Friday, January 4, 2008

Go Away, Elmer Fudd

Which way do we go, which way do we go? Where is that wascally wabbit?

The rabbit is hiding and is what we all writers look for. It's called sales. How do we get them? In some ways those in print media have an advantage, advances that ease a little of the pressure to sell, not much, but a little. Distribution into stores all over the US. If you write fast enough, you can put out more than one book a year and make a little from advances. But, unless you are Stephen King, you don't have the publicity machine behind you.

Those in electronic media have an advantage because they often have input into their covers, the process from finished manuscript, through editing and into release is faster, months rather than a year or more. E companies, many of them are more writer friendly, willing to allow the writer room to experiment. But, getting those print copies takes a little longer, building readership and name recognition of the publisher takes longer. And (WE SAVE TREES.) Oops, sorry, didn't mean to shout.

Then you have publishing snobs who lump epublishing in with self and vanity publishing. Those people appear to need a reason to feel superior rather than recognizing that there is room for us all.
We all write something different.
We all have the same goal--do something we love.
We want to do it well.
We long to be read.

So what's a writer to do? I say do it all. Publish with an electronic company. Also submit to print, brick and mortar companies. You can have your cake, eat it and lose weight. Just takes a little more work.

Have I found a brilliant way to make a fortune? No.
Am I doing what I love and enjoying it? Yes.

What I have found in e-publishing is a group of writers and publishers who work together toward everyone's success, as a team. That you may not find with a traditional publisher.

The commercial message is for you to go to: http:www.eternalpress.com.au and look at what's there, read the serial many of the authors put together for the readers, read the e-zine. Enjoy, get hooked, read an e-book just for fun. Launch day is Monday, with prizes and games and new releases.

2 comments:

Theresa Chaze said...

Carol,
Excellent article. As a writer who has experienced the "system", I agree with you. There are many wonderful writers who aren't getting the shelf space they deserve. However, there are many publisher who are waiting to take advantage of their dream as well by making promises and claims they never intend to keep.
The double standard amazes me. If you self publish or are published by a small publisher you are held to a higher standard than "traditional" publishers. I thinking it is their way of attempting to keep their strangle hold on the market. However, the technology continues to break their hold and open other venues to writers. Thank goodness
Theresa Chaze

Carol said...

It boils down to making the best choice for your own work, I think. Never an easy thing to try and get past the what if I had done the other thing voice hiding inside. Thanks for stopping by. Carol

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