Believe or not, however, a recent episode I watched dealt with (in the beginning) self-publishing. To give you a brief synopsis: Peter Griffin is disappointed by the quality of the erotica at his local adult bookstore. So he writes a letter to the publisher expressing his views and also writes an example of how he would write an erotic novel.

Peter shows the letter to his friends and they are very impressed with his writing. He writes a little bit more and again, shares it with his friends and with his wife Lois. Everyone loves his work. Then, Lois suggests he self-publish his writing and tells him to ask her father, Carter Pewterschmidt (a billionaire industrialist), for some seed money. Carter gives Peter five bucks.

To make a long story short, Peter uses the $5 to make copies of his first erotic novel at Kinkos, then sells them to his friends for $10 a pop. Before long, he’s doing book signings at the local bookstore.

So what can this episode teach you about self-publishing? There are a few things I picked up that show self-publishing really is a viable alternative to going the traditional route. Here are some important points to remember:

Giving it Away for Free Now = More Sales Later!

Before Peter got his loan from Carter, he let his friends read his work for free. He passed his writing around and they immediately like what he wrote. So once Peter had his first book published (even if it was from Kinkos and stapled together), he was able to immediately start selling copies of his book for $10 each. With one sale, he doubled his initial investment.

I know this isn’t how the world of self-publishing really works. But the basic theory is still the same. Giving your work away for free in the beginning is not “cheapening” your novel. A lot of people are very adamant that no writer should give anything away for free.

To a certain point, I agree. However, giving some stuff away for free is a good idea, especially in the beginning. Think of it more as the cost of marketing yourself and your work. Large corporations give stuff away for free all the time in the name of marketing. Why should writers be any different?

If Peter hadn’t let his friends sample his writing for free, they probably would have been much more hesitant about forking over $10 for his book.

Self-Publishing Doesn’t Have to be Expensive

Okay, $5 to self-publish a book is pretty unrealistic. At the same time, you don’t have to fork over thousands of dollars either. One can self-publish an ebook on a very limited budget, making sales much more profitable.

The one caveat here is that quality should still matter when you publish your own book. Making a few dozen copies and stapling together just won’t pass muster in this day and age. This means some investment will be required, but if you really believe in your novel, it’ll be a small price to pay.

Find a niche

There is some disagreement about whether writers should stay within a specific niche or play around with different genres. While I think it’s valuable for a writer to write across all genres, when starting out in publishing, it’s probably a good idea to stick within the niche you feel most comfortable with. Once you’ve become established with a loyal fan base, then you can spread your wings and fly.

Peter found his niche in erotica. For him, it was a good place to start because of two reasons: 1) It was something he was interested in and liked and, 2) there was a large market for it, his friends included. These two factors helped Peter gain an instant readership which kicked off his sales – leading to a book signing at the local store.

Mistakes to Avoid

The one big mistake Peter made was having Betty White read the audio version of one of his books, causing an over-eager listener in his car to have an accident. Of course, why anybody would listen to an erotica audiobook in their car is beyond me.

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I don’t know what it is about self-publishing that drives some people nuts. After all, musicians who skip the large record labels and become “indie” are widely respected and have successfully thrown themselves into the mainstream – with little to no criticism. So why are indie authors seen differently?

Back to Garrison Keillor. He has some pretty harsh words:

And if you want to write, you just write and publish yourself. No need to ask permission, just open a Web site. And if you want to write a book, you just write it, send it to Lulu.com or BookSurge at Amazon or PubIt or ExLibris and you’ve got yourself an e-book. No problem.

I’m a little confused by the asking permission part. I think what Keillor is missing is that if someone self-publishes a book and it’s crap, no one will buy it. If someone self-publishes a book that’s really good, people will buy it and it might even have a good chance of getting picked up by a traditional publisher.

In the same Op-Ed, Keillor takes a pretty large jab at modern technology:

Children, I am an author who used to type a book manuscript on a manual typewriter. Yes, I did. And mailed it to a New York publisher in a big manila envelope with actual postage stamps on it. And kept a carbon copy for myself. I waited for a month or so and then got an acceptance letter in the mail. It was typed on paper.

Does it seem like he’s talking down to the reader by calling us “Children?” For Keillor’s longing for the days of typewriters and carbon copy paper, it’s ironic his Op-Ed is posted online by the NYT. I’m guessing that if he were around when typewriters first hit the market, then he’d be longing for the days of the feather pen and inkwell.

