Over at Artmark, there’s a good article giving some more indepth details about Lulu for self publishing.

In summation, it seems that in addition to publishing, they also have a little side deal going where they “guarantee” clicks to your page listing your work. I’m agreement with the author, I’m not sure how that would work out, and it’s something to probably avoid. 30 clicks for $45? That’s ridiculously high priced.

One thing I’ve thought about with audience on both the Lulu site and the Createspace page selling my book is that those sites are made with the authors (or creators, as the case may be) in mind. They showcase the work that can be done for your art, and not much else. Contrast this with Amazon, which is made SOLELY with the customer in mind. The focus of amazon’s site is purely to sell items that you may be interested in. Sure, it’s evil capitalism, but when you’re trying to make a living off your book, do you want to invest money selling it to readers, or selling it to other writers?

It seems to me that advertising your book on lulu or createspace is akin to trying to sell knives at a blacksmith convention. Sure, they’re your knives and there aren’t any like it, but the blacksmiths can make their own, and aren’t really that interested in buying yours. Compared to amazon, which is akin to selling knives at a chicken roasting convention. The audience WANTS your product.

Keep that in mind when promoting your book: put money towards the correct audience, and avoid blacksmith conventions like Lulu.com for advertising.

Comments? Questions? Want me to babble about something? Drop me an email, or leave a comment.

Over on Doc Morgan’s Blog, he brought up Blurb. Now, as I’ve gone on createspace for Inanis the Hooded, and am somewhat familiar with different self publishing situations (while giving for “REAL” publishers the 6-9 months they needed to tell me they weren’t going to publish my book (bitter? not much, just bored)) I’ve taken a look at blurb.

This had come up a couple years ago as well, can’t remember what it was called then, but it was definitely billed as software that would transform your blog into a printed book. Now, the question is, for those authors serious about publishing and giving their book a run for their money, how useful could blurb be? Not very.

Yes, blurb has its own bookstore, but it is basically a vanity press. If I were going to print a family history, print ye olde Froyd’s Rants for posterity (in case this global warming thing causes a new ice age and they need something to burn to stay warm), then sure I’d use blurb. it’s easy, possibly idiot proof, and the product looks good. However, for a serious self publisher who wants to market the book and make money, blurb is not the way to go. They don’t allow you to set prices and you make nothing off the book (from what I can tell by searching through their site). Now, don’t get me wrong, this is a great idea for a quality product…but if you are attempting to make money from your book, it’s not the way to go.

Now, contrast that with some POD (print on demand) places such as Authorhouse, or some others, where the initial price usually ranges from $300-500. When I was looking into them to publish a book for the sci-fi/fantasy club at my undergrad college, the price was definitely inhibitive to try and make a run of it. In fact, that seems to be the main problem that people have with these publishers is the price. Of course, the people who have problems other than that from what I’ve seen usually have inflated expectations of how much work they themselves have to do to publish the book as well.

Which brings us to Createspace, Lulu, and others like them. Basically, the setup is in your hands. The cover design, the interior of the book, everything. This of course, means that like me, one may have to run through about 3 proofs before things are correct. This’ll be covered in another post about stuff to watch for in book preparation, but for the most part it is a good thing. The main thing you want to watch for with these places is whether or not they are in cahoots with a bigger distributor. Both Createspace(owned by amazon) and Lulu can put your book up on amazon, but from the few books from Lulu that I’ve seen, it doesn’t have the search inside feature that Createspace does. I’d say, for self publishing, these are the most useful sites to use. Low cost of proofs, and you only need to purchase one to get going. Plus the ability to set your own price (they have a breakdown percentage of how much each company gets), this is the way to go for trying to make some money from your book.

Next post, within the next week or two, will be on the reasons to self publish, students and self publishing (a class that I think would really work at undergrad and grad level publishing/writing programs), self publishing and footwork, and probably one on things to watch for while preparing your manuscript for publication at createspace.

The proof copy has been approved. Fast, I know. I’ve got mad skillz.

But that’s ok, it’s error free now. Inanis the Hooded is available to order.

If you are uncomfortable with ordering online, here’s something else you can do: contact me personally, and we can work something out (usually going to be cheaper than ordering through amazon, plus autographed, but will take longer)…OR go to your local bookstore and ask for the book. They’ll probably tell you they don’t stock it, and give you a reason why they don’t do POD (publish on demand) books. Tell them to contact me via email or via phone (email for details) and I will personally work something out with the bookstore. I’ll even offer buybacks and things like that which most big publishers do.

I don’t have any numbers on that right now, and as I am just me, any agreements between bookstores and I will be completely individualized to that bookstore. w00t!

I got my book from one of my loyal readers (Sharon, a friend from BSU) who had gone through and made a mark where errors popped up. Thanks to her, I’ve gone through and made the changes and they should be in the new copies of the book as of Wednesday.

Now, for those of you who have already ordered, and may want a pristine copy with no errors, I do have an offer for you: send me the book with the errors, and I’ll send you a clean copy, autographed and handy. To take advantage of this, please drop me an email, and we’ll get things figured out. I won’t pay shipping out here (I will pay shipping back), but other than the shipping the replacement will be free. Since it was my responsibility publishing it before all the errors were cleaned out, it is my responsibility to replace it.

But anyway, now the book is pretty much error free, something you may not find very often with self publishing books. So buy it already!

Inanis the Hooded : Now with 3000% fewer errors.

Finally got it installed, expect some more posts coming soon.

What are we doing here? This blog is going to be chronicling the journey of self publishing my first book.

Some basic questions:

Have I been published before? Not really, just on campus publications. And my website, Froyd.net, which has been continuously (more or less) updated since 2000.

Should I buy your book? Hell yes.

Any other questions? Feel free to either email me, or leave a comment.

The basic difference between Amazon.com and Createspace is amount of money that I, Sean Froyd, the author get. I believe there is a fifty cent difference, Createspace pays more.

BUT

when it comes down to it, I’d prefer you order from Amazon.com

Why, if I don’t get as much money? Several reasons:

Amazon.com offers returns…if there is something wrong with the book, amazon will take it back. Createspace will not.

Amazon has several different shipping options, you can even get shipping for free if you order other books for a total order greater than $25. They also have other ways to ship…createspace does not.

Amazon is better for you as the customer than createspace. They have more possible ways to help you out. Even though createspace is owned by amazon, it doesn’t have as much help for you as the customer.

For these reasons, I’d prefer you order from Amazon. And I really appreciate all of your orders! If you have any other questions, please email me at froyd@inanisthehooded.com