After numerous rejections, I've finally had enough of trying to convince Agents of the viability of my novel. The general consensus seems to be: 'very funny, but publishers won't touch it, as it's not genre specific and is too overtly funny'. Talk about mixed messages!

Anyway, I've been looking at self-publishing and have come across Matador, the self-publishing arm of Troubador books. They seem to be the only ones who have any marketing structure in place to actually sell the thing once it's published. It's quite expensive to print, but the per copy cost is fairly cheap if done in bulk. I would like to know if anyone has had any experience of them; or more specifically, if anyone has had success through the marketing arm? Or are they just another scam artist?

Sean

Sean, is there a website address? if so, we'll ask them for an interview or find out more.

Here's the link:

http://www.troubador.co.uk/matador/default.asp

Looks interesting if you have some spare cash. I considered self publishing, partly because I was interested in the publishing process - but I couldn't get past the problem of distribution. This publisher seems to have that all set up. I'd be interested in hearing about any authors who have followed the process right through.

Colin M

I think WW already has an interview with Publish and Be Damned, a relatively new self-publishing site.

Sean,

It might be worth you investigating 'non-subsidy POD' publishers. Which means publishers who put out proper books (in the sense that they're edited, printed [in POD form] and sold without cost to the author). Your book will be publicised on their websites and they will try to get it reviewed, although you are expected to help with this. You get royalties but no advance, and how many copies you can sell this way is of course open to question. Still, at least you have a book in print and one that in POD form will be available a lot longer than in most bookshops.

The two main publishers in this field are BeWrite Books and Jacobyte books. Below is a link to a joint press release by them which may be of interest.

http://www.eternalnight.co.uk/chronicle/c23/bewritebooks.html

Terry

Sean, if you're serious about this I'd make sure you know exactly what their marketing consists of. Placing the book on their website (probably visited mostly by authors), sending out sell-sheets etc. may not be enough to sell copies. You could try contacting authors they've published to see what they say, and ask for sales figures etc. Also it's worth asking for a sample copy of a book published by them, some subsidy publishers use printers who produce very sub-standard books.

Nell.

Sean, you could think about uploading some of the novel on here to see if we can help you with it before you send it out again.

Dee.