Six Reasons You Should Stick With Legacy Publishing by Allan Douglas

There is a tendency for authors, especially new authors, to discount the value of the established and venerated publishing houses; those establishments that have for, in some cases, hundreds of years provided the readers of the world, with quality materials to entertain, inform and enlighten.  But suddenly the reverent awe in which we have always held these firms is being besmirched, like graffiti on a church by a pair of hooligans; a bratty upstart called Self Publishing and his sidekick Indie Press.  Oh, sure, their cousin Vanity Press has been prostituting herself for almost as long as the Big Houses have been around, but she pretty much kept to herself and offered little threat to them.

Self and Indie, however, have managed to lure a sizable contingent of writers into their posse with promises of instant money and fast stardom.  But, here are six reasons why authors should stick with the brick and mortar giants of publishing.

One

Rejection is so rewarding.  You enjoy spending a year or more querying agents and wallpapering your office with the politely worded notices that you aren’t quite right for them at this time, serving as an everlasting memorial to your inadequacy.

Two

You enjoy the challenge of rewriting your book to conform to the socio-political stance of the publishing house that has seen promise in your work.

Three

You want to savor the prolonged anticipation and expectation of knowing your book is in the works and will be made available to the general public by stretching it out for a year or a year and half if possible.

Four

An up-front cash payment of several thousand dollars is enough of a carrot to induce you to give up all rights to your work, trusting that the Big House will be actively seeking every possible opportunity to sell said work.

Five

Because, should said work sell well enough to cover your advance and produce royalties, 5% to 7% of sales is certainly generous compensation for the paltry amount of labor and thought you put into the creation of one book.  After all – how much sweat and angst can it take to produce a book that sells well?

Six

Self publishing, like micro computers and cell phones, is a fad; merely a passing fancy with technology.  Once the hoopla wears off, all reputable authors will be pounding on the doors to the hallowed halls of the Big 6 begging forgiveness for their sinful dalliance with this slick-talking upstart.

So, what’s it going to be?  I say; hold tight to your Smith Corona typewriter and that curly-corded telephone and keep banging out query letters to feed your rejection addiction.  After all; we ARE supposed to suffer for our art, aren’t we?

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The egocentric liar who cowers behind the pen name Allan Douglas has been an author, writer, prattler, dreamer since the 1970’s, published mostly in magazines but has duped publishers into producing three books to date, one through a publishing house the others self-published – but they were just an experiment; like that first cigarette out behind the barn, just to see what all the fuss is about. Really!

He lives on a mountainside in the Cherokee National Forest in East Tennessee with an undeservedly wonderful wife, a genius border collie and a Prima donna English hound who is queen of the mountain.  He serves as an ordained Elder in his church, is a master woodworker, former custom furniture maker and once dreamt of sailing the world in a Bristol Channel Cutter.  But then he met a girl, got all twitterpated and lost is way.  Stories about his life as a mountain man wannabe are posted to www.SimpleLifePrattle.com.  He also offers hackneyed advice to misguided writers at his blog http://AllanDouglas.com/blog/ where he compounds his offense by making a feeble attempt to sell the progeny of his tryst with a couple of the members of Self Publishing’s posse.  May he never live down the shame!

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Allan Douglas Writes
Bsn Web: www.AllanDouglas.com
Bsn Blog: www.AllanDouglas.com/blog/
Psn Blog: www.SimpleLifePrattle.com

Original Post: http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2011/06/07/stick-with-legacy-publishing/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheCreativePenn+%28The+Creative+Penn%29

Breakthrough Bookstore- Opening Doors to a Better Life

http://www.BreakthroughBookstore.com

Breakthrough Bookstore Provides A Win-Win For Self-Published Authors:

A Chance To Get Noticed Online And To Change The Perception Of Self-Published Books

With self-published authors producing more and more books every year, the reading audience is discovering that there are plenty of diamonds among them. The biggest problem is having a central source for locating these gems. By establishing the Self-Published Authors Marketplace, Breakthrough Bookstore is providing the solution.

Breakthrough Bookstore was originally established to “open doors to a better life” for its customers with traditionally published books on issues affecting one’s life and business. Very quickly, Dannye Williamsen, owner of the online bookstore and a self-published author herself, realized that if she really wanted to assist others in making a breakthrough, she needed to do something for her fellow penmen: self-published authors.

The Self-Published Authors Marketplace section of Breakthrough Bookstore launches its new web site on March 1, 2011. Although the listings are free, Williamsen sought submissions from the authors in order to create a community where everyone is invested in making the S-PA Marketplace work. In other words, a place where everyone is working toward a win-win for everyone.

Publishing Industry statistics recently showed that “about 20 percent of online sales are of titles not available in traditional brick-and-mortar stores. Projections are this figure will soon reach a third of all book sales.” Creating a special online venue for self-published authors will contribute to their books becoming the largest portion of these sales.

