Sue Collier | May 3, 2010
There seems to be a fairly common misconception among some would-be self-publishers that if they want to take advantage of print-on-demand technology, they have no choice but to go with a subsidy outfit such as Lulu, iUniverse, or Author House. What they don’t realize is that POD refers to a digital printing process performed by a [...]
Sue Collier | April 27, 2010
One of the most appealing things about using a so-called self-publishing company for many authors is the lack of up-front investment. Companies such as Lulu cost very little, so eager authors jump right in—often without examining the fine print. Unfortunately, most authors quickly discover they are left with an unmarketable book that sells few copies. [...]
Sue Collier | April 15, 2010
I read another blogger today who asked this same question—and his answer was that 99 percent of self-publishing is a scam. I’m going to have to respectfully disagree with him on that one—but only because he is using incorrect terminology. Subsidy publishing—now there is a scam (for the most part—I would probably agree with 99 [...]
Sue Collier | March 30, 2010
Media Shift had an interesting article last week on The Pitfalls of Using Self-Publishing Packages. Basically, it offered a warning to authors who opt to go with so-called “self-publishing” companies such as iUniverse, Author House, and Lulu. This is a topic I have covered here many times, but I think it’s always worth a revisit [...]
Sue Collier | March 10, 2010
I have to speak up again today after reading this blog post: http://blog.writersdigest.com/norules/CommentView.aspx?guid=8f273388-29f7-4bcc-9b1f-3efd79f5cf10 The blog wasn’t cooperating with my comment addition, however, so I’m going to put it right here: “…the industry is now experiencing a “true self-publishing” movement that argues a “real” self-published author is one who eschews the use of services like AuthorSolutions. [...]
Sue Collier | March 10, 2010
I read this blog post today http://cba-ramblings.blogspot.com/2010/03/think-hard-before-self-publishing.html from a literary agent, who basically thinks self-publishing is a bad idea for the vast majority of authors. Because I disagree with so much of what she says–from the standpoint of authors who are truly self-published (and this is an important distinction!)–and wrote a lengthy comment to the [...]
Sue Collier | January 19, 2010
Apparently, not even Publishers Weekly understands that POD ”self-publishing” is not self-publishing at all. Here is the article I responded to: http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6712254.html?talk_back_header_id=6637648#talkback. (There is a lot of other excellent feedback there, including from self-publishing pioneer Dan Poynter, so be sure to read that as well.) My comments: I find it amazing that Publishers Weekly still doesn’t understand [...]
Sue Collier | December 22, 2009
I received an email over the weekend, requesting that SPR get in touch with GLAWS (Greater Los Angeles Writers Society–http://www.glaws.org/). Apparently, the group had a meeting on self-publishing a while back, and they had people from iUniverse, AuthorHouse, and Xlibris there. Here’s a little bit of what the email said: “I almost fell down. I [...]
Sue Collier | November 19, 2009
If you are even remotely tapped into the publishing world, you’ve heard all about the new Harlequin Horizons, wherein authors can pay $600 to $1,600 for their book to be “published.” (Hmmm…sounds like a vanity press to me.) This might be a fabulous idea–if you’re Harlequin. And that is probably true only in the short [...]
Sue Collier | October 7, 2009
With the recent explosion of cheap publishing options—most of which are not “self” publishing, but subsidy publishing incorrectly labeled “self-publishing”—I have to wonder: Is it really less expensive in the long run? This leads to a slew of other questions: Is there a commercial market for my book? Who is my audience? Will they buy [...]
