A Lively Debate on Self-Publishing and Publishing on Demand (POD)
SOAF hosted at its ‘First Tuesday’ on 5 May at Carr’s Irish Pub in Paris a lively debate on Self-Publishing and Publishing on Demand. We publish here the minutes, taken by SOAF Secretary, Pamela Lake.
First Tuesday, May 2009. Discussion.
Present:
Gregor Dallas
Pamela Lake
Gwyneth Hughes
Stanley Lover (and his wife)
James Briggs
Margo Berdeshevsky
Paul Francis
Alison Culliford
Pierre Tran
Shelley Power
Annabel Simms
Philippa Scott
Susana Raby
The First Tuesday held at Carr’s Irish Pub on May 5th 2009 took the form of a debate on self-publishing, POD (publication on demand) and e books. Gregor Dallas opened the discussion saying that he was a techno-sceptic and that he felt we lost a great deal if we published our books ourselves. The first things we lose out on by following this route are editing and copy editing; over the last thirty years editors have been increasingly sidelined. Secondly, we lose out on marketing, publicity, distribution and reviews in the press. There has been an enormous increase in the quantity of books published and many of them are rubbish. But people do want high quality work and if we produce it we’ll succeed. He felt it was dangerous to go it alone on self-publishing but perhaps as authors we should get together to self-publish.
Stanley Lover felt that the whole publishing scene has changed over the last twenty years. Because of television and the media, people’s attention span isn’t the same as in the past and one can’t force the public to buy books. Publishers are reluctant to take risks and you have to have a ‘gold-plated’ manuscript for them to accept it. Perhaps books are going out of fashion. More and more people will be reading e books. He argued that people shouldn’t be writing, thinking how much they were going to earn but should write because they have something to say. Stanley said that he had written a memoir which would only be of interest to his family and friends but not to the general public and he was considering self publishing.
Gregor said that it was all very well to say that you shouldn’t think about what you’re going to earn and only about what you have to say, but how do you make a living? Stanley replied ‘You will die a poor man, Gregor.’
Shelley Power said that frequently books that were self-published were books that were of no interest to agents. The problem was how to publicize, distribute and sell them. The author of A Year in the Merde had been fortunate. He self-published his book and went around publicizing and distributing it and it was spotted by a publisher. But this is rare. There is also the problem of storing the books. Richard Binns had self-published but had abandoned it because of this difficulty. Shelley said that Lulu can produce a presentable book but she knew of one instance where such a book only sold a few hundred copies. She pointed out that one was unlikely to be able to sell foreign rights on a self-published book and it would be hard to get reviews in the national press.
Margo Berdeshevksy said that she had self-published in Indonesia and had spent about a year going round publicizing her book of poems in clothing stores where she thought that her work would appeal to customers.
Alison Culliford said that there were companies who would undertake the marketing, publicity and distribution of a self-published book and a new brand of marketing professionals could develop. However, everyone felt that this would come at a high price and there was no guarantee that it would produce high sales. Gwyneth Hughes said that publicity companies charged several thousand pounds to promote a book.
Shelley Power produced an e book for inspection and Stanley Lover maintained that e books were getting better all the time and that if publishers sold an author’s book as an e book they would still pay royalties. He then handed round a copy of The Complete Guide to Self Publishing by Tom and Marion Ross for inspection, together with several examples of self-published books produced by various companies. The presentation of the Lulu book was not very good but Shelley said that Lulu had improved a great deal in the last two years. Stanley recommended looking at the Society of Authors’ Quick Guide to Self-Publishing and at self-publishing web-sites. He also thought that authors should have web-sites and sell their books from there.
Gregor spoke about POD (publication on demand). He felt that any contract for POD should be limited to two years in the first instance and that the author should be paid a fee. Moreover it was essential to make sure that one was still free to sell one’s foreign rights. He has had a book published as POD since 2004 and only twelve copies have been sold. It was very sad that publishers had no interest in back lists and that they only offered POD as a solution. In the end publishers were there to make money with no interest in the author.
