Do you have any experience in self-publishing?

1. 67

   Deep Metaphysicalposted 13 years ago

   Do you have any experience in self-publishing?
   
   Do you have any experience in self-publishing? Would you like to share? Do you think amazon and createspace are good platforms for self-publishing? Be it e-book or hard copy.

   replyreport
2. 57

   ytsenohposted 13 years ago

   I self-published a book through createspace in the fall of 2010.  I found it, overall, to be a first time out, so to speak, experience in deciding after rejection letters and many of them, that I was just going to do it myself.  Of course, it wasn't a best seller, but I didn't expect it to be either.  However, in adding to this subject, my next book will be published via e-book through amazon.  By the way, createspace is in partnership with Amazon.  Compared to past years when you had to pay a pretty good sum to a company who would help you with on demand projects, it's very low overhead if you use a source like createspace.  There are other out there.  You can then decide how much you want to spend on marketing.  It is a great learning experience.  You will learn what not to do the next time and what you should do the next time out.  Darcie Chan, for example, was someone who was turned down repeatedly for her book called, "The Mill River Recluse," and she finally decided to put her e-book out there at 99 cents.  She ended up selling 400,000 copies.  Her story is an inspiration.  She is still looking for a publisher because she wants it in print and I believe she has had movie offers too, but hadn't accepted them yet.  Amazon is such an amazing popular venue to sell books or products through.  It has grown tremendously through the years.  If you have a passion to write, and to work really hard at it, I recommend self-publishing because it is becoming increasingly popular.  Publishing houses know this too.  I don't know if I would use createspace the next time, but only because I'd like to try a different source, but I would list it on amazon and by e-book.  Good question.

   replyreport
3. 67

   Deep Metaphysicalposted 13 years ago

   Hearty thanks for sharing ytsenoh. Appreciate it. Did you make a decent amount of sales though? I'm looking to self-publish through amazon(ebook).

   replyreport
4. 60

   duffsmomposted 13 years ago

   I published my first book through Xlibris in 1998 and had a good experience.  They have gotten far more commercial now and I get sales calls all the time - but at that time it was a good experience.  My problem is self-promotion - I am not good at it and so after a couple of book signings, I didn't do anything else. I am really uncomfortable with all the attention.
   
   It is now published on Amazon for Kindle which is a really good experience.

   replyreport
5. 73

   NicholasMTaylorposted 8 years ago

   I used Lulu and so far have been surprised at how easy it has been. Not sure about their income tracker, but the print quality has been good and I've sold to indie bookshops so have made money!

   replyreport