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writing $$$ question for Saint

Donovan

Donovan

beer, I want beer
Hey Saint,

Have you explored the option of self e-publishing at all? I've been seeing more and more about Amazon and other markets for self-publishers to push their material and sell more directly without the hassle of agents, publishing houses etc.

However, being the cynic I am I assume there's a catch so I was curious if you'd tried it at all. Off the top of my head I can guess that the e-book self publishing market is flooded with doggerel from the millions of people who THINK they can write. It'd be tough to separate good work from the cacaphony of emo poetry and Twilight slash fiction.

But on the other hand, a good consistent writer might gradually build a name through quantity plus quality, maybe work into a more traditional relationship with the big houses. I've seen musicians do the direct market successfully.

So what's your take on it?
 
Donovan said:
Hey Saint,

Have you explored the option of self e-publishing at all? I've been seeing more and more about Amazon and other markets for self-publishers to push their material and sell more directly without the hassle of agents, publishing houses etc.

However, being the cynic I am I assume there's a catch so I was curious if you'd tried it at all. Off the top of my head I can guess that the e-book self publishing market is flooded with doggerel from the millions of people who THINK they can write. It'd be tough to separate good work from the cacaphony of emo poetry and Twilight slash fiction.

But on the other hand, a good consistent writer might gradually build a name through quantity plus quality, maybe work into a more traditional relationship with the big houses. I've seen musicians do the direct market successfully.

So what's your take on it?
Click to expand...

Dono, you are right about the self-published bad writers ("It was a dark and stormy night. . ."). There are many forums on Amazon.com that discuss those stinky bombs e-books. And, being an avid Kindle reader, I can attest to the few free e-pub books I've had the misfortune to download and try. Makes you want to lick the carpet to get rid of the bad taste they leave.

However, there are many writers who are successful with their earlier "free" e-pub books and go on to have successful contracts with brick and morter publishing houses.

I've often thought that both you and Saint should try the e-pub path and see where it takes you both.
 
I don't know, haven't explored it that far yet but I'v seen Amazon touting their service so I would expect they have compatibility programs that format the major processing software.
 
Amazon's feature is called CreateSpace.Their FAQ offers suggestions on templates when formatting books, but it does not look like they will do the formatting for you.

I would suggest (La)Tek rather than Word since the first is for typesetting while the latter is a word processor.

MikTek along with WinEdt is a valuable tool if you want to go the route of typesetting.
 
Imperium said:
Amazon's feature is called CreateSpace.Their FAQ offers suggestions on templates when formatting books, but it does not look like they will do the formatting for you.

I would suggest (La)Tek rather than Word since the first is for typesetting while the latter is a word processor.

MikTek along with WinEdt is a valuable tool if you want to go the route of typesetting.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll check those out. I've been using the latest generation of Libreoffice/openoffice which works pretty well for the process and is compatible with word, but I hadn't explored Createspace enough to know what kind of formatting issues I'll run into.
 
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