What Should I Ask Dan Poynter?

You could interview him

...for Absolute Write. We do pay a whopping 5 smackeroos for interviews, you know. How could you resist?

http://www.absolutewrite.com/site/submissions.htm

Really, I'd be interested in cold, hard stats if he knows them-- of all the people who self-publish, what percentage of them turn a profit? How many actually get national distribution? Etc.

Peter Bowerman, another self-publishing advocate, was really trying to talk me into that route a while back, and it tempted me. But right now, I just want to stick to doing what I know how to do (write and promote). If only my husband had decent writing skills, I'd make him handle the PR aspects, business plan, etc. and possibly start my own small press.

Maybe someday...

Just remember to tell Amy you want to be paid by check instead of PayPal, then. It's so messy trying to frame a computer.

I've been meaning to interview Dan for the site for a long time, but never got to it. Yeah, see if you can arrange an interview with him. No formal query needed-- if you can do it, I'm accepting it. When you're done, just send it to Amy (her addy is in the guidelines) and tell her I gave you the assignment. (I'll tell her, too, but it's good to have a reminder.)

You're fired!

Kidding. Just sent you a PM.

JennaGlatzer said:

...for Absolute Write. We do pay a whopping 5 smackeroos for interviews, you know. How could you resist?

http://www.absolutewrite.com/site/submissions.htm

Really, I'd be interested in cold, hard stats if he knows them-- of all the people who self-publish, what percentage of them turn a profit? How many actually get national distribution? Etc.

Peter Bowerman, another self-publishing advocate, was really trying to talk me into that route a while back, and it tempted me. But right now, I just want to stick to doing what I know how to do (write and promote). If only my husband had decent writing skills, I'd make him handle the PR aspects, business plan, etc. and possibly start my own small press.

Maybe someday...

Click to expand...

It would be interesting to hear what Dan has to say about profits and distribution. Since I began the SmallPress Blog, I have had the opportunity to interview and meet many people who are making a living at small publishing. I think that there are many more that are not, but I have no evidence to support that assertion.

I think the most common reason for not making money would be that they've either produced the book in such a way that you can't make enough of a profit (through using subsidy publishers) or by not treating it like a business.



Tom Nixon

OTOH, Dan is scheduled to be on an NPR show tomorrow (Thursday, 30 June) at 11am EDT, talking about self-publishing.

As am I, although my understanding after talking to the producer is that neither Dan nor I will be on for the whole hour.