kowaiyoukai | Self-Publishing vs. Getting an Agent

IDK. It all seems so ridiculous to me. I mean, pay hundreds-thousands of dollars for editors, ISBN, cover art, blah, blah blah, etc and then you get a small percentage of royalties. How can you even guarantee that what you earn back is going to be anywhere near what you put into it in the first place? And how can soemone who is poor, like me, get any kind of money to even begin to try self-publushing?

On the flip side, I've been told so many opposing things about agents. Some want money upfront, some only get paid if the book sells. Some are willing to work around your schedule, some want you to work around theirs. And so on. I just think I'm too annoyed with it all.

I would just love to finish my original, make it a PDF file, and sell it to people for $5 a pop. That's it. Is that too much to ask for, really?

What do you guys think? What's better? Or, would you actually buy a PDF file of a book for $5? Or does anyone have any really genius ideas? Because that would be AWESOME.

AS FOR EVERYTHING ELSE: Yes, I'm still writing Apogee and other fic. No, I'm not posting any today. Yes, I'm still watching shows and playing catch-up with video games, TV, movies, books, and comics. No, I'm not up to date in anything yet. I did just start Felicity, and I checked wikipedia to see who she ends up with, and I'll probably stop watching because I LOVE Noel and Ben's an asshole with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. OK. That's all. :D

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I suggest going to the library and see if they have the latest issue of Writer's Digest. In the back is a listing of agents and publishers, what genres they publish, what they're looking for, and how to submit proposals. Want-ads for writers, basically. Very useful. IIRC you should submit to one and wait for a rejection letter before submitting to another, but I could be wrong. A lot of them accept emails.

$5 PDFs are a BAD IDEA. Maybe some friends would buy it to support you, but if it ever got popular people would just share it amongst themselves and you wouldn't see a penny. Also, if the entire novel is available online and someone could potentially read it for free, no publisher will make it into a book. It wouldn't be profitable for them and is too much of a risk. That's not even to mention that someone else could submit your story to a publisher under their own name and you wouldn't have enough proof of plagiarism.

So in short: finish the novel and start showing it to agents/publishers in your genre. That's the cheapest and, it seems, most effective method by far. It takes the most effort, though -- but you're just going to have to suck it up! ;)

Easy for YOU to say! Working all the time absolutely KILLS me and leaves me near catatonic, completely unable to write at all. I need to make money off writing LIEK NAO. I just wish the ideas would be beamed directly from brain into Word so I could just be done already. *sigh*

Oh, and there's also this, which is much safer than the PDF idea and cheaper than self-publishing actual books: http://bookbrewer.com

Cool, thanks. I'll check it out. :D

I work in E Publishing and I know what you mean about profits vs effort. The company I work for is specifically for academics, who are happy to just get their work out there without profit, so the electronic copies of the book are free, with running costs funded by the university and the sale of Print on Demand copies.

TL;DR of that: Self Publishing in a traditional sense works best for people with money or with funding.

Taking off my publisher's cap: in my view, I'd be happy to buy a PDF of a self-published book. I've done that for a number of friends and I'm always excited to get my hands on another book published by someone I know. But think, that can be a really limited audience - really just your LJ readers, friends and maybe family.

On that note though, don't give up on the agent thing. Honestly, if you want to make any sort of profit, you'll need to be published tradtionally. That's all about waiting around and sending off manuscripts. Another thing is to check around with publishers and see who's currently accepting unsolicted manuscripts (i.e. without an agent) - it's worth a shot!

Yeah, I know. It does seem like traditional publishing is the best method to go with. I just feel like writing entire novels without getting paid for it is such a strain financially and mentally. BAH.

Thanks for the info! I hadn't thought about it from an academic viewpoint, but obviously you're right. For certain types of writers, the profit really isn't an issue. Hm.

What is this original, and in what state of completion is it?

I actually just saw this on Slashdot.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ja-konrath/ebooks-and-self-publishing_b_764516.html

Oh, thanks for the link! I'll check it out. My current original project is a five novel urban fantasy series. I've got the entire plot planned out and scenes from all five books written already, but the first book is about 1/3-1/2 done. I keep jumping around, writing whatever comes to mind, in the hopes that I'll finish it faster. But we shall see.

Basically what everyone else said, but: If an agent asks you for money up front, they're basically a fraud. Agents should only make money if you make money (although some do ask for printing costs, but that's not the same as, "I'll look at your manuscript for $XX amount.")

And while self-publishing is awesome, it just doesn't have the same amount of steam as a publishing house. I've heard a lot of people do the audiobook/podcast thing, get an audience, and then be able to woo agents and publishers that way with their numbers. Maybe do something like that, first?

Oh, that's a neat idea. I've never thought of audiobooks or podcasts. But yeah, it does seem like the consensus is that original publishing is for the best in every way. Which just means finding an agent is the next step after I finish the book. *sigh*

http://www.lulu.com/publish/index.php?cid=en_tab_publish
My brother uses this sometimes.

Thanks! Checking it out now. :D

Don't know anything about getting published. Just so happy to know that you are still writing Apogee.

LOL, yes, yes, Apogee is still in progress. I'm probably going to finish it totally before posting anymore though.

Hey there, I've been a fan of Apogee and visit occasionally to check for updates. Just wanted to add a comment about writing/selling books:

Have you ever heard of Juxtapose Fantasy? (http://www.juxtaposefantasy.net/) It's a subscription-based site for this lady's slashy fantasy fiction. I'm guessing she's making some decent money doing things this way, and I don't think she spends much money, if any at all, on editors, ISBN, cover art, etc.

The only problem with running a site like that is if you have people paying a monthly fee to read stories you're writing a chapter at a time, you're obligated to write A LOT. I usually buy a one month subscription once a year to catch up on the stories I enjoy. She doesn't update what I want her to update often enough for me. ^_^;;

As for the PDF thing, I'd def. buy a PDF book for $5. If it was an author I knew and loved, I'd pay twice that. I actually prefer PDF to a physical book, because then I can slap it on my Kindle. :)

Wow, that looks REALLY cool. But yeah, I'd get annoyed and worried that I wasn't updating enough, and God only knows if you'd make enough money to cover rent and bills on something like that. Probably not.

I think, in my perfect world, I'd like to publish both as a physical book AND as an e-book, so people could read it however they wanted to. I think I just have to look into it more.

AWESOME ICON. <3

Self-Publishing vs. Getting an Agent

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