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Hi Folks,
I'm new here - and I wish I'd found it before.
Here's one very frustrated writer. My first novel is soon to be published by a small independent publisher. Clearly, because they're small, it won't be a large initial print run - but I thought that wouldn't be a problem because there'd also be the e-copies available.
At least, that's what I assumed. It appears to have been a naive assumption. I contacted the publisher about this, and they informed me that they're 'not yet set up for e-books, so will only be bringing out a hard copy.' That's fine. A hard copy is what I want. But not yet set up? Is it so complicated for a professional publisher? I thought it would just be a question of them assigning an e-book ISBN and then uploading the book in the usual way, so that it could then be married up with the hard-copy on Amazon or Waterstones and be automatically available as an option.
Having queried a bit further, I think the publisher is a bit 'old school', and isn't keen on the whole e-book thing. That seems, to me, to be a bit like commercial suicide - especially given the struggles all independents must be having.
So, my question is... if I can't persuade them to publish it in e-format, can I just go ahead and do it myself? I could assign it to them at Amazon, so it wouldn't be as if I'm entering into competition with them - a daft thing to do, and doubtlessly illegal anyway. Or is it? Doesn't copyright remain with me?
Is it, for commercial publishers, really much more complicated than it is for self-publishers?
Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks.
I'm new here - and I wish I'd found it before.
Here's one very frustrated writer. My first novel is soon to be published by a small independent publisher. Clearly, because they're small, it won't be a large initial print run - but I thought that wouldn't be a problem because there'd also be the e-copies available.
At least, that's what I assumed. It appears to have been a naive assumption. I contacted the publisher about this, and they informed me that they're 'not yet set up for e-books, so will only be bringing out a hard copy.' That's fine. A hard copy is what I want. But not yet set up? Is it so complicated for a professional publisher? I thought it would just be a question of them assigning an e-book ISBN and then uploading the book in the usual way, so that it could then be married up with the hard-copy on Amazon or Waterstones and be automatically available as an option.
Having queried a bit further, I think the publisher is a bit 'old school', and isn't keen on the whole e-book thing. That seems, to me, to be a bit like commercial suicide - especially given the struggles all independents must be having.
So, my question is... if I can't persuade them to publish it in e-format, can I just go ahead and do it myself? I could assign it to them at Amazon, so it wouldn't be as if I'm entering into competition with them - a daft thing to do, and doubtlessly illegal anyway. Or is it? Doesn't copyright remain with me?
Is it, for commercial publishers, really much more complicated than it is for self-publishers?
Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks.
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