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DrZoidberg · 02-18-2010, 02:53 PM

1) Keep your audience in mind. What's your market? Why should anybody not living in the local area give a shit? If your potential buyers only live in that one area, what percentage is likely to want it, let alone buy it? Are you basically just writing for yourself and your friends? If you expect anybody outside your local area to buy it you need a hell of an angle. It needs to connect to something of universal interest.

2) You want your publisher to put their nose in your book. Their focus is on selling your book, not presenting it in the way you want it to be presented. The whole point of an editor is to get fresh eyes on it. Authors tend to get a bit blind on the big picture and know their work so well they focus too much on details. You have somewhat of a privileged position working in a bookshop for knowing what works.

Unless you're already an established author I suggest avoiding self-publishing. Authorship being a solitary pursuit means that authors tend to adopt plenty of very bad habits. They really need someone else who's talented and has a vested interest in your book to whip them on their fingers and wean them off the many crutches in language. Wives and friends are always good, but without a pro its difficult.

There's the trope, "rejection is natures way of telling you to write a better book." It is very true. If you self publish you have no idea whether your book is good enough. Squeezing through the eye of the needle that is a publishing house, is frankly your best option. I'm not saying you can't sell books, or even get successful as a self-publisher... but it's a dodgy road that might lead you to waste years doing things that a publisher would have known would never work.

A friend of mine who lives in a castle collaborated with a photographer and made a coffee table book about his home. My friend couldn't write for shit. But it didn't matter. The subject matter was so interesting that he got published anyway. It's not impossible, if you got a good angle. He didn't make any large sums on it, but he got published through a real publisher.

My two cents.

02-18-2010, 02:53 PM	#2
DrZoidberg Connoisseur Posts: 72 Karma: 345846 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Sony PRS-600	1) Keep your audience in mind. What's your market? Why should anybody not living in the local area give a shit? If your potential buyers only live in that one area, what percentage is likely to want it, let alone buy it? Are you basically just writing for yourself and your friends? If you expect anybody outside your local area to buy it you need a hell of an angle. It needs to connect to something of universal interest. 2) You want your publisher to put their nose in your book. Their focus is on selling your book, not presenting it in the way you want it to be presented. The whole point of an editor is to get fresh eyes on it. Authors tend to get a bit blind on the big picture and know their work so well they focus too much on details. You have somewhat of a privileged position working in a bookshop for knowing what works. Unless you're already an established author I suggest avoiding self-publishing. Authorship being a solitary pursuit means that authors tend to adopt plenty of very bad habits. They really need someone else who's talented and has a vested interest in your book to whip them on their fingers and wean them off the many crutches in language. Wives and friends are always good, but without a pro its difficult. There's the trope, "rejection is natures way of telling you to write a better book." It is very true. If you self publish you have no idea whether your book is good enough. Squeezing through the eye of the needle that is a publishing house, is frankly your best option. I'm not saying you can't sell books, or even get successful as a self-publisher... but it's a dodgy road that might lead you to waste years doing things that a publisher would have known would never work. A friend of mine who lives in a castle collaborated with a photographer and made a coffee table book about his home. My friend couldn't write for shit. But it didn't matter. The subject matter was so interesting that he got published anyway. It's not impossible, if you got a good angle. He didn't make any large sums on it, but he got published through a real publisher. My two cents.