Last night, Jon Stewart invited an author onto his show who had originally self-published her memoir on growing up a religious Mormon before it was picked up by a major publishing compnay and became a best-seller. This morning, I read a post from a fellow blogger who not only self-published, but for this post had interviewed another self-published author who is doing quite well with her writing. And earlier this week, while waiting for the doctor to show up at my appointment, I talked to the nurse about self-publishing and how it’s changing the writing industry in so many ways.
And of course, at some point in the past two weeks, I saw an ad for that self-publishing miracle, Fifty Shades of Grey.
My point is, self-publishing is more relevant today than ever, and the only reason I’m touching upon this subject again, when I wrote a post about it a few months ago, is because it keeps popping up in my life and invading my thoughts. More and more I think about publishing my novel through a self-publishing service, when a few years ago I would’ve seen it as a vanity press and a scam and turned my nose up at it! A few years ago only a few authors did self-publishing, while today many do and get famous from it (E.L. James and Christopher Paolini are great examples). And with the blogosphere full of writers, it’s all too easy about how novels are getting published through this method and how happy the authors are about it.
If you’re a self-published author, tell me! What’s your take on it? What have your experriences been? Because I seriously want Reborn City to become a novel and I’m seriously considering taking a look at Lulu or Createspace to do it!
Rami Ungar The Writer 
Self-publishing used to be a dirty word, but it’s awesome how acceptable–and successful!–this industry is for writers who can’t land an agent/publisher. I’ve been reading up on this lately myself and believe those publishers who are thumbing their noses at self-publishers might have to one day admit they were wrong 🙂 Jane
maybe they’ll admit it in private to coworkers or their families, but I doubt they’ll admit it in public.
Some stories of self-published writers on Amazon’s website caught my attention a few weeks ago. (They were on Amazon’s homepage.) You should heck it out if you get a chance…I know I plan on doing that also.
i’ll have to check it out. thanks for letting me know.
I self-published, but it’s a boo ofpoetry and creative-nonfiction (so I’m not expecting it to hit the mainstream market like 50 Shades of Grey) Haha! I think it’s a fantastic tool for getting your work out there and there is certainly an audience for it!
Cheers,
Courtney Hosny
did you use a service or did you do it all by yourself?
I did it through Lulu.com…it’s a great service!
that’s what i’ve heard, but i still want as many opinions as i can get. thanks for contributing, and good luck with your book of poetry and creative non-fiction.
I think of it this way: Once upon a time every author self published through newspapers, magazines or by paying for small runs. The Publishing Industry became a useful way to invest in writers and expand the writing market. Today, they struggle to make any money and are very careful in their selection of authors. It’s business – that makes sense – but it also means that the publishers decide “what we read” based on what they believe will sell. I think the biggest issue for self-publishing today is “editing.” If the Indie author and self published business is to grow and prosper than authors need to be willing to make the investment in an editor. Too many bad books will end what I think is a very respectable way to introduce more authors and stories to the market. I would suggedt Create A Space over Lulu. The pricing is right, the book material is quality and Amazon is the biggest book store in the world. If you are ever going to make money at self publishing it will be through Amazon anyway. So those are my thoughts…write it…have it edited…and have a marketing plan.
thanks for your input. and i hadn’t thought about how authors used to publish; thanks for reminding me. and i’ll consider createspace if i commit to self-publishing. and trust me, i will edit and have a marketing plan.