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Fantasy Book Series: Edda-Earth (Or: the fun of self-publishing and self-promoting)
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<blockquote data-quote="Ravenwind" data-source="post: 6660656" data-attributes="member: 6785772"><p>Hi, all! I asked Morrus directly if I could post here, and he recommended this sub-forum. I used to post a wee bit over on Circvs Maximvs when a friend invited me there in, oh, '06, '07 or so? (You're unlikely to remember me if you were there then. I was quiet.)</p><p></p><p>At any rate, last year I got <em>quite</em> tired of the black hole of conventional publishing and sending emails to agents that were never answered, and decided to self-publish my books to Amazon. (I'd totally link and shill, but I need, what, nine more posts to do so? <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite8" alt=":D" title="Big grin :D" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":D" />) I used the Wild Talents RPG system to develop the magic systems in the books. The system was recommended by a friend; I like it for world building, but I find the whole normal/hard/wiggle dice thing prohibitively confusing for play. (I'm sure there's a double meaning in that. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite7" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue :p" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":p" />)</p><p></p><p>Self-promoting has been an interesting ride, one made up of a lot of trial and error. It's expensive, in many cases, because even though I had an existing fanbase, if a small one, it's difficult to expand that out.</p><p></p><p>I do think that we're at an interesting point in the publishing industry. The book print industry model for fiction has been, for decades, "show us that you're worth our time by selling stories to magazines." Magazines were the proving grounds (and I submitted lots of stories to the poor editors at <em>Dragon</em> and <em>MZB's Fantasy Magazine</em> in my teens). But the magazine market has shrunk enormously in the past twenty years, as print periodicals in general have struggled with the changes brought by the internet. </p><p></p><p>What's replaced them as the proving grounds for the book print houses? Not ezines. Ezines are looked down on, by and large, as not professional <em>enough</em>. </p><p></p><p>So this shrinking, and therefore increasingly competitive market of magazines remains the <em>proof </em>that you can make sales to agents and book publishers. Actual sales of a self-published book? Still looked down on as not professional enough.</p><p></p><p>What then, becomes the mark of professionalism and credibility? There's the reviews game, which I have to admit I pursue. In the absence of a print house's name as the imprimatur of quality slapped on my book, that leaves getting professional reviewers to write some thoughts on your book. For a price, of course; some are higher than others. Trying to get people who've read your book to leave an Amazon review? People become more confident about trying something when they see that other people have enjoyed it. That helps sales, but doesn't seem to help with credibility in the eyes of agents and whatnot.</p><p></p><p>In terms of promotion, I've advertised. Project Wonderful, Facebook boosted posts, and tried Google AdWords. I had one of the books exhibited at BookExpo America, and one of them put up on NetGalley by a promotional company affiliated with Bowker, the ISBN company. Got a few reviews due to that, and a promise of an excerpt from the first book to be published in a monthly magazine (which has yet to be run). A reader has featured me on his podcast a couple of times, as well. I even wound up going to my first convention ever here in Houston this year, and was on five panels, for a nice baptism by fire. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite7" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue :p" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":p" /> (Actually, everyone was very kind, and I had some enjoyable conversations as a result of going to ApolloCon.)</p><p></p><p>I'd be interested in other people's thoughts about the current state of fiction publishing and self-promotion. (I see there's a whole forum up there on publishing in the RPG world, but that doesn't seem to be quite the place for this thread) If you've had success, what's worked for you? What hasn't worked? Where do you see the industry going in 10-20 years? Or is the book dead, as fewer and fewer people identify themselves as readers?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ravenwind, post: 6660656, member: 6785772"] Hi, all! I asked Morrus directly if I could post here, and he recommended this sub-forum. I used to post a wee bit over on Circvs Maximvs when a friend invited me there in, oh, '06, '07 or so? (You're unlikely to remember me if you were there then. I was quiet.) At any rate, last year I got [I]quite[/I] tired of the black hole of conventional publishing and sending emails to agents that were never answered, and decided to self-publish my books to Amazon. (I'd totally link and shill, but I need, what, nine more posts to do so? :D) I used the Wild Talents RPG system to develop the magic systems in the books. The system was recommended by a friend; I like it for world building, but I find the whole normal/hard/wiggle dice thing prohibitively confusing for play. (I'm sure there's a double meaning in that. :p) Self-promoting has been an interesting ride, one made up of a lot of trial and error. It's expensive, in many cases, because even though I had an existing fanbase, if a small one, it's difficult to expand that out. I do think that we're at an interesting point in the publishing industry. The book print industry model for fiction has been, for decades, "show us that you're worth our time by selling stories to magazines." Magazines were the proving grounds (and I submitted lots of stories to the poor editors at [I]Dragon[/I] and [I]MZB's Fantasy Magazine[/I] in my teens). But the magazine market has shrunk enormously in the past twenty years, as print periodicals in general have struggled with the changes brought by the internet. What's replaced them as the proving grounds for the book print houses? Not ezines. Ezines are looked down on, by and large, as not professional [I]enough[/I]. So this shrinking, and therefore increasingly competitive market of magazines remains the [I]proof [/I]that you can make sales to agents and book publishers. Actual sales of a self-published book? Still looked down on as not professional enough. What then, becomes the mark of professionalism and credibility? There's the reviews game, which I have to admit I pursue. In the absence of a print house's name as the imprimatur of quality slapped on my book, that leaves getting professional reviewers to write some thoughts on your book. For a price, of course; some are higher than others. Trying to get people who've read your book to leave an Amazon review? People become more confident about trying something when they see that other people have enjoyed it. That helps sales, but doesn't seem to help with credibility in the eyes of agents and whatnot. In terms of promotion, I've advertised. Project Wonderful, Facebook boosted posts, and tried Google AdWords. I had one of the books exhibited at BookExpo America, and one of them put up on NetGalley by a promotional company affiliated with Bowker, the ISBN company. Got a few reviews due to that, and a promise of an excerpt from the first book to be published in a monthly magazine (which has yet to be run). A reader has featured me on his podcast a couple of times, as well. I even wound up going to my first convention ever here in Houston this year, and was on five panels, for a nice baptism by fire. :p (Actually, everyone was very kind, and I had some enjoyable conversations as a result of going to ApolloCon.) I'd be interested in other people's thoughts about the current state of fiction publishing and self-promotion. (I see there's a whole forum up there on publishing in the RPG world, but that doesn't seem to be quite the place for this thread) If you've had success, what's worked for you? What hasn't worked? Where do you see the industry going in 10-20 years? Or is the book dead, as fewer and fewer people identify themselves as readers? [/QUOTE]
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