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Just found the thread and I'm about to get into self-publishing via Amazon. I usually write sci fi, but none of it is published (yet). I have a major confidence problem that I would guess is common with yet-to-be-published authors, so I haven't taken the dive with any of my sci fi. What I am going to publish is non fiction. Specifically, humorous essays. I've been teaching composition for seven years now, and I've been writing essays as well as teaching them all along. I was chatting with a couple friends from college who have since been published, and we got to talking about what kind of writers we are. One suggested that I would make a good essayist, but I dismissed the idea. They both said, "you've been teaching and writing essays for seven years. Maybe you're an essayist." I do find them easier to write than fiction only in that there's a lot less planning that goes into them. So, I'm going to give it a shot. It sounds weird from someone with a confidence problem to publish personal essays rather than fiction, but I am comfortable in the genre. I have a few questions for the thread, though:  Has anyone had success publishing humor and/or personal essays? I don't know if Amazon or similar avenues have a developed readership for this kind of thing, or if most of the readers are looking for genre stuff. I've poked around Amazon enough to notice they have sections for it, but I just don't know if anyone buys it. I'm down to editing now, so I'm also researching some of the technical details of publishing this kind of thing. Specifically, is there a good resource for checking attributions for real world stuff? This doesn't come up in the kind of sci fi I write, but in personal essays I'll reference names of real world stuff all over the place. I just want to make sure all my bases are covered and if there's any sort of hoops I have to jump through that will make this more trouble than it's worth. I'm looking at designing my own cover. I know, I know. But I'm pretty good with photoshop, and I want to keep my cover somewhat minimalist. What I have in mind isn't beyond my Photoshop skills, or my eye for design. I was planning on doing the photography myself to avoid a legal or financial headache, but I just want to know if anyone has had success with this. I know the horror stories described in the OP, but I'm curious if any authors can actually pull this off, or if I'm deluding myself. Bear in mind, I'm not looking for a genre-ish cover (that is way beyond my skills and eye for design). I'm looking for something minimalist but strange, like a David Sedaris book cover.
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Jan 18, 2015 16:12
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PepperSinclaire posted:I have one vaguely successful (sells 1 copy some months, 20 the next) non-fiction humour book out there. The best thing I can suggest is use Createspace or similar to make a print version, because you'll likely sell nothing/very little otherwise. Humour books are meant to be propped up next to the toilet so you can flick through them. I only have ebook versions for sale out of habit, but I've sold 1 ebook copy total in 1.5 years on the market, compared with around 100 physical copies (due to minimal promotion on my part). This is great to know. Since I haven't published anything yet, I'm new to both ebook and print publishing through Amazon. Given this, I might explore more about the print option. I had initially assumed I'd just go with the ebook route since that seemed fairly no-nonsense, but that's why I'm doing research now before I jump into this. Thanks for the info. PoshAlligator posted:Nobody seems to buy humour from unknowns. The best bet would seem to be writing something similar to another successful humour writer and really going at marketing to their audience. That's good to know. I've been more and more conscious of some essayists that have influenced my writing as I've been working through this process, and I may be able to find ways to lean on that in how I market the book. We'll see what happens, but I have some ideas for that. ExtraNoise posted:Awesome cover designs Seconding that these covers are great. I hope mine turns out that well, but we'll have to see about that, too. I've been working with a few folks in an editorial exchange, and some of them will probably be willing to give the cover a look. I'll probably share it here as well once it's done. I'll keep the thread posted (no pun intended). Thanks for the tips so far, everyone.
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Jan 19, 2015 04:14
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This is a hell of a thread. I've been trying to catch up with it between my day jobs and my writing. I've gotten too much advice and resources to give props individually, but thanks anyway to all the thread regulars! I'm jammed with my own writing at the moment. I'm a teacher (  ) and I work a second job to supplement my income. But between the two jobs and raising a baby, I don't have as much time to write as I would like. At the pace I'm able to write (just a few hours per week, at best), it's going to be a long time before I finish this novel. So I have an idea that I figured may have come up before ITT and I missed it: has anyone tried using Kickstarter (or any other crowdfunding site) as a way to pre-sell digital copies of a book? I have a lot of ways to network with folks who are interested in the genre I'm writing, so I have a strong foundation for getting the word out about a KS campaign. If I offer Amazon digital copies to backers of a certain level (say, $5), then they get a digital copy and I get an influx of money in advance to free up my need for extra work. In a perfect world, I wouldn't need the money in advance, but getting it before the whole book is done will free me up from having to take so many per diem shifts at my second job that are getting in the way of having enough time to write. It's that catch-22 of time that has me jammed, but I'm thinking Kickstarter might be one way out of it (if it works).Has anyone ITT done this, or something like this? Or am I completely off base?
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Aug 10, 2015 17:11
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Sounds good. Welp, that's why I'm here. Thanks for the advice, everyone! Plan B is to figure out some ways to squeeze more hours out of the week to have more dedicated blocks of time to write.
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Aug 11, 2015 13:27
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