In summing up, Gregor repeated that self-publishing could be a route forward if authors joined forces for editing, publicity, etc. However, he felt it was dangerous to go it alone.
First Tuesday, May 2009. Discussion.
Present:
Gregor Dallas
Pamela Lake
Gwyneth Hughes
Stanley Lover (and his wife)
James Briggs
Margo Berdeshevsky
Paul Francis
Alison Culliford
Pierre Tran
Shelley Power
Annabel Simms
Philippa Scott
Susana Raby
The First Tuesday held at Carr’s Irish Pub on May 5th 2009 took the form of a debate on self-publishing, POD (publication on demand) and e books. Gregor Dallas opened the discussion saying that he was a techno-sceptic and that he felt we lost a great deal if we published our books ourselves. The first things we lose out on by following this route are editing and copy editing; over the last thirty years editors have been increasingly sidelined. Secondly, we lose out on marketing, publicity, distribution and reviews in the press. There has been an enormous increase in the quantity of books published and many of them are rubbish. But people do want high quality work and if we produce it we’ll succeed. He felt it was dangerous to go it alone on self-publishing but perhaps as authors we should get together to self-publish.
Stanley Lover felt that the whole publishing scene has changed over the last twenty years. Because of television and the media, people’s attention span isn’t the same as in the past and one can’t force the public to buy books. Publishers are reluctant to take risks and you have to have a ‘gold-plated’ manuscript for them to accept it. Perhaps books are going out of fashion. More and more people will be reading e books. He argued that people shouldn’t be writing, thinking how much they were going to earn but should write because they have something to say. Stanley said that he had written a memoir which would only be of interest to his family and friends but not to the general public and he was considering self publishing.
Gregor said that it was all very well to say that you shouldn’t think about what you’re going to earn and only about what you have to say, but how do you make a living? Stanley replied ‘You will die a poor man, Gregor.’
Shelley Power said that frequently books that were self-published were books that were of no interest to agents. The problem was how to publicize, distribute and sell them. The author of A Year in the Merde had been fortunate. He self-published his book and went around publicizing and distributing it and it was spotted by a publisher. But this is rare. There is also the problem of storing the books. Richard Binns had self-published but had abandoned it because of this difficulty. Shelley said that Lulu can produce a presentable book but she knew of one instance where such a book only sold a few hundred copies. She pointed out that one was unlikely to be able to sell foreign rights on a self-published book and it would be hard to get reviews in the national press.
Margo Berdeshevksy said that she had self-published in Indonesia and had spent about a year going round publicizing her book of poems in clothing stores where she thought that her work would appeal to customers.
Alison Culliford said that there were companies who would undertake the marketing, publicity and distribution of a self-published book and a new brand of marketing professionals could develop. However, everyone felt that this would come at a high price and there was no guarantee that it would produce high sales. Gwyneth Hughes said that publicity companies charged several thousand pounds to promote a book.
Shelley Power produced an e book for inspection and Stanley Lover maintained that e books were getting better all the time and that if publishers sold an author’s book as an e book they would still pay royalties. He then handed round a copy of The Complete Guide to Self Publishing by Tom and Marion Ross for inspection, together with several examples of self-published books produced by various companies. The presentation of the Lulu book was not very good but Shelley said that Lulu had improved a great deal in the last two years. Stanley recommended looking at the Society of Authors’ Quick Guide to Self-Publishing and at self-publishing web-sites. He also thought that authors should have web-sites and sell their books from there.
Gregor spoke about POD (publication on demand). He felt that any contract for POD should be limited to two years in the first instance and that the author should be paid a fee. Moreover it was essential to make sure that one was still free to sell one’s foreign rights. He has had a book published as POD since 2004 and only twelve copies have been sold. It was very sad that publishers had no interest in back lists and that they only offered POD as a solution. In the end publishers were there to make money with no interest in the author.
In summing up, Gregor repeated that self-publishing could be a route forward if authors joined forces for editing, publicity, etc. However, he felt it was dangerous to go it alone.
posted by SOAF Chairman at 12:02 AM
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