Someone once said, “It is not who you know but who knows you that counts,” and getting noticed is the chief issue for most self-published authors. In 2007, the Independent Book Publishers Association reported that small and self-publishers produced 78 percent of all the book titles at that time. With the advent of technology and increased numbers of POD publishers, the numbers of self-published books are steadily increasing. This makes it even more difficult to get noticed in bookstores of any kind where these books are competing with traditionally published “bestsellers,”  making this new marketplace a breath of fresh air for self-published authors.

The response to this new venture has been tremendous: “Thank you for the opportunity to put my book out where more readers can see it!” – Jeromy Henry [Piñatas From Space! Crazy Games With Cards And Dice]; “This is a wonderful thing you are doing.” – Jay Miller [Bingo, the Banjo Picking Bear]; “Your offer is certainly a step I’m grateful to be taking.” – Mark McKenna [The Word Gang]; “Thank you so much for your efforts to help self-published authors.”  – Joseph Allen [The Phoenix: Firestorm].

The Self Published Authors Marketplace welcomes all self-published books regardless of how they were published. The only stipulation is that they be available through Amazon.com because the bookstore operates as an Amazon Associate.

Contact:

Dannye Williamsen
Breakthrough Bookstore
www.BreakthroughBookstore.com
Customerservice@BreakthroughBookstore.com
770-438-0889

Susan Claridge Interviews Me

Before we get started talking about your books, tell us a little about yourself.  Where are you from?  What is your occupation outside of writing?

 

I’m originally from a small town in Michigan right on Lake Muskegon. Now I live behind the “Redwood Curtain” in Humboldt County, California.  It’s about six hours north of San Francisco on the coast. I don’t have a profession outside of writing.

 

Would you describe yourself as an introvert or an extrovert?

 

I think of myself as an introvert, but I can be an extrovert when I need to be!

 

Do you have any pets?  If so, what kind and tell us their names.

 

I have a multicolored kitty named Rajah.

 

What are your favorite books to read?

 

I love dipping into just about every genre, but I do love thrillers and historical epics. I guess it’s good writing I look for when I choose a book.

 

Where is the most unique place you have traveled?

 

Europe. It’s just so incredibly ancient compared to the U.S. They have buildings that are hundreds of years old, whereas we only go back a few hundred years here. Europe has such a sense of history about it.

 

Aside from your successes in the writing industry, what in your life has given you the greatest sense of accomplishment?

 

I used to be a homebirth midwife, delivering babies at home. Nothing can ever compare to that.

 

How many books have you written and how many of those are published?  (Please list the names of your books here)

 

I have four published books, plus a few I started but haven’t finished. They’re titled: Native Vengeance (novella), Quantum Earth, Deadly Lucidity, and Earthwalker- Earth can be Hell for a Vampire.

 

Do you have one particular genre that all your books fall under (i.e. suspense, romance, etc.)  or do you write in many different genres?

 

I’ve been told that my writing is pretty unique. For one thing they’re hard to pin down as to genre. All of them have something to do with the paranormal, and there’s always a fear factor involved. I’m a multi-genre writer I guess.

 

How much character and plot detailing do you plan out before you begin writing a novel, or are you a “pantser” (fly by the seat of your pants) ?

 

I pretty much dream up a story I think I can live with for the duration, create a main character or two, and just let everything else just come to me. My stories seem to write themselves after that.

 

Prior to becoming a published author, how many rejections did you receive?  How did you handle the rejections?

 

I got many, many rejections before I snagged a couple of publishers who vied for Quantum Earth. That was crazy! I knew ahead of time that it takes a lot of rejections before you find a publisher that believes in your book enough to actually publish it. They get loads of queries from people all the time, some hundreds each month. I just kept telling myself that with every rejection I was just getting closer to getting published.

 

How and when do you write? Do you keep yourself on a schedule or do you work while the muse is with you?

 

I write almost constantly when I’m working on a book project. My muse is pretty cooperative once I’ve found something that excites me.

 

If you have a new release coming out, tell us about it.  (a short synopsis)

 

Earthwalker- Earth can be Hell for a Vampire is my latest release. It’s about a woman who’s going through a lot of emotional turmoil and heads to the mountains to be alone. Well, she’s not alone for long. A loud crashing noise in the night wakes her up and she goes out to investigate. She finds a man badly hurt next to a small spaceship. Of course she’s terrified, but he convinces her that he won’t hurt her if she helps him. This is the beginning of a very rocky romance, full of thrills and chills, not to mention passion. It’s a hard story to describe without giving away too much. I will say that the vampires involved are very different from what you’re used to. I wanted to create a world that was fresh and exciting.

 

If you have many books already released, tell us which is your favorite and why.

