In My Publishers Weekly daily email update I got a link to the following: HCI Author Gets Own Imprint
So a publisher is now giving an author their OWN imprint. i.e. their own publishing identity. Interesting.
The lines are beginning to blur even more. Ebooks already blurred the lines, as has POD, since the line between the big boys and the small boys became non-existent. And now this. Very very interesting.
I’m trying to basically keep my head down, keep my eyes on my own paper, and do my thing. Stuff is changing in the world of publishing and if I just go about my business, by the time I get myself positioned where I want, stigma won’t even be an issue. And I’ll have been active, doing the things I know need to be done during the time while everybody else was still arguing over whether it should be done at all.
Screw that. Once absolutely everybody agrees self-publishing is a really great idea… it’ll be too much overwhelming competition. Right now we still have a few really talented people who self-publish, but mostly people who are decidedly unsavvy and shouldn’t be self-publishing. While I appreciate that the good self-publishers take away some of the stigma, I have my own imprint. The average reader just isn’t going to know or care I’m self-published, so all the crap out there has nothing to do with me.
October 14, 2009 at 8:55 am
What a timely post! Just last night I read a post from a traditionally published author who has in the past been very publicly (and snarkily) against self-publishing. Now said author has both self-pubbed and traditionally published works out there and is making four times the money off the self-pubbed books. Suddenly he’s on the self-publishing bandwagon, saying how he may never go back to traditional publishing.
I, of course, am LMAO.
It was a big decision for me to sign with a small press last spring. I didn’t want to give away my control over my book, but the nice thing about a small press is that they work with you instead of mandate.
I’m taking this as a learning experience – learning from my editor what my common errors are, and learning how to set up my proofs better. I’m also more committed to marketing my book than I would be otherwise. I have a tendency to slack when it’s just my own gig, but this time I have to see it through.
When this little trilogy is done, or I get dropped (whichever comes first) I’m going back to self-publishing. I think I’ll be a better author for having been professionally published, but there’s no reason I couldn’t have gotten this experience some other way. To each their own. Reaching the reader is what matters, not how the book gets out there.
October 14, 2009 at 9:06 am
Hey Ann,
LMAO that is freaking funny! Something I’ve always wondered about is… WHY on EARTH do writers, who are supposed to be people who think outside the box anyway because they’re artists, resist change SO much and stand so staunchly for or against something? It makes no sense to me. We’re supposed to be the people who embrace new things.
For a long time I’ve felt that writers just aren’t like other artists. Too many writers play it WAY too safe, and too many writers are way too naive about the publishing landscape. And then the ones who aren’t as naive act out of fear based on things that happened to the naive ones, not understanding that there is a HUGE difference and sliding scale in the knowledge and competence level of writers.
And congrats on your contract!
And yes, the only thing that matters is reaching the reader. I think at some point many writers forgot they were writing for the reader. I write for myself first and the reader second, publishers just don’t factor into my landscape. Now, maybe someday if I’m very successful, but I have my series planned out for seven books so far, and I have a design scheme for my book covers, and know what fonts I want in the book, I mean I’m a little too anal retentive to let someone else run my circus here. hehe.
And OMG my cover is AMAZING. I can’t wait to post it and show it off. It’s in final edits right now but I’m very excited about it.
October 14, 2009 at 9:06 am
Oh… and to be clear, I hired someone to design my cover. I’m not bragging about myself here, lol. Thought maybe I should clear that up.