Self Publishing

[Anonymous No.11096953]

What does /lit/ think about self publishing? Any experiences? Which companies are best, and what should you know before getting into it?

[Anonymous No.11096957]

self publishing is admitting defeat

[Anonymous No.11096958]

>>11096953
It works for bestselling author Robert Stanek

[Anonymous No.11096998]

>>11096953
>Any experiences?
I only have two anecdotes, but I guess I'll share.
The first, i know of a family friend who self published. He wanted to write a book that he could read to his grandchildren. I, being a known lit buff, was gifted with a final draft copy and asked to read it and give my opinion. Frankly it was shit, and that's partly why he ended up self publishing, but then he didn't really want to make a living off of it, it was more of a pass-time. So he published a few copies through Amazon. They we're okay, pretty basic but not bad quality, soft bound with a gloss cover.
The second story is even more anecdotal. My younger sister's youth pastor's uncle wrote a historical fiction about aviation in our state. He tried for a decade or two to publish conventionally, but no one wanted it, so he went with self publishing. He got it in a few local bookstores initially and has actually achieved some measure of success. The book is now sold on Amazon and a few other book retailers, one of which is Barnes and Noble
>what should you know before getting into it?
From what i understand, marketing is the biggest thing. You are your own marketing team, and a new product from a new author lives and dies by marketing, unless you get lucky and the right people help you.
But apparently marketing is the biggest hurdle.

[Anonymous No.11097080]

>>11096953

If you want to get actually published you are a cuckold.

[Anonymous No.11097093]

>>11097080
Pontificate for me anon.

[Anonymous No.11097105]

>>11097080
what

[Anonymous No.11097107]

>>11097093

>the virgin "publish me please, sirs"

>THE CHAD SELF PUBLISHING FUCK YOU

[Anonymous No.11097126]

If you're churning out garbage and aren't serious about it, self-publishing is a good route to go.

Otherwise, you're going to have to spend a lot of your own money and time. Everyone needs an editor, you'll need promotion, you'll need to pay someone who knows what they're doing to design the jacket, and so on.

This is assuming you actually want to put out a good book and not just take shortcuts to a quick, easy ego boost and then pressure your immediate family and friends to buy copies they'll never read.

[Anonymous No.11097138]

>>11097126
>easy ego boost and then pressure your immediate family and friends to buy copies they'll never read

this is the saddest thing to see its like dont these self-publishing fags have any shame

[Anonymous No.11097145]

>>11096957

[Anonymous No.11097147]

>puttng a price on art
I would sincerely only self-publish for free or do it so people can pick up an on demand, physical book. Otherwise self-publishing spells out "I couldn't get a publisher" as many have pointed out. The only way someone can get record sales self-publishing is through building up a huge community. The book doesnt even have to be good. See 50 shades of Grey.
I hope that helps in some way.

[Anonymous No.11097150]

>>11096953
Is that a trap?

[Anonymous No.11097194]

>>11097138
The thing that's so often obvious is that books put out this way have not seen serious revision. Often they have not even been properly proofread.

Writing a book is hard, and it's understandable to want to get it out into the world and feel that validation. But, unless you have a huge audience already, you're basically killing your book by pushing it out too early, branding it with an ISBN, and casting it out into Amazon print-to-order irrelevance.

[Anonymous No.11097209]

>>11097194
I had a creative writing instructor say the same thing. Which was confirmed by self-published authors in my writing group. The errors and slapdash printing were cringeworthy.

[Anonymous No.11097241]

>>11097107
The EXACT opposite of this.

Self-publishing is just masturbation; nobody will ever notice you and you will gain nothing. Seducing a publisher is pure Chadness.

[Anonymous No.11097259]

>>11097209
>>11097194
seriously i've had this same experience, what is it with self-published authors straight up refusing to read over their work when it's done??
for fuck's sake, just read it out loud after you've written it, be it a short story or a chapter. maybe it isn't "FUN" but it's the easiest way to spot spelling errors and grammatical errors. not to mention you probably want to read it aloud to, you know, hear the prose

[Anonymous No.11097264]

>>11097241

>please publish me ;_; i'm ready to be published this is my seventh rejection letter ;_;
>tfw rejected for publishing again

[Anonymous No.11097282]

>>11097259
Reminds me of the thread postef here of that guy the other day. He posted on Reddit for self-promotion, and everyone in the comments called him out for his terrible writing. Then people dug deeper into his profile and saw he was a terrible person in general. Fun times.

[Anonymous No.11097298]

>>11097282
>reddit
>calling someone out for bad writing
>x_to_doubt.jpeg

[Anonymous No.11097347]

>>11097282
link?

[Anonymous No.11097472]

>>11097347
https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/8ee5ue/had_a_lifelong_dream_fulfilled_today_im/
I don't have the /lit/ thread. pic related is the image before he took it down. Also, new reddit's look is trash, here's the old style for readability:
https://old.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/8ee5u/had_a_lifelong_dream_fulfilled_today_im/

[Anonymous No.11097511]

>>11097472
>onions smile

[Anonymous No.11097551]

>>11097241
Except the numerous people who have found success in self publishing.

[Anonymous No.11097573]

>>11097472
>>11097511
https://clark-west.com/blog/dream-cast

[Anonymous No.11097593]

>>11096953
>Chemical warfare
>chemical warfare
>chemical warfare
>warfare warfare

[Anonymous No.11097597]

>>11097573
He wrote that 5 days AFTER shit went down with the reddit thread.
That's insane delusion.

[Anonymous No.11097605]

>>11097573
Fuck, I'm glad that's not me.

[Anonymous No.11097627]

>>11097105
>>11096953
That is one ugly bitch

[Anonymous No.11097637]

>>11097264
>please fuck me ;_; i'm ready to be fucked this is my seventh rejection ;_;
>tfw rejected for fucking again
If this sounds stupid to you, it's because it is.

