Self Publishing

Comment

Comment by Mari Sloan on December 21, 2009 at 2:55am

They pay every month with a three month delay. They do not tell you which websites or distributors bought your book. They give an overall accounting of purchase prices minus cost of printing.

Comment by Darden North, MD on December 21, 2009 at 12:32am

Hi all. I have enjoyed reading about the experiences of others. I have self-published three novels and have a fourth WIP. The Gibbs Company of Ridgeland, MS, has done the design and layout work for all three, which were then printed in hardcover by Friesen. BookMasters and AtlasBooks are my distributors, and from my experience I think it is very important to be selective in deciding how and where to allocate your marketing funds. Use "free" Internet opportunities when possible. There is more about what I have done on my website www.dardennorth.com. Thanks.

Comment by Susan Culp on December 20, 2009 at 11:53pm

Thanks. How often does Lightning Source pay, and do they tell you what website the sales occurred?

Comment by Mari Sloan on December 20, 2009 at 9:53pm

You can't precisely. Your payment comes through Lightning Source and they don't specify. I can tell when someone buys books from Amazon because my rank # becomes lower. The book has been out now for two years so I do the dance of joy when it takes a dip. :-) "Beaufort Falls" by Mari Sloan

Comment by Susan Culp on December 20, 2009 at 9:18pm

I also used Lightning Source for my book. They did a great job. I am registered with Ingram, Barnes and Noble.com and Amazon.com through them. How do I track sales from these places?

Comment by Mari Sloan on December 20, 2009 at 9:04pm

Vic, I used Lightning Source as my printer, and paid them a little extra to also do distribution, which they did very well. Lightning Source is the POD division Of Ingram, and if you go to their web site you can download a document that tells you everything you would want to know about them. We were very pleased with the quality of our printing, also.

Comment by George H. Sirois on December 20, 2009 at 7:39pm

I've published one book so far, and that experience wasn't all that much to brag about. I'm proud of the work, and I'm glad that a few friends recently picked up their own copies and enjoyed reading it, but like all things in life, it was a learning experience. The marketing for that one was next to non-existent, so I'm looking forward to seizing any kind of marketing possible for the new one that I'm finishing up.

That not only includes options like the discussed Book Fair, but also discussing the self-publishing experience with those who would listen. Here's what Chris Paolini did for the first edition of Eragon, which his parents published for him... "To promote the book, Paolini toured over 135 schools and libraries, discussing reading and writing, all the while dressed in "a medieval costume of red shirt, billowy black pants, lace-up boots, and a jaunty black cap."

So with the book in the home stretch and the printing already paid for with Infinity (I promoted the pre-order deposit and built up the money for the printing with that), I'm open to any and all options regarding marketing to ensure I get the maximum amount of return on this book. Especially since this is a story I'm very excited about telling...

Comment by Vic on December 20, 2009 at 5:53pm

I'm so busy working over time that I havent even gotten around to reading the discussions here. I've been lead to believe that places like infinity or lulu are a bad bargain so I'm looking at other ways of doing what I want which is having a book I can occasionally hand to someone and say yes I am a published author.

Comment by Mari Sloan on November 6, 2009 at 12:44am

From the number of responses it might be that most of the Writer's Box members are very successfully published and don't feel that they need to share with wannabees. This is a forum for people who think they might want to publish in this very specialized way. It's a tough process. There may be people reading this who just read and then say "Querying isn't so bad!"

Comment by Tony Walker on November 5, 2009 at 1:29pm

It would be interesting to see how many WB members have actually published any books.

From the small number of responses, I'd guess not too many.

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