Comments on: Would I self-publish?

By: utenpeetritly

utenpeetritly — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 14:47:04 +0000

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By: Larry J. Hughes, Jr.

Larry J. Hughes, Jr. — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 14:55:43 +0000

If I were writing a security book noaways (no risk of that!) what I’d want to maximize, in order, follows. They reflect my values; yours might be different.
1) Benefit to the industry
2) Benefit to my professional reputation
3) Royalties
If it was a net-net win to use a publisher, I would. If it was a net-net win to publish myself, I would. Of course the trick is knowing which is more likely in advance. The scales remain hugely tilted in favor of publishers, because they effectively buy shelf space in bookstores.
There are other criteria which could drive the decision one way or the other. For example, if you require a royalty advance so you can take a sabbatical to write the book, then you go with a publisher. (Some, but not all, are reasonable if not generous with advances.)
One thing you don’t want to do is let warm fuzzies drive your decision. I loved my acquisition and copy editors. It was clear they were “on my side” — warm, generous, willing to take up slack, empathetic. They did me favors above and beyond the call of duty. It was all genuine. But at the end of the day that didn’t sell any books because they didn’t personally control distribution of the book.
Warning: If you publish yourself make sure you hire excellent editors. The best way to un-legitimize your book is to have typos, spelling and grammatical errors. But this is something you have to watch carefully even with a publisher. I wrote my own cover copy. Between my approval of the final draft and it reaching the printer, the publisher had replaced one correct word with an incorrect homonym.

By: Adam

Adam — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 10:28:30 +0000

Thanks, speller! See, it’s another value proposition to having a publishier. :)

By: speller

speller — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 10:14:16 +0000

> Barnes and Nobel … Addison Weslesy … Cory Doctrow
Careful with the spelling Mr Shoestack.

By: Adam

Adam — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 11:01:29 +0000

David,
It’s an interesting thought. I actually first met Karen in 1996 or 1997. I’m pretty sure I didn’t qualify as a “big name” then.
I fully agree a bad publisher could be differently bad than self-publishing.

By: David Brodbeck

David Brodbeck — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 17:25:36 +0000

One thing I’ve noticed about publishers: A good publisher is very worthwhile, but a bad publisher is far worse than no publisher at all. I know some people who could tell horror stories about books that are never in stock, checks that are constantly “lost in the mail,” and nonexistent pre-press quality control.
Obviously this shouldn’t be a concern if you go with a big name in the business, but a lot of people who are just starting out don’t have the name recognition to get noticed by a big publisher.