Some use “Self-Publishing” to refer to Independent and “Aided” publishing as well, and this post is really about all three…

A writer could go the Traditional route by only using a pen and paper then  hiring someone to use a word processor to put it in proper form for agents and editors.

“Aided” and Self-Publishing could also be done by hiring someone to do the word processing but the job of promotion/marketing would also demand technical skills with computers and, usually, social network interaction.

Independent Publishing would demand hiring an office full of technical staff.

Or, certain rare individuals could do all the work themselves; except, of course, with some of the best Traditional Publishers…

I use “Aided” publishing, do my own word processing, have found two editors that I don’t have to pay, and take care of all my own Internet promotion.

I got to thinking about the writers who are Digitally/Electronically Challenged when I read a post by Joel Friedlander about his being on a powerhouse panel at a recent writers’ convention: 2012: Best of Times for Writers, or the Worst?

The convention was in San Francisco. The panelists, including Joel, were: Mark Coker (Smashwords), Brian Felsen (Bookbaby), Jan Johnson (Turning Stone), and Jesse Potash (PubSlush). It was moderated by Carla King (Self-Publishing Bootcamp).

If the writers at that convention were even slightly interested in the potential of “Self-Publishing”, that particular panel would have been very worth attending.

I urge you to go read Joel’s post for the details but, for the purpose of this blog post, I’ll let you know that the panel was very poorly attended.

Apparently, most of the writers were at another location at the convention—waiting in line for a brief contact with a Traditional Agent…

Joel speculates on the low attendance at his panel:

“I thought about some of the writers I know. Many are quite technophobic. Just learning Word is a major accomplishment. I know people who can write prose that will melt your heart, but they never figured out how to attach something to an email.”

He then asks two questions with which I’ll close this post (hoping for your comments…):

“Do you think there will be writers who are pushed aside by the technical requirements of the new era in publishing?

“Or will there always be publishers to take care of the business end of things for writers who want no part of it?”

And, why not go to Joel’s post and leave him a comment, too :-)
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It’s even become a form of writing, whether in blogs, news, or fiction.

USA Today ~ Books recently had an announcement: New voices: Author Lou Beach’s ’420 Characters’.

The book’s description: “Miniature short stories written as Facebook updates, when there was a 420-character limit, spaces and punctuation included.”

Lou Beach’s Site quotes Kirkus Reviews: “Celebrated illustrator Beach…turns his uncommon sensibilities to the written word, composing a small fortune in vignettes that originally appeared as Facebook updates. An adroit experiment that marries linguistic restraint to literary cool.“

I was alerted to this new release by a good friend of mine on Book Island in the virtual world, Second life.

His name is Brokali now. As often happens, since Second Life is a virtual world, folks will re-create themselves, changing their names along with their appearance.

Brokali’s name in Real Life is Johnpaul Mahofski and, when he still had the name Relish (in Second Life), I did two posts about his MicroFiction which included 10 of his superb stories.

Johnpaul is a librarian at the Eastern Correctional Institution in the State of Maryland in the U.S. A.

He’s written a huge number of Facebook Fiction stories (as well as other lengths) in the new Literary Realm…

Do, please, check out our sampling of Johnpaul’s masterful fiction in these two posts:

Breaking Boundaries ~ Microfiction

Microfiction ~ Revisited

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Recently, I broke a blogging “rule” and had a post that ran over 4,000 words—Author Interview ~ Shannan Sinclair.

Today, I’m going to give three brief references to articles about e-books and see how many folks take the links, read the articles, and make a comment…

I need to start by referencing a WebSite that will help set-up the first e-book article—O’Reilly ~ Tools of Change for Publishing—a conference held in New York City, February 13-15.

The first e-book article, from NPR, is, At Last, They See: E-Books ‘Democratize’ Publishing, which begins with:

“Not known as a hotbed of experimentation, the world of publishing has been slow to embrace the transition from print to e-books. This past week in New York, however, the Tools of Change digital publishing conference attracted entrepreneurs and innovators who are more excited by, rather than afraid of, the future.”

The next article is from PCWorld—Ebook Publishers Want Library Borrowing to Be Difficult—and begins with:

“In an effort to make library ebook borrowing less convenient, Penguin Group has discontinued over-the-air library book downloads for Kindle users.”

The third article is from an “Annoyed Librarian” on the Library Journal and is called, Ebooks and Libraries Don’t Mix. Here’s the opening:

“Libraries certainly are living in interesting times, and last week was no exception. We were also provided with more evidence supporting one of my hypotheses, which is that if you want to get something done, don’t involve the ALA [American Library Association].”

