Comments on: Reasons Not to Self-Publish in 2011-2012: A List

By: Michael A. Robson

Michael A. Robson — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 23:02:46 +0000

“I often hear the remark, “I’m not going to self-publish because I don’t own an e-reader and don’t read that way.””

You’re not ‘beta testing’ your book to see what it looks like on a Kindle? I guess you’re just checking out the Kindle Reader app and then moving on…

By: Michael A. Robson

Michael A. Robson — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 23:00:06 +0000

“That’s right. That was the point I was trying to make, too. Plus, even if you go with a trad pub, you will still be doing much of the PR work yourself, just getting substantially less money (royalties) for it. I think some others brought up that point as well.”

You’re right. and the math doesn’t work and hasn’t worked for some time. One thing I’ll say is this: a friends of mine have declared trad-pub to be great for platform growth (eg. fame),and self publishing better for revenues.

Pretty funny. Who would have believed one day writers considered working for a traditional publisher like Penguin or Random House to be ‘charity’ lol

By: Sunday Scan | This Might Be True

Sunday Scan | This Might Be True — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 19:42:14 +0000

[...] Reasons Not to Self Publish in 2011-2012 [...]

By: Geri Jeter

Geri Jeter — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 22:57:06 +0000

Again, what Jaye said.

By: Geri Jeter

Geri Jeter — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 22:50:41 +0000

Pat — K. W. is so old that he was there.

By: Geri Jeter

Geri Jeter — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 22:47:43 +0000

What Jaye said.

By: Erin Klitzke

Erin Klitzke — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 17:35:34 +0000

When I’m told the initial remark, my response is always, “You don’t have to read ebooks. You selling to people who DO!” This is so ridiculously true it's not even funny. What does it matter, so long as you're getting read?

By: Erin Klitzke

Erin Klitzke — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 17:34:21 +0000

At least he’s RESPECTFUL about why he made his decision–I think his “best” reason for deciding not to self-pub would probably be his genre (or lack thereof, being literary fiction). He’ll be marketed by whatever press (maybe) picks him up. He doesn’t have to overcome the general feeling of being the gum smeared on someone’s shoe, y’know?

By: Michael Stackpole

Michael Stackpole — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 15:26:57 +0000

I often hear the remark, “I’m not going to self-publish because I don’t own an e-reader and don’t read that way.”

That doesn’t sound so silly on the surface, but imagine a writer saying, “I don’t sell translations of my work to Germany because I’m not German and can’t read German.”

When I’m told the initial remark, my response is always, “You don’t have to read ebooks. You selling to people who DO!”

By: Knave

Knave — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 15:19:21 +0000

Those are not the credentials of a self-publishing aficionado, for sure.

Optional self publishing credentials:
Wrote, worried, wrote, rewrote, showed manuscript to someone trusted, ran it past beta readers, hot glue gunned the plot, checked their bank account, begged their professional editor friend, walked the editor’s dog for a month in payment, did a happy dance, did a few formatting tweaks and UPLOADED.