Bypassing E-Publishers And Uploading Your E-Book Yourself

Yes. Yes, you can do that. But there are a number of pitfalls. You might want to read the experience of bestselling, multi-published author Patricia Simpson who decided to try this. You'll get some idea of what's involved.

I know that if Samhain sells my ebooks I can expect thousands of sales. My website doesn't even get that many hits. YMMV.

The statistics are not in favor of self-publishing when it comes to genre markets. Not only will a publisher offer more exposure as Veinglory pointed out, but they will give you a credible track record for the future.

Kerry

I think that self-publishing falls into the category of something you do because you have to, not because you want to. If you check the internet, as I have, you will find a lot of personal stories by new authors who can't quite break into the traditional publishing world, and they end up trying either print on demand or ebook publishing. Some more experienced writers who've had trouble keeping an agent or publisher happy with their sales have described their experiences as well. The story Cathy C pointed out is very typical.

You seemed from your question to suggest that making more money is a motivation for self-publishing, but that's rarely the case, particularly for fiction writers. It's usually more of a last resort when you can't find a professional publisher who wants to take a chance on you.

Nevertheless, self-publishing is economically vialble now, unlike for most of the last hundred years. By that I mean you can do it for a very low cost because of print on demand technology and ebook publishing. You're probably not going to make much money, but twenty years ago, self-publishing could have cost you tens of thousands of dollars. Ebook publishing is much cheaper and more profitable for the author, but the market for ebooks is still miniscule compared to printed books. If you look into print on demand carefully, you'll see that it's very difficult to make much money per book, even if you price it at $14. And you can forget selling in bookstores. It's theoretically possible, but there is almost no profit for the author after everybody else has taken their cut.

I think the main problem with self-publishing today, however, is that you have to become a marketing expert to keep your book visible in the vast ocean of the internet. You can find lots of advice on the internet about how to market your book at a lower cost, but those things typically take huge blocks of time away from writing and living your life. You will still have to market if you find a professional publisher, of course, but they will give you some help. If you self-publish, it's all on you.

In addition to all the marketing you need to do as a self-publisher, you have to become fairly adept at Photoshop Elements (your book cover), Dreamweaver CS4 (your website), Word (your manuscript), and editing your own work (my own personal bugaboo). There's a reason traditional publishers have so much overhead! They have experts on staff to do all these things, and it's expensive and very time consuming.

The bottom line seems to be that it's still best to try and find a traditional agent and publisher if you can. If not, self-publishing is at least feasible if not the road to riches. Good luck.

One thing is that Amazon keeps a good percentage of the profits of ebooks. For my Kindle books, priced at $7, I only get $2.35. Personally, I think $7 for an ebook from an unknown is a little steep. Which is why I exclusively use smashwords these days, where I get 85% of the price I set. Unless you are going to make pdfs and sell directly from your website, you're not going to get 100% of the profits. Even paypal is going to take some money off the top if you use them.

Comparing epubs to self pubs is something I don't know if many have done. I can point you to some successful people who publish online. MCM (1889.ca) is one and so is Alexandra Erin (talesofmu.com). It's possible to make some money self-pubbing digitally. But it's not probable.

Interesting -- I'd never considering anything but publishing and marketing my e-book myself, via Adobe & my own sites! I'm not surprised Amazon takes such a big chunk of the profits.....they pay affiliates nothing when e-books are sold through affiliate sites...but I thought e-books weren't a big money maker for Amazon ??

The Kindle is Amazon's best selling product. I suspect ebooks are an increasingly important income stream for them.

In some respects, for authors like J.A. Konrath, I suspect that ebooks are an increasingly important income stream for them too.

In all seriousness, with the increasing capabilities of cell phones and the cell phone-ization of the world that is currently occurring I suspect that ebooks are going to become an increasingly important revenue stream for a great many publishers and authors everywhere in the not too distant future.

Hi, Laurie ~

I'll be uploading several manuscripts to Kindle this weekend, and am a complete newbie to the process. (The books are published by a traditional small press, but they're behind the curve with e-publishing and have granted rights to upload to Kindle; maybe they'll release all digital rights and I can do smashwords, etc., too.)

Anyway, I've converted the PDF to Word (which was QUITE the process), and now I'm wondering what the best format (font, size, etc.) is for e-books?

Do you have words of wisdom, or could you point me in the right direction with regard to finding answers to these basic e-book, and specifically Kindle, questions?

Thanks much.

I was just at Conestoga 14 in Tulsa, catching up with a few old friends and I happened to mention to Selena Rosen of Yard Dog Press that I thought I might be e-pubbing a book via Smashwords this July. Her response, essentially "Don't do it!".

Her argument was that it would essentially be the kiss of death if I ever wanted to print pub the book in the future with anyone and that it would mark me and my work forever more.

