At this year's BEA conference, the talk was all e. Ebooks, epub, e-everything. And it got me to thinking. She Writes has an amazingly engaged, talented community, an authentic voice, and an audience. Maybe we should think about doing some publishing ourselves.
However when I began to look at all the available tools I felt like my head was going to explode. Create Space? Lulu? iUniverse? Scribd? Kindle Direct? Smashwords? Which one is the best? What are the pros and cons? How important is it to have a universal ISBN number? How do you set price? Is it enough to have just an ebook, or do you need a print version, too?
I and one of stellar summer interns, ISABEL FARHI, set out to do some research into these questions, and we have managed to sort out some of the basics. But as we dug in further, I realized we were underutilizing the best tool we have: YOU.
The whole reason I started She Writes was so none of us had to reinvent the wheel alone -- together we are the smartest kid in the room. So I am asking for you to share your expertise. If you have self-published, what tool did you use? How did you decide? What might be best for short publications, like, say, "The Best of She Writes"?
I've created discussion threads for each of the tools I'm aware of:
Lightning Source (though that's a little bit more for independent publishers)
If you have knowledge or information to share about any of these tools, please share it! And if you are a "self-publishing" expert or coach, feel free to reach out to me about potentially providing some guidance to me and She Writes as we explore this area.
Comment
Comment by C J Jackman Zigante on June 12, 2011 at 3:25am 
Comment by Zetta Brown on June 12, 2011 at 2:40am Personally, I recommend that SW create their own publishing house and offer titles in both print and e. There are people who refuse to buy ebooks and people who may never buy print again now that ebooks are a mainstream option. So why alienate either group???
We've been publishing ebooks since 2003, and our company JimandZetta.com (plug!) offers ebook conversion services.
As for print, I recommend using Lightning Source (LSI). We've been very happy with their service and the cost and people are impressed with the quality of final product.
Purchase your block of ISBNs. It's an expense, but some distributors may require you to have an ISBN. There's been debate as to whether or not there should be an ISBN for each ebook format for a title, but me and the other publishers I know believe that idea to be bunk and merely a way for Bowker (or whomever it is) to shakedown more money out of publishers (houses and self pubbed alike).
I'd also like to add that although there are many success stories out there about people who've made big money with ebooks, some of the cheerleaders are authors who already had a large following and/or publishing history from a major publishing house. People like Konrath et al already had a devoted fan base so it's no wonder that many of them were willing to follow him where ever he went.
I think authors forget that the reading public DO NOT CARE who publishes a book--they only want to know how/where they can GET the book.
Think about it. Is your average reader going to enter a bookstore or shop online and look for books ONLY published by Publisher A or ONLY books that are self published? No. They are going to search for what they want/need, or buy on impulse something that grabs their attention.
If you're just starting out and don't have an audience or following (yet), you may get discouraged when you realize you're not making the big bucks like some of the big names out there claim is so easy to do.
Another thing I believe is that these success stories underplay the importance for the author to do the work and 1) produce the best book they can and 2) self promote the hell out of the book AND themselves.
It's important for anyone who wants to get into publishing to understand that it's a business, and like anything else, if you want to be a success at it (and YOU must define what you consider to be a "success") you gotta work at it.
Well, that's my advice in a nutshell! LOL
Go, Kamy, go!
Comment by C J Jackman Zigante on June 12, 2011 at 12:18am Amen Kiana.....while many often get dazzled by the proposed prestige of being published, the truth is the written media is changing. Parallels can be drawn to other mediums, [TV] [more reality shows then fiction dramas etc].....Not necessarily a good thing, [in fact as an actor I hate it.]
As a writer I have watched fellow writers dealing with the publishing entities, some have had success others well, not so much.
Self publishing is not just a means to a financial end, it is also a way to publish what may not meet mainstream publishers criteria, yet may very well be just as viable a product given the chance to see the light of day, or in this case the eye of the reader, whether that be in print format or kindled.
It is also much easier now to self publish with low overhead costs. You can print from home if you choose too, for limited runs, local distribution etc, and as previously mentioned, there is Amazon and a bevy of other sites that will accept your works for print on demand.
The taboos that used to surround self publishing, have more power as word of mouth mythology than actual truth.
Does self publishing doom your book to obscurity? Not according to this list of famous self published authors. http://www.simonteakettle.com/famousauthors.htm
And just for added ommph this list also includes famous works that were initially rejected.
As writers it is important to decide what your reasons for writing are. some simply write to write [the monetary does not factor in], yhey blog for the joy of it. Others use the medium of blogging [as is obvious], to network and get their works noticed. I write for a myriad of reasons, so all options appeal to me, though I believe more and more that in order to hold onto the integrity of what I write, [whether that turns out to be right or wrong], seems to now be more important to me than being big house published, where a lot of what you write then goes under the knife.
Not so much by those who truly know good writing, but rather those who utilize the *formula* that can and often does relegate a book to that of just another book in the machine.....Drawing another parallel....the reason you see so many movies hit the DVD shelves as special directors cuts is because of that same rule. Especially where the editing was done for time and of course the *formula* not by the director himself, but some big film companies editing bay of drones].
