Comments on: Published! Does it matter how?

By: Cyndi Tefft

Cyndi Tefft — Wed, 03 Jun 2015 21:29:16 +0000

In reply to Johnnie W. Lewis. Thanks, Johnnie! And congrats to you on the educational books. That's great! Cyndi

By: Johnnie W. Lewis

Johnnie W. Lewis — Wed, 13 May 2015 00:24:59 +0000

Cyndi, I’m so impressed! Because this sounds exactly as if I WROTE IT!! hehe! YES, self-publishing is hard, but “traditional” publishing is so much harder on the psyche, patience and tolerance levels, and on the purse!!

I sit around, daily, in my pajamas, getting an email occasionally that says “You’ve made a sale!” from any of the 5+ outlets where my books (and ebooks) are for sale. Then once a month, I get an email that says “We deposited $XXX in your account for this month’s sales.” I NEVER got that kind of service or response from brick-and-mortar publishers!!

And BTW, if you ever do any publishing in the educational arena (3/4 of mine are educational books), there’s a site called TeachersPayTeachers.com that is EXCELLENT for placing your books! I LOVE that site, and make about 1/3 of my money off ebook sales on that site.

Keep up the good work!! I’m proud OF you (’cause you’re “one of us!”) and proud FOR you!!

Johnnie W. Lewis
25 books and counting…
JohnnieWLewis,com

By: Cyndi Tefft

Cyndi Tefft — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 15:24:06 +0000

In reply to Victoria King.

Victoria,

Congrats on getting published! I wish you much success with your book. 🙂

Cyndi

By: Victoria King

Victoria King — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 21:27:28 +0000

I do wish I had discovered this as well as several other forums before signing on the dotted line. That said, aside from prestige issues etc., it all boils down to resources. Had I the resources I would probably have self published – you either believe in your work or you don’t. Unfortunately I didn’t have the resources so I was grateful that a publisher (albeit a new house) was willing to take the project on. The result remains to be seen of course.

I think we all need to stick to our guns.

http://victoriakingvoreadi.iguanabooks.com/blog/

By: Cyndi Tefft

Cyndi Tefft — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 21:05:26 +0000

In reply to Teresa Fritschi. Thanks for dropping by, Teresa. And best of luck with your book! :) Cyndi

By: Teresa Fritschi

Teresa Fritschi — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 20:44:23 +0000

In truth there have been good authors and bad ones for centuries and self-publishing (formerly called vanity press) has existed for almost as long as the written word. So, in a word, no, it doesn’t matter. For centuries ‘The Church’ embraced the same filter model as publishing holds onto. In the end readers will seek quality and find it.

Teresa Fritschi
Author – All That I Need, or Live Like a Dog With Its Head Stuck Out the Car Window
Twitter: @TeresaFritschi
Kindle, print and companion journal available on Amazon, Nook and iPad on Lulu

By: Cyndi Tefft

Cyndi Tefft — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:11:56 +0000

In reply to Stroppy Author.

Thanks for your comment. I think the key piece of this is “depending on what you want.” Knowing what your goals are and managing expectations is critical going in. You’re right. I do have a day job and have no intention of leaving it. I don’t depend on sales of my book to pay the bills, which is just as well because they wouldn’t. As you stated, many traditionally published authors don’t make enough on their books to write full-time, either.

That was never my goal, nor my expectation. My hope was only to share my story, to have it “out there” for people to read and enjoy. And I’ve been so blessed to connect with readers on Twitter, Facebook and Goodreads who’ve expressed their love for the story.

Without the availability of self-publishing, that would never have happened.

Thanks for the well wishes!

By: Stroppy Author

Stroppy Author — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 17:46:11 +0000

Er, yes it matters. Or it might matter, depending on what you want. Sorry. Traditional publishing has the mark of authority – someone other than you thinks your work is good enough to be saleable and is willing to put money behind it. There are many reasons why books are NOT published, but only one reason they are published – the publisher believes they can make money from the book. And readers depend on that judgment – whether wisely or not.

I am NOT saying there are not lots of perfectly good self-published books, quite probably including yours. But there are also very, very many extremely poor self-published books (and that’s why bookshops won’t take them – they don’t have the time to waste reading through the rubbish ones to find the good ones). So self-published books keep poor company, which makes it harder for the good ones to shine.

If you just want your book in print, self-publishing is fine. I notice you mention co-workers, so you have a paid job. Perhaps you don’t need the income from your books. I hope not, because it is incredibly difficult to market your books sufficiently well to earn a living from writing. That’s true even for authors with big publishing houses behind them. Although you get more of the cover price is you self-publish, you have to be lucky to sell enough copies for that to make a difference.

I wish you the very best of luck with your self-publishing. Hope you can make it work!

By: Janece Herrington

Janece Herrington — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 17:57:56 +0000

In this day and age, getting published in ANY capacity is a major accomplishment! When my first article in our regional industry magazine was published, I thought ‘That’s it! I’ve finally broken through the paper ceiling!” LOL Yeah, so what if it was on Green building and the upcoming Baby Boomer retirees – and not my first book?? We all gotta start somewhere 🙂

Great post!

By: Nettie

Nettie — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 17:23:07 +0000

While I will try to get published traditionally, I will certainly consider self-publishing if I get positive feedback on what I’ve written. Congratulations on your success and thank you for sharing it here.
Nx