[Anonymous No.11097648]

>>11097597
lmao. i feel sorry for the guy. i felt like i needed to take a shower after reading that

[Anonymous No.11098146]

>>11096953
Who is that insemination destination?

[Anonymous No.11098187]

All self-publishing is vanity publishing.

[Anonymous No.11098200]

I am against being published. Don't see the point beyond vanity or money, but i already have a career so I don't need either.

[Anonymous No.11098205]

>>11096957
ur a cowardly dog

[Anonymous No.11098208]

Maybe four or five decades ago sucking agents and editors off for an attempt at muh literary legitimacy made a modicum of sense even if the industry has always been largely aimed at the lowest common denominator. Now that it's a dying industry competing with more instantly gratifying forms of entertainment among an increasingly ADHD-addled population, and it's largely pozzed up with stronk independent whamen agents and editors who only want minorities and cum guzzling trannies you'd be a fool to put any stock in the "legitimacy" of publishing houses.

[Anonymous No.11098214]

>>11097105
>Above ground pool
White. Trash.

[Anonymous No.11098221]

>>11098208
I like your spirit but i wish you naziboos would at least admit that all the pozzed up transblack shemales they publish happen to be upper middle class and attended an mfa program at one of the trendier midwestern state school or else a small private college on the coast; it is and was always a class issue. DH Lawrence had to marry and ugly rich cuntess for only a modicum of recognition. And even then he had to self publish The Rainbow iirc

[Anonymous No.11098230]

>>11097472
>I'm officially a published author
>Publisher: CreateSpace
Fucking lol

[Anonymous No.11098246]

>>11098221
That's true up to a point but you're being willfully ignorant if you only chalk it up to class. If you go to your average literary agency's website they'll almost all have a vapid mission statement on how they want (((diverse voices))) or some such bullshit. Each of their agents will typically stress that in their individual submission guidelines too. Even more than class on its own, neoliberal (((progressive values))) are a standard barrier for entry now.

[Anonymous No.11098262]

>>11096957
> submit book to every single publisher in existence
> collate reponses

"Your book is well-written but we feel it is a little too 'quirky' for our company, good luck placing it."

jesus christ. protagonist has a dream about fucking an alien squid and suddenly you're "quirky". self-publishing is the way to go.

[Anonymous No.11098266]

>>11097080
>cuckold

[Anonymous No.11098280]

>>11098208
>>11098246
t. someone who will never will publish anything of value. You act you're an insufferable tween girl who won't have their own way.

[Anonymous No.11098289]

>>11098246
I agree; but would also point out that neoliberal values are a product or the bourgeois academic class; degeneracy is top down. Pretty sure it has always been that way.

[Anonymous No.11098290]

>>11098280
If your only response to your precious publishing industry being slighted is that sort of limp-wristed comeback, you're a modern day castrato.

[Anonymous No.11098291]

>>11098280
I don't wish to publish; i would rather just write for the sake of exercise. What is wrong with that?

[Anonymous No.11098299]

>>11098290
I'm not the anon you were talking to.
>>11098291
Yeah that's fair enough then.

[Anonymous No.11098305]

>>11098289
It has but there's more subtle and overt censorship of wrongthink at every level now due to the industry shrinking in scope since its heyday and the proliferation of politically driven social media lynch mobs who publishers, agents, editors and such are more beholden to now than they ever have been. The game has always been rigged, yes, but at this point it's too obvious and any potential rewards for playing are middling at best in most cases due to the well running dry.

[Anonymous No.11098310]

>>11098305
we are in the decline of a powerful civilization, the end of an era. It may not be ideal but that is what fate has demanded of us.

[Anonymous No.11098317]

>>11098230
I have some CreateSpace Milton and Tasso. I hate them personally. They use in the case of the covers for Milton's Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes, super low res jpegs and blow them up to fit the cover size, which also lends to them being such thin books for having used such large sheet size that the spines aren't labelled.

[Anonymous No.11098331]

>>11098310
No, that's not happening at all beyond non-europeans. America detached from the "west" (if you can even define whats "western) has an unrivaled power in the history of nations and empires. Europe on top of that encompasses the entire world.

[Anonymous No.11099335]

>>11096953
If you post your writing on your own website, is that still self-publishing?

[Anonymous No.11099399]

>>11097551
Name 10 who didn't resort to hardcore shilling

[Anonymous No.11099413]

>>11099399
>10
Not him but fuck you.

[Anonymous No.11099438]

>>11099413
cmon anon can't be that hard to defend this :^)

[Anonymous No.11099450]

>>11097627
still would

[Anonymous No.11101265]

>>11097573
>I’ll lay awake for hours, picturing my book selling millions of copies, or getting optioned as an HBO series or feature length film. And if you’re an agent for HBO and you’re reading this, firstly, why? How did you find this? Did you get lost? Do you need help finding your way home? And secondly, please option The Organist to be a part of True Detective’s anthology. I would literally have a stroke.
jeez

[Anonymous No.11102195]

a friend of mine self published their first book and now they have had a 2 book, and now a 4 book deal.

but they are also a female writing romance novels

[Anonymous No.11102305]

>>11097126
>you'll need to pay someone who knows what they're doing to design the jacket

[Anonymous No.11102381]

>>11096953
It's not "self publishing" anon. The kool kids call it "author subsidy" now. All the really hip kids are doing it today. Just look at the crap churned out by Zero Books, part of the John Hunt Publishing group. They'll print anything, from anybody (if you subsidize it enough) Link related.
http://www.theindependentpublishingmagazine.com/2014/02/john-hunt-publishing-reviewed.html