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How to Self-Publish a Novel in 2017

zhubert.com

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Re: How to Self-Publish a Novel in 2017

#161

Post by vgt »

sacado2 wrote: post #159
vgt wrote: post #75

My wife is an aspiring novelist (on her 9th draft of the novel) with an MFA in fiction and some experience working for a literary agent. Some perspective from that side: - 99% of all drafts sent to literary agents are objectively non-publishable. Simple lack of quality, lack of maturity, or other quantifiable factors. One or two drafts is not enough, even for experienced established novelists. Sadly, you can often te…

> One or two drafts is not enough, even for experienced established novelists. cough Elmore Leonard cough cough Robert Heinlein cough > Not to mention that, once self-published, a book is highly unlikely to be re-published by a traditional publisher, especially for a first-time author. That's a good thing. I think more writers should be in a "fire an forget" mode, i.e write a book, self-publish it, have readers or no…

If you can write a great novel in one or two drafts, more power to you. I mentioned that it's not an absolute rule, especially for established experienced authors.

However, if you're an aspiring novelist, and you are frustrated that agents are not responding to your query letters with 5 pages of manuscript, and you've only done one or two drafts, there's a good chance that your book just isn't ready.

The other point I make is that the self-publishing industry allows for books that are objectively "not ready to enter the market" to enter the market, and at a ratio that overwhelms books that ARE objectively ready. This skews the market.

Re: How to Self-Publish a Novel in 2017

#162

Post by sacado2 »

vgt wrote: post #161
sacado2 wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> One or two drafts is not enough, even for experienced established novelists. cough Elmore Leonard cough cough Robert Heinlein cough > Not to mention that, once self-published, a book is highly unlikely to be re-published by a traditional publisher, especially for a first-time author. That's a good thing. I think more writers should be in a "fire an forget" mode, i.e write a book, self-publish it, have readers or no…

If you can write a great novel in one or two drafts, more power to you. I mentioned that it's not an absolute rule, especially for established experienced authors. However, if you're an aspiring novelist, and you are frustrated that agents are not responding to your query letters with 5 pages of manuscript, and you've only done one or two drafts, there's a good chance that your book just isn't ready. The other point…

Yes, that's true, but I think self-publishing authors (at least on the ebook market) adapted. Amazon is very good on this market. More often than not, if you want to make money in that niche, you better publish series with a free first episode. If your book sucks, the reader will put it back very fast. Nobody will buy your series, and your book will quickly get lost in the abyss of amazon's search engines.

So, it kinda works. People who know you will be able to download your awful book, while innocent anonymous amazon customers will never find it by accident.

> However, if you're an aspiring novelist, and you are frustrated that agents are not responding to your query letters with 5 pages of manuscript, and you've only done one or two drafts, there's a good chance that your book just isn't ready.

Yes, but the question is : is it worth keeping working on that book or is it better to forget and start working on a new one ? There is no definitive answer, but abandoning forever the first novel I ever wrote was the best decision in my writer life. YMMV.

Re: How to Self-Publish a Novel in 2017

#163

Post by cableshaft »

skookumchuck wrote: post #150

If your scifi book synopsis contains one of the phrases: 1. journey to the end of the universe 2. the fate of the universe hands in the balance 3. voyage to the end of time I put the book back on the shelf.

Only one man can save the fate of mankind...

Re: How to Self-Publish a Novel in 2017

#164

Post by cableshaft »

arc_of_descent wrote: post #47

I'm curious. Do you jot everything down on Scrivener? Or do you also write on paper? Lately I've been carrying a notebook everywhere I go and I'm starting to write much more.

For journal-style writing, I'm finding using a physical notebook and bringing it with me is definitely the way to go. It's a constant reminder that I should be trying to keep it up, instead of being buried in the file system on my computer. I also like how I can easily add drawings whenever I feel like, or how easy it is to bring out while at lunch and write a few pages.

I personally haven't been able to make that work with writing stories, although I have found printing drafts and marking them up physically can work.

