Self-Publishing Podcast from Authors on the Net
January 16, 2008 by Lillie
Phil Davis of Authors on the Net recently interviewed me about self-publishing.
This podcast covers the first five chapters of the Self-Publishing Primer about the different publishing options authors have. Come back next week when we will continue the discussion.
If you’re an author and haven’t joined Authors on the Net, check it out. You’ll find great information and a growing author community to help publish and promote your book.
[tags]self-publishing, Authors on the Net[/tags]
Great, Lillie. Maybe you should put a podcast player directly on the blog? Like I did on the blog of THC?
I used to work for a self-publishing company called Xlibris. I quit because there was way too much conning going on and I felt sorry for the writers. I don’t know if I’m allowed to disclose the name of the company here or not, so feel free to censor it if you have to. Just want to let authors who are planning to self-publish in the future know that they should be careful.
Howdy Ms. Lillie! Do you remember me? I’ve got my new blog and I’d love to hear from you your insights about it. I’m currently working with it and hoping to eventually seek some attention from the world just as other blogs like yours have been so. Congratulations for your dynamic success with your blog! I wonder how to join the BLOGAPALOOZA, so if you don’t mind, could you please tell me how? Thank you Ms. Lillie! Godbless!
Looking forward to your sincere reply,
Nico Lorenz T. Panlican
Nico,
Congratulations on starting to blog again. I will subscribe to your blog and comment if I have something to contribute.
The Blogapalooza has ended, but Middle Zone Musings has a group writing project once a month. The one for April is over, but there will be a new one in May. Watch Middle Zone Musings (there’s a link in my blogroll) for the next one. Participating in a group writing project is a great way to get traffic to your blog.
Mig,
Good idea, but that requires a higher level of technical knowledge than I have.
Ivy,
Thanks for the warning. One of the things I emphasize in the podcast and in the Self-Publishing Primer is publishing with XLibris and similar companies is NOT self-publishing – it is subsidy (often vanity) publishing.
Self-publishing by definition is the author serving as publisher – if there is a third party company involved, it is NOT self-publishing. In the podcast, I talk about the differences between traditional publishing (where a publishing company buys rights, pays royalties, pays all costs, and has complete control), subsidy publishing (where the company produces the book but the author pays the costs), vanity publishing (which is subsidy publishing that doesn’t deliver value to the author), and self-publishing (where the author does or hires everything required for publication, pays all the costs, makes all the money, and has complete control).
There are pros and cons to traditional publishing, subsidy publishing, and self-publishing (which I describe in the Primer). However, there are no advantages to vanity publishing, which has high costs to the author (often for substandard services) and no quality control.
I generally don’t name names when describing these companies because I don’t have firsthand knowledge. But I’m glad to share personal experiences to demonstrate what I’m talking about.