Quote:
Originally Posted by DavidKitson
If it was easier to find a publisher - if it was easier to follow that process - I would most certainly consider it over self publishing. Like most new writers, I don't even know how to effectively approach this problem. Most of us feel that it's like stumbling through the dark with both feet tied together. You get nowhere fast and you still get hurt in the process.
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So why did I self-publish? Because the barriers to finding a publisher otherwise are too high and because I'm really not very strong at that part of the process.
And maybe a little bit because I'd rather that someone reads my work and enjoys it than it sit hidden until forgotten. After all, I write for the enjoyment.
I like to think I might make money one day, but if not, I will self publish. I do what I can to address my own self-myopia and participate extensively in critting circles at different stages of development. I learn new writing skills and expose these to the same process.
I won't pretend I'm going to be famous because I probably won't be. But in 10 days, I've had 600 e-book downloads. It's hardly a bestseller and no doubt the price plays an important part in that, but hey! I'm stoked, I really am. So that really reinforces the experience for me. ( Does anyone know the typical rate of downloads for e-books? )
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I'm with David (Kitson) 100% on this part of his post. Well, 99% since in my case it's agents and not publishers that I have been contacting. And still will, even though I've chosen the self-publish route in the meantime. OK, then, 98% since I've not had 600 downloads in 10 days.
The thing is I have three film scripts sitting in a drawer. Two of them have been touted on both sides of the Atlantic without success, and now they're gathering dust in a drawer, and I stumble over them now and again when I have a tidy-up.
I'm touting my first book at the same time as I'm writing the second. It's been to half a dozen agents already. But the difference between a book and a film script is that it doesn't have to sit in a drawer and gather dust. I can self-publish a book whilst I wait to be "recognized", and maybe someone will have as much fun reading it as I had writing it - several people have already. I can't create a full-length film and upload it to YouTube.
But as David says, the threshold to getting an agent or publisher is just too high.
Quote:
Originally Posted by neilmarr
What I can't and won't do, though, is to even hint that because a book is self-published and offered freely or cheaply and without professional editorial input means that it is necessarily unworthy. I have read self-published work that has impressed me greatly and traditionally produced books that have not.
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Of course, Neil. Let's face it, every book you've ever published can be classed as self-published - admittedly for one reader, you - until you take it under your wing. That's just it, it's the work that has impressed you greatly that you have published.