Publishing musings

[jeriendhal]

Just debating internally after recieving a comment from tamhavik on my DeviantArt account about perhaps making Unexpected Diversions availible on Amazon.

Now, there are a couple of ways to go about this.

Kindle

Advantages:

1) Product will always be availible.

2) No expensive box of unsold books sitting in my closet.

Disadvantages:

1) Kindle is an exclusive Amazon product that has great anecdotal popularity but no statistical track record yet. Amazon is committed to their reader, but given the current economy they could very well pull the plug on it tomorrow.

2) Kindle format is incompatible with other portable readers, potentially limiting my sales.


Dead Tree Edition

Advantages:

1) Tactile. I'm enough of an old fogey that print is my preferred format. That and a book will never require batteries or signing an end user agreement before reading.

2) Ego. It'll be something I can look on my shelf. That and no one will ever ask me to sign their Kindle.

Disadvantages:

2) Expense. I'll have to print up X number of books to be ready to send them to buyers and mailing will be another expense. Realistically speaking I'd consider it a wild success if I sold a dozen copies, but that's still a dozen copies I would have to keep on hand to ship out.

Maybe my poll on Friday will give everyone a chance to let me know what their preference is.

Comments

[aynne-witch.livejournal.com]

If you go Dead Tree - have a look at Lulu - I'll try to remember to look up the site.

It's recommended by NaNoWriMo for publication and I like what I've seen so far as to their operation.


**hehehe - too easy - http://www.lulu.com/
I R Teh Dork

[jeriendhal.livejournal.com]

I was that dorky already. :)

I the major disadvantage I've heard about Lulu is that it isn't as cost effective as a vanity publisher, but that might have changed.

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

Do you do anything special about distribution, or do you just sell to friends?

[jeriendhal.livejournal.com]

I haven't gotten the hang of self-advertising yet. With The Dragon's Companion I basically just made an announcement on the Bujold list and in my LJ. But absolutely anyone can buy it though.

I've got a separate, private book that I don't actually sell on Lulu, but that's A) a fanfic and B) set in a friends universe, so I'm obligated not to sell it for profit anyway.

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

I've thought about going the Lulu route with my time-travel-in-Yellowstone book, but it just seems like why? if no one's going to know it's there.

If I could get the hang of publicity, then I don't think I'd ever send another query letter out again. But that's what I want to "buy" from the publishers. How to get the darned thing out there where it's noticed.