knows how this is going to play out over the next year, much less 2-5 years ahead. Could be there will no longer be any perception of stigma attached to self/e-publishing; maybe we'll all be in that mode and comparing totally different "You ain't gonna believe this one!" stories. We'll see.

Susie · Feb 1, 2012

Congrats 'n way2go, cc. Calls for :Cake:

s!

Filmfeline · Feb 1, 2012

Jersey Chick did you sell all the books in your signature? I'm impressed, very nice. Congratulations to the soon to be bride above and Deb I too have a similar illness - Joshinides. I don't know what you take for Grobanaides, but do share.
As for epublishing or self publishing. I'm seriously considering that right now. I was talking to a published author and he said the only draw back for him was distribution. The stores will supposedly only speak to distributors... anyway, I'm still reading up on it. I expcted to open a really long thread on this subject, but it's pretty short. Hm...

I pulled the e-publish trigger for my romances

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