Nicholas Clee writes on page 32 of last night's Evening Standard about self-publishing on the web. Apparently it costs nothing to upload your book to a website called Lulu.com. You set a price and pay a 20% fee to the company for every sale. The rest of the article is about 'vanity publishing' in general and some of the people who have gone on to land lucrative deals with big publishing houses after self-publishing first.

I couldn't find the URL for this article on Google but Nicholas Clee seems knowledgeable about publishing. He's also the author of a book called 'Don't sweat the Aubergine'. I don't know anything about that, but it's a good title.

I suppose vanity publishing has been well covered as a thread, but I wonder if people have experience of this latest web-style publishing. With all that info on the net and all the blogs, it's a wonder anyone buys a single book these days.

Sheila

Lulu seem to be doing something right, as they've got very big, very fast. Whether it's right for the authors or only right for themselves is another question.

I do think it's important to differentiate between self-publishing, where the writer acts as a publisher, and is responsible for as much of editorial, production, marketing, distribution and sales as they choose not to outsource, and vanity publishing. Vanity publishing is done by firms who look like publishers, except that a)the author pays, which no reputable publisher would demand, and b)they do nothing of the promotion and distribution that they promise.

Lulu, I think, is set up as self-publishing, which is fair enough, provided they make it clear that everything except production is up to you. Unless you really are publishing a history of your local cricket club and know exactly who will buy every copy, I imagine most people who publish by this route find it founders on the old self-publishing twin rocks of marketing and distribution.

There have been bestsellers made by this route - I think I'm right that Watership Down is one, but it's very, very rare - probably rarer than being picked out of the slush pile by a good agent.

Emma

Emma

Sheila,

I've sent you a WWmail about this.

Terry

William Blake self published, I believe.

I wouldn't choose this route even if I never stood a chance of being published in a million years. I know some people will, and that's fine, but firstly I don't have the time, energy, knowledge or bravery to back up my novel myself, and secondly it has always struck me a little like cutting corners. If an industry expert didn't think my book would sell, knowing what little I know about the industry, I would be too scared to go it alone.

JB

Yes, I agree with you. I would be inclined to think, 'Ah, well! I've had the pleasure of writing it...' I can't tell how it must feel, though to be convinced you've written a book every bit as good, or better than some already out there and be determined to give it a go.

Sheila

Terry, any chance of sharing the info on the forum?

Colin

Colin,

I'll copy it to you.


Terry

Fascinating thread. I've had a look at the Lulu website, and some of the books they've published have done quite well on Amazon.

I'd rather go with something like this than some of the Independent publishers out there; some are okay, but the genre I'm interested in - horror - most of them are of the same companies that seem to publish the Romance stuff, and I'd rather not be associated with anything to do with that thank you! And the covers!...

One of the things I want to explore with my writing is e-texts, so having a link to Amazon from my website where people would buy an electronic book as well as a printed book sounds good to me.

Has anyone on WW used Lulu Press?

S.M.

Just looking at Lulu.com it all seems a little bit naff. I notice that you can buy the fabled Atlanta Nights by Travis Tea on there. Just looking at a random selection of the books on offer, the writing falls somewhere between mediocre and bloody awful.

Still I suppose it has its place.

Geoff

I've just had a browse through the fantasy section. The majority of the books have had no votes and no reviews, which makes me wonder if any have been read.

Of the few reviews I did manage to hunt down and read, all of them commented on problems with the writer's ability. One was slagging the characters, another criticising huge chunks of technical description, another was just generally negative. So here's my point: do you really want to published just for the hell of it? Does having a book with your name on it mean more than learning the craft and getting something decent out there?

Colin

I don't know, Colin, I guess it must depend on whether you're a decent writer or not. My point was, I'd rather print my own book that I believe in, then have it printed by a low-grade indie publisher - IF none of my novels get printed by mainstream publishers - I'll go for the Lulu approach.

S.M.