Writers' Wednesday: Self-Publishing Still the Kiss of Death?

Self-publishing: to many people, it's still a red flag. In a nutshell, some think if you can't get your book published through traditional channels, then it probably isn't good enough to be published at all. Thus, if you decide to take on the kiss of death and self-publish, you're trumpeting to the world that your book wasn't good enough to make it any other way.

Or are you?

These days, it seems, ebooks and the ease of digitally self-publishing have taken away that stigma, at least to some degree. Lulu, of course, has been around for a while for authors who want to self-publish a print version. But that requires a certain amount of cash up front, that authors may or may not recoup. But Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing program (as well as Barnes and Noble's PubIt) allow authors to upload a file, format it, and have it available in digital form almost immediately - with very little financial output (excluding, of course having an editor go over your work and/or having a cover artist design your cover). Royalties through KDP are 70%, which is higher than you'll find with any other publisher. Of course, keep in mind that you are solely responsible for all marketing of your work - and that can be hugely time-consuming, especially if you don't have a reader base already established.

But what if you do? This is where things get a little interesting, in my opinion. What if you're a published author, with a fairly solid reader base, and you have a work or two that either doesn't fit with your current publisher, or is a backlist title that you have the rights for, or is simply a short work you want to have available to readers in between releases of your full-length works?

I'm friends with an author who's in just that situation, and last year she formatted and uploaded one of her previously-released books when her publisher folded and she had all rights returned to her. She spoke of the process as being very easy (esp. since the book had already been edited, and she's savvy enough to create her own cover). I emailed her last week to ask about the whole experience, and she couldn't recommend it highly enough. Since then, she's uploaded 3 of her works (2 previously released and 1 new work that had been rejected in a few places - yes, established authors get rejected too), and along with her regular sales through her publisher, those titles have brought in a solid chunk of cash.

So....it's something to consider. For a new, unpublished author, self-publishing through one of these channels might be a way to test the waters, or a way to finally get that work out in the public eye. For published authors, it might be an interesting way to supplement your backlist, especially when you don't have anything releasing for an extended period of time. Am I thinking about it? Maybe. I'll keep you posted!

Until then, I'm interested in anyone's thoughts or experiences with KDP or B&N's program. Done it? Recommend it?

Monday Mentionables: Happy 4th of July!!!

Happy Independence Day, to all my friends and readers in the United States!



Wednesday I'll be back here to talk about self-publishing through Amazon's Kindle program - it's becoming more and more popular, for already-established authors as well as new, unpublished ones. Is it something to explore and consider? Seems like maybe it is....I welcome your thoughts!

Friday Fun Facts: A Review of The Hunger Games

All year long my students read and devoured The Hunger Games, the dystopian YA novel by Suzanne Collins that's the first book in a trilogy (and coming out soon as a movie). I finally got a chance to read it last week, and though futuristic fiction isn't my usual favorite genre, I did enjoy it, for a few reasons. The story itself is clever - when publishers talk about wanting a "high concept" novel, this is what they mean:

In a not-too-distant future, the United States of America has collapsed, weakened by drought, fire, famine, and war, to be replaced by Panem, a country divided into the Capitol and 12 districts. Each year, two young representatives from each district are selected by lottery to participate in The Hunger Games. Part entertainment, part brutal intimidation of the subjugated districts, the televised games are broadcasted throughout Panem as the 24 participants are forced to eliminate their competitors, literally, with all citizens required to watch. When 16-year-old Katniss's young sister, Prim, is selected as the mining district's female representative, Katniss volunteers to take her place. She and her male counterpart, Peeta, the son of the town baker who seems to have all the fighting skills of a lump of bread dough, will be pitted against bigger, stronger representatives who have trained for this their whole lives.

Interesting, current, compelling.

I thought the book did a great job (though maybe didn't go far enough) in exposing our current society's fascination with reality TV and the huge/sometimes awful influence of the media. The pacing itself is also one of the book's strengths. From the opening pages, it moves along at lightning speed, and since you know that the ultimate ending of the book means the death of every character save one, you read on wanting desperately to know who that will be. There's also a romance included between the two main characters, though it's more a device of the Games than an actual love story (depending on which character you identify with).

Downsides for me? A couple of plot devices that I thought forced the conflict of the story where the author didn't need to. I won't give them away, but they're responsible for the ultimate outcome of the Games. I also wasn't crazy about the ending, since it's obvious that the author meant for the story to continue in another book. There are minor conflicts introduced that felt "tacked on" in order to set up the next book in the series, Catching Fire.

Also, just a warning: there's a lot of violence in this book, especially for a YA novel. It's integral to the plot, of course, but younger readers (and their parents) might find it pretty strong and nightmarish. I've also read quite a few scathing comments about Collins' "stealing" the plot from a Japanese story, Battle Royale. Authors do borrow - nothing's original, people always say - but I can see that perhaps using SO many plot elements/tropes from another work might rub some readers the wrong way. As always, read at your own peril!

Anyone else read The Hunger Games? Thoughts?