Authoring

[estirise]

Those of you who have hung about me know that I wrote a novel(la) for NaNoWriMo last year. It's called "Late Bloomer" and I'm currently on rough-draft revisions. (I need a beta reader, but the trick will be finding one that wants to work on a novella.) I've made the decision to publish via the Lulu POD service. I'm also looking at publishing a related book of short stories in that universe. I will also need a beta reader for it.



I've been looking at traditional publishing vs. print on demand for a
while. POD is way more expensive than traditional publishing, and you
pretty much have to do editing/cover design/promotion for yourself
(well, you can buy some help on those fronts, but still). These are the
reasons I'm going through Lulu (instead of a traditional big or small
press publisher:

* Probably the most important thing to me is that I want to be in charge of everything. I don't mind formatting my own book or designing my own cover. I can get help on the editing. (Hell, I don't mind paying for editing help; it's too bad that the ladies a mile away closed down their shop.) In return, I have the freedom to do what I want with my book, while still getting an ISBN and counting myself as a published author.

* I have no desire to be the next Meyers or Rowling. I have no desire to sell millions of copies. For my first book(s), I don't mind losing my first publication rights. (Subsequent books, I might do differently; this year's Nano book I'll aim at small-press publishers if it comes out
the way it's planned.) This is partially for practical reasons; "Late Bloomer" has to do with energy vampires (yes, it's Kiva-influenced, but went in a way different direction), and I can bet that the publishers are way swamped with vampire novels ala Twighlight right now. I would be happy if I sold 20 copies.

I will not be the first self-published author in my family; my grandfather published three books via vanity publishing. I have no
desire to add to my mountain of leftover books from him, though, so I'm going the POD way.

The book will have its own website/subdomain, where I will offer samples and other things. I'm also planning on offering the books via ddl/bittorrent for free (it would be fun to be listed on Pirate Bay). I'm exploring Creative Commons licensing. I'm kind of thinking of walking in the steps of Cory Doctrow, really.

I'm still pondering a lot of this - I have time after all. And I need an editor. But I will succeed.

Comments

[finnyb.livejournal.com]

Sounds similar to what I'm planning with some of my stuff, should I ever manage the time and energy to do so (currently rather impossible--I am not built to have both a full time job and the ability to keep a neat house or work on my jewellery-making or my writing or whatnot--limited number of spoons, there). Good to know others who are looking at doing the same, and for many of the same reasons. (It's also very important to me to have control over stuff, and I've no desire to be a huge author, either.)