C.R.'s Self Publishing Thread

Hi CR, thanks for sharing this. It's raised a load of questions for me, so if you don't mind me asking them I'd be really grateful.

Firstly, I'm fascinated that you've decided to go this route without even trying trade publishing. What was the rationale for that? I know you said if you get a deal and don't earn out your advance you can't get another one, but surely a) you might, and b) if you don't then you could then self publish with all the benefits of having seen how it works with the backing of a trade publisher? As a fellow small business owner I'd have thought that kind of experience would be invaluable? I know the reason my company has always turned a profit was because I'd worked in the industry for other people for years first so knew how to make it work.

If it doesn't drastically increase your costs, I'd have a POD print version for people who don't like to read ebooks or who don't have a reader. You probably won't sell as many copies as ebooks, but you might sell a handful you wouldn't have otherwise, particularly to people who know you who don't have readers but would buy the book.

That being said, it's usually not a good idea to do an actual print run because it's so hard to sell print books. You might be able to get a local bookstore to stock a couple, but otherwise it would basically mean selling them by hand, which isn't easy. If you have to actually pay money to buy the print books in advance, it's probably not a good idea. If you're just setting up a POD as a way for those who prefer print to purchase a copy without too much trouble, it's worth doing.

Just my two cents as an observer.

Welcome to the interesting world of self publishing, C.R. I'll be following your thread to see what you're learning as you go and to cheer you on. You might want to read the post Old Hack started in the stickies called: Index of self publishing diaries. There's a wealth of information in there. Happy writing!

re: #2 -- POD through Createspace/Amazon is fairly painless as long as your cover art is of sufficiently high resolution for printing. You can order a few books at production cost for that all-important real-book-in-my-hands moment and for selling/gifting in person.

Welcome to the grand adventure!

It'll be interesting to see a cozy mystery author's experiences via self-publishing. I don't believe there's another one here yet; most are romance of some flavor, or sf/f or thrillers, with some non-fiction thrown in for good measure.

I write cozies too (pursuing a trade deal). The cozy market has opened up (in the trade market, at least) in the last couple years, but I haven't heard, either pro or con, whether that's hitting the self-publishing market too.

DEFINITELY do a POD version of the book, for a cozy mystery. From what I've seen, there's a HUGE portion of the cozy market that doesn't have e-readers. Also, having a higher-priced paper copy makes the digital price look extra attractive!

Good luck!

Yeah I'd use a POD like Createspace. When Amazon list the paperback and the ebook together they then list the ebook as though it's discounted from the paperback. That makes your ebook look cheaper! It's quite a good little tactic when marketing.

ETA: GinJones got there first! I don't think I even know what the Cozy genre is. So I'm interested in this thread, too!

Welcome, and congrats on your progress! I've heard of the "cozy mystery" thing but never bothered to check it out, so I hope to learn more.

I can't say that I'm dispensing sage advice, but for #3, my first recommendation would be "marketing". Develop a marketing plan (doesn't have to be anything fancy) before you get to the publishing stage, and you'll be ready for that book launch.

C.R. Baker said:

I know that no book will ever be perfect, but it is very important to me that my work goes out at a high level of quality.

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*applause*

I believe that e-books will eventually outpace paper books, and that paper books will become a niche product. This is not the case *yet* but I am preparing for the market five years out, not today's market.

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I doubt your predictions will come true within the next five years, but I've been wrong before.

I believe that trade publishers offer great print distribution and not much else.

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You underestimate trade publishing.

With a trade publisher if my first book does not earn out its advance I may never get another deal.

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Books which have been published well earn profit for their publishers way before they earn out their advances. Good-enough sales are all that's required for a subsequent deal: you're far more likely to make those good-enough sales with a trade publisher than through self publishing.

My Big Questions

Here are the things that I don't know yet.

1. Is my writing good enough to earn me a readership?

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That one's easy to answer. Have you submitted your work to any appropriate places? What happened?

2. Should I bother with print distribution at this point? (Createspace, Lightning Source)

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If you're determined to self publish then you might as well: if you don't, you're leaving money on the table.

3. What else should I be thinking about?

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Put together a business plan, a marketing and promotional plan, find good editors, designers, and jacket artists, get active on Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads, write several more books, and cross your fingers.

I'll post my progress here in this thread, and meanwhile, thanks for listening. Sage advice is always appreciated.

C.R.

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Good luck!

Glad you decided to share with us! I didn't mean to start a mini-trend, but the more we share with everyone, the more information will be out there for others like us.

Personally, though. I don't see paper books dying out for a while. Rather, I see them coexisting and leveling off similar to how Digital music and CD's coexist.

But I think POD is worth it. You won't break any banks, but the extra couple of sale would be nice, as opposed to flat out missing them. And those people may turn into life long fans. Reach as many people as you can.

Good luck out there! Let's show em what for!

C.R. Baker said:

I'll concede the possibility. If you have information (or links) on other benefits that trade publishers can offer an author aside from physical-book distribution, I'm happy to dig in and learn.

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I've worked in trade publishing for a while, so I've seen some of the work they do. I don't have the time to go into the differences in any depth, but here's a quick outline of what trade publishers do for the books and authors they publish.

The editing is meticulous: your editor will make several passes over your book, working with you to make it the best it can be; then you'll possibly / probably get a copy edit, too, and a proof read.

The depth and skill of this editing far surpasses the editing I've seen in the many self published books I've read and reviewed.

Your book will get professional typesetting or formatting. It'll also get worked on by a designer, and it'll get a good and appropriate jacket design.

Again, the quality of this work is almost always far better than that of self published books.

There's a whole marketing machine which will grind into action before your book is published to get reviews, set up various promotions, get your book into bookshops and libraries and other retailers and so on.

You've already mentioned the advantages that trade publishers give you with regard to distribution; this means that both your online and physical sales are going to be significantly improved, as online sales are heavily influenced by bookshop placement.

It's true that with self publishing one earns more per copy sold than one does with trade publishing but even so, writers who are trade published usually earn significantly more than self published writers.

The last time I did any real analysis (within the last year, I think) I worked out that trade published books outsold self published books by about ten to one: and that's in the UK, which is a tiny market compared to America. The ratio of trade sales to self published sales in the USA is even more skewed in the favour of trade publishing, from what I remember.

Then there's the support and advice that writers get from their agents, and the significant income which can be earned from foreign and subsidiary sales (which few self published authors are able to make for themselves), neither of which should be underestimated.

The crunch is that few of us are able to get ourselves a trade publishing contract, and so it's not a road which is open to us all.

Is that a help?

Ann Joyce said:

[...]You might want to read the post Old Hack started in the stickies called: Index of self publishing diaries. There's a wealth of information in there. Happy writing!

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+1

Best of luck with your self-publishing adventure. You're at a great stage to get some good marketing done, well ahead of the release of your book.

Wishing you huge success! We'll be watching your journey with hope and interest.

Looking forward to following your journey.

Congrats on the release of your novel, C.R! I just checked out your various links there, and clicked like FB. You appear to have put a lot of work in so far, I really hope it all goes well for you.

Best of luck!

Loved the book blurb. Sounds interesting.

Proofs are awesome. It's nice having that book in your hands, especially a first one. Even if the proof has flaws, it's still a book! I ordered two copies of my first proof, knowing it wasn't going to be perfect first time around, just.. because it was my first effort. I also took a pic when it(they) arrived, because.. documentation! And eventual nostalgia.