Gutting it out...

[AngelAzariah]

_____Ever just want to POD your book and say "There, now I can sleep!" I have, but than this hits me, "You can't even get a Christian book store to hand out free bookmarkers that you will supply." Then someone hits you with, "I will pay to have your book put into a short run of prints."
_____Oy, how I just want to jump out there and get it all over with. Big publishers wont publicise my work anymore than I will on my own. Maybe it's the ankst of wanting a big publishers brand slapped on the side of your book for aproval. Everyone's always looking for aproval.
_____Anyhow, I'm at a frame of mind at the momment that runs like this: Edit my own book, if no one will take it, go with a POD and do what I am already doing. What am I doing? Keeping a site up, handing bookmarkers to people I meet, and hopeing I'm doing the right thing.
_____Handing out bookmarkers is fun! People say, what is this? It's a bookmarker to remind you to go to my site. What is it? It's a site that has half of my book up to read, and short stories.
_____I've almost worked myself up to standing on a streetcorner and gutting it out! :D I'm not just a begger, I'm a begger, begging you to read my book for free. I need to get a shirt printed out that I can wear while I'm out there. I'm going to promot this book by thunder! (Now if I can just get out there. :o)

[whitehawke]

A hoi me matey look what I found :D

http://www.writersweekly.com/this_weeks_article/000601_11142001.html

[AngelAzariah]

_____I took the link and read. He basicly discribed exactly what I'm up to. :) Nice to know someone agrees with my ideas.

[whitehawke]

Cool :cool:
So does that mean I gave you some encouragement then?

[kriswrite]

I have to sorta disagree with you. While it may be that SOME big name publishers won't publicize your book much, others will. Currently, I'm working with Zondervan, for example, and they are doing quite a lot to market my upcoming book. In addition to the usual trade shows, catalog entries, etc., their marketing department is offering me all kinds of materials to use locally (stickers that say "local author," fliers, etc....it's saving me a lot of dough), and are doing everything they can to either implement my marketing ideas, or help me implement them on my own. They also have their own marketing plan. In addition, working with a large publishing house means that your book is much more likely to be in more major bookstores.

It IS true that authors really can't afford to have a "hands off" approach to marketing their books. Wouldn't that be nice??!! But, unfortunately, it doesn't work that way...

I have done the self publishing route, too. There are books that most publishers won't be interested in. But gosh, self publishing is so much work. And I find that I spend a lot more time doing self publishing than I do writing.

So, I suppose, each route has it's trade offs.

Best wishes to you,
Kristina
www.kristinaseleshanko.com

[AngelAzariah]

whitehawke,
_____Yes. :)

kriswrite,
_____To bad that company already turned me down. :o They are the first I've heard of doing that much. I worked with one publisher and left them after a point. They wanted me to shell out a few thousand to publish my own work. Not very helpful people there.
_____Glad things are moving along for you!

[kriswrite]

Oh you were so right to leave the "publisher" who wanted you to pay. No real publisher will do this to you! They pay YOU, not the other way around :)

Anyway, I didn't mean to suggest that you had to go with Zondervan, or any other publisher. But not all publishers do nothing for the author. (In my experience, working with about 4 different publishing houses, most do *something*.) That was my only point :)

Best wishes,
Kristina
www.kristinaseleshanko.com

[AngelAzariah]

_____I wasn't trying to deffend myself from attack, I hope I didn't come off that way. I just think that in the end, the author will end up doing a good deal of foot work. I'm deffinitly thinking about doing it. Maybe getting the first part of my book printed on t-shirts so I have it with me when I'm out and about. :)

[whitehawke]

Angel,
Have you thought of turning it into a graphic novel?
I like the T-shirt idea. ;) Just don't get it printed up-side-down or you'll give the passersby a very sore neck. :D !thumbsup! It sounds like a fun idea.

[writegirl1949]

Kristina ... I was surprised to hear that Zondervan does so much. I've been reading a lot lately about what big name publishers "won't do." It's nice to know.

I'm being published by a small publisher with little marketing from them. I knew that up front. I'm hoping the "news worthiness" behind my suspense novel will make it a little easier to market/promote. I guess I'll be finding out in a few months.

Angel ... actually, the idea of t-shirts is one a lot of marketing/publicity gurus mention. Another thing, when you do get published, carry several copies of your book with you everywhere. A new author mentioned how she sold a lot of books that way.

Have you thought about small publishers? While you still may do a lot of marketing yourself, it really has some benefits. As a POD, I think it's alot harder to get your books into bookstores.

Anyway, just some thoughts that might help.

Blessings, Francine

[kriswrite]

I'll tell you what, Zondervan is the first "biggie" I've worked with. Most of my other publishers are medium-sized. But I'm finding that in every way Zondervan is better! They are excellent about keeping me up to date with what they are doing to make my book better or promote it. (Which begs the question: Do authors think bigger houses aren't doing much simply because they aren't being told what the publisher is doing?). They also allow me the opportunity to say yea or nay to book covers, titles, etc., and I get at least one email a month explaining what stage my book is at. I'm a real happy camper.

Again, though, there's no doubt that authors must do leg work, no matter who publishes their book. But it's just a WHOLE LOT more if you publish the book yourself :)

Kristina
www.kristinaseleshanko.com

[whitehawke]

Tell me, please?
It hopefully wont be too long before my novel is ready to publish. Now I have a problem. My book came from a dream I had and I believe very strongly that the picture I drew needs to be on the cover. (I am an artist as well)
Will publishers accept artwork from the author as cover design or must I self publish?
Rulan

[MysticFire]

Oh, how I wish I were an artist as well. I've had several dreams that I'd like to make into books. And the dreams were so detailed, I wish I could make it into a cover, but I'm no artist, and who would draw from my details, if anyone would ever do that for a writer?
(I suppose it'd be nice if one of my books were in existance, so it could have a cover.... :o )

[AngelAzariah]

_____Most publishers don't want to see your idea of the bookcover unless they have signed a contract with you for the book. I'm just stating from what I've read on many a publishers sites.

[whitehawke]

Angel,
that is what I had heard too. :mad: I want my drawing of Matt sleeping on the wharf to be on the cover, but I think I would need to self-publish to do that. :(

MysticFire,
Sometimes it's hard even for an artist to draw a dream. Harder yet to draw someone elses. Dreams are so ilussive, how can we catch them?
Keep at your writing and you'll get it done. :)
Rulan

[MysticFire]

:rolleyes: Me, I'd just be happy to get my book written, the cover isn't too big a deal for me. I haven't really written yet, just mostly research.
Speaking of, for research, "The Author's Toolkit" by Mary Embree has pointed out some very interesting tips, not only in writing, but how to find an agent, how to get a copyright, how to find a publisher, how to write a book proposal, that type of thing...It's just the whole point of getting out there and doing it. :eek: