1. Aceldama

    Aceldama free servant Contributor

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    Discussion in 'Self-Publishing' started by Aceldama, Dec 28, 2020.

    I have an android phone so I can't get the blurb app. Anyone know of any other self publishing services like this one? Where I can get physical copies of my book?
     
  2. big soft moose

    big soft moose An Admoostrator Admin Staff Supporter Contributor Community Volunteer

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    ingram spark is the biggest (aside from kdp print)

    are you after copies to sell or just a few for you to have and give to family and friends

    incidentally you can use blurb from a pc or through a phone browser without needing the app, but i wouldnt recommend them if you are selling print
     
  3. Aceldama

    Aceldama free servant Contributor

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    Id like to have a copy for myself and be able to print on demand. Maybe shop it around to agents.
     
  4. Cephus

    Cephus Contributor Contributor

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    Agents will not be interested in any book that is already published and available for sale. Publishers require the right of first publication. That means your book cannot be publicly available, period.
     
  5. Aceldama

    Aceldama free servant Contributor

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    There aren't self published books that have been picked up for wider publication from a house?
     
  6. Homer Potvin

    Homer Potvin A tombstone hand and a graveyard mind Staff Supporter Contributor

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    Very rarely. In theory if you were to trad pub something new down the road and made it "big," they might pick up your back catalogue, but that is an extreme exception.
     
  7. big soft moose

    big soft moose An Admoostrator Admin Staff Supporter Contributor Community Volunteer

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    or if you had a uSP with a very strong following, like andy weir or EL James - you might get a trad deal, but its very much the exception...

    there are also a very few cases of strong self published titles getting picked up by Thomas and mercer or the other Apub imprints... that happened to Adam Croft with Her Last Tomorrow (its of note that the deal wasn't all that and he wound up getting his rights back and taking it back to self pub)


    mostly if you want to trad pub, don't self pub first (that doesnt preclude getting a copy for yourself and a few for family), and if you want to try to get an agent , follow their submission guidelines which are nearly all electronic... hardly any agents want to see a print book
     
  8. Aceldama

    Aceldama free servant Contributor

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    Wow that's such a dissapointment that noone wants a physical manuscript.

    If I print a few copies for me doesn't that mean that first publishing rights are mine? What difference would it make to use a printed, finished book copy as a manuscript? They would still get first rights.
     
  9. big soft moose

    big soft moose An Admoostrator Admin Staff Supporter Contributor Community Volunteer

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    If you've only printed them for your own use it hasn't been published... thus first rights still exist for the agent to sell to a publisher

    on the physical vs ebook thing the main issue is space... agents and publishers get hit with hundreds or thousands of applications every day... if they had hard copies they'd have to store them somehow

    and if its in print they can't read on the screen, or take screenshots to send to prospects

    Also agents want authors who are going to be cooperative - their first test of this is 'did he cooperate with the submission guidelines i set? if the answer is no they can file the application in the bin and move on to someone more cooperative

    and from the aithors point of view, you are going to have to submit tens if not 100s of applications... it makes way more sense to send an email with attachments at no cost, than to print a book and ship it by fed ex or whatever
     
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  10. Aceldama

    Aceldama free servant Contributor

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    I'd kind of expect them to send it back if they aren't interested lol. Its Really just a have a few copies, shop it around to an agent that would take a look, etc. Its poetry and I really am not needing publication to eat. Just something id like to see happen if the cards are right for me.
     
    Last edited: Dec 28, 2020
  11. Cephus

    Cephus Contributor Contributor

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    For you, it doesn't matter, so long as it isn't available to the general public.
     
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  12. big soft moose

    big soft moose An Admoostrator Admin Staff Supporter Contributor Community Volunteer

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    thats really not how agent submissions work... it was up to about 1990 (although they still didnt send stuff back) but things have moved on
     
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  13. Cephus

    Cephus Contributor Contributor

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    That's not how it works. Agents receive thousands and thousands of submissions every year, they have no place to keep them all if they received physical copies. They want electronic versions and the ones they pass on, they just delete. The days of slush piles of physical books used as doorstops are long gone.
     
  14. Aceldama

    Aceldama free servant Contributor

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    Didnt think about agents get tons of manuscripts. In theory it must be a pretty lucrative gig. Just given the sheer amount of chances to get good work sent to you. Have either of you two ever seen something of yours in print?
     
  15. big soft moose

    big soft moose An Admoostrator Admin Staff Supporter Contributor Community Volunteer

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    i self publish - ive currently got 6 novels and 2 novellas out... although only one book is in print, i rapidly concluded that print wasnt worth the hassle for a self publisher.

    ive also got about 50 or 60 articles published in magazines (not writing magazines... i write non fic journalism for things like birdwatching, wildlife mags, country smallholding and like that.)
     
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  16. Aceldama

    Aceldama free servant Contributor

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    Must be cool to have be able to work with any sort of journal and get stuff you wrote out there. Regardless of non fiction or not.
     
  17. big soft moose

    big soft moose An Admoostrator Admin Staff Supporter Contributor Community Volunteer

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    Its just a case of following their submission guidelines and writing good content... some places want you to pitch ideas before writing, others want full subs, it varies. It helps if you have a decent knowledge in a specialist area (like if you're going to write about chicken keeping, it's pretty much essential that you keep chickens)

    i havent done it this year because ive been too busy with the pandemic, but i'll pick it back up in 2021
     
  18. Aceldama

    Aceldama free servant Contributor

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    Is it like a side hustle?
     
  19. big soft moose

    big soft moose An Admoostrator Admin Staff Supporter Contributor Community Volunteer

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    Oh yeah - I'm a beach patrol officer in my day job... hence why ive been busy as a one legged man in an ass kicking contest with the pandemic.

    all my writing, photography and other stuff is a side hustle... you could do it full time, and people do, but its pretty insecure and i wouldnt fancy having all my eggs in that basket (pun intended)
     
  20. Aceldama

    Aceldama free servant Contributor

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    What do you mean insecure? Like not reliable?
     
  21. Homer Potvin

    Homer Potvin A tombstone hand and a graveyard mind Staff Supporter Contributor

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    Not answering for Moose, but from what I hear most of the trad published authors need a day job to pay the bills.
     
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  22. big soft moose

    big soft moose An Admoostrator Admin Staff Supporter Contributor Community Volunteer

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    Indeed - i bumped into Graham Hurley a while back (just before the pandemic started) - hes got about thirty books out and ten best sellers, and he still works as a journo to make ends meet

    To be fair the same is true of a lot of self publishers... I've hardly made any sales this year because I haven't had the time to focus on advertising or launch any new books... in 2019 I was edging into profitability but i was a long way from full time income

    writing articles as a freelance is the same, the most ive ever been paid was i think £130, - given that my day job pays in the region of 30k, i'd have to sell maybe 250 articles a year to make the same... and that'd be a big ask...and theres no certainty, no sick pay, no holiday pay, no pension...

    One of my oldest freinds is a full time free lance but she does articles for the national and regional press, and magazine articles, and ghost writes for rough guide... and she still has to work as a life trainer to add to her income

    Hence why i stay employed and write as a side hustle
     
  23. Laurin Kelly

    Laurin Kelly Contributor Contributor

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    I have a pretty wide circle of trad and self-pub Romance authors I follow on Twitter (Romance accounts for around a 1/3 share of the entire U.S. fiction market), and I would say about 80% have a full time day job, and around 20% write full time. Most of the authors I know of who write full time have a partner or spouse who helps support them, or some kind of large savings or nest egg to fall back on.

    I've had three books and a short story published, first traditionally and then self-pubbed when my publisher went under, and I work full time as an Analyst. Courtney Milan, an NY Times bestselling author of 24 Historical Romance novels is a lawyer who clerked at the U.S. Supreme Court. Heck, Stacy Abrams, who served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 2007 to 2017, has written several Romantic Suspense novels under the pseudonym Selena Montgomery.

    Regardless of genre, except for the lucky few unicorns, writing is almost always a side hustle in my experience.
     
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  24. Aceldama

    Aceldama free servant Contributor

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    I wonder if that's from people losing interest in reading or just the quality of books aren't as high. There was a time when men and women of letters were highly respected. And not in just a fame type of way but real respect. Poe tried all his life to make a living by the pen and it was tough for him. Just the way it is I suppose.
     
  25. Homer Potvin

    Homer Potvin A tombstone hand and a graveyard mind Staff Supporter Contributor

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    Big difference between respect and income. And it's harder than ever to sell millions of copies of books when there are so many options and people have so many other entertainment options. Who knows how many books I would have read when I was younger if netflix had been around.
     
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