Kat will know more on this one than me, virangelus, but my understanding is that it happens rarely, or at least rarely without revision.
There are exceptions: Kit Berry's latest series was self-published first, as too recent example that goes against the norm is Michael J Sullivan.
But it is very much the exception, at least in the UK.
Mark
Mark
Noted Hobbit, which makes the world for a novice very scary indeed...
Pick one and you may loose out on the other.
Unfortunately, I've been rather "scared" out of traditional houses by other authors. Some of them are local authors in my area, who speak of the evils of their publisher having taken their ideas and their passions and used as such to make themselves rich without bestowing proper gratitude upon the originator.
Then there are some more mainstream authors such as Piers Anthony who seems to let the world known that publishing houses must be remembered as profit-seeking hounds at all costs,and if you're turned down completely,then you are at least taken advantage of.
Are any of these thoughts of paranoia true?
John Jarrold, legendary editor and agent, has a mantra: 'Remember, above all things, that 'the publishing business' is that: a business.'
Seems to be true, certainly when dealing with the bigger players.
Mark
Mark
Well no, it's not that rare. It's the reprint market. It happens more often with non-fiction than fiction, but these days, with so many authors self-publishing electronically, there are a fair amount of fiction reprint deals going down. Basically, if a self-publisher is doing well and the publisher likes the books, then they'll offer a reprint deal. That may involve some editing or just tweaking to the book, and it usually involves a multi-book deal. The self-published author usually then has to stop selling the self-published edition of the book because they are licensing the book to the publisher for production. Christopher Paolini's Eragon was such a deal as was John Scalzi's Old Man's War.Originally Posted by virangelus
Another, more common event is that the self-published author will strike a deal with a publisher for a new book or series, as Amanda Hocking did. So you're not eliminating the possibility of working with a publisher if you self-publish. However, the people who get the reprint deals are the people who are doing very well at the self-publishing level usually. If you're doing middling well, the publishers may feel that you are already reaching what market there is for that book and not be interested. However, they might be interested in something new from you, since you do have an audience base. And since you can't predict how well you will do in the market, that's not necessarily part of the assessment.
If you really want to work with a publisher, it would be a good idea to try to do that first -- try to get an agent, try to get a publisher interested. Authors working with small presses, if they sell well, may also get reprint deals or deals for new series with a bigger publisher.
Having said all that, it's entirely possible that British publishers are less interested in reprint deals and picking off promising self-published authors than in the States right now, so that's something to check out about the British market.
Thank you KatG, I feel a ray of hope again in regards to publishing stories. Though I am still relatively scared of publishing houses, despite the message that they are not all completely draconian.
I read this thread erratically, so if this has been discussed just point me in the right direction.
I've been told that it is a good idea to promote a book using a website, which makes sense, but is there a reason to do a site for a book instead of a site for the author with pages or sections for individual books?
It seems like it would be more efficient to have a single site, and add to it as (hopefully) more of ones stories are published, as opposed to constructing a new site every time.
B5
It seems that all major authors will have one site, with sub-sections dedicated to their written works. This way you can also integrate an 'about me' type info dump, as well as a blog if you're that way inclined.
This is purely from my own experience browsing authors sites, but to be honest I've never come across an official site dedicated to one novel.
I guess technically you could also buy the website [mybookname].com and then redirect it back to your main site if you're worried about it...
The theory behind it is about interaction. First, that an author's fans do not necessarily like all of the author's books, especially series writers, and so only want to deal with the books they like. Second, having a book site is easier for readers to find, since they are likely to remember the series and not necessarily the author's name. Third, having a book side allows for enhanced interaction and merchandising for those books -- fans can have their own discussion forum, play games or participate in giveaways particular to the book series, get news about the series, etc. It builds an audience community around the books, which are usually more important to the fans than the author. Also, with multiple, linked sites, one for each book/series, plus an author site, the author is a bigger presence on the Web and in search engines and theoretically has more chances to reach more people.
Obviously, having multiple sites is a lot more work for the author, and one site can also be effective, so a lot of authors aren't going to do it. But some authors are and it's a bigger thing in children's/YA where they're trying to get kids engaged.
I have one site, with a blog and with info on each book (though only one is out at the moment)... I think if you've set up your sight correctly and done the background parts of the set up, when people google you (which is how most people will find your site anyway) - they should be able to find your site whether they google your book or you as the author.
On that some note re: site setup, if you've acquired your own domain and subdomains to go with it, you can have a master author site under the primary domain with individual book subdomains.
So, I might have http://thenexus.calen.ca/ as the link to my Nexus book, and in there there would be a link to my author site. So, the user could also navigate via the link or go directly to http://calen.ca/ and get my author site, which would link out to thenexus.calen.ca and whatever other books...
This could help you simultaneously with title and name recognition as well, if your name (or some part of it) is available to register as your master domain.
As to your original question -- there's no reason why you can't setup your site to be searchable as both options: one link to your author site, one to your individual books. With good site architecture, the "two sites" could be built seamlessly as one and both individually accessible as if they were separate.
Personally, I always thought of my stories as if they were a child of mine that I was raising (I believe it was Anne Bradstreet who refered to who own works as her "rambling brat in print") therefore I have always felt it more appropriate to give each book its own webpage.
Thanks for the advice. It looks like I'm going with the individual page, at least for the time being.
B5
Hey folks,
I just wrapped up a contest on my website/blog where I gave away a free ARC of my new book. While I'm not going to be able to obtain any hard evidence on whether or not the contest will sell any additional copies, I can tell you that the response I received was much larger than I expected. So big that I now wish I had more ARCs to give away and a budget to really promote it.
This is definitely something I'll want to do better with my next book.
--Jon
I ended up going with a website for my novel--which you can see by going to my contact page--on the theory that the novel is what I'm trying to get people interested in. If I were in law enforcement writing a story about crime, then it might make sense to start with an author page because people will then figure that at least they'll get accurate details and versimilitude.
If I were publishing a memoir that might be different, or if I were publishing non-fiction as some sort of expert that might be different, but nothing about me or my background indicates I would be better than ayone else at writing a YA Crossover Paranormal flavored Urban Fantasy, set in a dystopic near-future with the Sci-Fi elements. So, why would a website about me attract anyone? Also, I'm only marketing one book at the present time anyway.
One thing I would add from my own perception is that if you're going to have a website ,have a really good one, especially if you aren't be published by a famous publisher. In my opinion, you want everything you do to look professional. Still I think you're better off just using a blog as your main site.
I know what you're saying: getting a good website is expensive. Believe me, I KNOW, I'm far from rich and the money paid for mine created some budgetary issues. Or at least it did seemingly. You just have to priroritize. What's more important to you? Selling your book and possibly having a writing career or at least supplementary income from writing, or that Hawaiian vacation? Or that big screen TV? Or the newest computer gizmo? Or a new car?
I have a writers web page, with the only published book that I have on it, however when the second one gets published I will just add it to that site.
I have banners, business cards, postcards, and bookmarks for my promotions, and occasionally I do flyers. I also use facebook, librarything, and several others to try and get my cover out there for people to see.
Good luck everyone!!!!
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