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Medievalist said:My question is:
How does the author know it "won't go mainstream?"
What is the author getting? What couldn't they have done, possibly better, by doing it themselves? What's the added value? Other than cover art, I don't see any added value.
Good books deserve the best; why settle?
If it hasn't sold 'mainstream', it hasn't sold 'mainstream'. How can one tell without trying? I don't think James1611 dropped the book to Breakneck straight off the starting blocks. I didn't with mine, though I didn't go with Breakneck. I was very aggressive trying to find an agent. I did not submit to the huge slushpiles that would take a year or two to send an acceptance if they wanted the book. I am barely pushing sixty these days. When I was twenty-five or thirty I would not have minded the wait. Today I begrudge that wait a lot.
"What couldn't they have done by themselves"
1) They would have had to spring for an ISBN, or if they were entirely by themselves they'd have to buy a BLOCK of ISBN's which is about $300.00.
2) They would have had to be extremely good artists or they'd have to foot the cost of a cover.
3) They'd have to be very good at self-editing, or the book will look it, unless they pay for professional editing and proof-reading.
4) They have to register with on-line booksellers for themselves, and most don't know how to do it.
5) They'd have to be very good at layout themselves, or pay for it.
6) Lightning Source and other such printers charge about $90.00 to set up the edition for printing.
All these things in particular and the sundry other costs would come out of the author's pocket. Can you afford that? I can't.
Self-published fiction is 99.999999999999999999% a waste of resources.
But most importantly, self-publishing is a leap of faith. Being selected by a small press means somebody believes in the book enough to foot those costs besides the author. That means something to me.
It is not the best of circumstances, but it's not the worst and it DOES have advantages over self-publishing.
This is all my own opinion from my own point of view. I made a decision, and I believe it was the best decision I could make given the options I had. James probably did the same thing. Anyone with the cojones to MAKE a decision should be respected for the weight of his tackle, if nothing else.
Regards,
Scott