Now, she did state that she was unaware of Smashwords or what they were doing, but it was clear she considered them a vanity publisher and akin to Publish America.

I found this disturbing on a number of levels and may have to seriously reconsider my plans if this is what other publishers are thinking (tomorrow night I'm hoping to get with the publisher for Sam's Dot and sound him out regarding my book).

100% of nothing is nothing. Just sayin'...

Well, Smashwords is self-publishing, I think that is pretty self-evident.

Because a self-published e-book by a new, unknown writer might sell 5-10 copies.

That book will not sell to a publisher, because they consider it to already be "in print" and they generally don't want "reprints."

If that writer is very lucky and spends a lot of time and effort promoting it (instead of writing) and the writer's friends and family want to support her dream of being a writer, she might sell 20 copies.

The successful examples of e-books mentioned here as being an important income stream are for writers who are long established Names in the print publishing world.

I would buy an e-book from Konrath. He has a track record. (His ebooks are his out of print titles, not new books.)

I would not buy an e-book from Janey Loubeth Smithikins.

I've never heard of her. Why should I spend money on an unknown? If she was any good as a writer, why did she self-publish? Couldn't she sell anything? Why didn't she submit work to royalty-paying e-publishers of repute? Or did she try that and get rejected and instead of improving her craft she self-published--and on and on and on.

Harsh stuff, but it's best to get the reality check out of the way from the start.

100% of the profit on 5-10 sales is NOT worth your time and effort.

Sure, you might get listed on Amazon, but NO ONE knows you. Your promotion will most likely be seen as spam by people like me.

At least with a reputable e-book publisher you will have a larger presence on the Net, you will get decent editing, and many more sales than you would on your own.

Go to this page: SHOW ME THE MONEY. Several e-houses like Wild Rose Press and Ellora's Cave are listed, along with the kind of money the writers get for their work. Always look at the smaller numbers, as that's about all a new writer can expect.


Also--it is a rookie mistake to start at the bottom in publishing. You start at the TOP and work your way down.

When you finish a book you find the biggest house on publisher's row, check their guidelines and submit to them.

You never know, they might like it and pay you some real money!


Now I'll tell you about my self-pub venture:

I did a short novel strictly for my fans, saved my money, and had it printed to sell exclusively from my website. It isn't on Amazon, it isn't in stores, just my website.

I knew that to get back my investment I would need to sell 200 copies. I was certain I would, since I've been a professionally selling writer since the late 80s. People have heard of me.

It's almost a year after release. I've sold almost 500 copies.

For a self-pub effort it is a runaway best seller.

But compared to book released through a publishing house, it's a miserable failure.

My latest book with a large publishing house sold 500-1000 copies on the first DAY of release. I got a nice advance for it, too.

Go with the money. The REAL money. Write something worth buying and sell it to a publisher or snag an agent to sell it for you. Then 20 years later you can try self-publishing for a hobby.

And stay away from Publish America--they're a tar pit. Serious bad guys.

Gilhoughly, I'm not a total nov nor a complete idiot and I do appreciate the advice (and all the other advice I've received from everyone here and elsewhere).

After placing a partial+synopsis in the hands of the managing editor/publisher of Sam's Dot Publishing, carefully considering Serena Rosen's (Yard Dog Press) advice from last night, and having the same Sam's Dot publisher ask me to send him one of my short stories Monday along with an electronic copy of the partial+synopsis), I have placed all other potential considerations of e-publishing on indefinite hold (and even edited my avie and signature to reflect this).

I'm serious about what I do and my work. I believe in it and I'm working to become a better craftsman in this art.

I may be a curmudgeonly old sort, but I like to think even an old dog like me can learn a few things still.

If I gained nothing else from attending Conestoga 14 and talking to the people I did there, I at least gained a better insight into what publishers, even micro-publishers, think about things.

Remember, just uploading a book doesn't sell it. If you decide to upload it yourself (self-pub) Do the following

- Research the market
- Consider pricing structure
- Write a marketing plan
- Research some more
- Implement your marketing plan

If you don't have a valid and operable marketing plan that gives you at least 4 months lead time to build book buzz - you may end up very disappointed.

I think Gilloughly might be painting the picture a little too dim for us self-publishers. For instance, my self-pubbed ebooks, with minimal marketing, certainly nothing I pay for, generally sell at least 30-40 copies, which really isn't much at all, but it is more than 20.

I also don't think the general public can much tell whether or not you're a self-published author and I don't think they care as much as authors and publishers do. Also, if you self-publish one book, it does kill that book for commercial publishing, but it doesn't kill every book you will ever write. If it's an extreme case, you can always publish under another name.