 

I really love them all, but since you’ve put me in a corner I’d have to say Earthwalker. I chose this one because I think vampires are so fun to read about. They can also be so multidimensional.

 

Out of all the books you’ve written and the characters you’ve created, which is your favorite character and why?

 

I think it would have to be the female protagonist in Deadly Lucidity. She’s got to deal with this crazy nightmare world she’s trapped in, going from one dream to the next in a heartbeat. It really makes her character have to evolve throughout the story, which I really enjoy.

 

If you could give one piece of advice to writers trying to get published, what would that advice be?

I never go with the obvious one about expecting lots of rejections. I tell them something I was totally clueless about, which is don’t think the work is over once you’ve gotten your book published. That’s only the beginning if you want to sell books. You’ve got to learn how to market yourself and your book. Publishers just don’t do that anymore for the most part. That’s one reason I self-published my second two books. For $500 I was able to get everything I got when I was with a publishing house, plus I get a much larger cut for all my hard work. There is a lot of great free info on marketing for writers on the internet. Do your research and market till your fingers bleed!

 

Anything else you’d like to share with my blog readers?

 

I’m offering a free pdf file of Earthwalker to anybody who would like to write a review of it on amazon and goodreads. Just contact me at erthwkr@gmail.com if you’re interested. Happy reading to everyone!

 

Where can we read more about you and your work?

 

You can search my name on Google or any other search engine, or you can visit my blog at http://earthwalker.tk

There are lots of reviews on amazon, too. If you’d like to purchase my books with free shipping, go to http://julieachterhoff.tk

Publishing Your Book

This is a recent letter I wrote to a frustrated friend who was trying to decide how to go about getting his first book published. His idea was to start by trying to obtain an agent, but really didn’t know which way to turn. He knew that I self-published my last two books, but was concerned about the stigma about doing it this way. I set him straight.

Here it is:

I can definitely understand your frustration! I went through it a few years back when I was trying to get my first book published. I thought that I’d get at least one book published, then get an agent. Then I did some research on the publishing scene to get some perspective. I must have sent querries to around 75 publishers, then had a couple who wanted Quantum Earth. I chose a small publishing house in Maine. I thought that was the hard part! Little did I know that as far as marketing and publicity I was on my own, as are most authors in the business, including those published by the bigger houses you may get to publish your book with the help of an agent. Even the big houses don’t even put your book into stores for you. They also don’t help one iota with marketing. Some may give you a couple free books to pass out for review, but it’s only the big guys who get such things as advances and tours.

So you see, having an agent doesn’t guarantee anything except one more person to take a piece of your pie, so to speak. I’ve sold many books with my publisher, but received such a small percentage from MY hard work that I decided to self-publish. I found a great friend on facebook who has connections to get your book published within a week, getting a special custom interior and fonts (with pictures if you wish), have your book listed with amazon and createspace, plus a marketing portfolio, all for $500. I have done this twice so far and am extremely satisfied with everything. My friend worked with his experts and delivered exactly what I wanted and more. Now I am in complete control of my books and profits.

From my research the stigma attached to self-publishing is quickly falling away, and I and many others believe it is the wave of the future because of the changes in the publishing industry. You can even contact J.A. Konrath on facebook (he’s a friend of mine there), who has lead the way by becoming extremely successful as a self-published author.

Here’s an interesting article you might like: http://www.thenervousbreakdown.com/jefishman/2010/12/the-10-craziest-business-practices-of-the-book-world/

This guy has also written other cool articles you can check out.

The cure for frustration is to make yourself as informed as you can. There are a lot of good resources on the net to educate you so you can make an informed decision about what you want to do next.

I wish you much luck! If you have any other questions feel free to ask.

Mian Mohsin Zia

Today I would like to talk to you about a dear friend of me from Lehore, Pakistan. His name is Mian Mohsin Zia. He is a world-class author of several books including The Strange Loyalist, Once, and Victim of Shame. These books rise above and beyond the normal fair in that they have also a unique message subtly imbedded in each. If you read these books you will get a first-hand view of what is going on in Mian’s mind. He is very adept at the writing craft.

I have learned so much about what a true friend is from this young man. He is part of my true family on this planet and I would do anything for him as he would do for me. He has done everything in his power to help me self-publish two more books of mine, and will help me re-publish my first two books, which are now in the control of my past publisher. They will soon go through the process of getting self-published with Mian’s help. With the people who are his experts he has given me a publishing package for only $500, which included a book cover, complete interior, special fonts, a marketing package, and a beautiful website where my books are available at http://julieachterhoff.tk.

At 23 he is one of the best writers I have come across and I expect even greater things from him in the future. He has only just begun. If any of you would like to contact him or purchase any or all of his books you can visit his blog at http://mianmohsinzia.blogspot.com or his website at http://mianmohsinzia.tk. His work is widely acclaimed and he loves being contacted by anyone with an interest in his book or himself.