If you want to self-publish an ebook...

[julesjones]

If you want to self-publish your ebook, don't jump on the first offer that comes along. Do your research into self-publishing, just as you would with conventional publishing, because the packages on offer vary widely in quality and cost, and you could find yourself with a self-publishing outfit that is poor value for money, or an outright scam. If you're paying an upfront fee and/or more than 20% of an ebook's cover price to a storefront site, you could do better.

Several erotic romance epublishers have gone under in the last few months, and you can expect a flurry of new publishers setting up to provide a home for the authors who've suddenly found themselves without a publisher. There have also been the usual suggestions that authors will be much better off if they self-publish, and at least one new self-publishing outfit set up in the wake of the recent bankruptcies and closures. Self-publishing does look tempting for some, but take your time and look into what self-publishing entails and what a reasonable fee is.

I haven't got time this morning to do a full-on article about this, but there's one url you should look at as an absolute bare minimum of research before signing up with a self-publishing outfit, and that's Lulu's terms and conditions for digital media:
http://www.lulu.com/help/index.php?fSymbol=download_faq

Lulu have a track record of five years, so there's a good chance they're going to stay in business. There is no set-up fee. They charge 20% of the cover price for ebooks downloaded from their website, giving you 80% (with a minimum fee of 19c, although they'll waive that if you give away the books for free). If you wish you can also make the book available in print or as an ebook on CD, although those options will cost more because of the physical production costs. There is no set-up charge for the print and CD options. That price includes a storefront hosted on their website, and they handle all the details of collecting payment. They don't take any rights to your material, and there is no minimum contract length.

If the self-publishing outfit you're considering isn't offering you a pricing deal as good as Lulu's, ask yourself what else they're offering to make up for it. If the answer is "making me feel warm and fuzzy and part of a family" -- how much money are you willing to pay for that feeling?

Comments

[silly-swordsman.livejournal.com]

I think the basic rule everyone needs to remember is Miss Snark's mantra:

Money flows to the author

or, of course, not at all. But never from.

[julesjones]

Indeed. That's Yog's Law, and it's the sub-title for this blog. :-)

But the item that prompted this would not have required authors to pay money up front, and as far as I can tell would not have done any of the other nasties that turn something into a stealth vanity press rather than a self-publishing facility. It merely would have taken a much bigger cut of the proceeds from any sales than Lulu would to provide a shopfront facility. It *may* offer other benefits that outweigh this (I can think of at least one potential one), but then again it may not. My feeling is that a lot of the less experienced erotic romance ebook authors may not realise that there are other options such as Lulu.

[silly-swordsman.livejournal.com]

That's Yog's Law, and it's the sub-title for this blog

Why, so it is. Well, put me down for a failed "spot check" roll.

Thanks for giving me its proper name, though. Now I can just say "See Yog's Law" and feel all 'in' and knowledgable. :-)

It *may* offer other benefits that outweigh this (I can think of at least one potential one)

Hm... Professional, independent reviewers could be useful. Listings in appropriate fora/communities, too.

Lulu is very good, and it's where we'll take the Tale sequel once it's finished, but the problem for inexperienced authors (and a fair few experienced too, I'd wager) isn't in finding some place they can set up a storefront and sell ebooks/treebooks, but in finding readers.

Places that offer help with marketing may be very attractive, even if the promises are hollow (putting the book on a "New releases" page is only worth anything if that page has a huge readership of people actually prepared to part with money).

With the Tale, we had the benefit of an already established readership, but for something unrelated, I'd think long and hard about how much work I'd be prepared to do in marketing/promoting/networking/relationship-building.

[julesjones]

Yog Sysop is sf author James Macdonald, who spends a lot of time online teaching new authors how not to get scammed. He came up with that as a simple formula to cover the common publishing scams -- if you're being asked for money, or the moral equivalent thereof (e.g. guaranteeing sales of a minimum number of copies), you're being scammed. It's a very useful tool, so it gets quoted a lot.

A lot of inexperienced authors don't even realise that one of the things a good publisher does for them is find readers, by virtue of being a good publisher. They need to put on their reader hats, and think about how *they* buy books. Given a choice between spending a fiver on a book by an unfamiliar author published by, say, Tor, and a self-published book from an unfamiliar author, I'll buy the book from Tor. Because I know that an editor whose continued livelihood depends on getting it right often enough thought that this book was a good read, and has worked on it to help make it an even better read. I have no guarantee whatsoever that the self-published book is by someone who can string a sentence together.

It's instructive to look at Fictionwise's modus operandi. They will take material from individual authors, but *only* reprints of material that has already appeared in good quality paying markets. And they vet publishers to make sure that they aren't vanity presses or someone self-publishing under several pseudonyms. They do that because it means that anyone buying an ebook at random from Fictionwise has that same guarantee that they're paying for material that has passed a gatekeeper, rather than random slushpile.

[strix-an-stones.livejournal.com]

I've a friend who is very happy with iUniverse. Personally, I'd rather work with a publisher - and I was unfortunate enough to have been affected by the demise of Venus but smart enough to walk away from MGP in early May.

[julesjones]

I'd rank it as good publisher, self-publishing, good quality and honest vanity press, bad publisher, bad vanity press.

For a few people, self-publishing or even an honest vanity press is a good option, but most fiction authors would be better off with a decent publisher (non-fiction's an entirely different ball game). It's finding and getting accepted by a decent publisher that's the tricky bit. I'm glad you got out of MGP.