I’m toying with the idea of self-publishing one of my books online, and I’d welcome your thoughts. It needs to be one that is good, but has been rejected by at least six publishers (sadly, that still gives me a choice of book). Realistically, self-publishing is just a new kind of slushpile, with an even smaller statistical chance of success. Still, I may as well try something new – it’s not like I don’t have an online presence!
This is why it will cost readers more than ninety-nine cents.
I figure they’re better out there in the world than collecting dust on your laptop. And you’ve got enough novels in the backlog now that having a few (if you choose a series) self-pubbed is still going to leave you with novels to submit. I guess my advice might be to choose the steampunk one, since it’s so hot right now, but that would be up to you. I think you’ve got nothing to lose by giving it a try – especially on some of your older books.
Steff: The front-runners are “STORMHUNTER” (although it’s at two publishers at the moment, and several people on a writing forum who I’d annoyed with my anti-self-publishing notions said the beginning needed work), and my empath book (although it’s at its first large Aussie publisher now, and it seems stupid to self-publish without giving better slushpiles a go of it first). Maybe “The Monster Apprentice” (first book in the kids’ trilogy) but that would mean effectively giving up on the other two books in that series as well – and I think all three are excellent.
I’ll buy one!
W: That’s a given 🙂 I expect fifty or so pity purchases, guaranteed.
e-book pricing is interesting….. I find it interesting how different publishers have significantly different pricing for the same author. One series may be 2-3 times the price of another by a different publisher.
As a now dedicated e format reader, the buy factor for me is how good the ratings are and the ‘sample’. Make sure you set up a sample with enough pages to give a reader a feel for the story and the writing style. 2-3 pages isn’t enough (and if you think about it, with a ‘real’ book, the reader can flick through and read as much as they want beore they make their purchase)…..
Ann: I’d put three chapters of a sample up, and probably price at $2.99 or so.
That’s a good price. As someone who’s been reading a number of self-pubs in an area where there’s a whole lot of unedited tripe floating around, I’m not anxious to try a new writer for more than about $4.00. If I like it, I’ll pay $5, or maybe even $6, but that’s pushing it for me when it’s not a paper book (given that most MMPBs are $6-7 in the US market). These are primarily Amazon, since I’m a kindle reader.
W: Good to know.