Gilloughly says, "Go with the money." I say if the reason you're writing is because you want to make money, stop writing. Most writers don't make much money. Very few make enough to make a living solely from writing, even if they are published commercially.

I don't recommend self-publishing to anyone. It's hard work, there's next to no pay off for all of it, and no one respects you in the morning. But for me, it's worth it because I have readers. Not many, sure. But those reader comments, even the negative ones, beat the pants off form rejections any day.

FOTSGreg--my reply was directed at blakers81. His questions were valid; I asked them myself back in the day.

No one here is an idiot, nor did I use that word in my post. I reserve that appellation/definition exclusively for the greedsters who run PublishAmerica, not for fellow writers.

I'm glad you're following Selena's advice. She's a damned smart publisher and editor (and one of my drinkin' buddies) and I have nothing but respect for her. I almost went to Connestoga this weekend, but I had to write. Guess I'll see my Oklahoma buds at SoonerCon this summer if things go well.

I say if the reason you're writing is because you want to make money, stop writing.

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I write for money.

I finally got off my arse and finished my first novel because I wanted to money buy a used car. Which I did. Later, I made enough to buy a new car. Later still, I made enough for the down payment on my house.

This year I hope to make enough to pay off my house.

But I'd write anyway.

It's better to get paid for it.

Yes, most pros don't make a lot of money at it and keep their day jobs, but I do pretty well for a mid-lister. I should have a day job--at least I'd have health insurance and a regular check. Bad me, no cookie.

reader comments, even the negative ones, beat the pants off form rejections any day.

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Yes, getting reader comments is better than collecting rejections, but rejections made me work harder at my craft until it was up to a commercial level. I still get reader comments, and they still feel good, but they feel better when I have money in the bank.

The picture IS dim for self-publishing--that's the unvarnished reality for the majority who try it. Selling 30-40 copies is a success--compared to the countless neos who sell ZERO copies.

I count myself extraordinarily lucky to have sold almost 500 copies. The only reason I got away with so many is that I figured that .1% of my hard-core fans *might* buy a copy of that title. (I based the numbers on visitors to my website who stayed longer than 30 minutes.)

Since a new writer usually has no fan base, then self-publishing is much more likely to be a disappointing learning experience.

In the case of uploading a book at no cost to some of the venues available, a new writer won't be out of pocket as I was, but people have to hear about a book first, and again, the new writer hits that big nasty wall of "No one knows who you are and no one cares that you wrote a book."

Heck, I get that all the time for my pro titles!

Add in the stigma of "If you're such a good writer and this is such a good story, why couldn't you sell it to a publisher?" and a neo is in for a world of hurt. I'd rather have a rejection letter.

Established as I am in my genre, I STILL got that attitude for my self-pub title. Some even thought it was a trunk book written when I was a teen that I couldn't unload.

As for "the general public," maybe a few can't tell the dif between pro and self-pub or they don't care, but the rest are very aware of it and they don't buy. Otherwise, sales would be a lot better for self-pubs. I see the shift in them. They act like a self-pub is radioactive, even when it's on the same table next to my pro titles.

While others have had some success at self-pubbing and perhaps all they want is a book in hand and to sell a few copies, that was never an option for me.

I wanted my books in the stores to be read by thousands, not just a few friends or (horrors) snagging pity buys in a dealer's room. I've seen it.

While online sellers will carry a self-pub title, the majority of bookstores are not going to stock them. Neos to this venue need to understand that important fact. It tends to get buried under upbeat enthusiasm and the idea that "If it gets in print and on the 'Net it will sell!" No, it does not.

Not everyone is going to luck out like Christopher Paolini. He had a huge boost with his parents full support and used Lighting Source but after two years of promotion and crappy sales, he was ready to give up. If a pro writer Carl Hiaasen had taken his stepson to the zoo that day instead of a bookstore where Paolini was signing, we'd never have heard of Eragon.

I do see a lot of shiny-eyed kids thinking they can do the same thing with their epic fantasy. They're into the easy-to-grasp legend of a young writer's success, rather than the thorny facts. I'll hand them the facts every single time, even if they choose not to listen.

I've a friend who self-pubbed and promotes herself very successfully, but she went into it full well knowing the kind of stigma and expenses she would face. "Grace under fire" is my best description for how she's dealt with it over the years. I respect and admire her and we kvetch about writing at conventions.

She does a better job at promoting than I do, and now has a number of professional credits under her belt. Those books are in the stores, but I've yet to see her self-pub titles there.

Will I self-publish again? Absolutely yes. I have a collection of short stories to re-issue, and I plan to do a novel that I know will not have a home in any commercial house, but will sell at least 500 copies from my website.

Do I recommend it as a venue for a new writer? Never. Start at the top and don't take no for an answer.

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