Re: How to Self-Publish a Novel in 2017

#165

Post by skookumchuck »

cableshaft wrote: post #163
skookumchuck wrote: post #150

If your scifi book synopsis contains one of the phrases: 1. journey to the end of the universe 2. the fate of the universe hands in the balance 3. voyage to the end of time I put the book back on the shelf.

Only one man can save the fate of mankind...

With thrillers, they synopses all sound the same. A grisly murder, a dark secret, and one person must follow the clues to find the murderer before he kills again. Zzzzzz....

Re: How to Self-Publish a Novel in 2017

#166

Post by username223 »

kriro wrote: post #154
username223 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> we're ebook only so far Any insight on "piracy" rates? I recently published something print-only, and was considering offering a PDF (layout matters). It's a completely different "vertical," so the rest of your experience isn't too relevant.

A good take on this from a writer friend of mine: the people that "pirate" the book were likely never going to pay for it. But they could very well recommend it to people who might prefer buying it. The more it gets "pirated" the better as that means it's likely to be a decent book. I kind of agree with this and my gut says avid readers (which are always your #1 target due to word of mouth etc.) are generally fairly…

Thanks for the feedback.

My book is neither tech nor mass-market, and I've heard from another author in the area that "piracy" doesn't seem to be a major factor. It's also a large enough file to be a pain to email or put on a free blog, and unlikely to turn into a reliable torrent, so accidental or casual mass distribution is unlikely. Hm...

Re: How to Self-Publish a Novel in 2017

#167

Post by rev_bird »

Nomentatus wrote: post #131
rev_bird wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>How to not get sued by overzealous copyrights holders? I might be misunderstanding, but why is it unreasonable for the holder of a copyright to object to an author using their work without licensing it? This in particular seems like a pretty clear-cut example of actual infringement.

Not sure why you don't see the mere mention of cartoon characters as lying outside fair use. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use#1._Purpose_and_charac...

Oh, I'd readily admit mentioning a cartoon character is fair use, but it seems like using the actual image of a cartoon character is infringement—what else IS a cartoon character? Where's the line? If one person can put Tinkerbell in a science book, why can't I publish a "Disney characters coloring book" without a license?

I'm admittedly not an expert, but there have been many rulings stating that characters themselves can be covered by copyright,[0] and fair use is supposed to allow for commentary and criticism, not just "oh, that's nice, I'll use that." It's not very different from just putting people's photographs in a science book, is it?

[0] http://fairuse.stanford.edu/case/dc-comics-v-towle/

Re: How to Self-Publish a Novel in 2017

#168

Post by dragonwriter »

rev_bird wrote: post #167
Nomentatus wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure why you don't see the mere mention of cartoon characters as lying outside fair use. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use#1._Purpose_and_charac...

Oh, I'd readily admit mentioning a cartoon character is fair use, but it seems like using the actual image of a cartoon character is infringement—what else IS a cartoon character? Where's the line? If one person can put Tinkerbell in a science book, why can't I publish a "Disney characters coloring book" without a license? I'm admittedly not an expert, but there have been many rulings stating that characters themselv…

> Oh, I'd readily admit mentioning a cartoon character is fair use

It's probably not even an otherwise-infringing activity that would require fair-use analysis. At least if we are talking about copyright; if the character name is also a trademark, that may be a different story.

Re: How to Self-Publish a Novel in 2017

#169

Post by alexpete »

memset wrote: post #134
zhubert wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Howdy, author here. Completely agree on the early reader feedback. I went through two rounds of readers (alpha and beta) and it was immensely helpful in grinding down some of the rough edges of the book. A development editor would be fantastic as well, I honestly just didn't know where to find one!

It turns out that many editors who work at major publishers also freelance edit on the side. (Source: I have many friends who work at Penguin in NYC.) If you want, I can ask some of them if they know any leads who might be interested.

I'd be interested in that as well. Trying to build something that's geared heavily toward developmental/structural editing, and connecting freelancers with writers. Could I send you an email?
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