I’m sure I’ll be back to my normal routine tomorrow—featuring one article and commenting myself; but, that’s my post for today…

I may get no comments :-)
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I haven’t actually “self-published”; I’ve used a Print-On-Demand publisher rather than a Traditional publisher.

Right now, the grades seem to be: Traditional, Independent, “Aided”, and Self-publishing.

Pure Self-publishing is done through places like Smashwords and Amazon; “Aided” is through companies like FastPencil (what I use).

But, the ultimate gig for highly industrious writers is to Be their Own Independent Publisher…

This is something I will never do; and, the man I’m going to point you towards has enough experience to prove that only the most energetic writers are capable of being their own full-blown publisher.

It’s one thing to use Amazon to publish an e-book; it’s quite another thing to produce print and e-books and distribute them yourself to Amazon as well as other Web companies, then go on to distribute to bookstores, handle returns, and a thousand other tasks.

Dean Wesley Smith, according to Wikipedia, “is a science fiction author, known primarily for his Star Trek novels, film novelizations, and other novels of licensed properties such as Smallville, Spider-Man, X-Men, Aliens, Roswell, and Quantum Leap.” And, according to his own Bio: “Over his career he has also been an editor and publisher, first at Pulphouse Publishing, then for VB Tech Journal, then for Pocket Books. Currently, he is writing thrillers and mystery novels under another name.”

He’s created his own WMG Publsihing House as well as chronicled all the considerations and tasks necessary to be one’s own publisher in the series, Think Like A Publisher.

Here are the various sections:

1… Early Decisions

2…Expected Costs

3…Projected Income

4…Production and Scheduling

5…Basics of Production

6…Covers and Publisher Looks

7…Sales Plan

8…Prices, Discounts, and Sales

9…Selling to Independent Bookstores

9.5…The Secret of Indie Publishing

10…The Returns System

11…Electronic Sales to Bookstores

12…The Time It Takes

I hope Dean’s information and experience will help the brave writing-souls who feel they can be their own publisher.

Are you one of those people?

Do you know one?

Actually, there are many other resources on the Web for folks who want to become their own Independent Publishers; but, Dean’s articles are friendly and full of his personal experience.

And, perhaps, every writer could benefit from reading and understanding this process…

If you’re a writer, are you considering Traditional, “Aided”, or Self-publishing?

Have you already been published through one of these Paths?

I’m hoping this post gets some Lively Comment activity :-)
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Still, I want to think-out-loud about how they’re affected by all the time they spend alone…

Naturally, “alone” doesn’t necessarily mean “lonely”.

And, for creative writers, “isolated” doesn’t necessarily mean “alone”—there are all those characters in their heads :-)

I imagine there are some writers who are both isolated and lonely; yet, I know many who have rich social lives.

Which brings me to ponder about writers who claim their job is to only write, that they aren’t capable of the “business” side—publishing and promotion.

If they don’t have a rich social life, they may well need other people to help make the “business” decisions.

If they have no problems being social, they could certainly, in my opinion, easily learn the “business” of writing.

I’ve put “business” in quotes four times now because, to me, that word doesn’t have to mean soulless activity that conflicts with a creative nature.

Many successful business people will tell you that what they do is all about relationships…

With all that said, so many writers—either thinking about self-publishing or realizing that traditional publishers want them to do most of the promotion activities—are facing what they feel is a necessity to deal with the “social networks”—Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, Diaspora, etc….

Even writers who have “rich social lives” seem to feel it necessary to spend many hours each day dealing with the “social networks”…

Back in October, Joel Friedlander asked me to do a guest post—Second Life: Virtual Book Promotion and Word of Mouth.

Here’s an excerpt from that post:

“The anxiety I experienced with ‘social networking’ was that it wasn’t ‘social’ enough for me and the ‘networking’ had weak bonds. I need solid relationships for my book promotion endeavors. I’d rather reach a small group who love me than a vast herd who can tolerate me. And, if I can slowly and surely increase my reading-friends—create lasting bonds—the odds of those people promoting the book for me are much better.

“So, there I was, book-promotion-maverick seeking deep bonds, flailing about in a sea of temporary ‘friendship’ and uncertain ‘relationship’. I’m not trying to blame those Internet platforms. It’s just that I can’t find what I absolutely need in my approach to book promotion in those arenas.”

I go on to talk about what I am doing to promote my writing…

I did a post a few days ago that featured poet Sarah Kay.

I’m going to feature her again–performing her poem, Postcards.

Poetry lends itself to multiple interpretation and I hope you’ll share yours in the Comments :-)

To me, Postcards is all about my experience with “social” networks.……..

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