Publishing: lulu.com or find an agent?
I wrote a novel for nanowrimo and i am in the midst of rewriting. I am not sure when I will be done, but i figure I might as well start thinking about publishing now. I don’t particularly expect it to be best seller or anything, but I do want to get it published just so i can say i did. Can you give me the pros and Cons of POD vs agent publishing? What would be my best option?
When I say it wont be a best seller I am not saying that because i think it is bad, its more because it is my first novel. I have had several people give me very positive input, saying my idea is unique and exciting. I also have three friends editing it as well and one professional editor. Thanks for all your information! I hope these details help…
- ShortSuff
Tags: Lulu, Midst, Nanowrimo, Novel, Pros And Cons
February 14th, 2009 at 1:44 am
Both venues have benefits. Do you honestly think your book is a can’t-put-it-down type? If not, I’d say polish it till it is. You don’t want to put out a lot of money to publish a book that no one will read, and neither will an agent want to represent it.
The market is tougher than you can ever imagine. Many publishing companies have agendas that they simply will not variate from.
Keep your rights. Do it your way. If the book is really good, you’ll build up a local following which can spread into surrounding markets.
February 15th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
Agent, all you can think of, when they all refuse - lulu.
February 15th, 2009 at 11:35 pm
Don’t self publish.
Self-publishing is expensive. Even if you use a “free” service like Lulu, it will still cost you money to promote the book. There are 4,000 titles A WEEK published at Lulu alone. Nobody is going to find your book if you don’t promote it. It will cost you $50-100 just for a distro package in order to get your book listed on Amazon. As a small publisher, we spend $200 or more per title just sending out comp copies to potential reviewers. Placing one ad in a newspaper can cost over $100. Google adwords advertising, in order to get any sort of results, costs $50 or more a week.
Bookstores, if you can find one that will stock a POD title (POD is NON-RETURNABLE, and therefore bookstores don’t like to carry them), don’t generally pay up from for books. Which means you may have to buy books in bulk up front to sell to the stores and then wait to get paid.
Do you have any business experience? You’ll have to pay for proofreaders (and no, NO WRITER is so talented that he can proof his own work. EVERYONE, even Stephen King, has proofreaders and editors.) If you go through a traditional publisher, the publisher absorbs these costs. If you self publish, you have to pay these people.
You’ll need to either learn accounting or hire a bookkeeper to keep you legal and file tax forms. Depending on your state and city, you may need to apply for a business license if you plan to sell books out of your home. And in some states, you will have to collect and pay sales tax.
More importantly, you hurt your chances later with a real publisher. Publishing, even self-publishing, destroys first time rights to your book. That means that publishers that only buy new books will not consider your book, as it was already published.
Many reviewers will not review self-published books, as they have a reputation for poor quality.
Self-publishing does not qualify as “real publishing” in the eyes of the rest of the industry. You cannot use self-publishing credits, for example, when applying to most professional guilds.
Finally, the average self-published book will sell less than 100 copies.
February 16th, 2009 at 11:17 am
If you do go with an agent, whatever you do dont say “I dont expect it to be a bestseller” If you ask me though alot of agents seem to be a-holes. Some of them actually want you to have published work already and some will only take you by referral from someone else. ( I know its like wtf?) My guess is that those types of agents dont want to work for their 15% and just want something they can quickly sell.