What do you think of Keillor’s take on self-publishing and technology? Leave a comment below and share your thoughts.

Update: Looks like I’m not the only one critical of Garrison Keillor’s Op-Ed. From Flavorwire.com: Publishing’s not dead: The industry responds to Garrison Keillor

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But one author has taken self-publishing to a whole new level. Christopher Herz decided to use the POD model with his book The Last Block in Harlem (aff link) and then take it to the streets, literally. He’d hand sell one copy at a time to strangers on the street. You might recall that I wrote about him in my previous post Author sells self-published book one copy at a time. His efforts were even picked up by Publishers Weekly. Well, all of his hard work has finally paid off.

On his website, Christopher writes about being picked up by AmazonEncore:

My first book, The Last Block in Harlem, was recently picked up by Amazon Encore, a new publishing venture from Amazon.  I originally published the book myself. I took it to the streets of New York City, literally putting ten books in my bag each day,  walking up to people and asking if I could present my novel to them. It was one of the great experiences of my life.

Amazon’s website describes AmazonEncore (aff link) publishing program as a way to get great writers who are struggling to get their books into the hands of readers a larger audience.

AmazonEncore is a new program whereby Amazon will use information such as customer reviews on Amazon.com to identify exceptional, overlooked books and authors with more potential than their sales may indicate. Amazon will then partner with the authors to re-introduce their books to readers through marketing support and distribution into multiple channels and formats, such as the Amazon.com Books Store, Amazon Kindle Store, Audible.com, and national and independent bookstores via third-party wholesalers.

There are a few points I want to make.

Good Writing Still Matters

Christopher Herz is obviously a great writer who has written a great book. You can write and self-publish hundreds of books, but if your writing isn’t polished and the book doesn’t have a professional look, then you won’t have the same success Christopher has had.

This also means that you shouldn’t rush to get your book published. It’s very easy to get excited about having your book in print. However, take your time and do it right. The extra time you spend can pay big dividends.

Hard Work Pays Off

Self-publishing is not a get-rich-quick scheme. It takes dedication and hard work. Once the book is printed and you still have to sell it. This is where Christopher stood out by hand selling his book to people on the street. Not an easy task and one that few authors would try. Take the marketing and selling of your book into your own hands.

Hopefully other authors can learn from Chris about successfully self-publishing a book.

Congratulations Chris! Keep up the good work.

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The post was prompted by an article I read by Angela Hoy from http://www.writersweekly.com entitled Think Twice Before Giving Away Your Entire Book Online for Free. While I have a lot of respect for Angela and read her weekly newsletter every week, I have to disagree on this point.

Just after my last post on this topic, I stumbled upon another post named Sales Impact of Free eBooks Dissertation Published. The dissertation was researched and written by a doctoral student studying the effects of “free” on ebook sales. You can read exactly how his study was set up, so I’ll get to the meat of what this student discovered:

During the ten weeks of the study the books were downloaded 102,556 times. Collectively, the books sold 68 more copies in the ten weeks they were online for free versus the ten previous weeks. This was an increase in sales of 26%. Over the same period of time in 2008, sales of these same books decreased by 38%.

The post continues:

There was a moderately strong correlation (r=.65) between downloads and Internet print sales (the more books that were downloaded, the more books were purchased online). Thus if more books had been available and downloaded the number of additional books sold would likely have increased.

The post does talk about the limitations of this study. These limitations include the relatively small number of books studied and the short, 10 week, duration of the study. Despite the study appears to prove what I (and many others) have been advocating, I think it’s important to disclose possible problems with the study.

Writers need to market themselves, just like any other business

In the end, writers need to think of themselves as a business. All businesses need to advertise and market their products. When an author gives away ebooks for free to sell future ebooks, it’s really just the author marketing him/herself. Most businesses out there use the same principle of giving stuff away for free because it increases sales of other products. Writers should be no different.

The main point of those who disagree with authors giving books away for free seems to be that authors should be fairly compensated for their work (an idea I totally agree with). However, giving back titles away is in investment in the marketing of future titles and other works. It’s a sales strategy that, if implemented correctly, will pay big dividends.

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The main argument in favor of giving your works away for free goes something like this: You provide an ebook or two for free, and it will give readers a sampling of your work, enticing them to buy future ebooks that they would, of course, pay for. This has worked for many authors who claim that giving their stuff away does increase their sales of other books.

On the flip side, the argument against giving your work away for free is that readers will expect it for free and will expect the same thing with all of your books, thus no one will want to pay. Why pay when you can get it for free, right? The other issue that comes into play here is that authors should be fairly compensated for their work.

