Self-Publishing

On the heels of our lively debate the other day on my post “6 Reasons Authors Still Want Publishers,” today let’s look at the other side of the coin. Many of you are still trying to decide which path is right for you — or if maybe some combination of both might work. So hopefully these…

Marcy Kennedy wrote: I’m committed to finding a traditional publisher for my novel. Not only has that always been the dream, but I also like that a gatekeeper has to approve the quality of my work. That said, have you ever advised a client to self-publish a work that you think is fantastic but hasn’t…

Dear Rachelle: Could poor self-pubbed Kindle sales affect a writer’s chance of getting an agent in the future? Is a pseudonym safer? Signed, Considering Self Pubbing Dear Considering: Yes, if you’ve self-pubbed a book and it sold poorly, it could affect your chance of getting an agent and getting traditionally pubbed in the future. But…

Guest Blogger: Mary DeMuth I never thought I’d self publish anything. Truly. I’m a traditionally published girl with eleven books under my author belt. I love my publishers, love what they’ve done. But there came a time when one of my book ideas didn’t fit within their needs. The kernel of the idea to e-publish…

This has to be the most common question I get these days, from all kinds of writers including my clients. To use the words of one of my authors: Am I hurting my traditional career by self-pubbing? My pressing goal is to become a best-selling, traditionally published author. First of all, if you’re agented, the…

No matter what I blog about lately—no matter where we go in the blogosphere as a matter of fact—somebody always turns it into a conversation about two things: (1) Publishing is dead or at least in its final death throes; and (2) Everyone should pursue self-publishing and if you don’t, you’re an idiot with your head…

It seems like every week there’s a new story of an author having terrific success with self-publishing. (Two examples from just this week: Amanda Hocking and Alisa Valdes.) I’ve had quite of few readers comment that they’ve gone the self-pub route, and many authors who’ve been published traditionally now have out-of-print books they’re selling via…

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately about self-publishing. My thoughts have been evolving – things are changing fast and sometimes our thinking has to change, too. Seems like these days, lots of people are into D-I-Y, and that includes the book world. My latest (but still subject to change) opinion is this: Self…

I recently received an email from a guy who had self-published a book. He’d paid to print 500 hardcover copies, and was pursuing local and national bookstore chains and distributors. But he’d hit a brick wall, finding that most buyers and distributors were not interested in talking to him. He was flummoxed; he needed to…

Ever since last month when the publishing world erupted in a brouhaha about Harlequin and Thomas Nelson entering the business of self-publishing, I’ve been watching the reports, reading the blogs and mulling this over. It took me awhile to identify what was really bothering me about all of this. But I finally figured it out.…

This week another major publisher, Harlequin, announced their entry into the self-publishing business. The blogs have lit up over it and there’s a lot of interesting reading out there. I think Victoria Strauss gave a great overview on the Writer Beware blog (here.) I have to admit that the idea of all these major publishers…

Seems I opened up a can o’ worms or two with my post yesterday. I don’t have all the answers, but I’ll do my best to clear up a couple of things. There were some questions about whether self-publishing would ever lose its stigma. Truthfully, I don’t think the stigma will fade until most self…