That said I go back to the point of choose why you are writing and how important is your written voice? Once you have determined those things and taken into account the reams of advice, opinion and anecdotes shared, I think the answer will come to you... which is pretty much the same as saying...trust your gut instinct where ever that leads you and good luck!
Another cool site I was introduced to today, may appeal to the anthologists and poets out there. http://www.blurb.com/ Enjoy!
Comment by kiana davenport on June 11, 2011 at 7:47pm Comment by kiana davenport on June 11, 2011 at 7:36pm Dear Kamy and all She Writes sisters...I'm Kiana Davenport from Hawaii. I've had 3 bestselling novels published by Simon and Schuster and Random House. A few yrs. ago as you know, the bottom fell out of publishing and the economy in general. Sales on my novels went down. Random house passed on my new novel but Riverhead/Penguin bought it. Alas! The advance is less than half of what I used to get, and they are spreading payments out til 2013! Pub date won't be til 2012. My writing has always been my only source of income. I was feeling desperate and depressed and a friend told me to look at the blog site for Joe Konrath..."A Newbies Guide to Self-Publishing." With print publishing in chaos, he advocates indie ebook publishing. i.e, do it yourself.
I read his blogs for two days and felt the man had saved my life. Within four weeks I had compiled all my prize-winning stories into a collection, HOUSE OF SKIN, PRIZE-WINNING STORIES by Kiana Davenport, and learned how to upload it onto Amazon's Direct Publishing site. Within two weeks it was for sale on Amazon's Kindle, and within two months became a bestseller. I priced it very low $1.99 (the competitive price). Sales now go up and down and I've just dropped the price for a month to .99 to see what happens. I'm just finishing my second story collection. Within two months I was already receiving little royalty checks from Amazon. The more you sell, the larger the checks. The more books, the more sales.
Do I sound like a sell-out? A slut? Forgive me. I'm just a divorced woman trying to make a living. If the gods are good maybe I can do both for a while, print publish and self-publish ebooks. But...
Let me warn you all. I had no idea what I was doing at first. I knew the ebook had to have a stunning cover becoz ebooks are tiny on the screen. You don't get to hold them in your hand. I spent $300 on a professional cover designer and he gave me a cover I died over. Very bright, very strong. And It matched the title story. Then I learned you can't just upload your ms. directly onto Kindle. You need it to be formatted. Its like translating words into Arabic looking digitalese. This was beyond me. But there are thousands of formatters competing for your business now. Just google "formatters." That cost me another $100. So altogether I had spent about $400, had a book uploaded in two weeks. That was December, 2010.
Things have changed drastically since then, more and more "platforms" have appeared where you can publish your book and they're all competing: Kindle, iPad, iPod, Android, Nook, Createspace, Pubit, etc. etc.
What is recommended now is that you publish your ebook on ALL OF THEM!!!! so you do not miss out on sales. So, Kamy, your question "which one to publish on," is the wrong approach. What you need to ask is "How do I get my book formatted FOR ALL OF THEM!" As poor as I am, I just hired a wonderful firm called TELEMACHUS PRESS recommended by several bestselling authors, they edit, proofread, your work, and then format them for all the "PLATFORMS " you mention above. They're a little steep, $995, but the cover is included. And they are a joy to work with.
This comment is way too long, I know you have more questions so I am going to go out on a limb and give you guys my email address because I think there must be some fantastic writers sitting at home wondering how to get their books published when print publishing is shrinking every day.
Penguin will probably kill me for saying this, but I think print publishing as we know it is dying. Money is evaporating, Borders has closed. Even my bestselling friends can no longer get their books sold. Empower yourselves, sisters, take a chance and see what happens if you self-publish one of your works. Look at the thousands of writers already making a living that way. I will always love real books, the touch, feel and smell of them, but I need to make a living! How many of you feel that way?
Women have always been warriors. So maybe its time to abandon our comfort zones. And leap! And the net will appear. Please email me with your questions about ebooks. But please, first take a look at my book HOUSE OF SKIN, PRIZE-WINNING STORIES on Amazon Kindle. I'm so proud of it. I chose the color, design, fonts...it was like giving birth again! Most important, ladies, do not stop writing. YOU MUST WRITE ON! With alohas from Hawaii...Kiana Davenport. kianadavenport@aol.com Don't be shy with your queries, that is the purpose of this forum.
Comment by Angelina Williamson on June 11, 2011 at 6:31pm 
Comment by Stacy Green on June 11, 2011 at 5:58pm Angelina
I know how you feel. Marketing is a tough subject for me, and I'm just trying to sort it all out. I'm trying to take it one day at time. Finish my book first, then start looking at marketing. We can all learn. Don't be discouraged!
Comment by Rochelle Jewel Shapiro on June 11, 2011 at 5:41pm 
Comment by Rossandra White on June 11, 2011 at 4:30pm Comment by Angelina Williamson on June 11, 2011 at 3:37pm 
Why There Are Words posted a blog post© 2013 Created by Kamy Wicoff.
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