I recently read good article about this subject by Angela Hoy who runs writersweekly.com. I have been reading her site and subscribing to her newsletter since at least 2002-2003, so I highly respect her opinions and what she says. In her recent article Think Twice Before Giving Away Your Entire Book Online for Free she argues against what I often promote here at Brad’s Reader, and many other writers/bloggers promote as well – giving stuff away for free as a promotional tool.

A big part of Angela’s argument is this:

Giving someone an entire ebook for free, especially for unknown authors, gives the potential buyer zero incentive to buy your book. Why pay for something (by an unknown author) that’s completely free, especially in this economy? Some authors think doing this will generate lots of press (it won’t – too many authors have done it before so only well-known authors get big press for this now). Others think giving away their book will increase their readership and help sales of future books.

Based on my own personal experience, when I download a free ebook (either onto my iPhone or Sony Pocket Edition), I want to like the author’s work enough to buy their future novels. I’ve bought many ebooks from authors who offered their back list titles for free, and I know a lot of others who have done the same.

Obscurity or Making Money as a Writer?

Cory Doctorow, a science fiction author, blogger and a tech guru is one who knows something about giving his work away for free. Whenever he has a traditionally published novel released, he also releases it as a free ebook and audio version – making the title available in as many formats as possible. He says this increases his sales. He also makes an interesting comment about obscurity.

“I really feel like my problem isn’t piracy,” Mr. Doctorow said. “It’s obscurity.”

While piracy is another subject for another day, the issue of obscurity rings true in the whole should-I-give-stuff-away-for-free debate. Unknown authors have a big problem: No one knows who they are. By itself,  this makes it very unlikely anyone will read his/her work whether it’s free or not.

So what’s the unknown author to do? My first response is to get out there and start publishing your work on sites like Smashwords. But more than that, you need to somehow establish yourself. This involves more than just giving a few titles away. This also means:

• Setting up your own blog to build a healthy base
• Being active on Twitter
• Starting a Facebook fan page
• Connecting with other like-minded authors
• Continuing to write, write and write some more!

The whole purpose of all this is to avoid the obscurity trap. If you establish yourself online and have a following (even if it’s only 20 loyal readers on your blog), you are much more likely to have success giving a few titles away for free, and when the time comes, charge a reasonable price for your work. Your base of readers and followers, those who value what you have to say, will have no problem paying for that new novel you just published.

One blogger I follow is Joanaa Penn who started Author 2.0, a package of information that shows authors how to leverage technology and the principle of free to establish a following. She gives away a lot of free information to build her brand and help sell books.

What do I give away for free?

The short answer is anything you want. However, I have always felt that short fiction is the perfect “teaser” to get readers to buy your novels. If you have a few novels under your belt and are releasing new ones on at regular intervals, giving away your old back titles for free will give readers a taste of your work and will entice them to buy your newest release.

Another strategy is to give your readers something when they take a specific action. For example, you send out a monthly newsletter to your blog followers (you do have a blog, right?). Offer a free title or two (whether it’s a short story or novel) when they sign up. Make it exclusive to subscribers only. This will not only bring you more followers, but will help disseminate your work to more people.

In the end, the name of the game for all writers is marketing. Using a healthy mix of free and paid content can help you climb out of the obscurity trap so you can start commanding higher (but still reasonable) prices to those novels you work so hard to write.

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But here in Egypt, many serious authors self-publish, or do something much like it…but most serious young writers slog and toil and then slog and toil some more, getting their book printed, shepherding it into bookstores, and getting it sold. Much of it on their own dime.

This almost makes it seem like the “slog and toil” of getting their books into print and then selling them to bookstores is a rite of passage. And self-publishing commands much more respect than sending off a manuscript to a traditional publisher and having them do most of the work.

Compare that to the US, for example, where the stereotype of the self-published author is that he/she is not good enough of a writer to get a traditional publishing contract. That is slowly changing, in part do to the rise of ebooks where authors can distribute their novels to a large audience via the internet, with no need for a traditional publishing house.

Also, in Egypt there is a “middle ground” between self and traditional publishing:

According to a piece about self-publishing in Daily News Egypt, there’s also a middle ground between self-publishing and publisher-publishing. Local publishers often ask writers to share in printing and other costs—even if a work has been deemed worthy of the imprint.

This is an interesting model because it places the burden of the initial publishing investment on the shoulders of both author and publisher. By doing so, the cost to the publisher are less, letting them spend more revenue on marketing the book or paying the author higher royalties.

I’m always fascinated by the literary world of different cultures and how they do things differently. It’s easy to get tunnel vision and only think in terms of one’s own culture, not realizing that authors everywhere struggle to get their words into print and into the hands of readers.

Do you have experience self-publishing in areas of the world like the Middle East or Asia? If so, leave a comment and share your experience.

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The logistics of a dream like this would be a nightmare – not to mention bankrolling the drive around the country. It’d be hard to break even. But the thought is still nice because it embodies the independent spirit that many of us have pulsating through our veins.

You don’t need to sell books from the trunk of your car to get people to buy. Last August, I wrote a post about a man who walks his neighborhood streets selling his self-published book by hand Author sells self-published book one copy at a time. For those who are too shy to do that, you set up your book with a POD publisher, get your website/blog going and use the internet as a virtual street to hawk your wares.

Ebooks are making the process of selling even easier for indie authors. Publish your ebook on sites like Smashwords or Feedbooks and readers can download your book in any number of formats. Or you can offer your ebook as a download on your own website. The big advantage ebooks have over POD books (for example) is the ‘instant gratification’ factor. No waiting for shipping and delivery. Your new book is ready to read within seconds.

Digital content delivery is becoming the new car trunk. The out-of-pocket costs to the author are minimal and with ebooks rapidly rising in popularity, it’s a gold rush out there. You probably won’t make the bestseller list with these distribution methods, but I doubt the goal of any indie author is to be on the bestseller list (at least, that’s not my goal).

By the way, if anyone out there really is selling self-published books from the trunk of your car, leave a comment or contact me, I’d love to hear from you.

What other unique and creative methods are you using to get your book into the hands of readers?

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On a simple level, all of you have seen this before (especially those with young kids). When you buy a kids book, the book has the written story, but it also has illustrations that complement the story and bring it to life in a way not possible with just words. Some childrens books even have accompanying stuffed animals and other toys (sold separately, of course).

Recently, I bought the Grateful Dead Scrapbook: The Long, Strange Trip in Stories, Photos, and Memorabilia (aff link). Yes, I’m a deadhead and not afraid to admit it. The book contained the usual written history of the band. But the real value to a reader like me came with all the extras included.

Along with the text, there are pull-out posters, hand drawn ads for concerts, a thank you letter from Hugh Hefner for the Dead’s appearance on his ‘After Dark’ television show, and a multitude of other memorabilia that really brought the book (and the band) to life.

Poetry and fiction also work well with this idea. Like I mentioned above, I love when novels contain those little extras alongside the text. Of course, I’ve never seen a novel or collection of poems go as far as the Grateful Dead scrapbook, and I think most publishers would balk at the idea (and added expense) of including more than is absolutely necessary.

Self publishing is the perfect avenue for this kind of idea. For example, I’m compiling a chapbook with some poetry and other goodies. It will be handmade and I plan to include a few extras to make it more than just another self published chapbook. If I had any artistic ability you can bet I would also include original artwork in the chapbook as well.

Even ebooks can get in on the action. If you publish your novel as an ebook, why not include extras like all those alternate endings you wrote and threw out, or your original plot outline, character sketches, the list can go on.

The idea of giving your reader more than just a story/poem is to give them a glimpse inside your imagination – a peek into your creative process. This gives the reader a deeper relationship with the writer. They will appreciate your work more and will spend more time with your book, rather than just reading it and then letting it collect dust on a bookshelf.

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Fast forward to 2009 and ebooks are becoming much more mainstream (still a small segment of the publishing industry, but growing) and publishers are now scrambling to figure out how to deal with this new form of consuming our favorite literary works. Add to that the family of ebook readers from Sony, Amazon and now Barnes & Noble, I think it’s safe to say that ebooks aren’t going anywhere.

What will the next decade bring? While I can’t predict the future with 100% accuracy (if I could, I’d be living the high life by playing the stock market). I am going to roll the dice and list what I think we’ll see over the next 10 years. Only time will tell if any of my predictions will pan out.

1. The publishing industry: I think the worse is yet to come for large publishing houses. They’ll continue to resist ebooks and struggle to realize that digital content is not going to spell doom for them. Publishers will impose strict DRM, try to keep ebook prices high despite market pressure for low pressure and this will result in a spike of piracy. In other words, I believe the large publishers will repeat the same mistakes the music industry has made (and is still making) with disasterous consequences.

2. Indie authors: These authors who strike out on their own will become the new face of publishing over the next 10 years. They realize that ebooks provide an opportunity to distribute their books/short fiction to a wider audience than ever before – with very low investment.

3. eReaders: I find this the most exciting topic to ponder for the new decade ahead. I think that as technology improves and as ebooks gain in popularity, the devices we read ebooks on will become more sophisticated and improve the reading experience in innumerable ways.

I always like New Year’s Day because I feel it represents a new beginning, a fresh start. I can put the past year behind me, at least all the negatives, and push forward with a renewed spirit. But New Year’s Day 2010 will be different because it’ll mark a new decade with an entirely new cultural shift taking place.

What do you predict for the new decade for your self and society as a whole? Leave a comment below and share your ideas.

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Independent ebook websites like Smashwords and Feedbooks are giving indie authors an unprecedented advantage by letting these authors distribute their work without the gatekeeper of traditional publishers. While the digital domain has not been perfected, indie authors are coming out of hiding and setting their writing free into the world.

Authors Can Learn From Music Industry

For a long time large record labels controlled the music industry. If your band didn’t have a contract with a record label, your music career wasn’t going anywhere. But as the internet began to spread and music became digitized, the record labels fought these new distribution methods while musicians embraced the new technology.

The result? Bands have little need for large record labels today because they can do everything on their own thanks to the technology that’s available. Over the last decade the record labels have become less relevant and the RIAA has resorted to suing their own customers for alleged copyright infringement. Indie authors are following in the same footsteps as these bands who gave the virtual finger to the record labels.

I think the trend will continue and we’ll see more authors taking the indie route. There is still a stigma to self-publishing, but the stigma is slowly dying as self-publishing  becomes more mainstream and accepted. It helps that a lot of bestselling authors today self-published their book before landing a publishing contract. My favorite example is Lisa Genova’s book  Still Alice (aff link), which had been rejected by numerous publishers until she sold it on her own.

Large publishing houses still have one advantage

I will give credit where credit is due. Publishers do have the advantage of a vast distribution network and can get books onto the shelves of chain bookstores (i.e. Barnes & Noble and Borders) with ease. They have the infrastructure and network in place to move a lot of books all over the world.

To further complicate things for indie authors, however, the large bookstores usually won’t consider stocking a self-published book for one reason: The books can’t be returned if it doesn’t sell. This must-be-returnable policy has long been a controversial issue among publishers and authors alike, and a pain in the side for all indie authors. Again, this gives the large publishing houses an advantage because of agreements with the book chains and their large distribution network.

And as much as they have been criticized for putting the indie bookstores out of business, the large chain booksellers are vital for new releases and any author who wants to make the bestseller list cannot survive without the likes of Barnes & Noble. This might be a necessary evil, but it certainly doesn’t help indie authors.

A light at the end of the tunnel

I think it’s fair to say that not all indie authors have aspirations of making the bestseller list. Look at some of the titles on the list at any given time – a lot of those books are popular because they appeal to large audiences, meaning the writing can be mediocre at best. A good example is Dan Brown’s most recent book The Lost Symbol. Many around the web called Brown a hack and deeply criticized his writing.

Indie authors want to be independent for a reason. They want to write something unique, that probably won’t appeal to the masses. For indie authors, it’s not about reaching the largest possible audience, it’s more about reaching an eclectic group of readers that can truly appreciate a book or short story that is different than what you find in mainstream literature.

My own goal as a writer is not to reach the bestseller list, and not even to land a contract with a large publishing house. My goal is to write what I want to write and find a niche audience to cater to. I also want to control my own career and not be bound by a contract that takes away even the copyrights to my own writing.

Even the distribution advantage that traditional publishers have is being minimized. The internet is becoming the great equalizer and letting authors publish their works, many with great success, in digital format without the need for a large expensive distribution network. And if those indie authors want to release their novels in print, they can do so easily by self-publishing their books and selling them on their own via their author website/blog.

Indie authors becoming a formidable foe

In conclusion, traditional publishers have a lot to fear from indie authors. Their role as gatekeepers to the collective literary canon is being chipped away at with great speed. These publishers are decreasing the number of new authors they sign, and giving these new authors only minimal marketing support. They are throwing most of their money behind the big-name popular authors who can rake in millions of dollars.

Authors now have a choice when publishing their work. They can go the traditional route or the indie route. What real advantage does the traditional route to publishing offer?

Photo Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fcb/ / CC BY 2.0

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